I'm sorry but this is rather silly at best as there are ALREADY PLENTY of cheap and inexpensive Intel powered (Celron) < $300USD laptops available on the market.
Granted MOST come with WIN11-Home bloatware, however a quick reflash to a Linux distro will quickly and easily turn these inexpensive wonders into usable devices.
Sure while none of the current offerings offer metal chassis or fairly decent other features at this price point - who cares? You get what you pay for.
Intel wants to offer cheaper Windows laptops by drawing on the already very mature smartphone supply chain in China. A reference laptop is intended to show that this does not necessarily require design compromises.