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Apple Releases New MacBooks

Wolfpup said:
MUCH worse. Intel's GMA 950 is a Direct X 6 part, circa early 1999.
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Intel say: "With a powerful 400MHz core and DirectX* 9 3D hardware acceleration, Intel® GMA 950 graphics"

Yes, it's crappy, and the vertex processing is handled by the CPU, but it's not 1999 quality as the combination of GMA950 + Drivers can (in Windows) handle DirectX 9 completely (or OpenGL 1.5 / 2.0 / whatever, in Mac OS X).

Oh, this is a long post, and your first argument was incorrect. Think I'll skip the rest...
 
Nothing unusual about the MacBook update. It may have been a few months longer then usual to release but this is pretty much a standard mid-cycle update. We'll need to have a major bump in the Pro line and have that run for a few months before they move the MacBook up to that level.

Hopefully we'll see the SR platform soon. Then we can start talking about a SR MacBook. As usual, most will be happy to get these more powerful machines at the same price.

Still waiting on at least a minor Imac update......
 
No Santa Rosa, but big Euro price drop! 🙂

What American customers usually don't notice - Apple has terminally fixed prices in the US, but they are fiddling with their international price points at just about every product revision, both for Macs and iPods.

Specifically, the Macbook in most Euro zone markets today dropped from 1119/1319/1519 EUR to 1049/1249/1449 EUR. 70 EUR price drop. Yay! I haven't followed prices in the UK or some Euro countries with individual prices, like Austria. But I'd imagine it would be similar there. Way to grow, European market share!
 
Sheesh Wolfpup, its hard to respond to a post that is so long.

But anyway, the thing about entry-level and all of that, you cannot say that it has to be between specific prices. Just like consumer and pro are designated by Apple those price ranges are created by other companies. Just because an entry-level Mac is more expensive then an entry-level Dell does not mean that it is no longer entry-level. My personal definition of entry-level is the type of computer someone might get as their first computer. If someone made a computer for less then $400 would it be sub-entry-level?
 
Roderick Usher said:
I see the MacBook's intended audience as broader, though: consumers, not just students. The economics of the PC gaming world have created a substantial precedent for the ability to buy a laptop that will run games decently - by which I mean less than a state-of-the-art gaming laptop, but certainly more than what the Intel chipset provides - at an entry to mid-level price. At present, if I want an Apple laptop with that kind of performance, I have to shell out $2000 at a minimum, and that just isn't competitive. For certain subsets of consumers I'll buy the "just use consoles" argument, since college students really are more likely to do that, but I think the remaining chunk of gamers is large enough and significant enough that neither Apple nor those reviewing its product decisions should squeeze them out like this.
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Well, it doesn't much matter how you see the intended audience: the fact remains that college students drive the majority of MB sales. Most other consumers are probably looking at a desktop rather than a laptop, since that makes more economical sense.

Aside from that, you've basically ignored all that I said in regards to gaming on a MB. Apple is not targeting gamers with their consumer laptop, nor would it make sense for them to. The simple fact is, gamers are NOT looking at buying an Apple, and the majority are not looking at a laptop at all (if they ARE looking at a laptop, they're probably looking towards Alienware - which means they're going to be paying as much as a MBP costs anyways).

It's just how it is.
 
suneohair said:
snip...

You want to tell me to keep my mouth shut, but what are you offering up? Give me a reason as to why you need SR? Please.
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Why one would want SR:

1. 800 MHz front side bus which can toggle up and down
1a. New Socket connection
2. Less heat, better power management
3. faster processer speeds
4. Turbo Memory(formally Robson Cache)
5. X3100(the improved graphics card)
6. Better for boot camp users

These are reasons for the MB.

Mainly good for the MBP:
1. Support for more memory
 
whatever said:
Actually my friend, Apple is very competitive in the market place. Changing chips and upgrading their systems everytime a vendor upgraded their hardware/software is what got Dell into the mess they're in today. Clear in simple their quality control and support dropped, while they were releasing cheap and bleeding edge machines.

Meanwhile, Apple's marketshare continues to grow! So in a competitive market, Apple is doing something right.
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Hey, I agree. We're all here because we appreciate at least some aspects of what Apple brings to the table. I'm just saying that Apple probably doesn't refuse to upgrade hardware just because it brings too much capability, and that product differentiation among their line isn't the end-all be-all of their upgrade decisions -- it may play a role, but as long as they have competitors, their upgrades will be largely determined by what people want. There are a number of reasons why Santa Rosa might not have been adopted this time around, but I don't think things that other people have mentioned, like "the students we want using this shouldn't be playing games", are so much a factor.
 
It's a decent upgrade. I'm not complaining, but if the lower end macbooks are indeed geared towards the average user, and as the mac employee said earlier 40% of his customers are students, don't you think they should incorporate a slight graphics bump to at least make some of the more popular games more playable?

I plan to pick one up whenever they get in stock in my local apple store 🙂
 
whatever said:
Actually, you my friend are a cheap bastard. If you really need better graphics then spend the extra money and buy a MacBook Pro. It's as easy as that.

For the majority of the users out there, the MacBook does the job.

If you're using Pro Apps or play games, then it's not the computer for you. It's not like specs. aren't listed on the software.
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Did it ever occur to you that someone might be willing to shell out the money but they DON'T want and MPB because the thing is huge and heavy?? I don't want a sub-note book. What I want it a laptop with a 13.3 inch screen but more of the features of the MBP. I am WILLING to spend the money but Apple doesn't offer it. Their options are very limited! I would never want to carry around a MBP.
 
I can gather from this update that those of us with Remembrance Day (Veterans Day) C2D MacBooks will retain better resale value seeing as the upgrade was an 8% speed bump and a bigger drive rather than a full SR makeover.

They must be working hard on the new iMacs and minis cause there really hasn't been any new hardware (sans CPU upgrades) for almost a year (Mac Pro switch to Intel in August). I doubt :apple:TV or iPhone could have consumed that much hardware development resource.
 
Apple...always a day late and a dollar shor.....no, make that a dollar too much.
Steve "Snow" Jobs mentally replaying his Next computer fiasco....late, obsolete and costs way too much.

Bring back Gil Amelio! Or at least Lee Eyeacoca-cola!!!
 
dang, there is nothing anyone can do about apple's products except buy them or not buy them. stop coming here to complain. send your disgruntled comments directly to apple.

apple wants people to switch from windows, but they get all the money and we at MR have to deal with the baggage it brings.

I have assimilated. resistance if futile. yes there are apple apologists here, and if you don't like it, take it somewhere else.

🙂 love ya though!
 
xfiftyfour said:
Well, when someone predicts that the iMac is going to be a main update/announcement at WWDC, I think they NEED to be reminded what WWDC stands for. Clearly they haven't taken the venue into account when making their prediction.
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I didn't take venue into account when making my prediction because I don't think the venue has anything to do with an iMac announcement. The iMac is long overdue for a serious update.

The VENUE announcement will be the release of the beta version of Leopard - that has been the advertising plug apple has been running, after all.
 
And they are still overpriced. Would have been nice to see a real video card in them.

I can still buy a laptop with better specs for half the price.
 
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