Apple Announces New Aluminum MacBooks

[IndyGopher]

Great machines, just cannot get over the £100 price hike on the Pro and £20 on the old one.


1 Infinite Loop MY AR*E

1 Infinite Greed more like.

How the hell do existing Mac users even MIGRATE without Firewire on the MacBook? Apple who is your audience now?

Ethernet. Any other stupid questions, or do you just want to piss and moan some more?

 

[khunsanook]

Who puts their prices UP during a worldwide recession?

£720 for a MacBook (£620 Ex Tax)... Was £699 inc VAT Yesterday...

Apples Widget tell me that $999 is £569!

What's with the £130 premium for the old plastic notebook. (COMBO FFS)

Apple: You DESERVE to LOSE sales for this. How can I honestly recommend you to PC users now?

I feel for ya. Being out of the U.S. generally sucks for Apple purchases. I can't wait to see the rubbish prices they have here in Thailand in a few weeks.

 

[editguy]

Face it: casual gaming is much more popular than popular video editing (and there are still many camcorders you could get, without FW).

Not for professional use. And, yes, you can produce professional video on a MB. But who's going to replace a camcorder so they can buy a new Mac? If you had htat kind of money you would just get the MBP to start with.

 

[NT1440]

LOL!!! Is this guy for real???

You ever heard of an external monitor?? ROFL!!!!

Sooo..... let me get this straight

Theres people complaining that they need the FW port now found only on the pro. Their reasoning for not getting the pro is price. Yet ROFL rolleyes:wat are we 10?) you expect someone to also go out and pick up, or already have purchased an external monitor?


Something dont add up in this equation....

 

[hogfaninga]

Thats right, stick it to apple.

Calm down. People are entitled to their opinions. I think Apple royally screwed up on many things today. Yes they did a few things right, but overall I agree with many of the others when they say they are disappointed. I will still buy Apple products most likely, but I'm not happy about these so-called upgrades.

 

[myca]

Can you not use Soundtrack Pro for this?

Unfortunately not, it's Ok but just not up to scratch as a wave editor, there's tons of nice features, but still has problems.

Take the 'You just made me deaf/blew my speakers bug'

If you preview any mono audio file with a process on it it will distort so heavily in the right channel that it could cause hearing damage, or destroy your tweeter, I **** you not

I've bugged it to Apple, but still no fix.

 

[gikku]

My purchase of an Acer Aspire One two weeks ago, was the right decision.

 

[editguy]

So yes FW400 is old tech.

If anything they should have put a FW800 on the Macbook!

They should have included an e-sata on the Pro model to make it better for high end video data transfers.

Okay, I'll grant you that, but when I see old tech, I think "obsolete" And it's certainly not that.

I'll agree with you about the eSATA.

 

[marbles]

I think you severly overestimate the number of people whos productivity relies on FW. However, it was stupid to alienate those who use things like imovie.

I expect apple has something up their sleeve.

not just the iMovie folk who are peeved at this son . like was mentioned to you earlier , ever heard of location work ?a firewire audio interface ? , audio gear costs much more than a PC so a lesser computer is needed .....

 

[myca]

Sooo..... let me get this straight

Theres people complaining that they need the FW port now found only on the pro. Their reasoning for not getting the pro is price. Yet ROFL rolleyes:wat are we 10?) you expect someone to also go out and pick up, or already have purchased an external monitor?


Something dont add up in this equation....

You don't get it do you, just because some people work in Pro Audio or Video, it doesn't give them limitless bank accounts. The computer is only part of the equation, and more often than not it's these Pro users who have to budget to get all the required hardware and software to do their job, and still try to earn a living.

 

[donga]

disappointed in no macbook firewire, as others have said it really is a key feature that is now gone. people have invested in firewire hardware, and it's def faster than usb 2.0, and now we can't use it... unless you get the mbp which is a considerable amount higher.

non pros actually do use fw, and aren't willing to buy an mbp

 

[NT1440]

I'm just playing, but I can understand Apples skewed logic, but I don't think it'll work, instead they'll have a bunch of pissed off customers saying that they're pissed off at having to fork out bucket loads of money for one simple feature, and most 'Pros' may be more inclined to jump ship and use another platform, as most 'Pros' often work in mixed environments.

Plus with these models being the consumer models, where's the consumer price tag?

I think apple is aware of how loyal many of their customers are, and are relying on that to make this transition go over better.

Also, there are many "pros" that have stated they will NEVER defect to windows after using macs. <--- just a tidbit

 

[dohardthings]

And that's a wise thing, business-wise.
I have wondered for years (since the Intel switch basically) why they didn't more to entice casual gamers. I think, this could bode very well for Apple and their sales.

Face it: casual gaming is much more popular than popular video editing (and there are still many camcorders you could get, without FW).

so even though we hate the fact that there is not a fireware or better upgrades as far as the high school buyers (a vital computer market) graphics is important to them since most play games

 

[kabunaru]

I actually still think that the new MacBook starts a new transition (removal of FireWire) as the MacBook Air starts the removal of optical drives.
Does anyone see we are moving into a new age here?

 

[marbles]

You don't get it do you, just because some people work in Pro Audio or Video, it doesn't give them limitless bank accounts. The computer is only part of the equation, and more often than not it's these Pro users who have to budget to get all the required hardware and software to do their job, and still try to earn a living.

him at school me thinks

 

[hogfaninga]

I actually still think that the new MacBook starts a new transition (removal of FireWire) as the MacBook Air starts the removal of optical drives.
Does anyone see we are moving into a new age here?

Nope. I see a lot of people trying in vain to justify the screw up by Apple because they have been waiting for months to buy one and are trying to make it more than it is.

 

[myca]

I think apple is aware of how loyal many of their customers are, and are relying on that to make this transition go over better.

Also, there are many "pros" that have stated they will NEVER defect to windows after using macs. <--- just a tidbit

It depends on what software you use, I personally prefer the mac for the OS, but you can't beat Soundforge, which is only on windows.

But as I argued earlier, if you price out the students of today the Pros of tomorrow will be using an alternative.

 

[NT1440]

You don't get it do you, just because some people work in Pro Audio or Video, it doesn't give them limitless bank accounts. The computer is only part of the equation, and more often than not it's these Pro users who have to budget to get all the required hardware and software to do their job, and still try to earn a living.

Ok, if at any point I made it sound like apples plan to switch all users of FW to the pro was gonna work, I didn't mean to.

I havent been saying its what I would do, I havnt said its going to work, I just said i think its wat they are trying to do.

I realize they will lose some people over this, as does every company in a transition between products.

Again, I havent said that FW users have money, im not sure why you think im saying they do.

What is it im not getting?

 

[fuzzielitlpanda]

I just received this response from apple store chat with regards to the backlit keyboard on the 1299 version:

No, actually it does not have a backlit keyboard like the 2.4GHz MacBook. That is actually an error on the site and we are working to update it soon.

 

[Torajima]

Also, there are many "pros" that have stated they will NEVER defect to windows after using macs. <--- just a tidbit

I thought that way a few years ago... when Microsoft was the only real alternative.

These days, Apples excellent audio/video apps are the only thing keeping me on OSX. If Apple is going to make it difficult (or impossible) to run these apps on hardware I can afford, I might as well jump ship to Linux.

 

[localoid]

Sooo..... let me get this straight

Theres people complaining that they need the FW port now found only on the pro. Their reasoning for not getting the pro is price. Yet ROFL rolleyes:wat are we 10?) you expect someone to also go out and pick up, or already have purchased an external monitor?


Something dont add up in this equation....

Many beginning home recording hobbyists with a fairly simple setup might have $500 in monitors, $500 in mics, and another $500 or so in audio preamps, mixers and interfaces (including FW). Add maybe another $1000 for either a keyboard and sampling software or about the same price for an entry level keyboard. The sky's the limit for total cost of a good recording setup -- but the computer is only a small fraction of the total cost of a decent studio (either home or professional).

 

[editguy]

Sooo..... let me get this straight

Theres people complaining that they need the FW port now found only on the pro. Their reasoning for not getting the pro is price. Yet ROFL rolleyes:wat are we 10?) you expect someone to also go out and pick up, or already have purchased an external monitor?


Something dont add up in this equation....

Of course it adds up. Many professionals use multiple computers in a production. I do. Different NLE's have different abilities. Some work is done on location and hte small laptop works great for that. And I will sometimes connect it to my 32" external monitor to do post-production. It's then no diffeent than having a desktop. I use PC for some video editing, Mac for some, special effect programs on both, DVD authoring software on both. So, for my business (and I would think all business people would view it this way) I want to invest the least amount of money for a quality product that can accomplish the task that I need it to do. Why buy a Semi when a pickup can do the job?

 

[Scryer360]

My thoughts on the new MacBooks

Only Macheads could love them. The new MB and MBP are shams.

The whole reason we flee from PC to Mac is finally experience good design, and here Mac has just shot itself in the foot entirely.

1. The Glass Screen. What the hell? What if I'm editing a movie outside or doing schoolwork? I love the response "just turn it" to get rid of the glare, I'm sorry but sunlight doesn't just move in one direction, the ambientlight during a day is enough to cause glare. So now if I want to work outside at all or in any well-lit areas I'm going to have to hold my hand over my eyes to block the light and glare. Great. This is PC-style design flaws Mac!

2. The lack of a FW port at all on the MacBook. Even the MacBook is an accomplished unit for editing movies and pictures, much more so than a PC. So now I have to work with inferior USB cables and non-DV format equipment in order to do anything? The MacBook, even with its price adjustments, is not cheap enough to be a "casual" computer that anyone can snatch up. I understand cutting out top-end features from $400-$600 computers, but a $999 computer? Especially one meant for photo and video work, not having a Firewire port AT ALL?!

Both of those are huge flaws. I cannot believe I am saying this about a Mac product, but the previous generation may be better than this new one. Where did the good designers go? Is this Mac who really just said "we'll offset the glare with more brightness?" Is this Mac who just took everyone who used its Firewire ports for their videos and just told them to toss off or buy new equipment?

What the bloody hell? I'm in a state of shock here. I understand if they make some changes, the unibody construction or the new touchpad, but why take two steps forward, four steps back like this? Is this Apple that just pulled a PC move? Is this the company who designed such good computers now making amateur mistakes?

Whats next? Are they going to make OS X into Vista or XP? Are they going to get rid of the simple packaging and load it down with tons of ad-crap like a PC?

I'm going to stay with my old MacBook, if only because I like working outside and in well lit areas. I don't like being like my friends who have PC's with the gloss screens who are always holding their hands above their eyes or hunched over their computers.

If my old MacBook breaks, I don't know what I'll do. I'll possibly have to switch back to PC. Its a good thing photo and video formats work cross platform then.

 

[myca]

Ok, if at any point I made it sound like apples plan to switch all users of FW to the pro was gonna work, I didn't mean to.

I havent been saying its what I would do, I havnt said its going to work, I just said i think its wat they are trying to do.

I realize they will lose some people over this, as does every company in a transition between products.

Again, I havent said that FW users have money, im not sure why you think im saying they do.

What is it im not getting?

I think it was this comment:

"Theres people complaining that they need the FW port now found only on the pro. Their reasoning for not getting the pro is price. Yet ROFL (wat are we 10?) you expect someone to also go out and pick up, or already have purchased an external monitor?"

But it sounds like you're trying to play devils avocado to a fair few peeps who aren't happy about what they see as a blunder.

 

[QCassidy352]

Full disclosure: this is not my line

If Jesus Himself returned to earth and turned water in to wine, half of the people on macrumors would respond "eh, it's red. I wanted white."