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Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it any more!
- Thread starter tedkolb
- Start date
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sit down.
smoke a joint.
shut up.
i had this same thing happen to me, when i bought my first iMac, and there *weren't* rumor sites like this, and Apple didn't have a consistent upgrade schedule... so it was a best-guess scenario. Eventually, tho, your computer stops being a frigging toy and starts being a tool. you have the "best and fastest" for a little while and then you simply have a really nice, newer-than-your-previous computer.
Come back when you can learn to live with what you bought. I would have had sympathy for you, but your attitude that the world, and Apple, owes you something is totally bunk.
Now, in better news, RJ's really starting to appreciate why i had him wait before spending *all* that money on an iBook... he can get it for a lot cheaper now, so perhaps we can afford a new iMac as well
pnw
smoke a joint.
shut up.
i had this same thing happen to me, when i bought my first iMac, and there *weren't* rumor sites like this, and Apple didn't have a consistent upgrade schedule... so it was a best-guess scenario. Eventually, tho, your computer stops being a frigging toy and starts being a tool. you have the "best and fastest" for a little while and then you simply have a really nice, newer-than-your-previous computer.
Come back when you can learn to live with what you bought. I would have had sympathy for you, but your attitude that the world, and Apple, owes you something is totally bunk.
Now, in better news, RJ's really starting to appreciate why i had him wait before spending *all* that money on an iBook... he can get it for a lot cheaper now, so perhaps we can afford a new iMac as well
pnw
The funniest thing is that he thinks there are enough people here who could care for his crying to want to make a new thread for it.
Jesus man... I have been waiting months for this, not because the rumour sites said "maybe, possibly it could happen sometime soon" back before the end of September but because I took a look at the Apple site and read their specs page which told me that the PowerBooks were coming up for a revision soon.
EVERYONE knows that computers get upgraded in little over 6 month intervals (to generalise) and the PowerBook had past that mark. Those of us who are full on rumour site readers had an even bigger advantage because there were people here who worked out the average replacement time for the PowerBook.
Now, I must go back to working out whether I want the 867 or the 1G.... the business has both on order and I just have to make my choice.
Jesus man... I have been waiting months for this, not because the rumour sites said "maybe, possibly it could happen sometime soon" back before the end of September but because I took a look at the Apple site and read their specs page which told me that the PowerBooks were coming up for a revision soon.
EVERYONE knows that computers get upgraded in little over 6 month intervals (to generalise) and the PowerBook had past that mark. Those of us who are full on rumour site readers had an even bigger advantage because there were people here who worked out the average replacement time for the PowerBook.
Now, I must go back to working out whether I want the 867 or the 1G.... the business has both on order and I just have to make my choice.
There is always something new coming out
Think of all the money you wasted by NOT reading about your purchase before going out and buying.
It happens...
When something meets your needs and you MUST have it, buy it.
When you can afford to wait until the availability of a newly released machine is sufficient, buy then.
Otherwise you can sit around and complain about the poor timing of your choice all day.
Get over it...
or start counting lost dollars.
Think of all the money you wasted by NOT reading about your purchase before going out and buying.
It happens...
When something meets your needs and you MUST have it, buy it.
When you can afford to wait until the availability of a newly released machine is sufficient, buy then.
Otherwise you can sit around and complain about the poor timing of your choice all day.
Get over it...
or start counting lost dollars.
No, I think everyone get's the point.... and knows that it sucks to buy a machine and then have the price drop on you in 2 weeks.
But many people know this is the way of life in the computing world, especially apple... and they know, you don't buy a computer near the end of it's cycle...
My rule of thumb:
if you absolutely need a computer, buy it now, otherwise, only buy immediately after a new product introduction. Either the new products, or the old ones at discounted priecs.
arn
More fodder.
Quite frankly, I stay loosely aware of Apple's pending announcements and was anticipating a SFMW update to the PowerBook line. Should I have to carefully time my purchase according to my ability to track rumors? Or should Apple be customer oriented enough to offer timely price reductions and/or rebates prior to the planned obsolecence of their current line up?
In the PC world the advancements come in smaller increments more often. They don't pack the same kind of wallop. The competition alone guarantees that you are always buying at the best available pricing. Apple was clearly operating with a huge markup on these Powerbooks if they can turn what was a $3199 top of the line laptop into a closeout/discontinued machine with specs below their new entry level model for $2299. Doesn't this come as a shocker to anyone?
I think its safe to say that all of you who follow Apple so closely are quite surprised by the leap Apple just took with the Powerbook line.
I guess I'm upset that the improvement in the PowerBooks combined with the price decline is so extreme that it instantly decreased the value of what I just purchased by almost half. I couldn't sell this machine for anything over $1500 or $1600 at this point. I can't think of any other consumer product company that bills itself as the Cadillac of their industry conduct themselves with such arrogance. But then again why should they change when they have so many repeat customers willing to overpay.
Quite frankly, I stay loosely aware of Apple's pending announcements and was anticipating a SFMW update to the PowerBook line. Should I have to carefully time my purchase according to my ability to track rumors? Or should Apple be customer oriented enough to offer timely price reductions and/or rebates prior to the planned obsolecence of their current line up?
In the PC world the advancements come in smaller increments more often. They don't pack the same kind of wallop. The competition alone guarantees that you are always buying at the best available pricing. Apple was clearly operating with a huge markup on these Powerbooks if they can turn what was a $3199 top of the line laptop into a closeout/discontinued machine with specs below their new entry level model for $2299. Doesn't this come as a shocker to anyone?
I think its safe to say that all of you who follow Apple so closely are quite surprised by the leap Apple just took with the Powerbook line.
I guess I'm upset that the improvement in the PowerBooks combined with the price decline is so extreme that it instantly decreased the value of what I just purchased by almost half. I couldn't sell this machine for anything over $1500 or $1600 at this point. I can't think of any other consumer product company that bills itself as the Cadillac of their industry conduct themselves with such arrogance. But then again why should they change when they have so many repeat customers willing to overpay.
I think you made a valid point with the price protection. I mean, really, wouldn't that be a great incentive for customers. And I mean that for any company (not just apple) that sells products in this price range with such turnarounds in technology. That's all I was saying.
On another note, I love the apple brain dead on these forums that attack anything perceived as anti-apple. That's why I stop in and read the forums every now and then. Funny stuff these angry, angry people. And mac people are supposed to be the nice, fluffy ones, right?
On another note, I love the apple brain dead on these forums that attack anything perceived as anti-apple. That's why I stop in and read the forums every now and then. Funny stuff these angry, angry people. And mac people are supposed to be the nice, fluffy ones, right?
Re: More fodder.
Now would be a good time to move on with your life. Of course it sucks, but , be realistic. You spent your money, you can be responsible for it.
Originally posted by tedkolb
Quite frankly, I stay loosely aware of Apple's pending announcements and was anticipating a SFMW update to the PowerBook line. Should I have to carefully time my purchase according to my ability to track rumors? Or should Apple be customer oriented enough to offer timely price reductions and/or rebates prior to the planned obsolecence of their current line up?
In the PC world the advancements come in smaller increments more often. They don't pack the same kind of wallop. The competition alone guarantees that you are always buying at the best available pricing. Apple was clearly operating with a huge markup on these Powerbooks if they can turn what was a $3199 top of the line laptop into a closeout/discontinued machine with specs below their new entry level model for $2299. Doesn't this come as a shocker to anyone?
I think its safe to say that all of you who follow Apple so closely are quite surprised by the leap Apple just took with the Powerbook line.
I guess I'm upset that the improvement in the PowerBooks combined with the price decline is so extreme that it instantly decreased the value of what I just purchased by almost half. I couldn't sell this machine for anything over $1500 or $1600 at this point. I can't think of any other consumer product company that bills itself as the Cadillac of their industry conduct themselves with such arrogance. But then again why should they change when they have so many repeat customers willing to overpay.
Now would be a good time to move on with your life. Of course it sucks, but , be realistic. You spent your money, you can be responsible for it.
That sucks. I completely agree with you too. I can't be too mad at apple right now, because I am really proud of the new updates. But that sux, better luck next time.
Re: Re: Re: Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it any more!
tedkolb, it really sucks and i would be upset too.
it would be nice if we new when new models
were going to be released...sort of like a new
model of an automobile. Im sure a car dealer would
tell you when new models are to be expected
but apple wouldnt tell you thats for sure.
i think it sucks...but just to let you know i have
the first 667 and i love it....i do highend photo
manipulation...with external monitor.
you will too i hope. congrats on the new computer.
tedkolb, it really sucks and i would be upset too.
it would be nice if we new when new models
were going to be released...sort of like a new
model of an automobile. Im sure a car dealer would
tell you when new models are to be expected
but apple wouldnt tell you thats for sure.
i think it sucks...but just to let you know i have
the first 667 and i love it....i do highend photo
manipulation...with external monitor.
you will too i hope. congrats on the new computer.
You know what I say to you, tedkolb? Too darn bad. You read the rumor sites. They said Nov. 5 or 6. If you could have waited, you should have. That's your fault. Do you want to hold back progress so you can be happy that you computer is top-of -the-line until January? Sorry, bud, but that ain't happening. Unlike you, I had to buy my TiBook 500 on a deadline for purchase, even though I knew there would be updated TiBook 667's within two weeks, at a lower price with better GPU's, full speed FireWire, and better ventilation. So, as I said in the beginning of the post, you read the rumors sites. They were accurate, other than the MWSF stuff that came up late, so too bad. Suck it up and keep on going.
im surprised NO ONE has said this yet but:
PowerBooks are still selling for near old retail prices on eBay. Only the very loyal to Apple know the day that a new product comes out.
While everyone here knows there are new powerbooks, not many people know that yet onn eBay.
Hurry up and sell it for ~$2200 while people are still oblivious.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2066627565
$1825 and going up fast.
PowerBooks are still selling for near old retail prices on eBay. Only the very loyal to Apple know the day that a new product comes out.
While everyone here knows there are new powerbooks, not many people know that yet onn eBay.
Hurry up and sell it for ~$2200 while people are still oblivious.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2066627565
$1825 and going up fast.
I think that ted is pointing out out a more basic issue with the way Apple handles its pricing and updates.
Doing updates every 6 months mean that there are these large, sharp drops in the price associated with a given level of performance. Meanwhile, the value of a specific computer in a user's hands drops in a smoother, less jerky fashion, because, while it's influenced by the drops in price/performance that come with machine updates, people to some extent anticipate those drops.
Because of this, informed buyers tend to wait until just after new releases to make their purchases: That's the point at which the difference between what the pay for the machine and the value it will have when they receive it will be the lowest. So Apple goes from having fairly low sales on a model to suddenly having a huge number of orders to fulfill, in a short period. People like tedkolb get angry because they feel ripped off, and people like me are frustrated because we have to wait a long time for our lovely new machines to arrive.
If Apple were to arrange for the drops in price/performance to be smaller and come more frequently, their sales of a model would be distributed more evenly across the lifetime of a model. Now, Apple probably can't manage to squeeze out new machines more often -- product development can only be sped up so much by throwing more people at it. But they could start having smaller, more frequent price drops on their machines (say, $50-$100 every month), to smooth out the famine/feast cycle. If they'd been charging $2700 for the 800MHz powerbooks in September, I might have gone ahead and bought then. And while they got more gross revenue out of me now than they would have then, it's not clear that they've gotten more net profit.
Doing updates every 6 months mean that there are these large, sharp drops in the price associated with a given level of performance. Meanwhile, the value of a specific computer in a user's hands drops in a smoother, less jerky fashion, because, while it's influenced by the drops in price/performance that come with machine updates, people to some extent anticipate those drops.
Because of this, informed buyers tend to wait until just after new releases to make their purchases: That's the point at which the difference between what the pay for the machine and the value it will have when they receive it will be the lowest. So Apple goes from having fairly low sales on a model to suddenly having a huge number of orders to fulfill, in a short period. People like tedkolb get angry because they feel ripped off, and people like me are frustrated because we have to wait a long time for our lovely new machines to arrive.
If Apple were to arrange for the drops in price/performance to be smaller and come more frequently, their sales of a model would be distributed more evenly across the lifetime of a model. Now, Apple probably can't manage to squeeze out new machines more often -- product development can only be sped up so much by throwing more people at it. But they could start having smaller, more frequent price drops on their machines (say, $50-$100 every month), to smooth out the famine/feast cycle. If they'd been charging $2700 for the 800MHz powerbooks in September, I might have gone ahead and bought then. And while they got more gross revenue out of me now than they would have then, it's not clear that they've gotten more net profit.
Re: Re: Re: Mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it any more!
If you are browsing mac rumors you would have known new ones were coming out. If you had known that apple updates there machines in a timely order you would have known there would have been an update. and shut up about your computer. there are tons of people on this forum that would love to have your computer, make an offer and see if you can sell it, dont expect to get much though. just enjoy what you have and do some more research next time and go get a dell and get off this forum. you just want some sympathy.
iJon
If you are browsing mac rumors you would have known new ones were coming out. If you had known that apple updates there machines in a timely order you would have known there would have been an update. and shut up about your computer. there are tons of people on this forum that would love to have your computer, make an offer and see if you can sell it, dont expect to get much though. just enjoy what you have and do some more research next time and go get a dell and get off this forum. you just want some sympathy.
iJon
That would be fine and dandy if it were possible, but Apple is at the mercy of IBM/Motorola.
They must be able to supply those incremental speed bumps every 90 days, IBM "may" be able to pull it off - but we don't need G3 processors at the speed IBM can currently deliver (plus the loss of dual processor machines and Altivec would be a BIG performance hit).
We need Motorola (or another supplier) to step up and offer G4 production increases fast enough. But Motorola has been taking 6-9 months to take each baby step.
Apple is after all at the mercy of their part suppliers and outsourced production partners.
Did you read my entire post? I agree that Apple can't do new releases much more frequently than they are now. My suggestion was that they have regular small cuts in a specific model's price across its lifetime. So a machine might be introduced in April at $3.2k, but be selling at $2.5k in October, just before it's discontinued and replaced by a faster model.
If you want to go Dell, be prepared to have an obsolete computer in a matter of minutes. I build PC's in my spare time and am amazed at how quickly things become obsolete. I always budget $50-$75 for a cpu for the computers I'm building and every week or two I get a bit faster. You wouldn't like that at all if you dont' like this mini jump.
The actual monthly price decreases probably wouldn't work either, dropping MSRP would be replaced by increasing prices once every 6 months - something computer consumers really don't like to see in the world of cheaper/faster.
The only way to do it would be to keep MSRP the same, and decrease MAP and wholesale every 3 months, or continue to offer rebates/combo deals/etc.
But then of course you'd be shooting the Applestore in the foot playing with MAP and wholesale, and shifting sales/profits to independent retailers instead - bad thing to do for a public company.
People are getting used to the rebates/deals ending and a new machine taking the old ones place.
No matter what choice you make as a company, somebody will be unhappy - just make sure it impacts the companies profits and image the least.
The only way to do it would be to keep MSRP the same, and decrease MAP and wholesale every 3 months, or continue to offer rebates/combo deals/etc.
But then of course you'd be shooting the Applestore in the foot playing with MAP and wholesale, and shifting sales/profits to independent retailers instead - bad thing to do for a public company.
People are getting used to the rebates/deals ending and a new machine taking the old ones place.
No matter what choice you make as a company, somebody will be unhappy - just make sure it impacts the companies profits and image the least.
ok, Incase you haven't figured it out yet mac is taking returns on ibooks and powerbooks purchased between oct 27 and nov 5. Go to any apple store and they will do it, they will either credit you the amt your mac droped in price, or you can return yours for a 10% restocking fee and get the new models! I hope this helps, you better do it soon because i think the last day is nov 20. I also made another post about this, but i just realized no one will probably look at " my new 867 pb" since everyone and their aunt has posted about them lately. good luck