1280 x 800 on a $999 notebook in 2013. It is terrifying to see 14" Kabini whitebooks with 1080p panels at a sub-$500 target. Now if they dropped another $100 on a new chassis.
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Apple Cuts Education Pricing on Non-Retina 13-Inch MacBook Pro, Now Starts at $999
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Sorry, but I have to call ******** on this. I've kept an eye on different options for some time now, and while there are cheaper displays, you don't get the convenience of the hub/dock functionality. And if you add some kind of TB hub/dock to a similar resolution display, you're up to about a grand anyway. In my case, since my last laptop was purchased in order to get out of the whole desktop+laptop fiasco, the convenience of a display with a built-in dock/hub is actually an important consideration.
So, I'm definitely looking forward to a new TB display. A thousand bucks won't be a bargain, but it will certainly be competitive with the other options, taking everything into account. The only thing that will properly suck is if they get rid of FW800 on the TBD, since that will mean either directly connecting my audio interface, or getting a new interface. The Apogee I have sounds fantastic and has been perfect for my needs, so replacing it isn't something I feel the need to do.
Oh, and before everybody starts bitching about the quality of the panel on the TBD compared to cheaper competitors: 1) presumably a new TBD would have an updated spec, and 2) for my work (music composition, coding, writing) it's the resolution I care about most -- the other specs are less significant, for me.
HUB functionality in TB display is not good. I hope they solve the problems related to usb hdd drives.... I had a lacie HD connected as a Time Machine and everytime I used it the system slowed down.... this with a late 2011 8gb ram 15" mbp full spec on lion...
I've long said the 13" MacBook Pro is the absolute worst system Apple makes. That 1280x800 is a total joke. It was a joke years ago, - now it's just ridiculous.
You aren't kidding. I bought one of these for home after moving my higher-powered Macs to my business. I added 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD aftermarket through OWC, ended up spending just under $300 total, and this notebook performs absolutely as well as it's going to need to, for years to come. Installed it all myself and it took all of 20 minutes, counting watching their video tutorial on how to do it.
/not affiliated in any way, just amazed and pleased at how cheap and easy it was to get this outcome
Without an SSD and more RAM, that base model is very painful to use day to day. I got the mid-2012 base model, and spent a few months trying to keep myself from throwing it at a wall.
So, I put in a 512GB Samsung 840 SSD and 16GB ram. It went from painfully slow to very fast now.
my 2009 model lasted me a while, added more ram , swapped the HD, sold it , and bought a 2012 Air in all honesty didn't notice much of a difference except weight and the SSD
I am looking at a notebook to replace my nearly 6 year old MacBook, that does not have a battery at this point. 6 years and no progress.
The i5 listed has a suggested public selling price of $225
The i7 listed has a suggested public selling price of $346
That's a difference of $121
So why is the difference between these outdated laptops $300 ?
You know Apple didn't even pay close to the suggested public selling price. They got a good deal by buying millions of these processors.
People that can so simple math don't feel good about buying into the hype.
The i7 listed has a suggested public selling price of $346
That's a difference of $121
So why is the difference between these outdated laptops $300 ?
You know Apple didn't even pay close to the suggested public selling price. They got a good deal by buying millions of these processors.
People that can so simple math don't feel good about buying into the hype.
I want OS X and not Windows. What cheap hardware do you suggest? Can you answer that without being a jerk?
Which is why they now make the completely different product, 13" Retina MacBook Pro, which is possibly the best notebook in the world, or 2nd best next to the 15" Retina.
Now all they need to do is come to grips with reality and ditch these archaic MBPs and slide the Retina into their price points.
The i5 listed has a suggested public selling price of $225
The i7 listed has a suggested public selling price of $346
That's a difference of $121
So why is the difference between these outdated laptops $300 ?
You know Apple didn't even pay close to the suggested public selling price. They got a good deal by buying millions of these processors.
People that can so simple math don't feel good about buying into the hype.
4 GB more RAM: about $40 and 250 more GB HDD: around $50. That's $121 +$90= $211. Then you add Apple tax.
And still, those are consumer prices. Apple pays a fraction of that for those parts.
Huge rip off anyway you slice it
Right. I dont' know why anyone would get the high end cMBP. Update to 8 GB for alot cheaper than $100. Upgrading the HDD is easy, and the processor isn't even quad-core, you just get a little more clock and a tiny bit of cache.
I wish Apple still did this. A huge reason I bought my first two Apple notebooks were because I got not only a discount, but a free printer and iPod Touch. The deal made a Mac an easy sell for almost any university student. Graned, a lot of people no longer buy iPods (iPhone can do everything and more) but something like free AppleCare and and bringing back the free printer would no doubt help increase sales.
It applies to "homeschool teachers". Wow, talk about something that can't easily be verified. This is basically honor code sales here.
wait wait wait wait wait...are u talking to me while you sh.**?
well, not specifically while I sh** (past tense)... Sorry, but it drives me insane when people take heat on this forum for what they will or won't buy. It's incredibly annoying. People buy what they want, or need, to buy. Sure, in some cases people just walk blindly into spending a lot more than they have to, but so be it... I've been dealing with all this gear since the early 90s, and I'm not ignorant of what's out there. If nothing else does what you need, sometimes you have to shell out more dough.
btw, I realize the current TBDs are dodgy as hell (flickering, hub problems, etc.). My hope is that a new revision will iron out the problems.
A machine as slow as the base 13" cMBP should be $999 by default. It's a painfully weak machine to work with. Might as well get a 13" MBA or going all out with 13" rMBP, at least it comes with excellent retina display.
When you count in the necessity of add more RAM and tuck in SSD in place of HDD to make it usable on this model, it will be bloody expensive and touch $1500 or $1600 easily.
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Maybe that's why they don't make it easy for us anymore to change your HDD and RAM with retina model.
It's still a huge rip off, but consumers couldn't say no anymore. We're simply out of options if we want the extra performance. This time Apple squeezes every single penny out of your wallet for every little things you want.
When you count in the necessity of add more RAM and tuck in SSD in place of HDD to make it usable on this model, it will be bloody expensive and touch $1500 or $1600 easily.
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Maybe that's why they don't make it easy for us anymore to change your HDD and RAM with retina model.
It's still a huge rip off, but consumers couldn't say no anymore. We're simply out of options if we want the extra performance. This time Apple squeezes every single penny out of your wallet for every little things you want.
Maybe, but it's long been the best selling Mac -- notebook or desktop so the specs couldn't have been that distasteful to the general consumer who it's targeted to. I owned a couple of them myself (now using a 15" RMBP), and for most tasks its a great machine and terrific for traveling.
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Homeschools must be registered with the local school board -- state Dept of Ed. in some instances. If Apple wants to verify they can call the local school board just as they would with a public school teacher or Apple can require purchaser provide copy of their certificate.