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MacBook Supplies Tightening at Third-Party Retailers Ahead of Potential Refresh

iphone1105 said:
Take me for example and some other thoughts.

1) I wanted a white laptop
2) At the time, my 6,1 rev model was better spec'd than the 13"MBP at the time.
3) People have preferences, maybe they like the feel and look more than the pro
4) Price, in todays world $200 is still a good chunk of change, esepcially if you don need more ports, etc...that the pro offers.
5) People spend their money how they want

Just saying, I could have easily afforded the extra $200 to get the base pro, but I wanted white, and I could upgrade my RAM and HD on the cheap myself. Now I have a nice macbook with more ram, more hd space, in a package I want. Couldn't be happier. :)
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I like your style and your solid stance against all these naysayers. You clearly pointed out why you made your choice as a consumer and it seems absolutely logical to me.

Anyway, I do believe the Air is the future of Macbooks and if you do ask me, I think it will eventually replace the white Macbook. But like you, I also prefer the color white, so if anything, I do hope Apple has a white model (along with a black model, as that seems to be popular here) in the works. :)
 
Something is definitely going on with the MacBook--Apple recently dropped the student price from $949 down to $899. While there is certainly a market for a basic computer, I agree with posters who have suggested that the MacBook is on its way out. Not only is it aesthetically different from the rest of Apple's lineup, it is severely underpowered for the price.

My prediction is that Apple will get rid of the "Air" designation, and brand the MBAs with just MacBook from now on. Features like FireWire, SuperDrive, and backlit keyboard will be seen as Pro features that the average consumer no longer requires. In order to make this feasible, though, I think Apple will lower the price of the product formerly known as MacBook Air around $100 across the board. This way, users will get to choose between the 13" Pro (better performance, more features) and 13" Air (form factor/portability).
 
bigp9998 said:
Something is definitely going on with the MacBook--Apple recently dropped the student price from $949 down to $899. While there is certainly a market for a basic computer, I agree with posters who have suggested that the MacBook is on its way out. Not only is it aesthetically different from the rest of Apple's lineup, it is severely underpowered for the price.
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It's underpowered because it hasn't been updated for so long... When they updated it regularly it was cheaper than the 13"mbp with the same specs!
bigp9998 said:
My prediction is that Apple will get rid of the "Air" designation, and brand the MBAs with just MacBook from now on. Features like FireWire, SuperDrive, and backlit keyboard will be seen as Pro features that the average consumer no longer requires. In order to make this feasible, though, I think Apple will lower the price of the product formerly known as MacBook Air around $100 across the board. This way, users will get to choose between the 13" Pro (better performance, more features) and 13" Air (form factor/portability).
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If the air price drops, ok. If it doesn't, and they only have an 11" at the 999$ price spot, doesn't sound very good... The 13" air (base model with 4gb ram) should be at ~1250$, and that's even a lot if you ask me.
 
bigp9998 said:
My prediction is that Apple will get rid of the "Air" designation, and brand the MBAs with just MacBook from now on. Features like FireWire, SuperDrive, and backlit keyboard will be seen as Pro features that the average consumer no longer requires. In order to make this feasible, though, I think Apple will lower the price of the product formerly known as MacBook Air around $100 across the board. This way, users will get to choose between the 13" Pro (better performance, more features) and 13" Air (form factor/portability).
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Sorry but not happening. Apple lowers its price on nothing and the "Air" name is already to well known to drop.

As someone stated ealier, it is the 13" MBP that should be the odd man out. Three 13" laptops seems like to many to me. But I believe Apple will keep all 3.
 
dagamer34 said:
The new MacBook Air should just replace the MacBook. It serves no purpose anymore.
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The macbook is cheaper than the Pro with a 13" screen and a super drive and power and stuff that the Air doesnt have (especially in the $1000 11" starter model) The MacBook is for people who want a cheap mac notebook that does everything they will need simple and easy. However, I beleive that apple should make the MacBook like $800-900 so there is a bigger price difference between it and the Pro, also it is probably a turn off for laptop users that Apples cheapest notebook is $1000
 
Although Macbook may not attract many individual customers, it still has substantial market for group purchase such as in library, elementary school, kindergarten, etc.

I have seen iMacs and stacked Macbooks in such places. It's still a good mac hardware at that price range for public use. I believe Apple has earned pretty good profit by selling macbook to such customers and they will not want to give up this market.
 
I am solidly in the camp that thinks the MacBook should remain. The airs really look nice, but the incredibly small hard-drives and no optical drive are problems for me. I have been a fan of the MacBook since it was called the iBook. If they upgrade the MacBook I will very likely purchase one. And like the other poster said several times, I will buy it and eventually upgrade the HD and RAM myself. Someone also commented that this product appeals to older folks. That is probably true, I fit into that category. The MacBook has not been updated for well over 400 days now. It is way overdue for an update. Just my opinion.

I found this on another website. It is a list of the bestselling laptops on Amazon. Very interesting. The MacBook is currently at number 8 and the air is at number 18.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/pc/565108/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_pc_1_2_last?tag=5336612372-20
 
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Why do people think they're going to dicontinue the MacBook? Apple never discontinues anything unless they also replace it with something equivalent. IBook -> Macbook, PowerBook -> MacBook Pro, Power Mac -> Mac Pro.
 
ufkdo said:
I don't understand why this post took so much thumbs down? I also think that with the release of new Macbook Airs, Macbook will be discontinued.
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It got modded down so much not because people don't agree that there's a high possibility of the white Macbook being discontinued, it's that they don't like it.
 
Icy1007 said:
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Why do people think they're going to dicontinue the MacBook? Apple never discontinues anything unless they also replace it with something equivalent. IBook -> Macbook, PowerBook -> MacBook Pro, Power Mac -> Mac Pro.
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Apple 3 -> ?
Lisa -> ?
Mac Cube -> ?
mobile me keychain syncing -> ?
 
jungwook72 said:
Although Macbook may not attract many individual customers, it still has substantial market for group purchase such as in library, elementary school, kindergarten, etc.

I have seen iMacs and stacked Macbooks in such places. It's still a good mac hardware at that price range for public use. I believe Apple has earned pretty good profit by selling macbook to such customers and they will not want to give up this market.
Click to expand...

Also good for people like me who don't NEED a laptop - my iMac is my main machine - but want an affordable option to add portability when needed.
 
I could totally see Apple discontinuing the Macbook and rebrand the Macbook Air as the new Macbook. They have prepared very well for that transition:
- No need for an optical drive since you can get everything from the app store
- No need for large hard drives since you can have all your stuff on iCloud
- No need for ethernet since Universities and Starbucks have free wireless and you can tether the iPhone.

I personally use a 3 year old Macbook pro as my main computer (and an even older Mac Mini for mundane server, media center and video compression tasks) and have no intention to upgrade because it's still plenty fast. I routinely clean my systems by re-installing the OS from the ground up and only moving the applications I actually use back. Installing "professional" software really messes up any operating system it seems.
 
The MacBook has to be priced higher than the most expensive iPad at $829, otherwise it'll make the iPad seem expensive. At $999, I do think the MB still has a market for entry level, non-techie users, who knows nothing about the difference between a MB and MBP other than $200 cheaper.

I would love to see sales figures of the MB compared to MBP and MBA. I'm pretty sure it's declined drastically.
 
aluren said:
The MacBook has to be priced higher than the most expensive iPad at $829, otherwise it'll make the iPad seem expensive. At $999, I do think the MB still has a market for entry level, non-techie users, who knows nothing about the difference between a MB and MBP other than $200 cheaper.

I would love to see sales figures of the MB compared to MBP and MBA. I'm pretty sure it's declined drastically.
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I would suggest that you use the link in post number 86.
 
Icaras said:
I like your style and your solid stance against all these naysayers. You clearly pointed out why you made your choice as a consumer and it seems absolutely logical to me.

Anyway, I do believe the Air is the future of Macbooks and if you do ask me, I think it will eventually replace the white Macbook. But like you, I also prefer the color white, so if anything, I do hope Apple has a white model (along with a black model, as that seems to be popular here) in the works. :)
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the compliment!

I too love the white, but that old black Macbook was super sexy wasn't it?? Do you own white iphones or ipads??

I too believe the Air's are the future, but IMO that doesn't mean the others will cease to exist!
 
Interesting..

It looks like all macs exept macbook pro and imac are heading for refresh.
 
bigp9998 said:
Something is definitely going on with the MacBook--Apple recently dropped the student price from $949 down to $899. While there is certainly a market for a basic computer, I agree with posters who have suggested that the MacBook is on its way out. Not only is it aesthetically different from the rest of Apple's lineup, it is severely underpowered for the price.

My prediction is that Apple will get rid of the "Air" designation, and brand the MBAs with just MacBook from now on. Features like FireWire, SuperDrive, and backlit keyboard will be seen as Pro features that the average consumer no longer requires. In order to make this feasible, though, I think Apple will lower the price of the product formerly known as MacBook Air around $100 across the board. This way, users will get to choose between the 13" Pro (better performance, more features) and 13" Air (form factor/portability).
Click to expand...

My opinion too.
Getting rid of the optical drive makes it sooooo much easier to create a cool thin portable Mac and maybe even lower the price.
A low-spec'd 11" MacBook Air (maybe white) for $ 899
A low-spec'd 13" MacBook Air (maybe white) for $ 999
 
Mac Mini refresh? A quad i7 Mac Mini would be very tempting especially if it supports daisy chaining MDP monitors (or active MDP adapters).
 
It makes sense to discontinue the Macbook. At the moment Apple has two entry level devices the Macbook air and the iPad.

The average consumer needs something for things like surfing the web and light word processing that is what the Air and the iPad does.
 
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