Now the switch has come and gone and we're seeing the longest upgrade cycles ever on many of their products! The MacPro was overdue for an update, the MBP is now, and the MacMini is too after just suffering a really long release cycle last time! It really makes you wonder whether or not IBM was just a scape-goat for Apple's poor implementation.
I don't know who you are preaching too since the general consensus is that an MBP update is overdue.
Anyway, the MacBook Pro can be ordered with a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo. That's one of the fastest chips you can put in a mobile computer right now (I'm not counting some desktop replacement notebooks that use absurd amounts of power). The only way Apple could one up that is switching to Penryns with up to 2.8GHz, and I hope this will happen very soon. But mobile Penryns are only available since the start of the year, so there isn't much to complain about. Now if they were delaying Penryn for another two months or so, then that would be another thing.
Then there is the graphics card. The 8600M is still good, but it's no longer cutting edge, so graphics should be updated as well. However, what does this have to do with the CPU manufacturer? Nothing, nor did it ever.
...but what really chaps my ass is how many people here STICK UP FOR APPLE! Why is it okay that folks have to wait three-fourths of a year for an update for a new computer? Why is it okay that Apple is still using COMBO DRIVES? I've honestly never met so many consumers who so wholly embrace getting ripped off by Apple.
I "stick up for Apple" because even my PowerBook G4 with OS X Tiger is still a much nicer machine for private use than any Wintel notebook I have to use at work. I am only waiting for the new MBP because I need a powerful machine for work. Now that Apples can run Mac OS and Windows, it's just like in the Apple ad: The only computer I'll ever need.
I'm not saying that Apple is justified in still selling combo drives. However, I have previously listed many other examples of other vendors shipping outdated hardware. I have looked high and low for non-Apple notebooks with all of the features I mentioned, and let me tell you there are very very few. And those that do exist aren't cheaper, or not much cheaper than the Apples, and they don't include Leopard.
As an Apple customer why wouldn't you be upset about this? Don't customers usually LIKE new technology? Or did I miss something here?
The current MBP is still an absolutely amazing machine. If you believe there are many non-Apples that compare, then probably you haven't been looking at all of the features, or your focus is on features that puts you outside of the usual MBP customers. The MBP is only getting somewhat too expensive for what it offers, so I agree that there have to be hardware updates or price cuts soon. Price cuts (at least price cuts alone) aren't very Apple-like (well, except for displays), so it's got to be the former. I still wouldn't buy a non-Apple notebook. The few that come close in terms of performance and features ship with a mediocre (XPSP2) or an outright crappy OS (Vista), so no thanks. I'll rather wait.
