Why does the MD101 still exist?

deepen03 said:

I would think it would be killed off today, with this gorgeous new Macbook revealed. I don't see why Apple won't just remove it! It's listed on their site for $1099 with 4 year old hardware and a 5 year old design.. Nobody needs a 800pixel screen, with a slow 3rd gen Intel, 5400RPM Drive and 4gb ram. I have heard it will be phased out later this year, but why not just kill it and firesale the rest?

http://www.kitguru.net/apple/anton-...-retina-macbook-pro-laptops-with-cddvd-drive/

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I agree...honestly when I see people even look at buying these at Apple stores or Best Buy it makes me a little sad. I want to go up to them and say don't!!!!

deepen03 said:

Tell me about it.. I work as a Sales Associate at a BB. I just tell customers it's 5 years old and $200 gets you a 2015 model with Retina and SSD. Once I show them the screen side by side they get it.

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I was too lol well I was a ARA in Geek Squad but only knowledgable employee about apple so got pulled a lot.

Two words - education market.

Because it is still a good machine that fits the needs of a lot of people.

From a processing standpoint it is still competitive with most MBA models. That it is upgradable and offers far more (albeit slower) storage is also a plus. And believe it or not, a lot of real people still use DVDs and/or CDs, to say nothing of Ethernet without needing an adapter.

Finally, it also allows Apple to offer a capable machine to schools/businesses/non-profits etc. that they can discount significantly because the R&D and production costs have long since been recovered. I'd be very surprised if it were not one of Apple's highest margin machines at this point.

Naimfan said:

Because it is still a good machine that fits the needs of a lot of people.

From a processing standpoint it is still competitive with most MBA models. That it is upgradable and offers far more (albeit slower) storage is also a plus. And believe it or not, a lot of real people still use DVDs and/or CDs, to say nothing of Ethernet without needing an adapter.

Finally, it also allows Apple to offer a capable machine to schools/businesses/non-profits etc. that they can discount significantly because the R&D and production costs have long since been recovered. I'd be very surprised if it were not one of Apple's highest margin machines at this point.

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I don't have a problem with them carrying it. More with the price. Time to drop it down to $799. Label it MacBook Classic and drop pro from title.

I've never understood why people care about the word pro in a title. We should all be thankful companies stopped using the word turbo for silly things.

brentsg said:

I've never understood why people care about the word pro in a title. We should all be thankful companies stopped using the word turbo for silly things.

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2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz

https://turbotax.intuit.com

I'm sure there's more.. I'll stop..

I still know plenty of people who use CDs and DVDs halfway regularly. For them if you are wanting an apple portable it is the best option out there, the external drive works when you only use it a couple times a year at most, but for regular use it hurts the portability.

brentsg said:

I've never understood why people care about the word pro in a title. We should all be thankful companies stopped using the word turbo for silly things.

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Because it is no longer a Pro device if you even could call it that to begin with. Apple uses the term pro to distiguqish between there very high end products and there lower end devices. ...IMO there is a big difference between Pro and the likes of Super, Turbo, Extreme etc...

It's the last upgradeable MacBook. If you've already invested in a SSD you can use that and buy 16GB of Ram for $100.

Obviously, it's heavier and older, but I can definitely see the appeal.

deepen03 said:

I would think it would be killed off today, with this gorgeous new Macbook revealed. I don't see why Apple won't just remove it! It's listed on their site for $1099 with 4 year old hardware and a 5 year old design.. Nobody needs a 800pixel screen, with a slow 3rd gen Intel, 5400RPM Drive and 4gb ram. I have heard it will be phased out later this year, but why not just kill it and firesale the rest?

http://www.kitguru.net/apple/anton-...-retina-macbook-pro-laptops-with-cddvd-drive/

Click to expand...

Yes, people like me are still buying it. I just got one last week. When using my student discount I can get a 13" MacBook Pro with 8 GB memory and a better processor than the retina model for less than the original price of the retina. I don't need a retina screen, I'm not blind. With the retina coming with 128 GB HD space it's pretty ridiculous, no matter if flash is "faster." I don't need to pay extra for an external hard drive or an external SuperDrive. Some people still use CDs and DVDs, as well as FireWire which the classic MacBook Pro has. It's not useless when your other option is to pay more and have less included with an HD screen.

I don't see why people like you care so much about what they are selling, when obviously people are buying them. People have different needs when it comes to their computers, so if you want your "fast" storage and "pretty" screen and pay more for it that's your problem.

deepen03 said:

I would think it would be killed off today, with this gorgeous new Macbook revealed. I don't see why Apple won't just remove it! It's listed on their site for $1099 with 4 year old hardware and a 5 year old design.. Nobody needs a 800pixel screen, with a slow 3rd gen Intel, 5400RPM Drive and 4gb ram. I have heard it will be phased out later this year, but why not just kill it and firesale the rest?

http://www.kitguru.net/apple/anton-...-retina-macbook-pro-laptops-with-cddvd-drive/

Click to expand...

Id bet that chip is faster than the core m that the new Macbook has.

itsOver9000 said:

2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz

https://turbotax.intuit.com

I'm sure there's more.. I'll stop..

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Ha ok you got me. Dunno why turbo always bothered me.

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fenderbass146 said:

Because it is no longer a Pro device if you even could call it that to begin with. Apple uses the term pro to distiguqish between there very high end products and there lower end devices. ...IMO there is a big difference between Pro and the likes of Super, Turbo, Extreme etc...

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It's a marketing term, not some key product classification. Plenty of people are using these "pro" devices to play with Facebook.

deepen03 said:

I would think it would be killed off today, with this gorgeous new Macbook revealed. I don't see why Apple won't just remove it! It's listed on their site for $1099 with 4 year old hardware and a 5 year old design.. Nobody needs a 800pixel screen, with a slow 3rd gen Intel, 5400RPM Drive and 4gb ram. I have heard it will be phased out later this year, but why not just kill it and firesale the rest?

http://www.kitguru.net/apple/anton-...-retina-macbook-pro-laptops-with-cddvd-drive/

Click to expand...

What's with the authoritative mindset? If you aren't interested in it, it shouldn't matter if other people want to buy it. Where do you get off thinking it should be removed from the line up, just because it doesn't fit with your approval?

deepen03 said:

I would think it would be killed off today, with this gorgeous new Macbook revealed. I don't see why Apple won't just remove it! It's listed on their site for $1099

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As a second kick in the nuts, with the price rise in Australia yesterday, these things now cost $1549 AU

I bought one of these brand new on sale in Australia in 2012 for $999 AU.

deepen03 said:

Why does the MD101 still exist?

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Quick answer: to make some money. Its terrible, terrible value. For around $700, it would be decent budget laptop. Basically, it aims at:

a) people that have more money then common sense, usually suffering from irrational pursuit of 'upgradeability' (not realising that it going to cost them more in the long run without any benefits whatsoever)

b) governmental institutions (e.g. education) who buy in bulk and put more value into spending less money on paper then getting decent value for the money they spend

c) the (very few) people who indeed can benefit from the easily accessible slower storage of the MBP and the built-in optical media driive

fenderbass146 said:

Because it is no longer a Pro device if you even could call it that to begin with. Apple uses the term pro to distiguqish between there very high end products and there lower end devices. ...IMO there is a big difference between Pro and the likes of Super, Turbo, Extreme etc...

Click to expand...

"Pro" is just a marketing term. It doesn't distinguish anything.

fenderbass146 said:

I don't have a problem with them carrying it. More with the price. Time to drop it down to $799.

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If sales were healthy at the higher price and you just reduced it, your shareholders would likely kick you out. Its not Apple Charity Inc, they have a responsibility to maximise their revenue and margins like every other company.

That machine fits a lot of peoples needs so sells well and is high margin, its a sweet spot for Apple, why should they give it up? Why price drop if the price isn't hurting sales?

deepen03 said:

It has 3 year old hardware on a 5 year old body.

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Even worse: the unibody 13" first appeared in 2008 as a Macbook. It's actually a 7 year old design.

deepen03 said:

then don't price drop it.. but at least refresh the specs for a $1100 computer! It has 3 year old hardware on a 5 year old body. This is like if a car company kept a car with roll down windows for the same price as competitors more advanced cars.

I would say keep it at $1100 and do this:

Base Model: 128GB SSD, 1080P Screen, 8gb RAM, 5th gen 5200U i5 chip.

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I think the whole point is, why do you care? If you don't like it, don't buy it.

since it's the only mac notebook being made these days that has some of the features that i use it's the only new mac that i would consider getting. (firewire and optical) it's not enough of an upgrade over my 2.13ghz macbooks to make me pull the plug however. it would be nice to have a warranty again i guess. keep it around apple. someday i may be ready. i've never been a power user anyway. there's no way that i'm the only one. look at the new macbook. if i were a business traveler i'd be jumping all over that thing. but i'm not, i'm retired.