My feedback...
I edited an earlier post here and sent it to Apple's Feedback line (it appears at the end of this post). Apple has spent a great deal of the last two years disappointing me with bizarre and unfocused product rollouts such as...
The bizarrely bezeled and super glossy iMacs.
The bluetooth keyboard, curiously missing a number pad
The lobotomization of iMovie '08
The disappointing-in-almost-every-way MacBook Air
The neglect of the Mac mini
The un-iPod-like previous generation of iPod nano
The lack of price adjustments to the freakishly overpriced Cinema Displays
And yet, as I've owned Apple computers and products for 23 years, since I bought my first 128k Macintosh on January 20th, 1985, I remain a fan. Not a fanboy. Just a fan.
And over the course of all these years, while some products (as you've seen above) have disappointed me, I've -never- written to Apple in dissatisfaction, until now.
Apple doesn't -owe- me anything. I've been pleased with well over 95% of the Apple products I've purchased. But make -no- mistake, Apple is starting to lose me.
I am -not- a Windows fan in any way, shape, or form, and switching to Windows is almost unthinkable. Throughout many jobs I've held over the years, there have been times I've been forced to use Windows XP in my daily work life. Yet it isn't so vile or so reprehensible that I could honestly say that there isn't a chance I would use it, if I didn't have a -reasonable- alternative.
My university sells a Lenovo ThinkPad T400 that absolutely humiliates the new MacBook line and certainly gives the new MacBook Pros -stiff- competition, for a lower price tag than even the entry level Aluminum MacBook. While I did just purchase a new (previous generation) steeply discounted MacBook Pro, in four years, I will be ready for a new computer. If Apple continues to offer products that don't meet my needs or fall several hundred dollars short of their non-Apple competitors, let there be absolutely no mistake: I could be convinced to consider alternatives.
Like I said, Apple doesn't owe me anything, but Apple -does- have to earn my business, each and every time I'm in the market to purchase a product. The fact that I've owned 11 Apple computers, two iPods, an iPhone, and thousands of dollars of other products, software, and accessories means I also don't owe Apple anything, either.
The feedback I sent to Apple:
hen Apple announced the date of the event at which they would update the laptop line, I eagerly anticipated the opportunity to buy a MacBook. While I genuinely loathe glossy screens, I had accepted, with a heavy heart, that I would be saddled with such a screen for the four years that I would expect to get from the computer.
I refreshed Engadget like a man possessed throughout the announcements and my excitement grew into horror as I watched "Pro" machines receive decidedly -non- "Pro" screens. Still, with news of my future MacBook still ahead, I listened attentively. Surely the rumors about the new case and the loss of FireWire had to have been wrong, I believed.
Sadly, my confidence was crushed.
Now listen, maybe some extremely new digital video cameras come with USB 2.0 ports. Maybe the average MacBook customer doesn't care about fast backups to hard drives or target disk mode. Or maybe I'm not the average MacBook user (although I suspect I am), but if my budget limits me to a MacBook, it certainly doesn't allow me to run out and replace the FireWire video camera I bought only two years ago from an Apple store. It also doesn't allow me to replace the FireWire hard drives that I have connected to my current G5 iMac.
I'm heavily invested (by my economic standards) in FireWire. If FireWire is to be replaced by newer technology in much the same way that USB replaced serial ports, then drop FireWire -WHEN- you provide it's replacement and I'll accept that, even if I'm not thrilled about it. But to drop FireWire completely and -THEN- charge HUNDREDS of dollars more for the same processing power that a lower price would have netted me, only one day earlier, is an insult.
I don't care how proud Apple is of the highly-over designed case. I don't care how much Apple touts their mouse-button-less glass track pad. I don't care if Apple thinks the "coolness" of the backlit keyboard (on the "high end" configuration is supposed to awe me into making an otherwise poor decision. If it's Apple's intent to provide me with dramatically poorer value than they had previously, then it's my intention not to buy their "beautiful" new machine.
In fact, my need for a portable machine -was- happily resolved last Friday (10/17/2008). I was able to purchase a brand new "Early 2008" Penryn entry level MacBook Pro for $100 less than the high end MacBook would have cost me. I can't believe I'm the owner of such an incredible, matte-screened, FireWire-laden, highly expandable powerhouse of a machine. This is my 11th Apple Macintosh.
It's also my last until Apple gets out of this outrageous glossy screen phase and starts respecting the intelligence and needs of it's customers. Say what you will about the first generation iBook days, but Apple was hungry to prove they could make a good looking computer that was powerful and they gave us more technology and capability than we could get, anywhere else.
The MacBook is a disastrously poor value compared to other laptops in it's class. It represents a worse value than the previous generation. I only hope this doesn't portend similar decisions yet to emerge from Cupertino.