Has Apple Blown Off Their CD Consumers?

[dempson]

Laptops live's are generally a lot shorter, 1-2 years at the absolute max. They will never be made with all the lastest hardware that a desktop can be made with.

And I agree you got your money's worth, after all you bought a Mac. I have plenty of friends on g4 notebooks and they still work great for 80% of their daily needs.

I was perfectly happy on my almost five year old PowerBook G4 (667 MHz DVI) until about two months ago, when it developed a major fault that made it very difficult to start up. I struggled on while waiting for the new models to be announced, and my PBG4 managed to be usable (with caution and patience) until the very day I ordered my MacBook Pro.

It then decided to die for good, probably in protest at being replaced.

Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the MacBook Pro, and I'm using a borrowed iBook G4 in the meantime.

Prior to the PowerBook, I had an iBook G3, which I outgrew within a year - everything about it was too small or slow. The PowerBook was a big improvement.

 

[WannaGoMac]

I feel a bit shunned by Apple. When I bought me CD laptop in June of last year, I thought it would last at least 3.5 years, well into college for me. Now, I am a bit put off at how Apple has marketed and developed its target releases and the Leopard OS.

Less than 7 months after releasing the 17in CD, they released the 17in 64 bit Merom; then 6 mo. after that, the SR. With leopard being marketed as such a huge discrepancy between 32 and 64 bit processing, it seems CD users will be in the dark once 10.6 is released, and also highly disadvantaged in 10.5 use. This goes without mentioning the countless faults and errors associated with the CDs including overheating, terrible LCDs, and processing whine, most of which has been repaired in the successive, 64 bit, models.

My Mac serves as my editing station as well. FCS2 has been optimized for 64 bit use. My Macbook PRO, designed to be used with these kinds of applications, quickly looses value when industry standards can no longer perform adequately on supposed PRO(FESSIONAL) workstations.

Sorry for the small rant but does anyone else feel as cheated as I do?

Sooo funny.

they haven't even released 10.5, and you're worried about 10.6?
Uh, that's going to be what, 2-3 yrs after leopard release. By then you will want a new computer anyway (4yrs is a very nice lifespan for a computer)

 

[dpaanlka]

Laptops live's are generally a lot shorter, 1-2 years at the absolute max. They will never be made with all the lastest hardware that a desktop can be made with.

My PowerBook 2300c is nothing short of 11 years old and I still use it almost daily.

They don't build them like they used to.

 

[SkyBell]

I feel a bit shunned by Apple. When I bought me CD laptop in June of last year, I thought it would last at least 3.5 years, well into college for me. Now, I am a bit put off at how Apple has marketed and developed its target releases and the Leopard OS.

Less than 7 months after releasing the 17in CD, they released the 17in 64 bit Merom; then 6 mo. after that, the SR. With leopard being marketed as such a huge discrepancy between 32 and 64 bit processing, it seems CD users will be in the dark once 10.6 is released, and also highly disadvantaged in 10.5 use. This goes without mentioning the countless faults and errors associated with the CDs including overheating, terrible LCDs, and processing whine, most of which has been repaired in the successive, 64 bit, models.

My Mac serves as my editing station as well. FCS2 has been optimized for 64 bit use. My Macbook PRO, designed to be used with these kinds of applications, quickly looses value when industry standards can no longer perform adequately on supposed PRO(FESSIONAL) workstations.

Sorry for the small rant but does anyone else feel as cheated as I do?

They still make CD mini's for god's sake. It is nowhere near "outdated"

 

[CalBoy]

They still make CD mini's for god's sake. It is nowhere near "outdated"

I'm sorry, but for the price range, the Mini is very outdated. It hasn't been updated in eight months, and even that update involved an older processor. I have a feeling that the Mini is going to be discontinued, or merged with the iMac line somehow.

 

[SkyBell]

I'm sorry, but for the price range, the Mini is very outdated. It hasn't been updated in eight months, and even that update involved an older processor. I have a feeling that the Mini is going to be discontinued, or merged with the iMac line somehow.

Yes, the mini is "outdated" in some respects.

I, however, was referring to the chip itself.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

I don't see this rant as particularly relevant considering your 'issue' was easily forseeable. So get over it.

You'll always be able to mail in your DVD for a CD version of the OS. And if it has been 3.5 years I'm assuming your another year or less away from a new machine anyway.

 

[0007776]

I don't see this rant as particularly relevant considering your 'issue' was easily forseeable. So get over it.

You'll always be able to mail in your DVD for a CD version of the OS. And if it has been 3.5 years I'm assuming your another year or less away from a new machine anyway.

I think that you misread the OP, he was talking about core duo macs not macs lacking a cd drive, but I still don't get his complaint.

 

[CalBoy]

Yes, the mini is "outdated" in some respects.

I, however, was referring to the chip itself.

The chip may not be completely outdated yet, but it isn't appropriate for Apple to be selling a 1.5 year old chip at this point in time. The minute someone buys a Mini, it will be behind when it comes to software compatability (since the chip will be 1.5 years behind all the other chips of the time period).

 

[SkyBell]

The chip may not be completely outdated yet, but it isn't appropriate for Apple to be selling a 1.5 year old chip at this point in time. The minute someone buys a Mini, it will be behind when it comes to software compatability (since the chip will be 1.5 years behind all the other chips of the time period).

Good lord, much new software still works on G3's!! Granted, when universal apps fade, compatibility will do down the crapper. But at this point in time, the mini is a very good deal for someone who doesn't care about having the newest thing availible, because it still runs the software C2D runs.

 

[iW00t]

I'm sorry, but for the price range, the Mini is very outdated. It hasn't been updated in eight months, and even that update involved an older processor. I have a feeling that the Mini is going to be discontinued, or merged with the iMac line somehow.

I will be very sad if the Mini is really merged with the iMac.

(iW00t seriously has some iMac hate)

 

[CalBoy]

I will be very sad if the Mini is really merged with the iMac.

(iW00t seriously has some iMac hate)

It would be sad. The Mini is a great concept. It's perfect for so many things. But Apple has neglected what I thought was one of their best designs. A desktop that is as portable as a laptop? That's really good design and engineering.
The iMac is a great cultural icon, and it isn't a bad computer. What makes you hate it so?

 

[iW00t]

It would be sad. The Mini is a great concept. It's perfect for so many things. But Apple has neglected what I thought was one of their best designs. A desktop that is as portable as a laptop? That's really good design and engineering.
The iMac is a great cultural icon, and it isn't a bad computer. What makes you hate it so?

The built in monitor. Considering how long desktops lasts the monitor will be the first thing to go (by 'how long desktops lasts' I mean for grandma and granddad kind of use, which means it lasts pretty much forever)

I also dislike the idea of how hard it is to upgrade a harddrive on one of those things. Sure it looks sleek and tidy out of the box, but when you actually use it.... Let's face it, most macs have "planned obsolence" written all over it.

 

[CalBoy]

The built in monitor. Considering how long desktops lasts the monitor will be the first thing to go (by 'how long desktops lasts' I mean for grandma and granddad kind of use, which means it lasts pretty much forever)

I also dislike the idea of how hard it is to upgrade a harddrive on one of those things. Sure it looks sleek and tidy out of the box, but when you actually use it.... Let's face it, most macs have "planned obsolence" written all over it.

I thought this might be your main issue with the iMac. It was kind of one of mine too. I've noticed that "planned obsolence" is appearing in more and more products these days. I figure that overall, once one computer component fails (assuming it's been a few years) a new computer would simply be more efficient.
For grandma and grandpa though, I have to agree with you.

 

[smiddlehurst]

The built in monitor. Considering how long desktops lasts the monitor will be the first thing to go (by 'how long desktops lasts' I mean for grandma and granddad kind of use, which means it lasts pretty much forever)

I also dislike the idea of how hard it is to upgrade a harddrive on one of those things. Sure it looks sleek and tidy out of the box, but when you actually use it.... Let's face it, most macs have "planned obsolence" written all over it.

Gotta say I'm not entirely sure if your second point holds up any more. External hard drives have come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years both in capacity and speed. So simple even my parents have managed to use one and, if a machine ever has to go back to Apple for servicing, you don't have to worry about backing up your data. Personally I'm migrating my existing data setup to a nice large NAS drive with an equally nice and large USB (or eSATA) drive hanging off the back for automated back-up purposes ASAP for two reasons.

1) It makes it much, much easier to share data between multiple laptops and desktops that I have lying around.

2) By going for a NAS enclosure I can also get an iTunes server and Bittorrent client hence eliminating the need to have a full size (and full power) PC running to do these jobs.

The monitor I agree with, though it must be said I haven't heard of too many horror stories about the iMac's just yet. My real beef is that there's no video IN to the iMac so, even if I buy the 24" model, I can't hook up any other device and make use of the screen.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Oh, I suppose I did misinterpret CD for compact disk and not Core Duo.

On that note, are you complaining that your computer is out of date? Now why does this land as an issue for Apple and not all computer makers?

This is not isolated to Apple only, this is how the computer world works and I'm a bit surprised to see someone complaining about it.

 

[Zwhaler]

Yes, the mini is "outdated" in some respects.

I, however, was referring to the chip itself.

But the chip itself is very outdated too... more than a year and a half old. It is not bad technology, but it is old compared to the new 2.4Ghz New C2D in my MBP right now