That's because only suckers buy those upgrades from Apple. He's assuming his readers aren't suckers.
Anybody using the Apple BTO SSD upgrade for the cMBP in their price comparison is purposely distorting the value proposition.
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Anandtech on cMBP vs rMBP
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Anybody using the Apple BTO SSD upgrade for the cMBP in their price comparison is purposely distorting the value proposition.
Battery: Like every 3-4 years let`s get things into perspective, as for remote areas we can talk about that if you want
I agree, but only under normal circumstances.
What about sudden battery failures?
Do you remember the mbp's batteries swelling (and recalling from Apple some years ago etc)?
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I agree completely.
Also think about how much more is the environmental impact with all these parts need to be replaced with each battery replacement.
What about them? You go into the Apple store and get it replaced. What would be the difference if the battery was user-serviceable? You go into an Apple store, purchase another battery and replace it yourself. I don't see how a user serviceable battery would make a difference, unless you've stocked up on 20 of them before heading out into the Antarctic. I would be using a Panasonic toughbook in those cases anyway.
The difference is that if you live in a remote place 500km away from an apple store and you need your Mbp everyday and you have critical data for your work inside, when there's a problem with your cMBP's battery you can order one and install it without parting with the your mac or you can also have a spare one if you see that your old one is dying.
By the way I think that the rMBP is a great machine, I'm not bashing it, but not suitable for me right now for the above reasons and for the absence of after buying upgradeability.
Sometimes you cannot predict your future needs, you may need more ram after 6 months.
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Apple does a wonderful job being environmentally friendly. I don't think that's an issue.
My take: The rMBP is a much better machine, and the cMBP is really only for those that need the upgradability or the optical drive.
The soldered RAM and proprietary SSD are something we're going to have to live with. I think Apple's only other option would be an mSATA but that seems unlikely. The MBA and rMBP have paved the way for Apple's future laptops. I don't see them changing all that much in the coming years.
The difference is that if you live in a remote place 500km away from an apple store and you need your Mbp everyday and you have critical data for your work inside, when there's a problem with your cMBP's battery you can order one and install it without parting with the your mac or you can also have a spare one if you see that your old one is dying.
By the way I think that the rMBP is a great machine, I'm not bashing it, but not suitable for me right now for the above reasons and for the absence of after buying upgradeability.
I see your point, but the current cMBP's battery is not really user-serviceable either and I don't believe Apple will sell you an official battery alone. I wouldn't put in a 3rd party battery. As for RAM, I was actually going to get a new Mac Pro and put in 32 GB, since that would have been perfect for me, but there is no new Mac Pro so I bought this machine instead with 16 GB of RAM. There aren't any 16 GB modules right now, so I wouldn't be able to upgrade a cMBP to 32 GB anyway. I also don't hold onto computer long enough for such upgradeability to become an issue, as I run a company and change my computers quite often, which makes sense for tax and ensures that I am always running the latest machine that I need to do my job quickly and efficiently. I do recognise though that other people's mileage varies.
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I agree with you. I 'm just thinking that in the old MacBooks you are only replacing one exact part, the battery. Now it's the whole back plate plus some wiring and other parts. Perhaps they will reuse all these parts. Only Apple knows.
We'll know once EPEAT does their review. The retina might fail because it isn't easily taken apart by the user, but I'm sure they'll offer more details as to the recyclability of each part.
I got the classic MacBook Pro. I got the base with anti-glare screen. I spent $100 on 16GB of RAM, $15 on an optibay, $80 on a 120GB SSD. For $100 less than the retina I have more RAM, over double the storage space with a SSD. I also get a display which doesn't double as a mirror.
It doesn't make sense to get a rMBP.
$100 for less than half the space, no ethernet port and a mirror? No, thanks.
I get you don't want the rMBP, but a scenario like this, with no other options noted such as an AC adapter and such, is a little out there. If daily operation is absolutely critical, a backup mac is a necessity not a luxury. If no backup, then it sounds like you will need to keep your current machine for another 10-20 years.
Retina Macbook Pro, the good changes are outnumbered by the negitives.
Sorry guys but;
no Ethernet connection (remember not all countries have stable Wi-Fi)
no user upgradeable ram
no user upgradeable HDD
Glued in Batteries
No anti-glare option
vs.
Retina Display
Better GPU
Faster CPU
This is a no-buy and a serious consideration to move back to Windows PC and it's vendors if you're looking for a better portable pc. I don't think anyone can argue with that.
Trust me, in 5 years time Apple will be all about APPLE TV, IOS, Iphone, Itunes, Appstores and Ipads. They will neglect the Imacs, Mac Pros, Macbooks, Macbook Pros down the line because it's just not that profitable to them anymore. The Mac died when S. Jobs died. May they all rest in peace.
Sorry guys but;
no Ethernet connection (remember not all countries have stable Wi-Fi)
no user upgradeable ram
no user upgradeable HDD
Glued in Batteries
No anti-glare option
vs.
Retina Display
Better GPU
Faster CPU
This is a no-buy and a serious consideration to move back to Windows PC and it's vendors if you're looking for a better portable pc. I don't think anyone can argue with that.
Trust me, in 5 years time Apple will be all about APPLE TV, IOS, Iphone, Itunes, Appstores and Ipads. They will neglect the Imacs, Mac Pros, Macbooks, Macbook Pros down the line because it's just not that profitable to them anymore. The Mac died when S. Jobs died. May they all rest in peace.
Apple makes about 75% of its revenue from IOS devices. 53% of the revenue was made from Iphone sales, 20% Ipad sales. Itunes sales about 2 to 4% Leaving about 14% for Macintosh.
The Mac is not Apple Inc's Cash Cow any more. Choices made, resources spent, assets spend will focus on the Iphone and the IOS devices.
Apple will try and make the Macintosh into IOS device. They are already starting this by some functions in OS Lion and the recent rMPB as it's hard ware is not user upgradeable any more. Same as you pick a Iphone, Ipad or a Ipod with certain specs and you will not be able to upgrade it's hardware anymore.
The Mac is not Apple Inc's Cash Cow any more. Choices made, resources spent, assets spend will focus on the Iphone and the IOS devices.
Apple will try and make the Macintosh into IOS device. They are already starting this by some functions in OS Lion and the recent rMPB as it's hard ware is not user upgradeable any more. Same as you pick a Iphone, Ipad or a Ipod with certain specs and you will not be able to upgrade it's hardware anymore.
You're not happy about computers going the way of household appliances. Except the computer industry is clearly heading towards the personal computer as an appliance.
The only thing that prevents Macbook Pros from getting any thinner right now is the laws of physics.
Resistance is futile. Get on board while you still can.
I've tried it once 5 years ago, replacing an iBook G4 with a netbook.
It didn't work.
The only PC laptops that can literally replace the MBPR right now are all workstation-class notebooks, with upgrade pricing that easily make them cost upwards of five large.
I don't think you have any clue what you are talking about.
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Give me an example of an Android-powered smartphone where you can upgrade its internal CPU, GPU, display and memory, all the while keeping a form factor as small as a Samsung Galaxy S3.
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/1...ue-tops-100-billion-in-sales-for-fiscal-2011/
20% comes from apples CPUs (Laptops, iMacs, Mac Pros, Mac mini, etc). $100 billion in sales in 2011, thats $20 billions on OSX.
And not only that, lots of countries have made Ethernet adaptors ILLEGAL.
Oh wait.
No they haven't.
What a tragedy, having to plug a little cable into a jack in your computer in order to have Ethernet.
Oh wait.
That's what you do with every computer that has Ethernet.
The lack of an ethernet port is what killed it for me, because in the dorms at my college, the WiFi signal is pretty weak, which means ethernet is a must.
High-powered WiFi network adapters. Trendnet, TP-Link and a few others sell these with 5dBi+ antennas.
Thank you for giving me the 2011 sales. But my info is based upon the 1st Q of 2012.
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/01/2...6-billion-profit-on-46-33-billion-in-revenue/
Meaning 2011 fiscal year sales droped by 6% in revenue only in the first Q 2012.
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I totally agree. It just does not make the Retina MBP as versatile out of the box compared to it's predecessor.
Exactly my point. I bought the cMBP...upgraded to a Samsung 830 for $189 and added 16 Gb of ram. Then got rid of the DVD added my stock 750Gb hard drive it came with as the storage drive. Now I have the SSD as my boot drive and the stock 750 for storage. I would not trade this setup for just a better display....... Plus what kind of battery life is the rMBP getting? I am getting 7 plus hours on my setup.....Then when SSD go down in price again I can get the 512GB SSD and upgrade...can you do that with you rMBP for the same price?The Samsung 830 256 gb SSD was selling for $189 last time I checked ( there was some special offer ). So you'll be saving $200.
And here is the deal breaker. SSD's are dropping in price fast these days. You can buy 512 gb SSD for around $300 nowadays ( Crucial M4 which is a good SSD also ). Now imagine what the prices will be in a couple of months if you wait till X-mas or maybe even next year for upgrading to a SSD. And you can buy 2 SSD and put it in Raid 0 for twice the performance.
Thank you for proving me that you have no idea how a big company works, and the lack of your reading skills. Quoted from your article:
"Apple shipped 5.2 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, a unit increase of 26 percent over the year-ago quarter."
Yes, thats 26% MORE computers sold than the first quarter of 2011.
I thought I'd register to provide my view point (been lurking on the forums for about a month). I've been using Windows as my only OS since 1997 (and DOS before that...IBM/Tandy before that). I never owned an Apple product before my iPad purchase two years ago. I work in an industry dominated by Microsoft. But I'm making the switch and I'm doing so because of the rMBP.
I can't say whether it's the future (meaning 5+ years out - who can really predict that far ahead, considering the way portable computing is changing), but right now, and for the next three years, I see the value in it. All that performance in such a small form factor. The Sony Vaio comes close, the ZenBooks are on the right path, but RIGHT NOW, the rMBP, to me, is the best of breed.
Granted, I understand that if upgrading a laptop is important to you, the rMBP isn't a good fit. That's not a concern for me. I've owned 12 laptops in my life and never upgraded any of them. They're 2-3 year investments.
I don't fully agree with the ethernet dongle argument, but either way, the cMBP is a great machine too.
The rMBP, however, is cutting edge. At the expense of some stuff that, if it's important to you, make it a bad fit. No doubt. But for me it was the driving force in moving towards Apple, not away from them.
Now if only my damn rMBP would actually ship...
I can't say whether it's the future (meaning 5+ years out - who can really predict that far ahead, considering the way portable computing is changing), but right now, and for the next three years, I see the value in it. All that performance in such a small form factor. The Sony Vaio comes close, the ZenBooks are on the right path, but RIGHT NOW, the rMBP, to me, is the best of breed.
Granted, I understand that if upgrading a laptop is important to you, the rMBP isn't a good fit. That's not a concern for me. I've owned 12 laptops in my life and never upgraded any of them. They're 2-3 year investments.
I don't fully agree with the ethernet dongle argument, but either way, the cMBP is a great machine too.
The rMBP, however, is cutting edge. At the expense of some stuff that, if it's important to you, make it a bad fit. No doubt. But for me it was the driving force in moving towards Apple, not away from them.
Now if only my damn rMBP would actually ship...
Didn't know about this
Too late now though. I'll remember to check these out in about 4 years, by which time the rMBP will have a better integrated GPU and app support hopefully. Oh, and a lesser chance of hardware problems occurring.
The difference is that if you live in a remote place 500km away from an apple store and you need your Mbp everyday and you have critical data for your work inside, when there's a problem with your cMBP's battery you can order one and install it without parting with the your mac or you can also have a spare one if you see that your old one is dying.
By the way I think that the rMBP is a great machine, I'm not bashing it, but not suitable for me right now for the above reasons and for the absence of after buying upgradeability.
In such situations a backup is always required, if your work is critical. Forget about the battery many other things can and do go wrong. The battery is one of the more predictable components of the system these days. Some are situated several thousand kilometres from direct support form an Apple store any they manage perfectly well, there really is no drama here.