Apple on Blu-Ray, Touch Screen Displays, Netbooks

[MacRumors]

During the Question and Answer session of yesterday's media event, Steve Jobs responded to a number of questions of interest. The Apple Core blog summarizes the answers. Of note:

Blu-Ray - "It’s great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we’re waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace."

TouchScreen Display - "so far it hasn’t made a lot of sense to us."

Netbook (low cost laptop) - "a nascent market that’s just getting started."

While Apple did drop the price of the lowest-end MacBook yesterday to $999, that model retains the old MacBook architecture and casing. Readers should note, however, that the new entry level MacBook ($999) now ships with a SuperDrive. The previous $1099 MacBook contained only a Combo Drive.


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[RTee]

what ever happened to talking these things up Steve!

Seems all a little too hard to me (well that's what I read into it)

Where's the Apple that the others follow?

 

[Chappers]

I think all of the answers summarized surprised me.

 

[NewSc2]

Typical Steve-talk defending the current lineup. When Blu-Ray/Touchscreen/Netbook Macs are released, he'll turn around and pretend like it was the best idea since sliced bread.

While I do really like the new Macs, I would really like to see a sub $800 compact Mac, with something like an iPhone OS (bare-bones).

 

[bobbleheadbob]

$999 is better, but they need to get the entry level MB down to $799. It'll both sell and satisfy Wall St. at the same time.

 

[synth3tik]

The Blu-ray issue was the one thing that made sense all day.

Sony has some stupid licensing prices. Plus for me I have never had any luck with the Sony superdrives. I have always had to replace them with the Pioneer superdrive. I am glad they left that out.

My personal opinion is that blu ray is just a waste, really standard def movies are fine. I wouldn't need to see the new Saw movie in HD to realize it stinks.

Where's the Apple that the others follow?

yeah, they just called their back in '05 working on the Powermac G6

 

[yoyo5280]

While I do really like the new Macs, I would really like to see a sub $800 compact Mac, with something like an iPhone OS (bare-bones).

What would be much better then bare-bones crap OS, is a cheap mac that runs NORMAL OS X.

Seriously, some people dont want to get as little as possible for a cheap price. THey want AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE for a a low price.

 

[grooveattack]

thats fair enough, at least they answered some questions. maybe have blu ray as a BTO so you can choose if you want to pay the extra.

hahahaha touch screen, "so far it hasn’t made a lot of sense to us." i just have an image of a load of apple boffins standing around a screen scratching their heads.

 

[djellison]

The Blu-ray issue was the one thing that made sense all day.

Really

"but the licensing of the tech is so complex"

Too complex for Dell, or HP, or Toshiba, or Acer...

errr..

That would be a no.

All four can sell you laptops half the price of a MBP with a Bluray drive.

Apple are stalling

 

[pfml07]

spot on!

he has got that absolutely spot on!!

 

[capoeirista]

Shame no one asked about FW400. I think we'd all like to know the real reason for losing it...

 

[Tsurisuto]

So in America, the lowest spec MacBook drops in price to $999 and gains a Super Drive, but here in the UK goes up in price by £20!

 

[phatspider]

Worth noting that the price drop Steve highlighted on the remaining white Macbook actually turned into a price increase in some markets

UK for example - pre yesterday it was £699

Today its £719

Yes we get the Superdrive now, but not quite the drop Steve spoke about in the keynote!

 

[Willis]

So in America, the lowest spec MacBook drops in price to $999 and gains a Super Drive, but here in the UK goes up in price by £20!

Worth noting that the price drop Steve highlighted on the remaining white Macbook actually turned into a price increase in some markets

UK for example - pre yesterday it was £699

Today its £719

Yes we get the Superdrive now, but not quite the drop Steve spoke about in the keynote!

Same thing with the new iPod Nanos. They drop the 4GB and up the price £20. But you get more than what you did before. Best way to look at it is, how much did the Mid Range Macbook cost before?

Then it makes sense

 

[teme]

I thought the "iTunes store offers HD downloads" comment was funny... yeah, those are available worldwide, right... in most countries outside USA the only way to watch HD is to buy bluray movies from store. No downloads, not even HD television broadcasts. It surely makes us feel better to know that iTunes offers HD downloads in USA and because of that bluray in MBP isn't necessary.

 

[tadunne]

Worth noting that the price drop Steve highlighted on the remaining white Macbook actually turned into a price increase in some markets

UK for example - pre yesterday it was £699

Today its £719

Yes we get the Superdrive now, but not quite the drop Steve spoke about in the keynote!

That is probably due to exchange rate differences, still sucks tho.

Blueray future is in the balance too, the future is downloading of content. I'm loving my Apple TV being able to rent movies and pretty much watch it instantly (on SD and about 40 min wait for HD) is just great!

I'm not that interested in owning DVD's anymore, I only watch them once and then they just take up space.

Tried the netflicks style thing and you end up waiting ages for the film you want. Going to the video shop takes time and with fuel costs in the UK will probably add a couple of quid per trip.

 

[mtfield]

Shame no one asked about FW400. I think we'd all like to know the real reason for losing it...

My best guess, and yes this is completely personal opinion, is that it is becoming outdated tech. Tech they see going away before the next big change in the macbook. FW400 is going to be gone in the next year or so would be my guess (and yes it's a guess) especially when USB 3.0 arrives which should be sometime next year last i heard...

 

[Chupa Chupa]

One thing I've learned listening to SJ all these years... no technology is good enough until suddenly it appears in Apple products. For example SJ didn't think flash based, screenless music players were good. Hard drives were the only way to go... until he launched the 512mb Shuffle. Plenty more of these type of examples in the SJ file.

 

[pck76]

bottom line - there's nothing really new

I am surprised by this "poor" update.
the only real improvements seem to be the new video card on macbook (the current one is not great) and the new multitouch.

BUT, they removed useful things like the firewire port, for example, which is unexplicable. And, by the way, now that there's a better video card (useful for making videos/movies faster) we won't have the usual way of importing DV footage.

I was looking forward to this update but will stick to my macbook!

 

[mikaelwahss]

They've got it all wrong

"It’s great to watch the movies."

This statement is all wrong. I need Blu-Ray - not to watch the bloody movies, but to create movies, and to backup large amounts of data.

Apple! Give me blu-ray, and a new Mac Pro! Now!

 

[Nirho]

I would like to know why there is no FW in the MacBook

It means
No DV cams.
No Target mode
No use of older FW equipment

 

[Data]

Fire Wire gone why ? That's the big Question.

I would have liked to see Steve answer the Question how consumers are supossedb to connect there consumer video camera ( of wich 95 % only have Firewire ) to there consumer Macbook.

I just don't get it.

 

[macstatic]

I couldn't agree with you more, mikaelwahss.

Dealing with photography and RAW files, backup DVDs fill up real quick. A Blu-Ray burner would be of great benefit to me. I don't buy Apple's excuse for not including them when other laptops already do (if the pricing really is so high they could at least let buyers have the option of choosing between a regular superdrive or a Blu-Ray burner. This is after all a "pro" machine).
(I don't even have any Blu-Ray movies, so I couldn't care less about viewing them on my Mac).

So many things disappoint me with the new MacBook Pro: glossy screen (useless for pro photographers), just one Firewire connector (means I have to daisy-chain all my Firewire devices and have them all turned on, even if I just want to use the last device in the chain) and that silly black frame around the display along with black keyboard. The old minimalist all-silver design works for me!

Nope, my Powerbook G4 is staying for a while longer.
I was expecting a "pro" update, but the only professional thing about the new MacBook "Pro" is its pricetag. Other than that it's a very expensive consumer laptop.

 

[MD5Hash]

Sure, "just download it"

I used to think that when I lived in the States. But when I moved to Jordan, all they have here is DSL. Good luck getting your high def content here; it took me 3 days to download a high-def episode of Heroes.

Then I see the prices ($3500 for a Macbook pro) here and I realize that it doesn't really matter much anyway; no one is going to bother with Mac junk. Acer seems to own this market.

 

[MacSA]

Same thing with the new iPod Nanos. They drop the 4GB and up the price £20. But you get more than what you did before. Best way to look at it is, how much did the Mid Range Macbook cost before?

Then it makes sense

But its not the Mid range MacBook.... all they've added is the SuperDrive and charged £20 for it. It still ships with a ridiculous 1GB RAM and 120GB hard drive like the previous ComboDrive version

You can get similar spec'd laptops from others for £400 less and they will still have more memory.