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Apple Phasing Out White MacBook in Favor of Entry-Level MacBook Air?

jlc1978 said:
My point exactly - which is why the original statement you made:

Any piece of electronics that does not have moving parts will be more reliable than those that have moving parts.

is a commonly held, but incorrect, belief.
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Sorry for overgeneralizing but it is more truthful than the opposing statement.

I am a bad person. Please kill me.

Sob....
 
scoobydoo99 said:
I didn't see any indication from his post that he is angry. Perhaps you are projecting?

And you were NOT "simply stating a fact." You stated a rather ludicrous opinion that optical isn't going away in the next 20 years. I have news for you - it's already gone for all practical purposes. I can't imagine using a physical disc these days (other than as a coaster). We are just waiting for the rest of you to catch up. And it won't take 20 years.
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You yourself wont be using it, but many others will be.

They may no longer distribute media via CDs and what not in 20 years, unless Super Hi-Vision kicks off, in which case Blu-Ray or its successor will be around). None of this means its going away. Cassettes may no longer be in production, but that doesnt mean no one uses them. VHS is still around as well.

When the days of poverty and the working class are no longer a concern, and everyone can afford top of the range transport with built in AirPlay and iPod docking features with built in HDDs capable of storing hundreds of thousands of uncompressed audio or whatever new tech will surpass todays novelty features then you may have a case. It aint happening anytime soon.

The whole car audio thing is just one very small example. Gaming is the best example of physical media sticking around. There is far too much money to be made in the used games industry, and digital download prices are sky high, as well as various other limitations such as broadband speeds etc. The only way to kill the used market is to limit new games to be registered to one console upon use, which just cant happen.
 
I have an iMac, and frankly can't remember the last time I used the optical drive on it.

This move on Apple's part - if true - is likely a good thing. This way you've got the best of both worlds. If you want something powerful with an optical drive, go for the MBP. Otherwise go for the MBA. And who needs an optical drive when there are bigger and bigger USB storage devices coming out?
 
GSPice said:
True. Maybe I'm a little more tenacious than most, but I survived both under grad and grad with a thumb drive and the school library..

Many studies require no sort of significant processing power in a notebook.
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Agreed and you beat me!

I attended undergrad late 80s. I returned to grad school in 2007.
Had a MBP for my grad school. I was doing music, and needed/wanted something for music production, etc.

My undergrad--Apple Clone, 8-pin dot matrix. My marks were pretty good with those things.
 
deyorew said:
You don't buy an apple product to save money, you buy it for the emotional connection with an electronic device that competitors haven't seemed to mastered yet.
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Really? An 'emotional connection'? That's odd, 'cause I'm pretty sure I bought an Apple computer so I could use Mac OS...

Chupa Chupa said:
I haven't burned an optical drive in a long time...Optical drives will be gone in all Mac laptops by the end of 2012. Bank it.
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And I burnt CD-Rs of music I'd written only today. One of the reasons I find having an internal optical drive so very convenient. iHorses for iCourses, I suppose. If they are to go (and I have absolutely no doubt you're right and they will, at some point reasonably soon), I'd better make sure I upgrade to a new machine before the end of 2012...
 
I hope not

:(

I've decided I'll live with this perfectly fine iMac for another 2 + years > (goodness willing it will carry me through University), but I would hate to see the white Macbook go.

While I didn't test drive the Macbook at home, I did find the trackpad on this machine slightly more comfortable than on any other Mac laptop I tried. And I'm a trackpad boob.

Color/materials are not important to me. Performance, ease of use and comfort are. It would be nice if these were kept for students and as an entry level Mac for $799.

I know the MBA is the future of the Mac laptop and the 2010 model is a great machine, but I hope this analyst is proven wrong, but the writing is on the wall... :(

>>> All this said,

I hope by the time I'm out of university the iPad will be able to do everything I'd like it to do (writing using various software, printing on my printer, etc.).
 
boooooo

less features for the same money?

*buys different computer and joins forum with less cognitive dissonance*
 
UraGraymalkin said:
I'd better make sure I upgrade to a new machine before the end of 2012...
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But why would you upgrade solely because internal optical drives are phased out? Do you burn that many discs? External burners will be available for years and years to come.
 
The Macbook is too iconic to just drop . . . especially without a worthy replacement.

The MBA isn't going to cut it in the base model level without an optical drive at the very least. If the OD was bundled with the 13" MBA for $1000 sure, but not at all if it's an 11" MBA with no OD for $1000.

Or better yet drop the price of the OD to $49.

However you want to look at it, the white Macbook will be here just as long as the iPod and the iMac and the "PRO" laptop, etc. Apple will redesign it, and they should, but not discontinue it.
 
Throughout grad school I stayed well under 64 GBs.

The problem is information overload and information hoarding.
Who really needs all their recreational music/videos they have on their computer?
 
cms2 said:
... but I don't really see what a lot of posters are saying about the two models (base MB and base MBA) being the same price as being evidence of the macbook's irrelevance.

If the macbook finally gets the much-needed bump in specs, Apple could still offer both at the same price point..
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But the "log jam" at $999 is in part because Apple doesn't want products to compete on the same price point. Apple is keeping the Macs out of the iPad zone. (The mini being the only exception, but last time they moved its price higher. wouldn't be surprised if updated mini went higher still) . Likewise, it is easier for people to choose between the two if it is the difference ( more portability vs. more CPU/flexibility ) plus a small difference in price. Differences in price is the primary mover for most purchasers. $100-200 matters to many more people than it does not. That price difference takes the pressure off folks getting stuck in a loop trying to choice between the portibiilty vs. flexibility . Some folks can't put a "value" on those two and decide.


The MacBook has been between a rock (MBP price drift down ) and a hard place ("no laptops below $999") . The MBA priced at $999 makes it between a two rocks and a hard place.

That's one reason the MacBook is pinned to a single offering in the Apple store. One CPU selection possible. Even the MBA 11" gets two. The MacBook is there in part just because the MBP and MBA just don't have "less expensive enough" parts yet to wipe out the MacBook.

If Apple would let go of the $999 border then either the MacBook or MBA could maneuver away from each other enough to both offer a range of offerings.
 
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Chupa Chupa said:
But why would you upgrade solely because internal optical drives are phased out? Do you burn that many discs? External burners will be available for years and years to come.
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I'm intending to upgrade (to a 13" MBP) within the next year or two anyway, so it wouldn't be solely because of the internal drive. But if it was revealed in 12 months time that the next refresh would remove the drive it'd be a big factor in when I'd take the plunge.

In 12 months time, of course, I reserve the right to have changed my position entirely! :) (I'm well aware that I was on the opposite side of this argument when the iMacs came out without a floppy drive and I was telling anyone who would listen 'but no-one will use floppies this time next year.'...)
 
deyorew said:
Sorry, yes this is exactly what I meant an emotional connection to the apple products, not just the case, but the experience which includes OS.
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Right, I see what you mean - the overall Mac 'experience' (design, ease of use, customer service, all that iJazz). The reason we all paid that bit extra for our gear.

I just think the MacBook is a great introduction to it - particularly for those people who will be using it as their sole computer.
 
satkin2 said:
I'd be sorry to see it go as it is the perfect entry to the Mac world. The MacBook I bought was my first Mac and I wouldn't go back now. I'd personally choose something sturdier as I've had three cracked cases, so I'd prefer aluminium, but for getting into the Mac world on a limited budget it was fantastic for me and I'm sure many others, I'd be sorry to see it discontinued.
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See. It actually isn't that great an introduction to Mac. The aluminum case is much better and pushing people to purchase it probably gives them the real quality build that Apple is known for (justified or not). I own a Macbook. But now the pro is just $200 more and I'd never consider not springing for that if I were to buy another laptop. Though really the decision for me would be to go Air or Pro and I'd lean toward the Air is I have a desktop at home and the laptop is just for portable activity. That said, I'm not likely to buy another laptop anytime soon as my work has gotten it in gear and given me a nice laptop (and windows 7 doesn't blow). And then I've also got an iPad.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
I though we dispelled the myth that clock speed is relevant when comparing two or more processors from different families earlier last decade. At any rate you are comparing the current MBA w/ the current MB, not MBA to-be-released this week. We don't know the specs on that one and it very well could be a much faster Sandy Bridge based chip than what is in the today's MBA or MB.
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Read the specs of each. They are more alike then you think

All run Core Duos.
The air has a front side bus speed of 800mhz
Mac Book and Book Pro front side bus are 1066mhz.
Pro has 4mb of l3 cache compared to 3 in the Air version which is 100 dollars more then the Pro.

The Airs SSD does have faster read/write


Now...
Keeping with that same logic and Apples history. All new machines will run Sandy Bridge and the Air because of its form factor will always have a slower bus speed and slower processor. The thing gets hot trust me I know.
 
I entered into the Mac world with white Core 2 Duo 2006 Macbook. I loved that machine. It had the perfect screen size for me, and the keyboard was very nice.

Altough some people don't like it, in my opinion the white macbook is an icon, when you see it you know it's a Mac. I remember that when I used that laptop in public, I received compliments from people, they all said it was the most beautiful laptop they had seen.

Now I have a 15" Macbook Pro, and I enjoy it, but that macbook is still my favorite.

The Macbook Air is nice too, but it's not for everybody, if I had to buy a $999 laptop, I would buy a Macbook.
 
ericmooreart said:
Keeping with that same logic and Apples history. All new machines will run Sandy Bridge and the Air because of its form factor will always have a slower bus speed and slower processor. The thing gets hot trust me I know.
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Sandy Bridge doesn't use FSB. It has been replaced by DMI which is the same in all CPUs (20Gb/s).

There is no reason for anyone to believe you because all you got is your guess, which is no different from anyone's guess.
 
Hellhammer said:
Sandy Bridge doesn't use FSB. It has been replaced by DMI which is the same in all CPUs (20Gb/s).

There is no reason for anyone to believe you because all you got is your guess, which is no different from anyone's guess.
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I am not fond of calling DMI a replacement for the front side bus given how many other things were dependent on the front side bus clock.
 
Im afraid they will kill it....Ill miss the white...hopefully it has a price reduction so I can get the latest model.
 
This would be a mistake.

It's prematurely pushing the Apple/Jobs "vision" at the cost of value and reason. And the customer loses. And so will Apple.
 
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