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Does this mean they are doing a good job with Laptop design? NO

The latest Laptops are one of the worse design ever.

They removed one of the best features (Mag-Safe)
Way overpriced for what they are delivering.
No connectivity
Can not connect even your own iPhone
Limited Ram.

Hey, but thank god they are doing Animojis... for god sake...

The post is about laptop sales, not design. Focus and stick to the program.
 
Update the MacBook Air CPU to the latest generation, keep 8GB standard and add a 16GB option. Don't change anything else, except maybe replace one of the USB-A port by a USB-C and maybe upgrade the LCD to 1080p. Otherwise do not change anything, especially the keyboard. Drop the price by 200$ and have it replace the Mac mini as the low cost Mac.

If they do that, then maybe next year we'll have a new headline:
MacBook lineup represented estimated 1 in 5 notebooks shipped worldwide last year.
 
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Update the MacBook Air CPU to the latest generation, keep 8GB standard and add a 16GB option. Don't change anything else, except maybe replace one of the USB-A port by a USB-C and maybe upgrade the LCD to 1080p. Otherwise do not change anything, especially the keyboard. Drop the price by 200$ and have it replace the Mac mini as the low cost Mac.

If they do that, then maybe next year we'll have a new headline:
MacBook lineup represented estimated 1 in 5 notebooks shipped worldwide last year.
MacBook Air definitely needs a Retina display. If it were to happen along with other refinements as you suggest above it would blow the current MacBook out of the park.
 
MacBook Air definitely needs a Retina display. If it were to happen along with other refinements as you suggest above it would blow the current MacBook out of the park.
The problems with going all the way to Retina:
- you're asking the Intel integrated GPU to process a lot more pixels, making the OS slower for any display operations.
- a higher resolution with the Intel integrated GPU also means less RAM available for the CPU.
- you're increasing the cost.
- and I know you did not mention it, but switching to an IPS display would also requires more power, making the battery last a lot less.

At this point, I'd be happy with the current MacBook Air at a reduced price.
 
So i guess the Macbooks so called "Pros" are semi Krap...

Old processors, limited ram. they are NOT user upgradable and I can keep going.

Never in the history of Apple a great feature such as the Mag Safe, has been replaced for a lower quality one.

Incredible connectivity??? Really?

If you have USB3 hard drives you need an adaptor. If you need to connect to Thunderbolt Hard drive, you need an adaptor. If you need to connect to HDMI you need an adaptor.

And we should not have to purchase a new cable to connect the iPhone either, especially if we are overpaying for the price they are selling the Macbook Pros.

Do you want to include the new USB-C, OK. But the solutions provided by Apple in the last Macbook Pro are lame.

I wonder why the top growing product category in Apple is the adaptors....

Furthermore, the so called Macbook "Pros", have a quite old Processor, limited RAM and most of all is not user upgradable.
Neither Ram nor internal Hardrive can be upgraded.

- I like magsafe, i still have it on my. However i cant remember the last time i tripped on a cable. TBH, its worth more to me i can connect a single TB3 hub/splitter that i can have setup at multiple locations (i.e. office/studio/whatever and home) and connect with one cable. Replacable cables without adapters blocks? THANK GOD. FINALLY. So many of these i had to open and repair...

- Connectivity:
You can literally connect 8 USB3 drives to ONE TB3 port and not lose on bandwidth AT ALL. (USB3.0 is 5gbps, TB3 is 40GBPS).
Apple dropped old standards fast since ever, having a high-bandwidth port that can be adapted is worth much more in a pro machine from *any* standpoint. when USB3 dies, you'll still have a very capable TB3 port you can adapt to anything.
I mean, don't talk about PRO if you keep on going about USB3 standard, which is already OLD, and was never bleeding edge pro to begin with...

What I have feud with is that new iphone don't come with a USB-C adapters and cables. Go all in if you go. Why not.

- RAM/CPU
Disclaimer: Yes, i want 6 core//4core for 13", and i want 32GB ram. However, they offer the most RAM architecture/cpu handles at this moment in a mobile format.
- User upgredability is an excuse for paying *less* for 3rd party RAM/Drives.
- apple has a great track record on both RAM and SSD, it has a **** track record on GPUs. If you want pro in terms of user serviceability, complain why the GPU isn't swappable, since its the most common cause of logic board failure historically.
And complain why Battery isn't easily replaceable, since its bound to fail sooner or later.

Being able to replace SSD and RAM has nothing to do with PRO or not.

By the time you'll want to upgrade SSD, your SSD controller will be obsolete.
I have maxed out 2012 Retina, and 1TB extra wouldn't do anything for me - i can get that via externals at the same speed, i'd kill for a 6x speed it has now though...

I don't know since when PRO === cheap RAM and Storage upgrades. Give me a break.

On top of it, you can have insanely fast SSDs connected externally, and it has 8x as much bandwidth as pervious gen with 2x TB2. do you know how much more speed is that? That's 160GBPS of external bandwidth.

If you can't appreciate that, don't complain its not pro.

It's PRO, its just not *cheap* to run it PRO. But no pro things ever are.
 
Right now the main design feature I wish they would redo is the keyboard - the key design in the Macbook and Macbook Pro is terrible. Way too little travel on the keys and them being too flush to the surface adds up to a higher error rate in typing.
 
Damn. This will give Tim a confidence he is doing a great job.

He is, for the most part. Success hides problems, sure, but I can imagine a lot worse.

Is there an HP refresh coming soon? Or a Lenovo refresh? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?

No, but that's in part because HP and Lenovo tend to more or less quietly refresh their notebooks as soon as new parts become available.
 
Does anyone know if the keyboard issue where a speck of dust can render a key inoperable has been fixed in production yet?

I've done some searching around and learned that the keyboard was slightly redesigned between the 2016 and 2017 revisions, but there's no mention as to whether the dust problem was solved. Knowing the Macbook keyboards have this problem keep me from upgrading.
They are the same keyboards in both going by all the information i have seen, i have had the 2016 model for just over a year now and had no issues with dust on the keyboard, and i don't dust a lot :)
 
Apple's market share is growing and that's a good thing. The growth is outpacing individual PC manufacturers, but as far as the ecosystem is concerned, they are still only 10% of the overall PC market. That's weak, which is surprising because macOS has great features, is easier to use in my opinion, and the hardware it runs on is better and retains value longer.

All those things should be important to consumers and businesses. So, what's missing?
Initial purchase cost. Overall cost of ownership. Windows machines are much cheaper, do everything an macOS machine can do, cost less, are easier to hook up to pretty much everything, are less expensive, are available in a much, much wider range of power, speed, durabilty, etc., and finally cost less.
Very few business or domestic customers have computing needs that require expensive desktop or laptop solutions.
 
What’s a notebook?
A pad of paper - or an alternative way of saying ‘laptop’ for people who like to think they’re a little bit better than everyone else from [an apparently genuinely serious] discussion I have read on this site :rolleyes:

Right now the main design feature I wish they would redo is the keyboard - the key design in the Macbook and Macbook Pro is terrible. Way too little travel on the keys and them being too flush to the surface adds up to a higher error rate in typing.
Moreover, the prospect of a key failure leading to a costly topcase replacement outside of warranty makes the current machines a no go for me.
 
Update the MacBook Air CPU to the latest generation, keep 8GB standard and add a 16GB option. Don't change anything else, except maybe replace one of the USB-A port by a USB-C and maybe upgrade the LCD to 1080p. Otherwise do not change anything, especially the keyboard. Drop the price by 200$ and have it replace the Mac mini as the low cost Mac.

If they do that, then maybe next year we'll have a new headline:
MacBook lineup represented estimated 1 in 5 notebooks shipped worldwide last year.
Thing is you're describing (and I agree) a perfect Apple laptop; if Apple did as you say it would expose the flaws in the current Macbook and Macbook Pro so it'll never happen.
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Apple's market share is growing and that's a good thing. The growth is outpacing individual PC manufacturers, but as far as the ecosystem is concerned, they are still only 10% of the overall PC market. That's weak, which is surprising because macOS has great features, is easier to use in my opinion, and the hardware it runs on is better and retains value longer.

All those things should be important to consumers and businesses. So, what's missing?
I don't get your argument. We are constantly told PC market share (PC or Mac) is falling because of phones/tablets. So if Apple "are still only 10%" then that is a smaller piece of the pie.

Example simple numbers:
10% of 1 million = 100000 units
11% of falling from 1 million to 800000 = 88000 units

Market share has gone up but actual users has gone down by 12000.

That's not good.
 
It's great to see that Macs are that high in the rankings. Its just a shame these computers aren't being brought for their performance or innovation but just a status symbol...
 
this is weird. I never ever see windows laptops in coffee shops other than surface machines and the occasional thinkpad used by business people....

1/10 seems small
 
Come to think of it 90% or even more laptops I see in the wild are Macbooks of various persuasion. It's so rare that I see a Windows laptop that I actually take notice. Maybe Windows laptops are either too heavy or too embarrassing to drag them out in public? (I'm only half-kidding. I've seen my brother's laptop. It's approximately three times as thick and four times as heavy as my rMB. But you can upgrade RAM and SSD in it...)
 
Come to think of it 90% or even more laptops I see in the wild are Macbooks of various persuasion. It's so rare that I see a Windows laptop that I actually take notice. Maybe Windows laptops are either too heavy or too embarrassing to drag them out in public? (I'm only half-kidding. I've seen my brother's laptop. It's approximately three times as thick and four times as heavy as my rMB. But you can upgrade RAM and SSD in it...)

You must be on a university campus. Lots of college students like to use MacBooks. If I had a beautiful Windows machine like the MS Surfacebook 2 or Dell XPS 13 I would not hesitate at all to show that off in public. and I don't need to bring a dongle, as a bonus.
 
Apple's market share is growing and that's a good thing. The growth is outpacing individual PC manufacturers, but as far as the ecosystem is concerned, they are still only 10% of the overall PC market. That's weak, which is surprising because macOS has great features, is easier to use in my opinion, and the hardware it runs on is better and retains value longer.

All those things should be important to consumers and businesses. So, what's missing?

An upgraded model with competitive pricing?
 
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I'm probably moving away from Macs when Intel releases the mobile 6-core 9th gen CPU.
I don't anticipate Apple bringing function keys and a better keyboard back on the Macbook Pro, so I'll be done.

A shame, because my 2012 MBPr is by far the best laptop of its time, and updating that chassis with a modern display and TB3.0/USB-C ports (with 6 cores and 32GB RAM) would have an instant sale for me, though most of my co-workers have moved on already to XPS15's or something similar.
 
On top of it, you can have insanely fast SSDs connected externally, and it has 8x as much bandwidth as pervious gen with 2x TB2. do you know how much more speed is that? That's 160GBPS of external bandwidth.


It's PRO, its just not *cheap* to run it PRO. But no pro things ever are.[/QUOTE]
--------------------------
I disagree.
As you said, you would like 6 cores and 32 RAM. And the Pro price does not justify and old processor and 16 ram.

Not just laptops but ALL Apple hardware is not Up to date. Mac minis and Mac Pros have not been updated for a long time.

Most of Apple hardware is not up to date with users needs compare to price they are selling.

Sorry, but the Macbook Pro, has barely anyting of what a "Pro" Macbook should be.
And that is why many of my friends that actually bought the latest version actually returned it.

Mag safe, it still great and still save me several times. So it is a complete shame that Apple removed it to make it thinner. Pro users are tired of Apple making thinner Pro Macbooks in order to sacrifice performance.
 
The problems with going all the way to Retina:
- you're asking the Intel integrated GPU to process a lot more pixels, making the OS slower for any display operations.
- a higher resolution with the Intel integrated GPU also means less RAM available for the CPU.
- you're increasing the cost.
- and I know you did not mention it, but switching to an IPS display would also requires more power, making the battery last a lot less.

At this point, I'd be happy with the current MacBook Air at a reduced price.
Come on, Intel integrated GPUs have been able to handle Retina with no problem whatsoever since at least 3 generations ago.

Lack of Retina is the ONLY reason I refuse to recommend the Air to clients of mine. It’s a great machine, but that screen is simply unacceptable in 2018.
 
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