So the part of your argument where you say "this is a 'pro' laptop. Not an ipad, for a bit of light browsing, not an air for super portability at a cost. A pro laptop" you are simply saying "this is a Pro Laptop, and Pro Laptops should have X, because that's what Pro Laptops should have".
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See, I considered adding the Ipad to this discussion - but one problem,the ipad requires a computer (and, as it happens another usb port) - for itunes and, if we're being picky, for storage.
So I didn't see it as part of the mix - at the end of the day, assuming a walled garden approach, Apple are looking at an ipad + an mbp/mba/mp/mm.
So the user would need both.
And you know, it's not just the pro, is it, that was a false point on my part, I think, because now, all they have is the pro and the air - so the pro has to accomodate everyone from students to professionals - unless they want to pay a premium for the air...it's confused already as a product range, I feel.
My point is about whether Apple has any reason to do what you want. I say it won't make enough of a difference, to induce enough people to start using competitors' products, that Apple would or should care. I remain convinced that Apple's products will remain the optimal value for professionals in a way that will ensure Apple's short- and long-term success, and that tech trends in the next 2-3 years will make desired accommodations seem anachronistic and a waste of resources on Apple's part. If the point of this conversation, however, is that people want their gripes validated, I'm not really interested in that.
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This was interesting right up until you made the points about gripes. Surely the key is to design/produce a product with minimal (or no) gripes.
Why remove features a reasonable amount of people (or certainly enough people to warrant a single model with those features) still want from your range?
And, moving away from the professional - surely optical media still has a place for the non pro user in a number of cases - especially for those who are using macs because they're a one stop shop.
My mum for example, who loves her now five year old macbook, especially when she can burn photo albums and give them to non computer owning friends, will want an optical drive again for just that purpose.
She simply won't be able to do that without an attachment - I don't look forward to explaining why it's now external and can see a conversation along the lines of 'but can't I get a laptop that can do that when I'm at x's house'.
Ok - a single, simple example - and by all means poke fun at it if you want, but didn't want to get into 'I can't concieve of a reason...' discussions again and it's a real world example.
The point being made that this just adds a small point of dissatisfaction with the product range. And there's no need.
She would have no need for ethernet, though. But would for storage.
Of course some people will have a problem if these changes come to pass, and it might be a pain. Nonetheless, I don't see those problems as particularly significant for professionals in the medium term, and they are utterly irrelevant to Apple as it stands now. So when someone types something like the following:
They forget some other facts, like "Failing to maximize product value for the majority in order to accommodate a smaller proportion of users is corporate idiocy".
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Again, your absolutes are strange - why is removing functionality seen as so irrelevant, if it's a sales point to keep it for several distinct groups of users?
And how do you know it's such a small proportion of users? I say again, you don't - and I don't think Apple does either. I can't see how they would, given the scale of the user base.
Have you been polled for your opinion? have I? Has my son's school? Has my work? Has your work? Has my mother in law etc etc?
I'm sure they've done market research...but I wonder if this, (much as a political party ask questions phrased in a certain way to get the answers they want to hear), wasn't more along the lines of 'We want everything in the cloud and more music and video bought on itunes rather than on optical media, how can we help that along?' than 'Is optical media defunct'?.
It worked for flash, didn't it? No 3rd party content in that IOS 'walled garden'.
I am, of course, without any proof for that whatsoever - but If I were a betting man...
Also, you've yet to discuss the MBP/MBA merge.
Why is removing the distinguishing features of your laptops a good move?
What now distinguishes the lines? Is it a good thing to have so narrow a range?
If you have the air, what is the driving force behind designing your laptop range to achieve the same goals?
It feels like a blind move towards something they want to be the case, rather than something that is. And that's new for Apple, or at least, that's not a move that's been seen so clearly since the days of the Apple G4 Cube and Newton (late 90's/early 2000's), which, as I recall, were dark days indeed.
This is, of course, nothing like on those levels, It'd be ridiculous to say so, but it is a worrying trend.
Personally I thought it was an insane move to remove the superdrive from the mac mini first.
But with hindsight, my question would now be 'what difference did that make to sales figures?' Any?
I certainly went out and bought the last optical drive mm, as I use it under my tv and didn't want a seperate dvd player hanging out the back.
And, a year or so on, still use that superdrive often. A completely different use case, I thoroughly agree, but still, why was that a good move, what did it gain? Surely the cost gain was minimal, the size difference certainly was.
Or what about something like this:
Here we have a false dilemma between (1) laptop + multiple dongles carried around all the time vs. (2) a non-Apple machine with all the other considerations like no Mac OS conveniently omitted. This is hedged with the vague claim that "most people will drop Apple like a hot potato if they fail to offer something that fits their needs". This last phrase is trivially true, and applies to literally every product/company in the world.
Yes, 'all the time' was a stretch - I agree, perhaps I was driven along those lines by your continual assertions that something for which we have no factual basis is true. Or maybe it was comic effect.
Sorry to be critical once again, but you do have this habit of misinterpreting slightly to win a point, don't you, even if it means the point you're winning isn't the point raised!
I never said, or even implied, Apple would be 'dropped like a hot potato' - I said;
boomhaueruk said:
So maybe they'll still sell, but maybe, just maybe, they'll also cause frustrations and chip away at that feeling of 'the best laptop on the market' that powerbooks and macbook pro's have held for so long.
When people have to buy add on's to something that's the most expensive on the market, something the competitors offer on something half the price, maybe they start to feel a bit ripped off. Or worse still, defensive.
Note 'chip away at the feeling of' and 'feel a bit ripped off' and 'feel...defensive'. Not 'dropped like a hot potato'.
I don't think this is the death knell, or anything like - I simply think these moves ill considered and an odd mis-step for Apple, one that might just wear away at the impression of one stop shop that their macbooks and mbp's have had for so long.
Earlier, you criticised my opinions for not 'exhibiting merit', I can't say I feel the same about yours, they do beg several questions, but I question the grounds on which they're based - and wonder if the 'commonly held facts' aren't so much that as 'something Apple would like to be the case to further their business'.
Just for your edification, 'begging the question', AKA petitio principii or 'affirming the consquent', doesn't mean 'prompting the following question'.
It means you simply assert as true that which you are supposed to show through argument.
Well, if that is true (and I have no doubt at all that you meticulously researched it), consider me edified. Though honestly, it was less about it's meaning and more about it's use in the post - to use the ever incorrect Wikipedia - "Many English speakers use "begs the question" to mean "raises the question," or "impels the question," and follow that phrase with the question raised."
If there's no question asked, how can it be begged?
I wish I'd not raised this now, life really is too short - damn my fascination with the correct use of English. Doubly so if I have fallen short!
To quote terrible BBC comedies; 'What Fun'.
Await your next post and continued verbal sparring.
