lol attack of the whingers
I'm getting the 1999 15 inch! what a great price! And a free ipod!
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Apple Releases New 15" MacBook Pro, Updates 17" MacBook Pro
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lol attack of the whingers
I'm getting the 1999 15 inch! what a great price! And a free ipod!
The #1 way to grow your business is:
A) Try as hard as possible to keep your base
B) Attract new customers (ie windoze usrs)
ANSWER: B!!!!BEEEE
Pros should migrate to linux and build their own laptops in their dark caves
I'm a suckah for a cute chick that knows OSX!I use this thing...
...the Logitech Comfort lapdesk, it's wide enough for a 17" (the chick in the
Why don't you just shut up? I have every right to claim Apple did the right thing in eliminating the expresscard slot as you do to say that they didn't.
In my mind, eliminating the express card slot brings the overall price down...and to me that's a good thing. In this time of global recession it was a smart move.
No, the 15 inch is not at a great price. Maybe if it was $1600 it would be a great price.
Sigh, so many here that were obviously dropped on their heads as children...
I should stop feeding the trolls but I just can't help myself.
Bring the price down? That's what makes this BS so magically delicious to you? Removing a $50 part that Pro users need, to bring the price of a *Pro* laptop down? Again, Apple has consumer MacBooks... Why should anyone just bend over and accept Apple *crippling* the Pro Macs to satisfy consumers? What is so hard about adding BTO options and cutting price of the *consumer* models? Why ruin the Pro models and remove features that Pro users need?
The trolls here can drive others to drink...
Sorry but I call BS on the 1% figure of users that use the ExpressCard slot, it's just a made up number with no hard evidence to back it up. As I said in an earlier post if you start taking features out because only a few users use them you'll soon have a notebook with no features at all. And I doubt that the SD slot will get used by a great many people, and with the ExpressCard slot there was an option for many more additional features, be that FW/ESATA/SD/CF and so on.
Plus they may have included a quicker CPU, but they've cheaped out on using one with half the L2 Cache on all but the higher end systems. It still baffles my brain that people seem to think that having solid and expandable features taken away can be a good thing, and arguing that it is saving costs is total rubbish when the cost has been reduced by using a cheaper CPU and/or loosing the dedicated GPU. So if anything Apples margins on these machines may actually increase.
Again it smells to me of the upsell, much in the same way that the last lot of Unibody Macbooks dropped Firewire, which again some people tried to argue that it was a good thing
P.S. you were talking about the previous models by using the past tense.
But anyway the whole use of the term "Pro" has become pretty much null and void recently.
Second that, cheers
I´m not interested in saving $300-400 on a laptop that is only half as usefull to me.
I´m willing to pay a premium to have the ports I need and that used to be there. It´s hard to plan a head for a business when they keep changing and dropping ports all the time.
They could have the low end 15" without express card and and left it in the high end, and everyone would be happy.
To the difference in the 15 and the 17, you obviously haven´t have to trek/climb with 20kg (40 pounds) of camera gear at high altitude. Any extra weight is unwanted.
Hell, I can just about fit the 15" in my camera bag. The 17 wouldn´t come close.
I understand this dosen´t apply to most people, but I´m sure it´s plenty of other circumstances the extra size and weight matters.
If you only travel to and from work or campus, sure the 17" might not feel that much bigger.
By this skewed logic if 1% were using the ExpressCard slot, how many were using it for an SD card reader, lets just make up a percentage, like 25%, so that would mean (by Apples own crazed logic) that 0.25% of MacBook Pro users were using it to access an SD card, so why add the slot in the first place?
And how can dropping a feature that could be used for more than just reading SD cards be any sort of gain to any number of users? There is no logic in that argument whatsoever!
I don't know why you think that.
Also you are taking the term "Pro" as if these laptops were only meant for professionals. Not that they just contain more higher end components (processors, video card, memory expandability, multi-monitors, etc). I.e. a higher level of components.
Yes apple had 2 lines. It wasn't per see a consumer line and and one for professionals. It is more like "student/consumer" and "Business" It was a lower end line with lower end components and a More expensive line "Pro" that had better components. The "Pro / Business User" at the time for Apple was mainly niche markets that required faster and better components to run the software and hardware. This hardware was overkill and unnecessary for the non-business user since the applications one would need to use did not require great processing power. Better video cards on a student/consumer grade laptop did not need to be high end either since the MAC was not a gaming platform and didn't have graphic intensive programs for this market.
Today and the past year or two this has more to do with capturing Windows users and especially windows "business" / "professional" user. Windows and many apps running under windows, especially business programs as well as games, need more processor power, memory and better quality video cards. They need more of these higher end components that are typically found in the "Pro" line. Apple has made great stride in converting PC users. Especially given the fact that Windows runs faster on MAC hardware and that you can also natively run windows apps on the MAC. Apple is making a huge push into this market and is more evident with bundling MS Exchange support in Snow Leopard.
Thus what was a typical "Pro" user years ago for Apple is not the same today. Thus the change in feature set and the price drop to attract a much larger customer base.
There are cost savings even on the 2 higher end 15" systems compared to the previous 15" pro's processor & video card.
I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but it seems that Apple is positioning the 17" as the Pro laptop. It's got the ExpressCard slot and the matte screen option. Truly, until the 15" has both of these things, it shouldn't be called a Pro computer. Same for the 13".
This "shell game" has me thinking that Apple plans on eventually adding a new MacBook. How long can it keep selling the plastic one? This move may have opened up room for a netbook or something.
This "shell game" has me thinking that Apple plans on eventually adding a new MacBook. How long can it keep selling the plastic one? This move may have opened up room for a netbook or something.
You are just looking at this as a swap of the SD card in place of the express card reader and that's it.
The gain to the majority of users (if in fact the percentage of users actually using the express card slot is a low percentage) is faster processor, better video card, longer lasting battery, better screen quality/gamut all for less $$ for the "pro" it just replaced at the same price level/point.
I could not be happier today, I called the Apple store today and asked about returning my 30 day old 17" MacBook Pro for the upgraded model, and upgrade a 21 day old 15" MacBook pro. I was told to com on in and they would take care of me, and they did. I was not able to bring back the 15" due to the fact that my daughter was away and I could not reach her, so the refunded me back $400 + tax as the previous 15" MacBook Pro was selling for $1599. Then I was told original on the phone my the manager that they would charge me 10% to return my 17" to exchange for the new 17". When I arrived they credited the 15" back ($400+tax) AND! Swapped out my 17" MacBook Pro for the new model (500GB/2.8GH) and refunded me back $300 + tax!
I have to say it was a very pleasant experience. Unbelievable..
I have to say it was a very pleasant experience. Unbelievable..
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Apple generally marketed their "Pro" line of hardware to work in tandem with their "Pro" software. Software that would make good use of a dedicated GPU, or a larger L2 Cache and the expandability that an ExpressCard would give you. Software like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Soundtrack Pro and DVD Studio Pro.
I'm by no means saying that the "Pro" range of hardware was used only by those people who used Apples "Pro" software, but the 15" is more of a nice, but pricey, consumer notebook now, and a lot of those users who've invested thousands in Apples "Pro" software will be somewhat annoyed that features that allowed them to do their work efficiently have been scrapped, and lesser components are now being used giving them no option but to go for the 17" model, which for one reason or another they may not want.
Not in all regions, plus as I posted earlier the bulk of the cost cutting will have little, if anything, to do with the lack of the ExpressCard when cheaper CPUs and GPUs are being used.
But you've still failed to answer a question posed earlier, which is how can dropping solid features be good to the end user?
I got a quick question guys. I will be buying the 15" 2.8ghz with the 5400rpm drive. How big of an effect does it make when you upgrade to a 7200rpm? Reason I ask, is I will be bootcamping it with XP Pro to play my Steam Games/Call of Duty 4/5 games on it. Just wondering where you see the different in the rpm's at?
EPIC FAIL.
You're argument is poor.
Faster Processor: On all but the top end 15" and 17" they've used a lesser CPU with half the L2 Cache.
Better Video Card: The base doesn't even have a dedicated GPU anymore, only the top end 15" and 17" use the same GPU that has been used for nearly 2 years (albeit a rebranded slightly higher clocked GPU) in fact the GPU in the 15" has had it's memory halved unless you buy the high end 15". And on top of this the GPU (9600M which is a rebranded 8600M but clocked slightly higher) was a midrange GPU on it's release over 2 years ago.
Better Display: May very well be, and if so touche.
Longer Lasting Battery: Always a good thing, and I'm not too fussed about a replaceable one, but others are, maybe they should license the magsafe so third parties can come up with a solution for those who need more time between charges.
And again I don't believe the BS about 1% of users using the ExpressCard, but even if that was true as I posted earlier how many of that 1% were using the ExpressCard slot as an SD card reader, well it would be less than 1% wouldn't it, so why even include the SD slot?
1. I have never used my expresscard slot. It is much easier just to use the cable with my camera. And for my DSLR I have the USB/SD cards because that's just easier.
2. I think he is looking at Apple taking away features. There is no need to change to an SD card slot when the Express card slot can do it. Its also easier to just plug in your camera. And the express card slot is more versatile for people who actually use the pro software Apple creates. And I rather not get started on taking away my screen options.
This explains most of it....
Attachments
Here they are side by side... neither fits in your pocket.
The 1440x900 res on the 15" is the dealbreaker for me. Even if the 17" was twice as thick as the 15", I'd still take the 17" as long as it's got 1920x1200.
Thats BS, they didnt upgrade the 17" with a SD card slot... They said they left the express on the 17 for music devlopers? BS.. less then 1% of people utilized this wether it was teh 15 or 17.
No. Bad squirrel.
"Pro" = function over form.
"Luxurious" = form over function.
Pro.
Not Pro.
I think the cheap white plastic macbook is best suited for the education department instead of the aluminum one... i mean cummon guys... those kids aren't pro and don't need the aluminum feature.
A kid (or a learning stage person) with an aluminum MacBook is a luxury.
It's like a pre-school child with an iPhone.
They are just learning how to use Mac OS X
I think the cheap white plastic macbook is best suited for the education department instead of the aluminum one... i mean cummon guys... those kids aren't pro and don't need the aluminum feature.
A kid (or a learning stage person) with an aluminum MacBook is a luxury.
It's like a pre-school child with an iPhone.
They are just learning how to use Mac OS X
are those kids monitored with their laptops? are they only used at certain times of the day or are they theirs to keep and use as they please? if its the later then that is terrible.
It's borrowed by the school for the year to be used at their computer class lesson and all the security & parental control is turned on.
UK refurbs agogo
Just noticed this and posted it on another thread.
Seems that in the refurb store for £1299 got you the 15" MBP with a 2.66 CPU with 6MB L2 Cache, 512 MB of VRAM, 3 USB ports, FW 800, expresscard.
Now in the main store for £1499 you get a 15" MBP with a 2.66 CPU with 3MB of L2 Cache, 256 MB or VRAM, 2 USB ports, FW800 and no expresscard slot.
Ouch
Makes little sense to me, but good news for those after a refurb!
Just noticed this and posted it on another thread.
Seems that in the refurb store for £1299 got you the 15" MBP with a 2.66 CPU with 6MB L2 Cache, 512 MB of VRAM, 3 USB ports, FW 800, expresscard.
Now in the main store for £1499 you get a 15" MBP with a 2.66 CPU with 3MB of L2 Cache, 256 MB or VRAM, 2 USB ports, FW800 and no expresscard slot.
Ouch
Makes little sense to me, but good news for those after a refurb!
ok good, because if the students got to take home those computers or use them whenever they wanted to i would have been disgusted
I wonder if windows can be booted by sd card driver. Wouldn't it be nice? (with a fast one like this: http://www.sdcard.org/developers/tech/sdxc)