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Dangerous game? Apple is pricing their laptops at a much higher price than comparable hardware on a PC manufacturer... nothing new here. And dangerous? if sales lag, they'll just drop the price.

oh the peril

they def have the margins in this lineup to rape all the pent up first buyers, then drop at least $200 for the school and holiday sales once sales taper off...

good business, I guess
 
Dangerous game? Apple is pricing their laptops at a much higher price than comparable hardware on a PC manufacturer... nothing new here. And dangerous? if sales lag, they'll just drop the price.

oh the peril

why let sales lag in the first place?
 
why let sales lag in the first place?

sales will be anything but brisk for the first 60 days or so...

when the hardcore pent up loyalists are re-upped, then they can shave $200 across the board in time for school and holidays

I was in Best Buy, recently, and yeah, all of their computers are junk (low res screens, shiny bulky cheap plastic things), but they had maybe one model over $1000 and most consumers (ie the mass) seem to be happy shopping for price point

Right now Sony is the PC maker closest to giving Apple a real run
 
I take pride stimulating businesses and the economy on high priced goods. And feel much more patriotic paying bigger taxes from these items to the government.
 
Except those cheapo laptops as you call them are being rated as more reliable and better made than all of Apples laptop line now.

The cult of personality is what keeps Apple going strong. The fact is the Apple Tax is growing to an insane level. Nothing Apple does with their laptops justifies a 1500 dollar price difference now and they cater to a supposed high end line when the fact is they are more of a Mid line laptop priced High End.

If it wasnt for being required to use a Macbook pro I would jump ship again.

Oh, boy. New user registers, spews the usual insults, and thinks anyone should pay attention. If you don't like it, don't buy it. And Consumers Union would disagree with you sharply about the supposed build quality of those el cheapos.

BB
 
Oh, boy. New user registers, spews the usual insults, and thinks anyone should pay attention. If you don't like it, don't buy it. And Consumers Union would disagree with you sharply about the supposed build quality of those el cheapos.

BB

The facts speak for themselves. Go take a look at them. Apple is no longer king of the hill. I have to have a Macbook Pro due to my career but that does not mean I have to suck off Steve Jobs and the people at Apple. It is ok to call them out for issues
 
I was talking to my dad the other day and he was reminding me how expensive laptops were when they first came out in the 90's.. He bought his first Dell for about $6000 and it is built like a tank and still runs (but it's collecting dust in the basement). So today, he was saying how inexpensive they are, even apple notebooks when you consider the quality you're getting..

I think he was trying to make me feel better about making a big purchase like a new macbook pro. Because for me, it seems like a lot since I'm young but when you put it into perspective... it's really not that much for what you're getting.

Macbook pro's are not tanks but they are extremely solid, well rounded notebooks that are built to high standards. And for the price, about $2000 for whichever model you choose.. it is very fair in my opinion and can't be matched by hardly anything else in the market right now.
 
speaking of tanks... what do you guys think the typical life span is for a MBP, or more specifically, how long do you think the i5/i7 MBP's will be relevant & useful?
 
speaking of tanks... what do you guys think the typical life span is for a MBP, or more specifically, how long do you think the i5/i7 MBP's will be relevant & useful?

I hoping to get 6 years out of the new MPB. I'm typing on a 2004 iBook that's still going strong – apart for a replacement of the original HD.


While the OP does make a good point, I think this has always been the Apple way – left trailing on top of the range specs.

It comes down to more then I feature that will send you running to a PC.

Theres many points, that combined, keep you Mac;

• The "culture" of owning a mac – you're in a club (most likely your friends/family have Macs).

• The mac programs you've already bought (although less important since intel). This makes it more diffucult then if you went HP to Sony or whatever.

• The lure of OS X (again less so imo with Win 7 about).
 
Apple gives the USA a good deal imo, they totally ass **** everyone else though (all uk prices went up, the cheapest 13" by nearly £100 (nearly $155), the base price 15" unit is now £1499 ($2320) with the 17" costing £1899 ($2940), this to me is now unacceptable pricing, in the uk we have had 2 fairly substantial price rises in the last year.
 
Apple is playing a smart game, in my opinion. Most Apple users are uninformed and Apple knows it. Customers see a 15" macbook pro with a dedicated GPU @ $1799 and they jump all over it. Apples sales will soar purely because of this low-end 15" model.

Problem is, it ticks the knowledgeable people off. People who know that the i5 2.4 is Intels LOWEST end i5 CPU. . The same people who know that an extra 256MB of VRAM and a jump from i5 to i7 should NOT cost $400.

I'm seriously torn as to what to do.. now more than ever, i feel that I'm truely paying the Apple premium purely for an OS & Trackpad.
 
Apple is playing a smart game, in my opinion. Most Apple users are uninformed and Apple knows it. Customers see a 15" macbook pro with a dedicated GPU @ $1799 and they jump all over it. Apples sales will soar purely because of this low-end 15" model.

Problem is, it ticks the knowledgeable people off. People who know that the i5 2.4 is Intels LOWEST end i5 CPU. . The same people who know that an extra 256MB of VRAM and a jump from i5 to i7 should NOT cost $400.

I'm seriously torn as to what to do.. now more than ever, i feel that I'm truely paying the Apple premium purely for an OS & Trackpad.

honestly, Apple's sales won't soar because of the 15", 13" models will always be the best sellers

there are two types of people that buy MBP's:

1. uninformed people who do anything to get attention
2. smart informed people who use them to do actual work and truly see more positives in a MBP which outweigh the negatives. (we all realize nothing is ever perfect)
for these people.. the intrinsic value of a MBP is worth more than the price they pay for it.

uninformed people don't even need to buy MBP's in the first place. Sadly, these uninformed people will always be around. Apple realizes it, car manufactures do. nearly every industry takes advantage of this.. It's no different then all the people who buy expensive sports cars and don't even appreciate the brand history, know what engine is in it or even how to drive it. Smart people make up a tiny minority in the world..
 
honestly, Apple's sales won't soar because of the 15", 13" models will always be the best sellers

there are two types of people that buy MBP's:

1. uninformed people who do anything to get attention
2. smart informed people who use them to do actual work and truly see more positives in a MBP which outweigh the negatives. (we all realize nothing is ever perfect)
for these people.. the intrinsic value of a MBP is worth more than the price they pay for it.

uninformed people don't even need to buy MBP's in the first place. Sadly, these uninformed people will always be around. Apple realizes it, car manufactures do. nearly every industry takes advantage of this.. It's no different then all the people who buy expensive sports cars and don't even appreciate the brand history, know what engine is in it or even how to drive it. Smart people make up a tiny minority in the world..

I disagree entirely and think you have things mixed up. I meant uninformed as people who don't know the difference between C2D and i5, not as someone looking to "get attention." There are plenty of uninformed people who use their computers for work purposes, but know little to nothing about current computer technology. While I agree that smart people are in the minority, smart people don't throw thousands of dollars at something that doesn't warrant it. Even considering intrinsic value, $2349 for a 15" i7 high-res antiglare MBP is psychotic.
 
HP Envy 15.6" 1920 x 1080 (Intel Core i7 720QM and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5830 1GB).
$2,113

MacBook Pro 15.6" 1440 x 900, Base model (Intel Core i5 2.40Ghz and Geforce GT 330M 256MB).
$2,533

That's a $734 (2,533 - 1,799) difference on the MacBook Pro base model from the United States to Denmark...

Prices are a little crazy in Denmark. I think what most people are saying is that Apple could price their notebooks a bit lower without it turning into a bag of hurt.
 
Apple is playing a smart game, in my opinion. Most Apple users are uninformed and Apple knows it. Customers see a 15" macbook pro with a dedicated GPU @ $1799 and they jump all over it. Apples sales will soar purely because of this low-end 15" model.

Problem is, it ticks the knowledgeable people off. People who know that the i5 2.4 is Intels LOWEST end i5 CPU. . The same people who know that an extra 256MB of VRAM and a jump from i5 to i7 should NOT cost $400.

I'm seriously torn as to what to do.. now more than ever, i feel that I'm truely paying the Apple premium purely for an OS & Trackpad.

No... Mid end i5, its the 520 that is the "low end" 15"...
 

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HP Envy 15.6" 1920 x 1080 (Intel Core i7 720QM and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5830 1GB).
$2,113

MacBook Pro 15.6" 1440 x 900, Base model (Intel Core i5 2.40Ghz and Geforce GT 330M 256MB).
$2,533

That's a $734 (2,533 - 1,799) difference on the MacBook Pro base model from the United States to Denmark...

Prices are a little crazy in Denmark. I think what most people are saying is that Apple could price their notebooks a bit lower without it turning into a bag of hurt.

That has been my only real complaint. The Apple Tax as its called is an accepted thing yes we all know its there but as the PC market gets cheaper while offering faster and faster items the Apple Tax is becoming more obscene.

$1600 will Net you a Quad Core i7,8GB ram, 1Tb HDD,1Gb 5870 all in a laptop. Yes its extreme overkill on power and it doesnt last 10 hours but If all of that obscene power can be gotten for 1600 than Apple certainly could cut their laptops by alot or at least offer slightly better items in it.
 
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