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Apple Predicted to Discontinue 17-Inch MacBook Pro

Ryth said:
It's a pro market...but a hell of a small pro market...I'm in it. :)
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I am actually a semi-pro musician and composer myself, but that is not what pays the bills. My day job is in IT for a school district, and we actually use Macs for most of our needs... including IT services (file services, Web, network... DNS, DHCP, etc.)

Really, any "pro market" is a fraction of any "consumer market". So, I guess all computer companies should ditch their "pro" offerings! lol

Anyway... glad you are a creative pro... you make our lives better! :)
 
sseaton1971 said:
Many people have pointed out that Apple is a consumer company now.
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*LTD* said:
Apple has always straddled the line between both.
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LTD, in this thread you stated just the opposite re: consumer and professional focus:

Quake 4, Complete with Cross-Platform Multiplayer, Arrives on the Mac App Store


*LTD* said:
Retailers can barely get desktops to move. Even AIOs are a hard sell (except for the iMac.) It's all about portability and mobility in today's market.

They choose what to produce and what not to produce. Their current strategy is mistake-free. They don't have to give you something just because you happen to want it.... As for the old desktop paradigm . . . you won't find much luck with Apple. And one can't really blame them for that.

Of course it's [professional market] meaningless. One market traded for another... And that's *without* serving Pros to they [the] extent they did in the past. Apple has shifted strategy TOWARD greater profitability and has shifted their attention to the most profitable market - Consumers. Especially Prosumers.

Who says they even need to?
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So which is it, does Apple focus on consumer or professional products? When I stated what you did above, that Apple could focus on both consumer and professional markets, you argued they don't have to and the professional market has little to no monetary value in Apple's mobile market. This was also about the Mac Pro, Apple offering a mid-tower between the top iMac and Mac Pro that would be priced as the PowerMac's once were, ~1500, which did not eat into iMac market and many from gamers to pro's or even high end consumers have been wanting since Apple adopted expensive Xeon servers with the Intel change. ;)
 
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apolloa said:
Just a note to talk about the 'Pro' market. This Pro market includes film and television production, I have seen documentaries when they are in the middle of nowhere using Final Cut on a 17" MacBook Pro to edit wildlife film, I have also lost count the number of times I now see Macs and iPads used by presenters on news channels, sport channels etc etc. Apple are making IMO massive penetration into the visible work environment of this market now, they have always been in the background but never in the forefront, and how many films do you see Macs in now too?
It has become a very cool brand, but also has a very reliable reputation. You could even argue it's another reason why the 17" isn't going anywhere and neither is the Mac Pro!
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Speaking of the pro market, I personally do all my "pro" work, including video and sound editing on a 13-inch MBP. My previous laptop, a 15-inch HP, had a nice big screen and all but it doesn't bother me much going down.

If anything I'll be buying an Apple display soon so I can hook the MBP up at home to a bigger monitor. I don't see myself lugging around a 17-inch laptop, ever.
 
MBP 15" heavy?

I find it funny that people say that the 15" MBP is not portable because of its weight. I personally find it very portable, to the point where weight is a none-issue. I mean maybe you guys should hit the gym once in a while ;)

I personally look forward to a new 15" MBP with retina display, then i dont really need more ;)
 
hmm

give me a 15 inch with same specs or better as the current mbp with a macbook air shell & solid state drive... a retina display would be nice aswell and ill buy a new one.
 
Apple should make the Mac lineup simple.

Pro Notebook: MacBook Pro (15" and 17")
Pro Desktop: Mac Pro
Consumer Notebook: MacBook Air (11.5" and 13")
Consumer Desktop: iMac or Mac Mini
 
Brace for potential impact......

IF this is true, my AV editing team is going to be P****D! They thrive on these machines for mobile editing and client presentations.

My animation/FX team will be mercifully unaffected. I buy them super high-end PC laptops, upgrade the heck out of them, then install ubuntu/Houdini 11. 17" screens are in no danger there.

But only time will tell, let's hope things turn out okay.
 
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SamSmith said:
Apple should make the Mac lineup simple.

Pro Notebook: MacBook Pro (15" and 17")
Pro Desktop: Mac Pro
Consumer Notebook: MacBook Air (11.5" and 13")
Consumer Desktop: iMac or Mac Mini
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This is basically what is offered now, except for the elimination of the 13" MacBook Pro in your line up. Because the 13" MBP is the hottest seller right now (according to the article), it doesn't seem likely Apple would drop it. Of course cheaper SSDs for higher capacities could make a huge difference. Also, I am not sure only one consumer desktop, iMac or Mac mini, would be a smart move.
 
Bye bye 17"

I guess there are only a couple ways these comments can go... You're one of the few that love and care if the 17" hangs around, or you're not crazy about it and don't care if it disappears. I'm in the latter group.

My 17 MBP was the first Mac I ever bought for myself with all my own money. It was a beast, but I quickly got tired of lugging it around. Now when my work asked me what type of laptop I wanted I went 15" and couldn't be happier. If I'm doing serious work I plug a monitor in. If I'm being portable then I want it more... portable.

Maybe with retina screens, any benefit of being 17" is gone.
 
MisterK said:
I guess there are only a couple ways these comments can go... You're one of the few that love and care if the 17" hangs around, or you're not crazy about it and don't care if it disappears. I'm in the latter group.

My 17 MBP was the first Mac I ever bought for myself with all my own money. It was a beast, but I quickly got tired of lugging it around. Now when my work asked me what type of laptop I wanted I went 15" and couldn't be happier. If I'm doing serious work I plug a monitor in. If I'm being portable then I want it more... portable.

Maybe with retina screens, any benefit of being 17" is gone.
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I have the same setup you have, but I don't have to do the types of things that require a larger screen when I am out of my office. So, I can see why some people are very passionate about keeping the 17" MBP.
 
I hope they keep the 17".
That computer is great for professional work and the large screen is a blessing for designers.
Come on Apple!
 
It wouldn't surprise me at all if they dropped the 17" model. From the way sales are, I doubt Apple sees much benefit in continuing to produce a model that hardly sells.
 
nikhsub1 said:
SB can handle up to 32GB in the laptop - I have 16GB in there now. What 8GB limitation?
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What's SB?

Apple's official RAM limit on the MBP is 8GB.

[That's one beast - hope it won't ever leak.]

xgman said:
I've had a 17" since late 2007. I have moved it once. I agree that the 17" laptop can step down and just be replaced with an imac. The portability of a host of other devices with high res screens seems sufficient in today's world.
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WardC said:
Or you couuullld....buy a 15" MacBook Pro, a 27" iMac, a Mac Pro, two iPads, an 11" and a 13" MacBook Air, and have about 30 other older Macs around, like me :D

Yes, I think I am officially Apple's biggest fan.

But, I will agree, I use my desktops more than anything else....my 27" iMac at home and my Mac Pro at work....I find myself rarely using my laptops at all now, actually thinking about selling them. For anything portable I am using my iPad (mobile e-mail, web surfing, internet, etc)....I really don't have much use for my MacBooks anymore.
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As I noted previously, by looking at what some of you have bought, the U.S. economy is thriving.

I'm just glad I no longer have to work on a Mac Classic 9-inch screen. ;)
 
The bottom line is if few people are buying them, Apple will drop it. Sometimes by not updating it, Apple can influence people not purchasing such as the Mac Pro.
 
iBug2 said:
I don't remember Apple ever being a pro market company. They started as a consumer (not even prosumer) company and continued on that for many years.
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From Day 1 - Apple 2s - Macintosh - Quadra - were pro office machines.


iBug2 said:
They started building workstation class computers when they switched to Intel (before that the processing speed of Mac computers were never on par with workstation processors) and they may discontinue that line now.
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G3's towers were faster than intel at the time. They won't discontinue the towers - pointless. Apple have always pushed the boundaries of technology - what they going to use to design the next gen of iphone? An i7 or a 12 core number cruncher.... or how about a windows machine? I expect they did not updated the Mac Pros last year as the last intel update was not worth the extra horsepower and/or they were waiting on the very delayed Sandy Bridge E5

iBug2 said:
So only the Mac Pro was truly a professional grade machine. I wouldn't count any of the PowerPC line or the Quadra Line on that level. They were fast but not as fast as intel offerings of the era.
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They were faster for graphics applications which was the main reason Pros used them. PC's were faster in the games area. I do agree that was in part due to the OS being far mor efficient than windows
 
Hackintosh to the rescue.

Sigh. For the portable developer - this would be a disaster. It would mean the need to buy a 17 from someone else and install Hackintosh... or worse, convert to Linux and run the Mac in a VM.

I just don't see this happening.
 
I have seen some people with 17-inch laptops. It's pretty annoying because you can see everything on the screen like from five tables away.

I hope they at least consider the size for a new iMac because it makes sense and probably would make it cheaper. It's better for the customer too because buying a low-end Mac Mini and a $999 low-end display/keyboard/magic mice makes no sense.
 
Maybe, just maybe, Apple is killing off the 17-inch MacBook Pro. Maybe it's because Apple is switching screen aspect ratios from the 16:10 in the current 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros to the mainstream standard, 16:9. Therefore, Apple will introduce a 18-inch MacBook Pro! :D If you've been following the panel sizes, 18.4-inches is available.

(I know, I know, wishful thinking!)
 
gibbo132 said:
Well after using the 13" air I can't wait to get rid of my 15" MBP. It was a much nicer machine to use and felt much faster!
I looked at the 17" and I think it looks ridiculous, far to big for a laptop. Plus you can get the extra power of the 17" in the 15". If you really need the power get a Mac Pro!
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Unbelievable. :rolleyes:

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Jessica Lares said:
I have seen some people with 17-inch laptops. It's pretty annoying because you can see everything on the screen like from five tables away.
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Yeah, that's a great reason for Apple to get rid of the 17" MPB. :mad:
 
VacantPsalm said:
As for "retina will save us," I'd have to see it before passing that judgment. I already want retina in a 17" because I want more. Retina will not just flat out double the screen real-estate though because there's going to be a point when things are just too small. The question is are my eyes good enough that a 15" MacBook will give me back what I see in front of me AND give me the more I want?

It's possible, there is a chance I can be content with a 15" retina screen. But damn, do you know how much better a 17" one would be? Damn it.
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You and me both. I would love 3840x2400 in a 17". "Retina is as retina does."
 
vincebio said:
Absolute utter tripe from another 'anal'-yst looking for his name in the news today...
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Yeah, that's the ticket.

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