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Why are the new MacBooks Pro's so expensive?

GooBoyGle

GooBoyGle

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 1, 2016
42
132
So I've been in the market for a new MacBook for a while now and decided to wait for the new ones to arrive. I was looking at the 2017 13' model priced at roughly 1300 euros (about 1500 dollars). Today, Apple finally announced the new Pro line-up and I was shocked when I saw the prices! They ask 2000 euros (2230 dollars!) for the base model 13 inch!

Why are the new ones so expensive! I can't afford to buy it, like I'm just a student and I need the money for books as well. The MacBook 12'' is too underpowered for me and the Air totally sucks because it has no retina display. I don't want to buy the older Pro's since they have a lot of issues...


I just don't know how they could raise the price by 700 euros (820 dollars)...
 
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UBS28 said:
Why do you need a touchbar if you are a student?

And why do students who suppsosedly have little money buy expensive laptops like Macbook pro's by the way?

When I was a student, I was doing it on a $500 laptop (which still works in 2018)
Click to expand...

There is not a non-touchbar version in the new line up. :(
 
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They are expensive to some people and reasonably priced to other people.

Apple is the king of marketing in my opinion.

Which programs need Mac OS? My niece is starting university in the fall and absolutely does not want a MacBook which made her parents happy.
 
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Macalway said:
You don't need a touch bar. Trust me. (geesh, what a waste of money).

Best thing about the touch bar? it's easy to ignore.
Click to expand...

I agree that the actual touch bar is a net-negative... As a professional user, losing a physical escape key is annoying ... But the touchbar itself also frequently "locks up" and requires me to switch apps or even reboot sometimes to unfreeze it.

The touch-id on the other hand is very nice.

With that said, If you want a modern CPU, multiple thunderbolt ports, etc, you have no choice but to get the touchbar.

As much as I hate the touchbar itself, I am actually upgrading from a 2017 15" to a 2018 15" primarily for the 32GB of ram (16GB is frequently a problem for me, with my computer swapping out).
 
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GooBoyGle said:
Yeah but they removed the non-touchbar version, which means the base Pro model is now starting at 2000 euros (2230 dollar)...
Click to expand...
No they haven't. They've removed the 15" base model, but the 13" non-touchbar is still there in the UK, France and German stores (I've not bothered checking the rest).

Of course the fact that the prices have stayed the same and the touchbar models have had a significant update while the non-touchbar ones haven't makes the non-touchbar worse value. But the price has not changed.
 
Macalway said:
You don't need a touch bar. Trust me. (geesh, what a waste of money).

Best thing about the touch bar? it's easy to ignore.
Click to expand...

I've often read this kind of statement and it really puzzles me. I bought a 2017 MacBook Pro some six months ago, and one feature that I use constantly is the Touch Bar. It saves me a great deal of time in writing, spelling, and spacing.
 
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warburg said:
I've often read this kind of statement and it really puzzles me. I bought a 2017 MacBook Pro some six months ago, and one feature that I use constantly is the Touch Bar. It saves me a great deal of time in writing, spelling, and spacing.
Click to expand...

Can you touch-type ?
 
warburg said:
I've often read this kind of statement and it really puzzles me. I bought a 2017 MacBook Pro some six months ago, and one feature that I use constantly is the Touch Bar. It saves me a great deal of time in writing, spelling, and spacing.
Click to expand...

People are negative about it because Apple. Just ignore it, Touch Bar is great and a lot of people have found good use for it. People who didn't often think they are the standard by which things should be measured.
 
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As a fellow student, here's my advice: just buy a used one. I got my Retina for $200. Now granted, you are probably not gonna find one for $200 in any kind of good condition (mine is in decent shape, but I had to tighten the screws that hold the hinges to the screen..very involved job to do correctly), but you could find a good one for $500-700 in good condition (2013-2014 model). Watch out for the screen coatings because those are known to wear off on these generations. So far, mine has been good. Part of being a student is making compromises.
 
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Glmnet1 said:
It's still there but hasn't been updated. Same keyboard, 7th gen CPU and no True Tone.
Click to expand...

So what. Besides True Tone, what do the new MBP's do that the old ones don't? I mean seriously, put the 2017 and 2018 models side-by-side and what are you going to get, like a one second difference in speed and a quieter keyboard? Big whoop! Just get a 2017 MBP and move on with your life. Hell, buy it from the refurb store and use the money you save to take your mom on a vacation!
 
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lambertjohn said:
So what. Besides True Tone, what do the new MBP's do that the old ones don't? I mean seriously, put the 2017 and 2018 models side-by-side and what are you going to get, like a one second difference in speed and a quieter keyboard? Big whoop! Just get a 2017 MBP and move on with your life. Hell, buy it from the refurb store and use the money you save to take your mom on a vacation!
Click to expand...
Twice the amount of core can actually save a lot of time for some tasks. The keyboard I suspect (and hope) has also been improved for reliability so it could save you money in the long run if you get to keep the laptop for longer. We'll have to wait to see about that keyboard though. You also get one more year of macOS support, a slightly better iGPU and a bigger battery.

For some people it'll be worth it, for others it won't.
 
Not that its BAD to be a broke student but you have a certain reality you must face. That luxury products, especially high tech and those literally just released, are going to be expensive, something a typical college student isn't meant for. Like would you walk into a Mercedes dealer and tell them that their luxury cars are too high for you because you're a student? Its just weird reasoning.

There are great deals for the 2017 or 2016 and second hand pros, don't know why that is not good enough for a broke college student. When I was broke, I would've taken anything that performed consistently.
 
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lambertjohn said:
So what. Besides True Tone, what do the new MBP's do that the old ones don't? I mean seriously, put the 2017 and 2018 models side-by-side and what are you going to get, like a one second difference in speed and a quieter keyboard? Big whoop! Just get a 2017 MBP and move on with your life. Hell, buy it from the refurb store and use the money you save to take your mom on a vacation!
Click to expand...

Considerably faster CPU, the 8th generation Core i5 and i7's are a beast. Larger battery, True Tone display, 3rd generation Butterfly keyboard, Bluetooth 5.0, improved Intel Iris GPU with double eDRAM, T2 chip for encryption, Hey Siri, etc.
 
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GooBoyGle said:
So I've been in the market for a new MacBook for a while now and decided to wait for the new ones to arrive. I was looking at the 2017 13' model priced at roughly 1300 euros (about 1500 dollars). Today, Apple finally announced the new Pro line-up and I was shocked when I saw the prices! They ask 2000 euros (2230 dollars!) for the base model 13 inch!

Why are the new ones so expensive! I can't afford to buy it, like I'm just a student and I need the money for books as well. The MacBook 12'' is too underpowered for me and the Air totally sucks because it has no retina display. I don't want to buy the older Pro's since they have a lot of issues...


I just don't know how they could raise the price by 700 euros (820 dollars)...
Click to expand...

Sorry to sound gruff, but I would love to buy and own a 2019 Bentley Continental GT without financing one. It's a pipe dream. Apple products have been expensive from day one. Nothing new here. I paid in excess of $3000 for my MBP 8 years ago. I paid $4000 for my iMac Pro at Micro Center just a few months ago. Yeah it's money. But honestly anything under $15K for a computer system is doable - at least for me. Everyone's situation is different. Apple prices their MBP's not in the same category as a $399 Google netbook. Are Apple products worth their price? I leave that for you to decide.
 
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