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Apple Phasing Out White MacBook in Favor of Entry-Level MacBook Air?
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As mentioned, most people would opt for the 13" MBP as opposed to the white MB since it has had more revisions made and has other benefits (backlit keyboard, unibody sexy aluminium is a feature)
It just makes sense. However, people often like choice and a cheaper MBP without the 'Pro' part nor the 'so-thin-it-can-slice-cake' features equates to the current MB, which IMO is a fine computer to have for consumers.
It just makes sense. However, people often like choice and a cheaper MBP without the 'Pro' part nor the 'so-thin-it-can-slice-cake' features equates to the current MB, which IMO is a fine computer to have for consumers.
Unfortunately, I don't think Apple cares about popularity when they revise their product line. Remember the iPod mini? I think it was their most popular iPod and they killed it overnight for the nano. Actually, now that I think about it, there is a parallel: going from HD to flash memory...
I, for one, really hope this is wrong - and it would seem to be - why get rid of a machine that, per the report, is selling around a million units a year? From a consumer standpoint, I'd also be sad to see it go. It at least seems a lot more durable than the MBP (any comments on the MBP's durability appreciated), which I've grown in appreciation for having small children at home, who love to open and close it and "type".
Dave (owner of circa 2006 Macbook, still going strong)
I believe that they should simply update the MacBook and continue offering it. What I don't get is why so many people who are quite happy with their MBA's want to deprive other Mac users of choice.
They have the attitude of "I really love my laptop and I want apple to get rid of all the others." And I cannot remember the other persons name, but he/she continued in their post to say what other people need, I am referring to things such as the size of hard drive that other people need, or saying that "since I don't need or want an optical drive, then nobody needs an optical drive."
But the ones I really get a kick out of are the ones that demand that apple stop supplying all computers, even desktops, with an optical disc drive. It really is amazing. I might be wrong about this, but when I read some of those posts like I have mentioned above, I cannot help but think that those people are probably very young. Maybe I need to find a macintosh users forum for older people such as myself. I have no doubt that the ego-maniacal Steve Jobs will eventually do as these posters are saying and kill of the optical drives and the products that made the company, but when that happens... it will be a sad day indeed for a lot of adult Mac users.
They have the attitude of "I really love my laptop and I want apple to get rid of all the others." And I cannot remember the other persons name, but he/she continued in their post to say what other people need, I am referring to things such as the size of hard drive that other people need, or saying that "since I don't need or want an optical drive, then nobody needs an optical drive."
But the ones I really get a kick out of are the ones that demand that apple stop supplying all computers, even desktops, with an optical disc drive. It really is amazing. I might be wrong about this, but when I read some of those posts like I have mentioned above, I cannot help but think that those people are probably very young. Maybe I need to find a macintosh users forum for older people such as myself. I have no doubt that the ego-maniacal Steve Jobs will eventually do as these posters are saying and kill of the optical drives and the products that made the company, but when that happens... it will be a sad day indeed for a lot of adult Mac users.
But it isn't as though the use of external drive is end of the world for many. Although there are few that may use the drive very frequently, most that I know use the drive on just select occasions. And let's face it. Like floppy disks before it, DVDs and CDs are legacy. And this legacy support occupies fairly substantial space on very portable Macs. For those that need this legacy access frequently, they have a choice of spending $79 for external SuperDrive or up to $200 more for 13" MacBook Pro.
Granted, this sort of options isn't going to help "Macs are expensive" reputation, but Apple has traditionally been very quick to drop legacy support.
What's the Mac Pro a "Pro" of now? Plus, all the things that run iOS get an "i" before the name, but iMac gets to keep it (of course, name recognition) while running OSX. Apple isn't too consistent on the naming.
Eh, I don't imagine too many people would get stuck in a portability v. flexibility "loop."
Sorry, I still don't see it. Apple will do as Apple pleases, and rightly so, but I think it's perfectly fine if two different products are at the same price point.
If you want more portability, and are willing to sacrifice screen size, HD capacity, etc. for the sexy-thin Air, then you probably value it more than the MB at the same price.
Likewise, if you want a larger screen, more HD, etc., but you don't want to shell out the extra bucks for a Macbook Pro, then you'll probably find the MB more appealing than the Air at the same price.
Of course, my argument assumes a bump in the macbook's specs soon. The current offering is just too outdated.
When you are enjoying the view from the catbird seat, I guess you are in a pretty good position to know what sells and what is chaff.
As for my take...
Lugging around a computer over twice as heavy and almost twice as thick in the oft chance you may need the optical drive someday seems foolish. Better to have a separate, highly portable optical drive if you think you'll actually use it semi-often. Otherwise, just borrow someone else's drive on their Mac or PC (The disk will show up on your MacBook Air as if it was internal.) for those once-in-a-blue-moon instances.
If you are going to use the drive often, in all likelihood you'd probably benefit greatly by the 13" MacBook Pro's significantly faster processor, myriad of ports, larger drive and larger screen for only $200 more.
As for my take...
Lugging around a computer over twice as heavy and almost twice as thick in the oft chance you may need the optical drive someday seems foolish. Better to have a separate, highly portable optical drive if you think you'll actually use it semi-often. Otherwise, just borrow someone else's drive on their Mac or PC (The disk will show up on your MacBook Air as if it was internal.) for those once-in-a-blue-moon instances.
If you are going to use the drive often, in all likelihood you'd probably benefit greatly by the 13" MacBook Pro's significantly faster processor, myriad of ports, larger drive and larger screen for only $200 more.
Your gaming argument is probably your best point. As far as Blu Ray, I don't believe it will ever achieve the market penetration that DVD did. The adoption rate is much slower that it was for DVD at the same relative stage, and with competition from streaming, there are many (like myself) who would prefer the convenience of a "physical media-free" existence. Yes, I know about the quality difference. I used to be big into high-end home audio-video with equipment from manufacturers that most consumers have never heard of. But I got tired of storing huge numbers of discs, physically retrieving them and inserting them in a player, and wading thru ads and menus, etc. With terabytes of external storage, Apple TV, AirPlay, iTunes, and Netflix, I just serve up whatever I want whenever I want.
I realize it will be a while until a majority of consumers do the same, but I really don't think it will be 20 years. Of course you can say "someone, somewhere still has a cassette player, laserdisc, betamax, etc" - let's define "dead" as "No new releases from film studios or video game and software publishers in the format (i.e. physical media)."
Consider the timeline for VHS: Twenty years ago, VHS was in it's heyday. DVD was still six years away (1997) and DVRs (TiVo and Replay TV) were eight years away (1999) . However, by 2006 US movie studios stopped releasing movies on VHS. So it took 9 years from the introduction of DVD to kill VHS. Now consider the revolution in streaming that has accelerated since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. We now have iPad, iTunes, and, soon, iCloud. Are they perfect? No. We need more bandwidth. We need 1080p. We need more accessibility to broadband and WiFi. Is it expensive? Perhaps. I cut Cable TV ($150 per month) and went to NetFlix ($8 per month), but yes, there is a significant hardware investment, not to mention broadband costs. But remember, the first VHS players were over $1000. I expect streaming quality will go up as costs go down.
All I'm saying is - 20 years is a long time. Like i said, you make me pause on the video game issue, but not enough to sway me completely. I say less than 20 years
No offense, but how old are you?
This is why we're so fat in America.
You're probably old enough to remember when the TV didn't even have a remote and we had to get off our asses to turn the dial. Hell, I still do. Or get up to flip over the record.
Now, eh, can't be bothered.
We all know the phrase, "The chase is better than the kill" but maybe we don't give it enough thought these days. Remember having to hunt for that movie you wanted, sometimes for months or years? Or that ridiculously rare album? Streaming wasn't an option, we had to go out and get it.
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Give me a break. They only got rid of it to make the MBA smaller. If they took it off every other Mac it would be absolutely stupid. Apple may come out with iCloud and whatever other iCrap they want to make, but Apple doesn't decide when CDs and DVDs are to become obsolete. I buy CDs because I like to hold the disc and look at the album artwork, as do many people. People who have sub-par internet connections can buy DVDs. It's easier than paying for a streaming subscription or waiting forever for movies to download.
It will be years before optical drives can be stripped completely, if at all.
MacBook vs MBAir sales... If they see the Air outselling the MB then I guess they might go for it but I doubt it.
Why would they think people would want an 11" vs the 13" computer? There's already a whole lot of people who don't like being forced to go without a 15" screen or pay a whole lot of money for the MBP 15". They get the 13" as a compromise. Instead of killing off the 13" MB they should look at keeping the line alive but lower the price a little and expand to a 15" option.
Why would they think people would want an 11" vs the 13" computer? There's already a whole lot of people who don't like being forced to go without a 15" screen or pay a whole lot of money for the MBP 15". They get the 13" as a compromise. Instead of killing off the 13" MB they should look at keeping the line alive but lower the price a little and expand to a 15" option.
I disagree. Sure, the Mac Pro will probably keep its drive, but I don't see it as much of stretch for Apple to just make the $79 SuperDrive a BTO option for most computers. The MacBook Pro will likely be next, followed by the mini (there is already a server version w/o a drive) and the iMac.
This is no different than when Apple nuked the floppy.
Really? You're gonna beg for forgiveness when you need to reinstall OSX, or Windows BootCamp, or Office, or iWork.
The world is not ready yet to completely dump optical drives, you know .. the world
You may dump SuperDrive on MacBook Pro, replace HDD with SSD and you'd notice MacBook Air is not that super light laptop
I'm 27, I've spent 15 years in tech - my opinions aren't based on my own personal use, my habits have reverted to less technology/more living, due to over-exposure. My opinions are based on exposure to thousands of user habits and a broad range of os/device knowledge. Yours?
Read my last post.
Apple "fixed" dependance on physical media with the Mac app store. If you're one of The minority who needs a DVD drive, buy a SuperDrive or a mpb; simple as that.
TBolt + BD FTW
However, a optical-free laptop connected through TBolt to an LCD monitor with a BD drive would be very interesting.
Many people who don't need an optical drive on the go do have uses for them when they're docked.
However, a optical-free laptop connected through TBolt to an LCD monitor with a BD drive would be very interesting.
Many people who don't need an optical drive on the go do have uses for them when they're docked.
Agreed - I don't use my DVD drive unless I HAVE to use it.
Imagine you're an incoming Frosh at college and you have no idea about computers but you've decided on a Mac for whatever reason.
Do you choose an outdated MB?
Do you choose "the higher performing" pro, which also has a DVD drive and maybe more ports?
Or do you choose the thinnest and lightest, and probably sexiest Mac, that still has decent enough performance for most tasks?
I hope Apple reveals a 15" Air. I think it would be a huge hit, especially with the back to school crowd.
Are we even going to get hardware video playback acceleration anymore? It is all ATI and Intel video hardware now.
The hardware supports acceleration, but you may have to dual-boot into Windows 7 in order to use the features that you bought.
Well that one is painfully obvious. I mean under OS X.
Lion appears to require much more cooling than Slow Leopard. Then again that might just be summer.