Mac Revenue Down 34% Year-Over-Year, But Tim Cook Expects 'Significant' Improvement With M3 Macs

[ovenbakedlies]

I've used Apple products for decades. Two things prevented me making a much needed upgrade this year with Apple (I went Windows route).

1. The utterly absurd pricing of ram and ssd upgrades. Completely unacceptable combination of rock bottom base configuration, grotesque pricing to uplift, and 100% inability to upgrade later.

2. MacOS. I feel like they just don't take it seriously any more. Some changes in recent years are frankly unbelievable. One small example - they just completely removed all the options from various alerts - you could only snooze the alert for 10 minutes, that was it. Its not even the change that's so bad - its the fact it obviously wasn't designed properly, tested, or signed off by a competent adult. It was just changed to iOS-ify it. And that's attitude is not getting better any time soon.

 

[deputy_doofy]

Vision Pro is coming! Something new for apple fans to get excited about and try.

Based on price alone, I won't be first in line, but I do hope it does well.

 

[deputy_doofy]

How about the 15" MBA? that gives you almost the screen size of the MBP at about half the price. If you can hold out to next spring/summer for an M3 upgrade to it, that might be a good choice.

The 15" MBA is nice and it certainly looks similar to my 2013 MBP but I really want that Space Black machine. lol

 

[turbineseaplane]

So I went for LG Gram 17

Your post got me curious and I looked these up and oh my goodness ….what incredible value!

The Mac lineup has just become so grossly overpriced

 

[lowkey]

Your post got me curious and I looked these up and oh my goodness ….what incredible value!

The Mac lineup has just become so grossly overpriced

That’s actually incorrect at least here in Australia.

The 15” LG Gram with 16/512 and i71360P chip is $500 AUD more expensive than the 15” MacBook Air equivalent. The M2 chip is 15% faster than the 1360P.

For the 14” LG Gram 16/512 the new MBPro with M3 chip is $300 AUD more and 45% faster.

It’s only the 16” where the LG is $900 cheaper than the equivalent MacBook Pro. Although the MBP M3Pro is over twice as fast on Geekbench6, is it’s not really a like for like comparison. Even the base model 16” MBP M1Pro would wipe the floor with the 1360P.

I can get an apple refurb M2 Pro 16” MBP with equivalent ram and ssd as the 16” LG Gram for $50 less and it’s geekbench is still over double.

IMo those LG Grams are worse value than the equivalent MBA MBPs.

 

[tutubibi]

That’s actually incorrect at least here in Australia.

The 15” LG Gram with 16/512 and i71360P chip is $500 AUD more expensive than the 15” MacBook Air equivalent. The M2 chip is 15% faster than the 1360P.

For the 14” LG Gram 16/512 the new MBPro with M3 chip is $300 AUD more and 45% faster.

It’s only the 16” where the LG is $900 cheaper than the equivalent MacBook Pro. Although the MBP M3Pro is over twice as fast on Geekbench6, is it’s not really a like for like comparison. Even the base model 16” MBP M1Pro would wipe the floor with the 1360P.

I can get an apple refurb M2 Pro 16” MBP with equivalent ram and ssd as the 16” LG Gram for $50 less and it’s geekbench is still over double.

IMo those LG Grams are worse value than the equivalent MBA MBPs.

LG often goes on sale, I paid my 17" (16GB/1TB) CA$1,700 at BestBuy Canada. At the time, base (16/512) 16" MacBook Pro was CA$2,900 (or Apple refurbished for CA$2,700). Upgrading to 1TB would take MacBook Pro to well over CA$3,000 or almost twice the price of LG. And yes, Apple laptop would be faster, has better display and is probably built better. However, LG is much lighter, looks better IMO and it's somewhat upgradable. I would maybe pay 50% more but not double the LG price.

But that's not the point, this is Mac forum, not LG forum. The point is that a long time Mac user (me) who owned 10+ Apple laptops and desktops over the last 20+ years, went to LG as a new primary machine. I am still heavily invested in Apple ecosystem and will stay invested in the future but cracks are showing.

EDIT:
Just checked prices, LG Gram 16" (16GB/1TB) is CA$1,800 on Amazon Canada. Base 14" M3 MacBook Pro upgraded to same RAM and SSD is CA$2,600 on Apple Canada. And base 16" MacBook Pro (18/512) is CA$3,300. I could buy LG and MacMini for the price of MacBook Pro

 

[Abazigal]

LG often goes on sale, I paid my 17" (16GB/1TB) CA$1,700 at BestBuy Canada. At the time, base (16/512) 16" MacBook Pro was CA$2,900 (or Apple refurbished for CA$2,700). Upgrading to 1TB would take MacBook Pro to well over CA$3,000 or almost twice the price of LG. And yes, Apple laptop would be faster, has better display and is probably built better. However, LG is much lighter, looks better IMO and it's somewhat upgradable. I would maybe pay 50% more but not double the LG price.

But that's not the point, this is Mac forum, not LG forum. The point is that a long time Mac user (me) who owned 10+ Apple laptops and desktops over the last 20+ years, went to LG as a new primary machine. I am still heavily invested in Apple ecosystem and will stay invested in the future but cracks are showing.

EDIT:
Just checked prices, LG Gram 16" (16GB/1TB) is CA$1,800 on Amazon Canada. Base 14" M3 MacBook Pro upgraded to same RAM and SSD is CA$2,600 on Apple Canada. And base 16" MacBook Pro (18/512) is CA$3,300. I could buy LG and MacMini for the price of MacBook Pro

LG Gram 17 review: big-screen energy

This is all the screen you need.

www.theverge.com

If you are referring to this product, I am see why it's priced the way it is. It's basically a larger ultrabook if you are fine with integrated graphics.

 

[tutubibi]

LG Gram 17 review: big-screen energy

This is all the screen you need.

www.theverge.com

If you are referring to this product, I am see why it's priced the way it is. It's basically a larger ultrabook if you are fine with integrated graphics.

Intel XE is not the old Intel integrated graphics, it is fine even for some gaming (it runs Flight Simulator on low settings). And as for CPU benchmarks, i7-1360P scores are comparable to M2 Pro (of course uses more power than Apple Silicon).

 

[Abazigal]

Intel XE is not the old Intel integrated graphics, it is fine even for some gaming (it runs Flight Simulator on low settings). And as for CPU benchmarks, i7-1360P scores are comparable to M2 Pro (of course uses more power than Apple Silicon).

View attachment 2307343

Here's what I find after some browsing online in my country.

A typical hardware electronics chain is selling it for around $2800 (I am not trying to hard to shop around for the best price). It's a little lighter (plastic helps, I guess), comes with more ports, windows vs macOS comes down to individual preference, I suppose.

An M2 MBA with the same 16gb ram and 512gb SSD would cost $2499 (though I can get a small discount with my teaching education discount). From what I see, it comes with a higher resolution (despite the smaller screen), sports better build quality. So already, I have a windows laptop that is going for noticeably more than a Macbook (which runs counter to the oft-cited belief that Apple products tend to cost more).

Based on this website, the 13th Gen Intel® Core ™i7 1360P seems about equivalent to the M2, performance-wise and is clearly outclassed by the M2 Pro, so I am confused as to where you are getting those benchmarks.

Intel Core i7 1360P vs Apple M2: performance comparison

We compared Intel Core i7 1360P (2.2 GHz) against Apple M2 (3.5 GHz) in games and benchmarks. Find out which CPU has better performance.

nanoreview.net

Intel Core i7 1360P vs Apple M2 Pro: performance comparison

We compared 12-core Intel Core i7 1360P (2.2 GHz) against Apple M2 Pro (3.5 GHz) in games and benchmarks. Find out which CPU has better performance.

nanoreview.net

Of course, specs alone don't tell the whole story. I remember being wowed by my M1 MBA running zoom for 9 hours straight without needing to plug in to an external power source, while staying cool to the touch. I wonder if the LG Gram will fare as well.

I am going to take your word that the LG Gram 17 is indeed a fantastic laptop, but I am not seeing how it is so much better and / or cheaper than an Apple equivalent.

 

[tutubibi]

Here's what I find after some browsing online in my country.

A typical hardware electronics chain is selling it for around $2800 (I am not trying to hard to shop around for the best price). It's a little lighter (plastic helps, I guess), comes with more ports, windows vs macOS comes down to individual preference, I suppose.

An M2 MBA with the same 16gb ram and 512gb SSD would cost $2499 (though I can get a small discount with my teaching education discount). From what I see, it comes with a higher resolution (despite the smaller screen), sports better build quality. So already, I have a windows laptop that is going for noticeably more than a Macbook (which runs counter to the oft-cited belief that Apple products tend to cost more).

Based on this website, the 13th Gen Intel® Core ™i7 1360P seems about equivalent to the M2, performance-wise and is clearly outclassed by the M2 Pro, so I am confused as to where you are getting those benchmarks.

Intel Core i7 1360P vs Apple M2: performance comparison

We compared Intel Core i7 1360P (2.2 GHz) against Apple M2 (3.5 GHz) in games and benchmarks. Find out which CPU has better performance.

nanoreview.net

Intel Core i7 1360P vs Apple M2 Pro: performance comparison

We compared 12-core Intel Core i7 1360P (2.2 GHz) against Apple M2 Pro (3.5 GHz) in games and benchmarks. Find out which CPU has better performance.

nanoreview.net

Of course, specs alone don't tell the whole story. I remember being wowed by my M1 MBA running zoom for 9 hours straight without needing to plug in to an external power source, while staying cool to the touch. I wonder if the LG Gram will fare as well.

I am going to take your word that the LG Gram 17 is indeed a fantastic laptop, but I am not seeing how it is so much better and / or cheaper than an Apple equivalent.

Seems I am turning this to LG forum but I want to emphasize that we are talking about (percived) value here. I was comparing with 16" MacBook Pro not MacBook Air as I need ports and larger screen.

To address some of your comments: LG Gram case is magnesium and not plastic. It does go on sale often (at least in my country) and discounts are much steeper than for Apple products, I would not buy it at list price. I agree that macOS is still superior to Windows but for everyday use and software development Windows is perfectly fine. Benchmarks are from Geekbench site. And M1 is amazing, I have M1 MacMini. For $600 there is nothing that compares to it in terms of performance.