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

[gnasher729]

Continuing to sell the cMBP means that Apple is not selling near what they thought they would of the rMBPs.

I can't quite understand how you come to that strange conclusion.

Continuing to sell the cMBPs means that it is more beneficially to Apple to continue selling cMBPs than to stop selling them, or at least that Apple believes so. For any other conclusion you would have to put up some justification, and you failed to do so.

 

[69650]

And these guys are able to afford MBPs?

It might surprise you to know that India has a middle class of around 300 million people. No not everyone can afford a MBPr but equally I doubt somehow that many people in the US or the UK can afford to spend 2 grand on a laptop either.

 

[GizmoDVD]

People do have different requirements and for some people an optical drive is very much a necessity. So it's not "just in case."

It's very few. It's exactly why it's the only Apple product to still include an Optical drive. Even the iMac ditched it.

Well, Not including the Mac Pro because Apple probably ignores that like 99.9% of people who buy Apple products do

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He wasn't a rep but never mind. The point still stands that Ultra HD TVs will start to replace current HD TVs over time starting later this year. Technology naturally moves on from one thing to the next. You will see a big push by the manufacturers for Ultra HD ahead of next summers football (soccer) World Cup and a major push on BluRay Ultra HD films by Christmas 2014.

There is nothing "fake" about Ultra HD films being made. The 4K cameras have been around for a while and film makers have been gradually migrating across.

Comparing this to 3D is complete nonsense. Just look at the way BluRay has taken off once they lowered the price of the HD flat screen TVs and lowered the price of the BluRay disks. Nobody would buy a DVD instead now.

They said all that about 3D as well. 3D failed.

4K will fail faster and harder. Consumers don't want to upgrade.

Blu-ray hasn't taken off. It's currently selling far below what DVD did at its time, Studios are selling off major films to D-list studios and retailers are shrinking space.

 

[skaertus]

And these guys are able to afford MBPs?

Well, depends. There is a lot of wealth in poor countries, it is just not well distributed among the population. I live in Brazil, which may fit in this category (although it doesn't have the poverty levels of African countries) and I'm waiting to buy a rMBP, even though it costs double than a rMBP in the U.S. due to the excessive taxes charged by the government.

 

[Giuly]

That's the point I came here to post!

I would have though people in rural parts of the developed world without proper internet would be more of an issue.

"Rural parts without proper internet access" and "developed world" is a contradiction to me. Broadband internet access is what defines the developed world these days.

 

[Schmitty11]

If apple doesn't announce iOS 7
I will move to android and lose all hope in apple
They have billions and they have no excuses to delay anything. If they disapoint
It's doom for apple

That sounds very immature. You can't always get what you want. It'll be there, dont worry you won't be stuck with "last years" "most advanced" operating system.

 

[69650]

And these guys are able to afford MBPs? In the West, you can afford an external hard drives, USB flash drives or SD cards, all of which are gracefully accepted by an rMBP. Media distribution is handled by iTunes, Netflix and Hulu, not DVDs. One legally acquired movie on DVD actually costs as much as one month of broadband access.

That was my point. Not everyone can use the internet to download content. Some people still need access to optical drives either internal or external.

 

[scottsjack]

Sounds like good news to me. I want an optical drive, replaceable RAM, replaceable hard drive, a real Ethernet port and FW800 port. Optical sound in and out are also good. Of course USB3 and a strong GPU are a must.

My late 2008 MBP has soldered on with a hard drive and RAM not even available at any price when I bought it. The ability to upgrade = Goooood.

Late 2008 might get retired and replaced by mid 2013!

 

[nikaru]

rMBA on WWDC plus Haswell for all macbooks.

 

[b0fh]

Apple to oranges comparison

Bought my 15" MacBook Pro in November 2011, and the Retina wasn't available. I was disappointed when the Retina came out, until I researched it. No optical drive (I burn DVDs for clients, as well as enjoy watching and copying my DVDs). Non upgradeable drive or memory. Also, while most software has been upgraded to Retina, there is still work to do.

My total investment was under $1950, including tax, and that includes 16GB of RAM, a hybrid Momentus XT 750 GB drive which combines FLASH with a 7200 rpm drive with 6 Gigabit Link Speed. Mine is a Quad Core 2.2 i7. Current non-Retinas are 2.3, and the current 15" Retina starts at 2.4, which processor is only 9% faster than mine, and only 4% faster than today's non-Retina.

If you do both of the above upgrades on a non-Retina today, the upgrades cost about $200 TOTAL, which keeps the price under $2000 INCLUDING the upgrades, and you have a 2.3 instead of a 2.4 processor Quad Core i7.

Try configuring a 15" Retina with 16GB of ram, an optical drive, and at least 750GB of storage. Any modified Retina MUST be ordered through Apple, so you have to pay sales tax. Total price before tax is $3178, and in California it would cost me $3464 with tax.

Is it faster? Yes.

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

You are aware that your momentus does not compare to a 768GB ssd, which you can't even get on the open market? And the optical drive is only $79 as an external accessory if you really need one. And I love running my retina at 2880 x 1800, especially when I have a bunch of virtual machines, all lined up...

 

[Krazy Bill]

I'm actually quite pleased WWDC will be putting some emphasis on the MBP line and OSX. Given that iOS is clearly Apple's bread and butter I'll take what I can get along these lines. Looking for a reason to stay with the brand. We'll see what OSX9 proposes. Aside from Siri and Maps, it better do something else.

 

[Bear]

...
Try configuring a 15" Retina with 16GB of ram, an optical drive, and at least 750GB of storage. Any modified Retina MUST be ordered through Apple, so you have to pay sales tax. Total price before tax is $3178, and in California it would cost me $3464 with tax.
...

Legally you are required to pay sales tax to California for products you buy mail order and didn't pay any sales tax on. It might be called a use tax or something else depending on your state, but some states even have a line on the tax forms for it.

Do people pay usually pay it? No. That's why states are looking for ways to get the sales tax collected by the larger companies like Amazon. In the future you will be paying sales tax on most products ordered out of state since the states don't trust people to pay it on their own at the end of the year.

 

[69650]

4K will fail faster and harder. Consumers don't want to upgrade.

Blu-ray hasn't taken off. It's currently selling far below what DVD did at its time, Studios are selling off major films to D-list studios and retailers are shrinking space.

Consumers don't want to buy or upgrade to the latest technology???? lol

It's not a competition. BluRay disks will naturally replace DVDs over time in the same way DVDs replaced VHS. It's a natural progression as the BluRay disks start to fall in price.

 

[scottsjack]

I'm actually quite pleased WWDC will be putting some emphasis on the MBP line and OSX. Given that iOS is clearly Apple's bread and butter I'll take what I can get along these lines. Looking for a reason to stay with the brand. We'll see what OSX9 proposes. Aside from Siri and Maps, it better do something else.

Exactly! We've got probably six or seven iPads in the immediate family. Almost everyone owns an iPhone. Other than an iPhone I have no interest in iOS. It will be great if Apple wants to continue to do business with those of us who prefer full-featured laptops and traditional desktop computers.

 

[racer1441]

I will move to android and lose all hope in apple

Have fun with your crap filled android devices.

 

[Ryth]

rMBP better have a 2GB video card.

 

[flottenheimer]

Disappointing. Very disappointing. No rMBA. Delayed Haswell rMBP. And the cMBP will continue in production. I hope Kuo is wrong this time.

Well, I and a lot of other people working with pixels still prefer a non retina display. I for one went for a 15" MacBook Pro with a hires display rather than the 15" rMBP in late november 2012. And I freakin' love the machine. It is blazing fast and the hires display is absolutely wonderful.
I simply don't see how the rumored continuation of cMBP can be a disappointment to you.

 

[Prof.]

Disappointing. Very disappointing. No rMBA. Delayed Haswell rMBP. And the cMBP will continue in production. I hope Kuo is wrong this time.

Why is it disappointing that the cMBP will remain in production? They are amazing machines and a lot of us prefer to have a computer that is upgradable aftermarket.

 

[iSayuSay]

Oh come on .. Apple can remove classic MBP, but make the base 13" rMBP down to $1199 just like the base MBP.

Tiny 128GB SSD, sad Intel HD graphics driving 4MP display , 8GB of soldered RAM, no SuperDrive .. paying $1499 for that {thing} is just ... stupid.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Consumers don't want to buy or upgrade to the latest technology???? lol

It's not a competition. BluRay disks will naturally replace DVDs over time in the same way DVDs replaced VHS. It's a natural progression as the BluRay disks start to fall in price.

Blu-ray has been out for 7 years now (launched in 2006). It has not replaced - or even come close.

Optical media is all but dead. Launching another format isn't going to work.

 

[Ryth]

Consumers don't want to buy or upgrade to the latest technology???? lol

It's not a competition. BluRay disks will naturally replace DVDs over time in the same way DVDs replaced VHS. It's a natural progression as the BluRay disks start to fall in price.

Sorry but you are completely wrong. I've been in the DVD/Blu-Ray industry since it was created (and we were 1 of the original 2 beta houses for DVD) and the trend for BR is not good.

Blu-Ray IS NOT succeeding in terms of what the industry wants. In fact, streaming is outpacing it so much that studios are not committing to Blu-Ray titles vs putting the $$ into the streaming categories. My one friend works for Paramount and another WB, both in their home video departments. Both were pulled from BR authoring to do compression services due to the demand of streaming. Their BR titles are just now the major hits and they don't do anything else.

Just like DVDA/HDA didn't take off because of the portable MP3 player and the audio went straight to DLs, the same thing is occurring for Blu-Ray. ..the penetrating is not where the studios want it and their commitment to it is waning.

BTW, if you take the average consumer and put a upconverted DVD vs Blu-Ray in front of them on a screen, most cannot tell the difference.

The next optical disc will shoot for 4K video for players but it's main focus is for storage since right now, HD storage is just not reliable enough for long term archiving.

 

[flottenheimer]

If apple doesn't announce iOS 7
I will move to android and lose all hope in apple
They have billions and they have no excuses to delay anything. If they disapoint
It's doom for apple

Why not move now? I'm sure there are plenty of nice Android forums waiting for your input.

 

[newdeal]

The main reason the retina isn't the best selling is price. Also they should drop the price of their external drive And on the ethernet adapter

 

[manu chao]

Consumers don't want to buy or upgrade to the latest technology???? lol

It's not a competition. BluRay disks will naturally replace DVDs over time in the same way DVDs replaced VHS. It's a natural progression as the BluRay disks start to fall in price.

That is possible but then SACD failed to get any traction (though the difference between DVD and Blu-ray is much more noticeably than the difference between a red-book CD and a SACD).

The internet reduced the volume of media purchased on disk considerably and those sticking to DVDs (in favour of Blu-Ray) or CDs (in favour of SACDs) probably also stick more to physical disks than downloads. Thus, the more relevant market to gauge the success of HD video is the download sector. If HD is getting traction there, then it will likely replace SD video in the medium term.

 

[prowlmedia]

X2

I'm tired of waiting. If it is not even mentioned in passing, I'm done waiting. The only people buying them now must be desperate to get one and can not afford to wait for what is next, if they haven't jumped to another platform already that is... No matter what you put under the hood, the whole of the Mac Pro system is outdated hardware.

Your last Statement make zero sense. How would it be outdated if it has the latest hardware?

I know a company that just bought 90 mac pro's before the European sales cut off. Got a decent discount and well, it's a business machine. They'll make the money back. It's a bit different for personal sales, we are all wanting the Next big thing and still feel cheated when they bring sonething out new a year later.

It will happen and think it's going to be something nuts. triple / quad processor. They need to Make the Kind of leap forward they did with the G3 back in the Day. That was Way faster than a PC of it's day, well for a year or so.

Apple need to have a very high end machine and they have dropped the ball by missing out one Xeon Chip Generation.

I reckon they are bringing the Mac Pro production to the USA/Europe Like that have done with the Mini and some iMacs - makes a lot of sense. Also would account for the lack of Leaks coming out of china