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what happened to year of the laptop?

jefhatfield

jefhatfield

Retired
Original poster
Jul 9, 2000
8,803
0
there are two things on the table bugging me right now...

first, the new G4 ibook with added features like G4/altivec, slot loading optical drive, bluetooth, airport extreme, panther, ilife, idvd, imovie, and other good stuff in the new ibook is not apple's hottest selling thing...why is that?

secondly, why are our professional grade laptops behind the pc competition? where are our G5 laptops? the pc world already has had 64-bit athlon laptops out for some time now

thoughts?
 
"The year of the laptop" apparently referred to sales expectations. Apparently Apple did very well with laptop sales in 2003, far better than they did overall in terms of marketshare and sale increases. There's a forums member who points this out in his/her signature.
 
ibooks are more of a college student type of notebook, they're not selling now cause its the middle of the year... i bet they will sell a lot more in may and june when kids start graduating and getting computers...and also in august for the back to school sales.
 
jefhatfield said:
there are two things on the table bugging me right now...

SNIP

secondly, why are our professional grade laptops behind the pc competition? where are our G5 laptops? the pc world already has had 64-bit athlon laptops out for some time now

thoughts?
Click to expand...

Its a LEAP year - they are leaping over the competition with amazing new PowerBooks anytime now... ;) :D :(
 
I think a couple of you are confused. 2003 was the year of the laptop, Steve announced it at the beginning of last year. While they did improve laptop sales, mostly through marketing (imho), they did little to add value to their portable line, and i think the "year of the laptop" thing was either a failed attempt, or was in hopes of a G5 PB hitting before the end of last year. At any rate, I agree with jef, their laptop line is kind of pathetic, in terms of speed... which is what so many people base decisions on.

paul
 
paulwhannel said:
I think a couple of you are confused. 2003 was the year of the laptop, Steve announced it at the beginning of last year. While they did improve laptop sales, mostly through marketing (imho), they did little to add value to their portable line, and i think the "year of the laptop" thing was either a failed attempt, or was in hopes of a G5 PB hitting before the end of last year. At any rate, I agree with jef, their laptop line is kind of pathetic, in terms of speed... which is what so many people base decisions on.

paul
Click to expand...

Yep, 2003 was Steve's year of the laptop. I hadn't thought they may have been trying to get the G5 out last year, I thought it was more about the 12, 15 and 17 range all coming out.

I want to switch and I have decided I want a laptop, but for the money (especially here in Oz) I have resisted since October buying the current range because it is underwhelming and will not last the 3-4 years I plan to keep it. Shame really.
 
They did introduce two whole new laptops, 12 &17 redesign the 15 for the first real time in a long time and they switched the ibook from a g4 to g3, they made huge changes in their laptop line and had better sales. I think the year of the laptop thing was more a theme for that conference than the year itself ...
 
yeah...

'year of laptop" was in reference to 2003, specifically referring to laptop sales exceeding desktop sales, I believe.

arn
 
arn said:
yeah...

'year of laptop" was in reference to 2003, specifically referring to laptop sales exceeding desktop sales, I believe.

arn
Click to expand...

quite true - the remark referred only to sales of laptops. *and* it has become one of the most over-analyzed comments SJ has ever made. It was really an offhand remark during a much longer (keynote) speech, not in and of itself a statement about the future.

It's really long past time that people let that comment go.
 
sorry, but Apple is making a fool of themself right now for not coming out with new hardware!!! c'mon, there are .90 G5s, where are the Powermac and iMac updates GODDAMED??? where is the iPod update, now that the mini iPod is out??? where is the Panther update that fixes at least some of the glitches in 10.3??? new powerbooks, DUH??!!

aaaaaaaaarrrghhhhhhhh, this is driving me crazy..! seems that it's not enough that they let Mac's 20th birthday pass without using media focus for updates/new products...

I'm really, really, really, really ANGRY!!! :mad:

vSpacken
 
vollspacken said:
SNIP

aaaaaaaaarrrghhhhhhhh, this is driving me crazy..! seems that it's not enough that they let Mac's 20th birthday pass without using media focus for updates/new products...

I'm really, really, really, really ANGRY!!! :mad:

vSpacken
Click to expand...

:D Well I guess once the Pepsi/iTune/MiniiPod season (Jan-March) is over we might see Apple move into actual computer hardware. I don't even own a Mac and waiting is getting annoying. Every week the papers and mags are full of PC laptop specials from the whole gambit of companies. I want a laptop, I want it to be a PowerBook, but the current range is running on chip/bus technology that is not going to last the 2-4 years I will likely use the PB as my primary computer. I need the G5 so I don't buy into the old generation...
 
aswitcher said:
I need the G5 so I don't buy into the old generation...
Click to expand...

Apple are their own worst enemy in this way. I am also waiting to buy a new Mac for the family (an eMac) and am waiting for the next release as the current one is underspecced. I waited over 12 months for my first Mac (a Powerbook I bought last August). Again the reason was waiting for a machine that fitted my minimum spec and budget.

It must drive Apple's Sales & Marketing guys up the wall trying to operate with that problem. They are essentially competing against themselves.

So you could imagine also, that they would be careful not to release new models when they still have plenty of old stock to clear.

The irony of course, is we who are waiting complain they don't release often enough, and those who do buy, complain they release too often (and devalue the machine they just bought)

Apple can't win!


There was a deluge of posts in this forum 3 months ago bagging Apple's stupidity in regards to the mini iPod and its specs. Yet Apple are struggling to keep up supply of them and are selling even more than they expected.

People who phrase their feelings so strongly and consequently make themselves sound like some guru of production and marketing, really ought to think harder before pressing "Submit". Coz like the mini iPod critics, sooner or later they will end up with egg on their face too.

How can they keep bagging Apple for not releasing "Product X" when they have no idea what's going on?
 
ChrisH3677 said:
SNIP

How can they keep bagging Apple for not releasing "Product X" when they have no idea what's going on?
Click to expand...

Because Apple have chosen, probably rightly, not to comment on future releases as a policy except at some of their conventions. By not puting us in the picture about releases we are left to angst over whether to buy now or later, rather than looking at their timeline.

For example if I knew for a fact that no powerbook updates would occur in 2004, with a planned G5 release in Jan 2005 (with rough specs of features and price), then I would be able to make a call now about buying another machine or to wait. But since they don't want people to stop buying prior to their releases they don't tell us so they keep moving stock. Also they like to surprise their competitors, and would lose their thunder or market entry with new tech if they told everyone what they had planned. So we are left to speculate and angst. I think its reasonable to complain when they pass typical release timeframes without any word at all. Anyway, I'll keep waiting. I won't loose my rag about this, I do that when Apple Australia prices the things 30-40% above what I could get them for in the US!
 
howard said:
ibooks are more of a college student type of notebook, they're not selling now cause its the middle of the year... i bet they will sell a lot more in may and june when kids start graduating and getting computers...and also in august for the back to school sales.
Click to expand...

...and probably the even larger wired K-12 market with individuals, students, teachers, and school staff

that's a great point because it makes sense that sales of the ibook, which i think is a good enough economy laptop, should pick up in the summer months before school kids go back to school in late august and early september

i hope, and probably assume, that apple will sell a lot of ibooks at that point...i really can't see too many students opting for powerbooks since i think they are a little pricey but i have seen some really tiny younguns out there with powerbooks and one kid with a 17" inch powerbook right when it came out...either the kid was rich or he saved up for a long time and he really knew exactly what he wanted

when i was a kid, my parents had a limit on what they would buy me but i really wanted a nice electric guitar but they said no way...so i quietly built on my coin collection and sold it at a tidy profit and got 2 electric guitars with my own money so they didn't seem to mind at all...but that was in the early 80s...if it was these days and i was a high school kid in the same situation, i would have bought a powerbook;)
 
aswitcher said:
For example if I knew for a fact that no powerbook updates would occur in 2004, with a planned G5 release in Jan 2005 (with rough specs of features and price), then I would be able to make a call now about buying another machine or to wait. But since they don't want people to stop buying prior to their releases they don't tell us so they keep moving stock.
Click to expand...

The lose-lose situation Apple is in! If they said "We will be releasing the new eMac in May 2004" then I'd wait til May 2005, so they'd lose my business til then.

But they don't tell me when... so I wait anyway!!

At the end of the day we all have a spec and price-point we're waiting for. Whether they tells their future plans or not, we wait.

They can't win!

In the PC world you just go shop around and build it yourself.
 
vollspacken said:
sorry, but Apple is making a fool of themself right now for not coming out with new hardware!!!
Click to expand...

While we'd all like new hardware, we must be practical... it has yet to arrive for a reason. Have faith.

I personally have a great deal of faith in Apple. New PowerBooks.. right around the corner. New i/eMacs.. in the pipeline. New PowerMacs (with pimp ass displays) coming in early April. The iPod... is not going to happen anytime soon though. Sorry. :)

Have faith man.
 
cr2sh said:
While we'd all like new hardware, we must be practical... it has yet to arrive for a reason. Have faith.

I personally have a great deal of faith in Apple. New PowerBooks.. right around the corner. New i/eMacs.. in the pipeline. New PowerMacs (with pimp ass displays) coming in early April. The iPod... is not going to happen anytime soon though. Sorry. :)

Have faith man.
Click to expand...

Apple's not my religion :p so I feel free to speculate on how long I am going to have to wait until I switch and wonder if they have been distracted by making money on music etc :D It makes the time pass commiserating with others in the same position ;)
 
Hi there!

I'm heading to New York 1st week June for a holiday and hope to pick up a powerbook as they're sooo much cheaper than here in Scotland. Do people think the G5 powerbook will be around then ? If it's not, would I be silly to buy a G4 powerbook?

Welcome all your views as I'm in a dilema!

Help!
 
jpfitzp said:
Hi there!

I'm heading to New York 1st week June for a holiday and hope to pick up a powerbook as they're sooo much cheaper than here in Scotland. Do people think the G5 powerbook will be around then ? If it's not, would I be silly to buy a G4 powerbook?

Welcome all your views as I'm in a dilema!

Help!
Click to expand...

If your price mark up in the UK is anything liek Australia, such a purchase would be very attractive. Pity its not the first week of July because by then you would have found out if Steve has big announcements planned for the developers conference.

Anyway, by June the PowerBook issue will be hotter than ever and hopefully we will have had our now overdue release, so I think you have a pretty good chance of un upgrade, even if its a G4.

But G4 is old technology...G5 is the future. Unless you plan to regularly upgrade I would considering holding off...but then again the price might be very tempting...
 
aswitcher I won't loose my rag about this said:
when the G5 pb's arrive, fly to singapore for a weekend. it's still cheaper than buying one here. even cheaper if you look for one of those package deals to singapore.
Click to expand...
 
i don't know about g5 powerbooks...
if they aren't ready, they aren't ready...
i for one would prefer a g4 laptop in it's beautiful, thin, sleek, case than a behemoth of laptop with a 64-bit processor. take your pic.

reality
 
i am not like some mac users who get a new machine every 12-18 months, so i would wait to see if apple gets a G5 powerbook soon ;)

but if surfing, email, and word processing is all you do but you still want to get a shiny, silver powerbook, then buy one now in america where it's cheaper than scotland/elsewhere

since the G5 powerbook will still be limited to a laptop size, i can't see extraordinary benchmarks when it does finally hit the shelves...don't expect a dual G5 laptop....sure the G5 powerbook will top the G4 powerbooks, but not by a huge margin

laptop benchmarks from season to season are still very incremental in the mac world

the pc world, however, is a different story where a machine six months newer than another is usually considerably better than its predecessor...one day we will catch up to wintel and this last year was one of playing catch up and apple inc closed the gap by a lot
 
jefhatfield said:
i am not like some mac users who get a new machine every 12-18 months,
Click to expand...


let's see...he he...first mac in june 99 and third mac just recently...ok that's close to every 18 months ;)
 
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