Boy do I hate Macbook Pro's pricing tiers

[Ryand123]

Not long ago a 15 inch MBP started at $2,000. Hardly cheap but almost justifiable. Now they start $2,400. Oh, but you get all this awesome stuff for your money: a 6 core processor! A 4 GB graphics card!

But what if I want to just use it to write, watch videos, listen to music, and surf the Internet?

"Well........have we got the product for you! A cheaper Macbook Air! Lightness strikes again!"

But what if I have bad eyesight and don't want a smaller screen? What if I really want the 15 inch screen without all the power user stuff?

Ummmm...........................

It's as if Apple has forgotten that some might just want a bigger screen and they're not all graphic designers.

I'm going to be in the market for a new laptop soon but I'm leaning heavily towards a 4K Windows laptop instead. Will save me a lot of $ and do everything I need. And I'll probably get a better a keyboard, a touchscreen, a higher pixel density screen, even a 17 inch 4K screen............all for less money.

But I'd probably stick with Apple if they hadn't forgotten my segment of the market entirely.

 

[ChrisA]

But what if I want to just use it to write, watch videos, listen to music, and surf the Internet?

Buy a Chromebook. Seriously. For under $400 you can have a 15" screen and 10-hour battery life. Yes, it is a low-end CPU but it will do everything on your list and you don't have to put up with Windows 10.

Chrome OS is basically Linux with a nice user interface.

 

[leman]

Not long ago a 15 inch MBP started at $2,000. Hardly cheap but almost justifiable. Now they start $2,400

Intel canned the fast iGPU so Apple discontinued that model. The price is as it has always been.

But what if I have bad eyesight and don't want a smaller screen?

This doesn’t make any sende to me. Those screen have identical PPI, so size of items on the screen is the same. And you can use both at scaled resolution that would increase the size of the UI.

What if I really want the 15 inch screen without all the power user stuff?

Then you don’t buy Apple. The Apple laptops are organized by performance classes - and have always been. If you want a large laptop with low-end hardware, you buy something else. There are many use cases that Apple does not cover.

 

[Ryand123]

Intel canned the fast iGPU so Apple discontinued that model. The price is as it has always been.



This doesn’t make any sende to me. Those screen have identical PPI, so size of items on the screen is the same. And you can use both at scaled resolution that would increase the size of the UI.



Then you don’t buy Apple. The Apple laptops are organized by performance classes - and have always been. If you want a large laptop with low-end hardware, you buy something else. There are many use cases that Apple does not cover.

A 15 inch screen will display items as bigger than a 13 inch screen if they have the exact same PPI. And yes I can scale but then you lose some sharpness. Why should I have to make that compromise?
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Intel canned the fast iGPU so Apple discontinued that model. The price is as it has always been.



This doesn’t make any sende to me. Those screen have identical PPI, so size of items on the screen is the same. And you can use both at scaled resolution that would increase the size of the UI.



Then you don’t buy Apple. The Apple laptops are organized by performance classes - and have always been. If you want a large laptop with low-end hardware, you buy something else. There are many use cases that Apple does not cover.

Except you can buy a 15 inch Windows laptop with high end hardware and still pay less than $2400. No hardware compromises necessary. If you argue Windows is a compromise vs. MacOS (which I don't really agree with) then you say a PC is a compromise vs. a Mac.
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Buy a Chromebook. Seriously. For under $400 you can have a 15" screen and 10-hour battery life. Yes, it is a low-end CPU but it will do everything on your list and you don't have to put up with Windows 10.

Chrome OS is basically Linux with a nice user interface.

But I think you're stuck with Google's docs program and can't load Word? That would be a dealbreaker for me.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I've long wished they'd make a MacBook Air class device with larger than 13" screen.

Many many people just want more screen real estate to have things be physically bigger on screen or to simply show more content period - but have no need for any of the other things you are forced to pay for on an MBP level device.

 

[leman]

A 15 inch screen will display items as bigger than a 13 inch screen if they have the exact same PPI. And yes I can scale but then you lose some sharpness. Why should I have to make that compromise?

The size of items is identical. If you don’t believe me go check it yourself. If you want the 15” to have larger text than the 13” you need to use scales resolutions, which you don’t want to do.

Except you can buy a 15 inch Windows laptop with high end hardware and still pay less than $2400. No hardware compromises necessary

Don’t know, 16:9 displays, worse battery life, bottom air vents and slow wifi performance sound like hardware compromises to me. Then again, you win some you lose some. The 15” MBP competes more against similar priced compact workstation laptops with which it has some hardware features in common (more robust power system, hardware GPU multiplexer, surge protection etc). Nobody argues that they are expensive. There are certainly better bang fir buck laptops out there if that’s what you are looking for.

 

[jerryk]

I've long wished they'd make a MacBook Air class device with larger than 13" screen.

Many many people just want more screen real estate to have things be physically bigger on screen or to simply show more content period - but have no need for any of the other things you are forced to pay for on an MBP level device.

I also think this would be a good idea. Two levels of laptops, Air and Pro and pick the screen size you like. Nice and simple.

Hopefully Apple with do the same thing with iPad line this year.