Notebook Refresh to Be Highlight of WWDC, Non-Retina MacBook Pro to Continue?

[GanleyBurger]

Help - seriously

I JUST GOT AN ULTIMATE rMBP in the mail.

i7 2.7 quad core, 16 gigs ram, 768 flash hardrive.

SHOULD I RETURN IT??? TODAY IS THE LAST DAY.

GOT IT FOR $200 off refurb.

OPINIONS!!!! plz...

I'm looking at a 5 year investment.

Thanks

 

[ladeer]

if this is true then this would be a great news! i absolutely detest the retina display. the the benefit it brings me, simply there are too many sacrifices especially for me who does tons of web graphic/UI works that require pixel perfection.

 

[neutrino23]

Continuing to sell the cMBP means that Apple is not selling near what they thought they would of the rMBPs. The fact that the 13" cMBP is STILL the highest selling notebook is telling on what is important to the consumer. Price is a huge factor. For most people, the hardware is good enough and does not warrant the extra cash for the rMBP. I think Apple made a miscalculation on how popular the rMBP would be. Even the recent price drops haven't helped much. I'd be willing to bet the original plan was to drop the cMBP this year, but now it doesn't make sense because the cMBPs are still selling so well. With Mac sells flattening out Apple can't afford to discontinue them. It's an interesting situation. That is, if the analysts ends up being correct on his projections. Who knows!

I suspect that Apple is a little agnostic about how well a new technology will sell versus the current version. This is why they still sell the iPhone 4 and 4S. By selling current and new versions of a product they capture more sales and they have great information about how people really feel about the products. The best focus group in the world is actual sales. If the rMBP garnered only 5% of sales that would be a clear signal it needed rethinking. If the cMBP dropped to 5% of sales that's a clear sign it can be discontinued.

 

[3282868]

I was thinking Apple would discontinue the non-retina Pro and have the Air step up as being the main entry level laptop. Alternatively they could introduce a sort of "pro air" that could fill the niche market but that would probably be unlikely.

This would be my thinking. If this rumor holds true, I'd be a bit disappointed. Apple needs to push the envelope a bit more if they want to keep their stock from falling further. Bring on the "stock price has nothing to do with x" apologists, but let's be honest, the consumer market is over saturated with iDevices and Apple has been facing challenges breaking into the Chinese market. There's a bit of "plateauing".

It seems Apple may be recognizing that the pro/business market neglect may have not been a good idea. So many claimed it "too niche", however when businesses invest 10's or 100's of thousands of dollars on hardware and license upgrades, that "niche" market adds up. Many of us have moved platforms as Pro-Apps have had little updates, specifically Adobe has really stepped up their game with CS5 and 6. The latest Lightroom is running circles around the dated Aperture 3, and before the last FCPX update a lot of studio houses that used Final Cut Pro 7 switched platforms (although the last FCPX update - finally - made it useful). Yes, this has taken a bite out of Apple long term.

WWDC better put the "pro" back in Cupertino, and not just notebooks.

 

[B...]

I JUST GOT AN ULTIMATE rMBP in the mail.

i7 2.7 quad core, 16 gigs ram, 768 flash hardrive.

SHOULD I RETURN IT??? TODAY IS THE LAST DAY.

GOT IT FOR $200 off refurb.

OPINIONS!!!! plz...

I'm looking at a 5 year investment.

Thanks

That is not an ultimate. An ultimate has a 2.8 GHz processor. And if you are looking at a 5 year investment, get the newest tech you can. If you can, return and wait. If you need it now, the choice is clear.

 

[tech4all]

Man, laptops are for fast work on the go. If your are photographer you will take your rMBP for a trip, weekend work or something like that. Its not suposed to be a work station for professional users and if you need it for work station, well buy the highest end model and upgrade all components to fit your need.

Tell that to my friend who's a pro photographer and uses a MBP as his main computer...

 

[31rhcp]

There, stopped reading right at "analyst". Until there is substantial evidence, I have learnt to turn a deaf ear to analysts' predictions.

This type of comments are why this site needs a downvote button...

 

[ProMod]

How much more of a discount can we expect on the current refurb rMBP once the Haswell units are announced or shipped? The higher end units are already 25-30% off.

 

[TyPod]

I could totally see the non-retina being discontinued after this update. The MacBook Air would then be the entry level notebook, which makes sense to me!

 

[quasibinaer]

I was thinking Apple would discontinue the non-retina Pro and have the Air step up as being the main entry level laptop. Alternatively they could introduce a sort of "pro air" that could fill the niche market but that would probably be unlikely.

Well, that sort-of exists. I own an 11" air, specced to the maximum. I am a photographer and regularly handle 20mp+ RAW files in large numbers on deadline, so I need things to be done quickly while being very mobile. I´ll put it this way: A top-of-the-line 13" rMBP wouldn´t be considerably faster, because I submit images right out of Lightroom via FTP and LTE, with LTE being the (luxurious) bottleneck. Even I were to cut the rendering times in half, I wouldn´t be noticeably quicker sending pictures.

 

[calvinline]

dull

Remember when one would wait excitedly for new apple products?

...how about a professional customer upgradeable MBP without an optical drive? Professional machines need to justify their lifecycle costs.That I could buy at least.

..And an ipad mini with a hybrid screen (or something that would make reading ebooks less painful).

..And an ios7 that makes use of those extra 2cm on the iPhone 5 screen - widescreen movies on a small screen - really who cares?

..Oh and please turn Mountain Lion into something fit for a notebook so many terrible software ideas recently - Launchpad, fullscreen windows that make Mail a nightmare to switch between messages and iTunes..what were they thinking?

I love Apple. Please don't turn into Sony. And I'll happily take Tim Cook's job at a competitive rate if they are looking for a replacement.

 

[iNotion]

My late 2010 MBA (specs out) is still running fine~
But my wife wants a new MBA... might be getting the new MBA w Haswell.

 

[Toltepeceno]

I'm very much looking forward to the discontinuation of the archaic MacBook Pro, so that the people who are so unbelievably full of it can put up or shut up, and the numbers can show for themselves.

Apple will however have to price the rMBP appropriately.

You mean the archaic macbook pro that outsells the other models?

the 13" MacBook Pro remains the most popular product in the MacBook line.

----------

How much more of a discount can we expect on the current refurb rMBP once the Haswell units are announced or shipped? The higher end units are already 25-30% off.

I would think the LG panel rmbp's that were returned would be fairly cheap.

 

[racer1441]

Here's a thought I just had.

What about a 11 inch Macbook Pro Retina?

 

[mobilebuddha]

Unless of course.. the said analyst is trumping Apple's superiority over Android or there's some good apple news.

ya know.. like this one: https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/2...ld-drive-iphone-market-share-gains-for-years/

and this one: https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/2...uction-of-haswell-based-notebooks-next-month/

except this one, this analyst obviously has his head up his rear.. so I'm gonna turn a deaf ear and ignore this one! https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/2...phones-outsell-feature-phones-for-first-time/

oo but not this one, this guy/analyst/rumor person definitely knows what s/he's talking about! https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/1...ixel-rear-camera-and-improved-night-shooting/ Yeah baby, night shooting mode!

There, stopped reading right at "analyst". Until there is substantial evidence, I have learnt to turn a deaf ear to analysts' predictions.

 

[paintersforms]

They can discontinue the standard MBPs when the retinas can be upgraded.

 

[Greene1123]

Hopefully it's all correct, I have to buy a rMBP for college in July, and I was hoping I'd get haswell before then

 

[paintersforms]

I JUST GOT AN ULTIMATE rMBP in the mail.

i7 2.7 quad core, 16 gigs ram, 768 flash hardrive.

SHOULD I RETURN IT??? TODAY IS THE LAST DAY.

GOT IT FOR $200 off refurb.

OPINIONS!!!! plz...

I'm looking at a 5 year investment.

Thanks

If you want the newest and best, buy when the new models are released. What you have will be fine in 5 yrs-- Macs have a long shelf life as computers go. My MBP is 2 yrs old already and hasn't really shown its age-- I'll get 5 out of it easily.

Again, it all comes down to if you want the newest thing.

edit: Although those retinas can't be upgraded... Do you have external storage? That would be the main concern for me. I'd think 16 GB ram should be good for a few years, unless you're making movies on the thing.

 

[GizmoDVD]

It was strongest when the 17"MBP was in the line-up. Other than the retina-display being so overly excited about, there is not much going for the current line of mbps. They are beautiful macbooks but the 17" will always be the ultimate standard in truly pro. Without the 17" in the line-up, these macbooks are just as good as over priced consumer gadgets really.

So Apple, do wise up and start putting all those savings from IOS toys and OSX retina profits to good development use, and bring back the most powerful macbook pro!

Thank you.

17 didn't sell. So it's in fact stronger now that a dog isn't dragging it down.

 

[SingularityG]

"Also, there is still demand in emerging markets, where Internet penetration isn’t advanced, for optical disk drives."

China?

 

[GREEN4U]

Lotta idiots in this forum.

 

[iLilana]

There, stopped reading right at "analyst". Until there is substantial evidence, I have learnt to turn a deaf ear to analysts' predictions.

how does one get paid to be an analyst? these guys almost never get it right and if they do its pure guesswork. I need to get paid to guess stuff.

 

[shurcooL]

at least 750GB of storage...

Is it worth over $1500 extra? I think not.

You're right. 750 GB of flash storage is just overkill and not worth the $700 extra.

 

[leftywamumonkey]

Apple doesn't need to advertise or hype the Mac Pro much. It's the only computer of their lineup where the people who need it, know they need it. I'm sure the upcoming MacPro update will be hyped enough to let those who care know.

It's not that Apple is advertising that there will be new notebooks coming out or building hype. Some people are waiting for signs that a new Mac Pro will come. There doesn't need to be any announcements, just enough leaks of hints of a new Mac Pro.

 

[xVeinx]

Continuing to sell the cMBP means that Apple is not selling near what they thought they would of the rMBPs. The fact that the 13" cMBP is STILL the highest selling notebook is telling on what is important to the consumer. Price is a huge factor. For most people, the hardware is good enough and does not warrant the extra cash for the rMBP. I think Apple made a miscalculation on how popular the rMBP would be. Even the recent price drops haven't helped much. I'd be willing to bet the original plan was to drop the cMBP this year, but now it doesn't make sense because the cMBPs are still selling so well. With Mac sells flattening out Apple can't afford to discontinue them. It's an interesting situation. That is, if the analysts ends up being correct on his projections. Who knows!

It may be that the economy of scale hasn't reached the point that they can fit the rMBPs into the same pricing slots that the cMBPs have right now. They increased the pricing of the iMac by a hundred dollars, but they don't want to do that most of the time. If the screens aren't produced in sufficient quantity, then supply constraints also make this a bad choice.