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Why no proper Built To Order strategy?

M

MacYost

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 14, 2009
48
2
The Netherlands
As I was looking at the new Macbook Pro line, I wondered: why does Apple not support a proper Built To Order strategy?

It is so easy:
  • you have 3 sizes, 13", 15" and 17"
  • you have two screens, glossy and anti glare
  • you have 6 clock speeds, 2.26, 2.53, 2.66, 2.8, 2.93, 3.06 (well, let's make it three: 2.26, 2.8, 3.06)
  • a fast gpu or not
  • several HD sizes, including SSD option

And you mix and match.

I for one, would love to have a 13" MBP with anti glare screen, 3.06 cpu (for Logic) and a huge 7200 rpm disk.

Apple please: why doesn't the 13" have an anti glare screen or a really fast processor? Does size really matter?!
 
No kidding. From the looks of it they already knock BTO customers with a zero-tolerance return policy. The least they could do is give you a decent number of options to pick from across their whole lineup. It reminds me that I can't get a luxury car without also "upgrading" to an extremely inefficient engine with 300 horsepower. I can already break every speed limit in the country with 80HP, so what does all that extra power buy me besides a larger fee at the pump, a larger plume of exhaust coming out the back, and a larger fine when I get pulled over? The way our market is setup today you'd think it was run by snotty fifteen year old snake oil salesmen. I guess that's what they meant when they told us we were heading toward an era of supply side economics.
 
the 13" has a single cooling fan, correct?

15" and 17" have two I believe...the small form of the 13" limits it's ability to harness 2 cooling fans to run a faster CPU.
 
Because Apple doesn't care about matte and offers it for $50 to shut people up.
Because the chip is too hot for a 13" computer.
Because if you're not putting your own hard drive in there anyway, you're begging to be scammed.
 
If you want a 7200RPM drive put one in yourself. It's pretty easy if you know how to use a screwdriver. It's also a lot less expensive than if you paid Apple to do it.
 
MacYost said:
  • you have 3 sizes, 13", 15" and 17"
  • you have two screens, glossy and anti glare
  • you have 6 clock speeds, 2.26, 2.53, 2.66, 2.8, 2.93, 3.06 (well, let's make it three: 2.26, 2.8, 3.06)
  • a fast gpu or not
  • several HD sizes, including SSD option
Apple please: why doesn't the 13" have an anti glare screen or a really fast processor? Does size really matter?!
Click to expand...

Yes, size matters. Size affects how well the case dissipates heat and how many fans can be used. The 13" has less space to stash a heat sink and only one fan - expecting a super-fast processor and dedicated GPU is silly.

As for why not make everything 100% BTO... added expense since you're no longer building the same machine 1000 times, but rather 1000 slightly different machines. A nightmare return process where every machine is different.

There's a reason computer options, like vehicle options, come in packages. Yes, it sucks, but it's simply business.
 
Tallest Skil said:
Because Apple doesn't care about matte and offers it for $50 to shut people up.
Because the chip is too hot for a 13" computer.
Because if you're not putting your own hard drive in there anyway, you're begging to be scammed.
Click to expand...

You've summed it up quite nicely, lol...
 
They need various models to sell in the stores. Having one model and millions of BTO's on the most popular and diverse product line would be an absolute nightmare.
Buying BTO is lame.
The 13" can't handle a 3.06 Core 2 and 9600 GT.
Anti Glare is offered on the 17" to keep a small niche happy.
Fitting your own hard drives and RAM takes <10 minutes.
Nightmare return process.
Much higher costs that would be passed on to the user.
Apple wants as little BTO options as possible, and a high markup on said options. It's the cheapest way for Apple to do business.
 
MacYost said:
As I was looking at the new Macbook Pro line, I wondered: why does Apple not support a proper Built To Order strategy?

It is so easy:
  • you have 3 sizes, 13", 15" and 17"
  • you have two screens, glossy and anti glare
  • you have 6 clock speeds, 2.26, 2.53, 2.66, 2.8, 2.93, 3.06 (well, let's make it three: 2.26, 2.8, 3.06)
  • a fast gpu or not
  • several HD sizes, including SSD option

And you mix and match.

I for one, would love to have a 13" MBP with anti glare screen, 3.06 cpu (for Logic) and a huge 7200 rpm disk.

Apple please: why doesn't the 13" have an anti glare screen or a really fast processor? Does size really matter?!
Click to expand...

And what would you ship to Best Buy, Amazon, and the Apple Retail Stores? A box of parts???

BTO is a vast minority of the total machines Apple sells.
 
Apple is quite happy building 3 "standaard" versions of the 15" with almost identical processor speeds. Why not extrapolate on that nightmare?
 
Chupa Chupa said:
If you want a 7200RPM drive put one in yourself. It's pretty easy if you know how to use a screwdriver. It's also a lot less expensive than if you paid Apple to do it.
Click to expand...

How is it a lot less expensive? The upgrade is $50 through apple.
 
Shake 'n' Bake said:
That's for a 250 GB HDD. They charge $200 for a 500 GB HDD when you could DIY it for about half that.

RAM is even less expensive to DIY.
Click to expand...

Are you referring to a 13" upgrade? Sorry, I was referring to the 17" upgrade... which has me in a major bind on whether I should do it or not. It's cheaper to have them do it, but I'm worried about the click/beep issue.
 
Rodent said:
Are you referring to a 13" upgrade? Sorry, I was referring to the 17" upgrade... which has me in a major bind on whether I should do it or not. It's cheaper to have them do it, but I'm worried about the click/beep issue.
Click to expand...

Yes a 13''. For the 17'' the $50 is not unreasonable.
 
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