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apple trying to fool us -- my take on the recent retina "update"
- Thread starter SphericalPear
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You sound like you've owned enough laptops to understand this: ALL computers have a finite lifecycle. ALL are disposable. RAM is cheap enough these days that people generally buy what they need when they buy the computer. By the time you decide you need more RAM, you're at the end of the lifecycle of the product.
Hard drives are another story. Capacity grows and costs drop every year while at the same time your storage needs increase. A non-upgradable drive makes very little sense on it's own. In the case of the MBPr though, the trade-off between the SSD and a HDD is HUGE. I opted for a 768GB SSD and I have to say the MBPr with that drive is fantastic.
As for "burning out" Intel-based MacBooks, I actually don't know what that means. We're not talking about light bulbs here. What happened to them?
I certainly don't believe that it's true that intel-based Mac laptops are any less reliable than PowerPC-based laptops were. I've owned at least one Mac laptop since the days of the PowerBook 100 and I have seen no such trend. I've also owned a number of Windows laptops over the same time period from IBM, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and Asus. My experience with all of the WinTel laptops is that their build quality is far lower than Apple's and they're less reliable as a whole.
The main reason the old model is still there is because some people like the HDDs higher storage capacity and use ethernet/firewire/disk drive. It's also upgradeable - something important to a lot of users these days.
The rMBP is for the people who have already moved away from these legacy devices (e.g CDs) and are willing to opt for a smaller SSD.
They made them as similar as possible, but without soldering/gluing in the parts (removes ability to upgrade) and removing the disk drive, they cannot slim the current model down anymore.
The rMBP is for the people who have already moved away from these legacy devices (e.g CDs) and are willing to opt for a smaller SSD.
They made them as similar as possible, but without soldering/gluing in the parts (removes ability to upgrade) and removing the disk drive, they cannot slim the current model down anymore.
Wow, as of this writing your post received -60 down votes.
What a group of incredibly negative, judgmental people.
You've simply expressed your opinion which is what public forums are for, and the crowd was so sensitive they just couldn't take it.
Lol. The voting system is there for judgemental reasons. Everybody has opinions and judges other peoples', just like you judged "the crowd".
At most part, faulty reasoning is usually not tolerated and down voted. Don't want your feelings hurt? Don't post your opinion in a public forum.
Somehow you've completely missed the point. No one got their feelings hurt. It's only a computer.
Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge? HD 3000 to HD 4000 + 650M? err... sounds like a pretty standard bump in spec's.
They introduced the future of the Macbook line. They didn't phase out the old most likely due to the fact of the lack of production of retina displays. These are not only costly LCD panels but getting "perfect" ones is all the more difficult considering how many pixels each one has.
See above, supply of retina displays isn't as wide spread, limited production. Hence 3 to 4 week lead times.
$400 increase from the base MBP to rMBP. Gain SSD storage, double the ram, HDMI out, lose 2lbs, and gain the best laptop display available. Call me crazy but sounds like a solid upgrade for the money. If i'm spending $1800 on the base model I would have upgraded to an SSD anyhow (non Apple) for a few hundred and upgraded the ram. At min I'm spending another $250 to $300 to get a 256 SSD and 8gigs of ram considering you have to buy an 8gig kit, not a 4 as there are only two ram slots in the MBP.
I agree it probably is just like the rest of their MBP line, high margin and people are willing to buy them. I pay for quality products everyday. I think that is a given for anyone that has purchased and had Apple products over the past 5+ years. We know the brand, trust the customer service if we need it and know the resale down the road is incredible.
Apple didn't expect anyone to do so, nor did they raise the price. They rarely if ever do. As with the MBA they lowered the prices by $100, yet added Ivy Bridge CPU's to those.
You clearly haven't seen the display, it's not a typical MBP with a new name. It's an entirely different machine.
To say it was a crazy price hike would indicate the rMBP actually existed prior to the announcement, which didn't. So it's a new machine with a new price point. There is not "price hike" because there simply is no price to compare it to.
Slowed down? how so?
You have no idea what your talking about, sorry I work in the parts industry and your not trimming down a 9mm superdrive to fit in the rMBP. Sorry your simply speaking out your a$$ here.
Again, pointless topic.
No one will ever need more than 640K...
Buy hey other than that your post is right on!
Cool Story Bro. Maybe you should buy yourself a PC and stop whining about the prices of a Mac. The PC community welcomes you
Well, all of his points are wrong and his analysis is naive and biased. What did you expect? I don't see people upvoting anyone that just writes a blob of random babble. A well-researched, constructive post would have gotten much more positive attention see for instance thread about the rMBP UI lag.
My problem with the Retina, which was the reason I went with the non-Retina instead, was because for all it's advances, it felt like a step backward.
Yes, the SSD is awesome. But 256GB? Paltry. Storage is supposed to be going up, not down. For the same price I got a 750GB hard drive in my MacBook Pro.
The retina screen is stellar. But only for applications that have been upgraded, and only for websites that have been upgraded. Applications will catch up fairly fast, but the entire internet? I predict bandwidth and labor conscious web developers will resist this change for as long as possible.
The new case is impressively thin, love the added vents along the side too. But the tradeoff is the loss of repairability and upgradeability. Again, computers should be more open, not less. This feels like a step backward to me. Retina users cannot easily change their proprietary SSDs, ram is impossible to replace, as is the battery.
For a lot of people, these issues will be irrelevant, or they will be willing to trade off the negatives for the positives. For me, they were deal breakers. Fortunately Apple has shown the wisdom to continue to offer both versions, so everyone can be happy.
So far, the people on these forums and pretty much everywhere else are very pleased with their MacBook Pro Retinas. They don't feel fooled. I'm very pleased with my non-Retina, I don't feel fooled. Win-win.
Yes, the SSD is awesome. But 256GB? Paltry. Storage is supposed to be going up, not down. For the same price I got a 750GB hard drive in my MacBook Pro.
The retina screen is stellar. But only for applications that have been upgraded, and only for websites that have been upgraded. Applications will catch up fairly fast, but the entire internet? I predict bandwidth and labor conscious web developers will resist this change for as long as possible.
The new case is impressively thin, love the added vents along the side too. But the tradeoff is the loss of repairability and upgradeability. Again, computers should be more open, not less. This feels like a step backward to me. Retina users cannot easily change their proprietary SSDs, ram is impossible to replace, as is the battery.
For a lot of people, these issues will be irrelevant, or they will be willing to trade off the negatives for the positives. For me, they were deal breakers. Fortunately Apple has shown the wisdom to continue to offer both versions, so everyone can be happy.
So far, the people on these forums and pretty much everywhere else are very pleased with their MacBook Pro Retinas. They don't feel fooled. I'm very pleased with my non-Retina, I don't feel fooled. Win-win.
so you mean storage is supposed to be going up in size and not up in any other way? This might be smaller in size, but its less in power, physical size, and a huge huge upgrade in speed.
depends how the app is made, many work without an upgrade. Also it works nice if your the type of person who can be ok with running a non-scaled 2880x1800 like me, then nothing needs to be updated.
if you look at a computer that way, but most people just want a machine to use, not a collection of parts inside a case. I don't see tons of people compaling about not being able to upgrade flash, or ram or CPUs and stuff in iPhones, or iPads, etc... most people say it should be upgradable just because it costs more, but thats just nonsense.
(sorry guys for having been absent for a while, business travels in asia.)
but it looks as if my theories have been proven right mostly, given the evidence and new developments since three weeks ago, don't ya think? sad but true.
let's see whether my predictions about the 13" august/october rMBP release and features will hold true as well. remember that i predicted it to be significantly more expensive than the 13" MBP.
also, my business partners in asia agreed with me.
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also, i've stocked up on the vintage 15" and 13" MBP to give to family, relatives and friends, and as an investment before prices shoot through the roof after the upgrades.
(PM me if you're interested in one of these pre-retina laptops, i can offer you a good price.)
but it looks as if my theories have been proven right mostly, given the evidence and new developments since three weeks ago, don't ya think? sad but true.
let's see whether my predictions about the 13" august/october rMBP release and features will hold true as well. remember that i predicted it to be significantly more expensive than the 13" MBP.
also, my business partners in asia agreed with me.
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also, i've stocked up on the vintage 15" and 13" MBP to give to family, relatives and friends, and as an investment before prices shoot through the roof after the upgrades.
(PM me if you're interested in one of these pre-retina laptops, i can offer you a good price.)
Of course Apple needs to make profit, one of the reasons being that they put so much money into developing their products - compared to other companies. They have to make their money back somehow.
It sounds to me you are just jealous because you can't afford one of the new RMBPs. If the RMBP doesn't fit your needs/budget, just don't buy it. There is not point of whining on the forums about it, it just makes you looks desperate. Get a life
Typical apple fanboy response. Accuse the person of being jealous or poor because they criticize apple. Instead of rebutting with facts and knowledge you go for the insults.
You sound like snob. You act as if the only reason someone wouldn't buy one is because their broke. You can't comprehend that maybe some just doesn't want one.
You mean the tremendous popularity and overwhelmingly positive reviews of retina MacBook Pro? Or 3 millions downloads of ML in a few days? Right, rMBP sucks as hell
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Great way to lose money. Do you really think that someone would buy it from you when they can get them directly from an authorised reseller?
I recently brought a non retina MacBook pro and they are updated. They have USB 3 and brand spanking new processor.
Yeah the retinas are pricey. However the screen is not the only thing included. It has sd memory which is going to drive any laptop price up. it even drives up windows laptops up.
And I think people would have paid more for an updated MacBook pro regardless of the retinas. MacBook are already pricey so for some people they mines well spend the extra bucks.
I personally see no need for retina display laptop. Im pleased with the non retinas display. But that's just me. A lot of people love the retinas MacBook pro.
What a nonsense. I mean, I always welcome constructive criticism, but OP's reasoning is a bunch of ad-hoc arguments which make no sense whatsoever. All he is saying is 'oh noes, Apple has redesigned the MBP! It uses new technology so its slightly more expensive! We are all doomed! Give me your money so I can sell you some stuff!'.
I agree that his points are flawed and some of them are not even based on facts. But to accuse the man of being broke just makes you sound like a rabid fanboy.
It's like the go argument for when someone criticizes Macs.
It's like when pc fanboys complain about Mac pointing devices not having 2 buttons
I am super happy with my base rMBP with 16 gigs. The screen is amazing and its response is wicked fast because of the SSD. I'm amazed that this 15 inch notebook is LIGHTER than my 13 inch MacBook. I read these posts complaining about the machine and just shrug my shoulders.
I can agree to that, I suppose. I also dislike that "you're broke' argument becomes increasingly popular on these forums. People should start inventing new insults
Agreed. The rMBP, like the original macbook air, is Apple doing a rare move of forecasting where they believe the puck is going to be.
And there's a lot of changes, which has some people spooked. Instead of making one change, like dropping the floppy drive on the original iMac, or foregoing the express card slot on the 15" from one year to the next, there's more than the usual.
I think apple's convinced that an internet and computing appliance, fairly standardized and low maintenance that gives features most consumers will want (Retina screen, SSD) and in turn takes away features they think most of them will neither use or miss (upgradeability, tons of ports) is the way to go. Apple's usually right...try to go into an Apple store these days at any time it's open and see if you can get to the back without brushing against someone else.
Standardization should make the lives of the geniuses and the people lined up in front of them a bit easier, too: at least they won't have to deal with third party hardware in making diagnoses and repairs.
It's easy to decry and conjecture that these changes are designed by marketing for forced obsolescence: not being to upgrade RAM and Storage will 'force' people to buy new systems instead of coaxing a little extra life out of their existing ones. My own personal, subjective opinion is that Apple couldn't care less, as most consumers don't upgrade systems themselves and apple gets people to buy new systems by innovating new hardware and features.
Apple has always wanted control over every aspect of its hardware and software, had it's own vision of what the consumer experience should be, and had indifference or contempt for the status quo and legacy products. Why should the retina macbook pro be any different?