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rMB the best selling Mac?!
- Thread starter navaira
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I absolutely agree that there is a pent-up desire to have the next generation model or remake of the Air and Pro and because of this people are running towards purchasing a new rMB.
In my case, though, the reasoning is different. Based on what I do, my main device has been my iPad and I have a line item in my budget to upgrade tech every year. If I don't use it, I lose it. Because they didn't release an iPad Air 3, I decided to go with the "low" end rMB. The iPad Pro looks nice, but it's too big for what I need. Not to mention, the iPad Air 2 is still a solid device. So now, I have a brand new rMB and still holding onto my Air 2.
Both devices are solid for my workflow, but had I not used my company's budget to get something, I would have lost it. I love both devices. Both are solid for travel, too.
We keep talking about two different audiences here, so let's separate them for the sake of clarity:
Rich person: Can afford a $1,500 premium notebook, just has to perform decently, look good, and come from a luxury brand.
Poor person: Can't justify $1,500 for a notebook that can hit Facebook no better than a $249 Black Friday doorbuster.
So to say that the RMB is "for everyone who wants a premium laptop" is accurate only for the 1%'ers that can drop that kind of frivolous cash. To the niche of rich people, it's the next-big-thing. To the mass of average or poor people, they can't afford it.
"Niche" counts on many grounds. Niche for productivity, niche for travel, niche for the wealthy, niche for the status-seeker. It's not a mass consumable for the Average Joe which was your original argument.
BJ
Show me a notebook sold today that is more expensive than the RMB whose emphasis is similarly based on form factor and not horsepower.
BJ
Before buying the MacBook, I very strongly considered the Surface Pro - in the end, I didn't get it because when I took into account the price of the most equivalent spec, meaning not only processor but also RAM and storage size, as well as 3 year warranty, and the £100 keyboard that has to be bought separately, I actually found the MacBook to be better value.
No, as a neither rich nor poor person - I consider myself middle class, I simply bought the machine that was the best value for money. That turned out to be the MacBook. With education discount and the Back to School offer at the time, I even got a further £250 off. £150 off for the discount, £100 after I sold the Beats headphones, and a free 3 year warranty. Good value even before all of that, and terrific value when the savings were taken into account. So a total spend of £800 as I bought the base model. I estimate that I'll be able to sell the MacBook for £700 if I decide to sell it. Only £100 loss or 12.5%. That's another thing to take into account, the good resell value of Apple machines actually makes them far more affordable in the long run.
Had I bought a cheap HP laptop, selling used would probably lose at least 50%, that's if it didn't break down from overheating after a year, which is what my previous cheap (£250) HP laptop did.
Had I bought a cheap HP laptop, selling used would probably lose at least 50%, that's if it didn't break down from overheating after a year, which is what my previous cheap (£250) HP laptop did.
I totally agree with you Lite. My old MacBook has lasted almost 6 years and is used for 12+ hours a day now for my Sport Management business. Before that, I travelled to London 3-4 times a week for over 3 years and used this in the studio. So in reality, it's probably had 20+ years of use and it's still great! A HP would probably of failed in it first year. Saying a MacBook is 'niche' is like saying an Audi A3 is niche. It would be 'niche' if it cost £5000 upwards but at £1000 for quality, how can it be niche? It's got more storage by a basic Air and more RAM and for most laptop buyers, plenty of power! It's great quality but its not expensive - a Mac Pro is maybe niche but not this
May I just gently remind that the original post mentions Very Reliable Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stating that the rMB is the best selling Mac – obviously it's not a niche! (Unless of course with all the models available best selling means something like 4.1%)
I have a better idea of who you are now, what kind of customer you represent.
"Best value for the money", "My previous cheap HP laptop", "Good value", "terrific value", "Back to School offer", "education discount", "free warranty", "sold the free Beats headphones", already planning your eBay sale when the time comes to maximize what its worth.
Props for your ingenuity and finding a way to game the system and get the world's least expensive RMB, but clearly you're not the target audience for this niche machine. If my 17 year old son parked cars and fished loose change off of subway tracks all summer to buy a used Mercedes it doesn't mean he's a Mercedes owner, but it would explain why he thinks he was.
BJ
Unfortunately that only applies in half a dozen countries or so ie US, Canada, UK, France Germany, Australia and a few more.
Others, unless your lucky to sell to an expat from the above list their value is greatly reduced as locals would rather opt for a new cheap Windows PC/Laptop than a few years old Apple that's overprice no warranty or hard to service with hardly any Apple stores etc
Also remember Apple soon drops official support of OSX on older Mac's and bootcamp support even faster
The argument against that is that the Air (2008) and the Pro (2006) are extremely old and that userbase is patiently waiting for updated hardware. Similarly, Apple has never released a notebook as thin/light as the 2015 Retina MacBook and the niche audience who can afford an underpowered and overpriced luxury item like that are outnumbering the Air and Pro group due to timing.
Look around you. What I see are Pro owners who would never compromise processing power and Air owners who don't want to spend more. It's not like these customers are converts to the RMB doctrine. Three separate market segments for three distinctly different products.
BJ
I've heard from Apple store employees and BestBuy employees who say the 2012 13" MBP is today still the best selling MBP. Go to the BestBuy site and look up the 2012 MBP and you will about a dozen reviews each from new buyers.
I'm a MacBook owner. The MacBook I bought was brand new straight from Apple. Just because I took advantage of Apple's generous student discount doesn't change that. I didn't game the system or beg on the streets, it was offered to me by Apple. Apple wants students and those in the education profession to buy their laptops.
I realize this, however in our spirited debate in this thread you act like you represent the typical RMB owner and it's not the case.
Again, it's great that you own such a fine machine, congrats, but it is quite atypical how you went about it and justified it.
BJ
That's regrettable to hear, I think if consumers really appreciated how much more performance you get for your money with the Retina model, they wouldn't go for the cMBP on any day.
I've personally had to deal with a fair few customers who are nothing short of heartbroken at how poorly it seems to perform with real-world usage. It's difficult to phrase "well you paid a lot of money, but you didn't pay quite enough to get performance you'd expect from such an expensive machine".
Oh well, it is what it is.
i agree, a person who look in his wallet before buy something, for me, that person cannot afford that something
How I justified the MacBook, over something like the MacBook Pro Retina is exactly how most consumers would justify it: lighter, sleeker, double the storage. The discount is great, but that applies to the full range of Apple laptops.
Furthermore, on the contrary I think how I justified my purchase of a premium product is quite typical of how most consumers buy premium products. I was disillusioned with the "value for money" cheap HP laptops, having experienced their poor long term down. I wanted something quality this time, something that would last. I realised in the long term the expensive product is actually better value. I am the typical intelligent consumer.
If anything, I am one of the prime target audience. Young, want something sleek and cool looking, light and easy to take around with sufficient performance and enough storage for a good collection of pictures, downloads etc.
Actually, it's not such a bad laptop. I bought my 2015 15" 16GB retina MBP in May and then in June, also bought the 2012 13" MBP for just over $700 at BestBuy. They had their cyber Monday sale in July and with my reward certificates, I paid just over $700. I wanted a good reliable MBP that could give me all the features that I have in my 2008 black MacBook that is now way to slow for anything I would want to do with the 2012 which is web surfing, burning a few CDs/DVDs and a few other things. The date my 2012 MBP was built was in May of 2015 so Apple is pumping them out just as fast as the current ones.
Not to dispute your fondness for the 2012 cMBP, but the date it was built has little to do with how it's selling.
When Tim Cook joined Apple, his big claim to fame was slashing inventory. Apple has one of the highest inventory turnover rates in the industry - double that of Dell and quadruple HP. Apple turns over its inventory every 5 days on average (at least as of ~2012). Tim Cook has literally spoken of inventory as being "evil".
