Apple's MacBook Pro, iMac sales beat all industry estimates, defeat contracting market

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook this week took a swipe at Mac sales estimates, as true sales figures came in higher than predicted by Gartner, pushing Apple to a third consecutive quarter of growth in both volume and earnings.




In Tuesday's quarterly earnings report, Apple declared sales of 4.29 million units of Macs, up slightly from the same period in 2016. While not as profound a jump as the holiday quarter when the 2016 MacBook Pro launched, availability of new machines for the most recent quarter was for only half the reporting period or less, depending on configuration.




Gartner's preliminary statistics, published July 12, showed Apple rising one spot to end the quarter in fourth place with 4.24 million units shipped to vendors and sold to customers directly. The estimated performance was down 0.4 percent compared to last year, when the company sold 4.25 million Macs.

The difference in units between Apple's actual sales numbers and Gartner's shipment estimates means that the company had a year-over-year growth in the Mac, not a contraction. Apple has maintained Mac sales growth for the entirety of the 2017 fiscal year.

According to the same estimates, Apple captured 6.9 percent of the worldwide market for the quarter, up from 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2016. At the time, AppleInsider noted that the numbers seemed peculiar, given Apple's wide swath of updates of its Mac line in June at the WWDC.




Cook declared in the earnings conference call that the Mac's volume worldwide has grown seven percent year-over-year. Cook also noted that the growth was despite IDC's latest estimate of a four percent contraction in the PC market.

Gartner predicted in January that worldwide device shipments of PCs, tablets, and smartphones would remain static until 2018. While that may be the case industry-wide, Apple's actual sales figures have exceeded Gartner's shipment predictions consistently -- and the rest of the industry reports shipments, not actual sales.

It is not clear when Apple will refresh its product lineup again. Apple updated its MacBook Pro and iMac lines at the WWDC, and teased the forthcoming iMac Pro which will start shipping later in 2017. In April, Apple said that there was a new Mac Pro coming, but not in 2017, and that the Mac mini was an important part of the company's product plan.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 75
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,796member
    But but...the MacBook Pro is overpriced and the dongle hell issue keeps everyone from buying them! And those iMacs...gosh, those are just so lame today! 

    Where are all of these people who basically said the new MacBook Pro will be a failure because of its lack of ports, you need a dongle for everything, its way too expensive? And don't give me this crap about well what if it had more ports and was cheaper, they'd sell twice as much. Thats absolute pure BS! That touch bar is just a gimmick and won't help sell the MacBook Pro. 

    Where are these people now? All quiet with their tail between their legs in defeat as usual. They never learn. Apple know its market a hell of a lot better than any one of us here. They see things we will never see. They have more data than we could possibly ever get. We need to stop trying to run Apple to suit our own needs. Our needs may not be the needs of the majority which is a hell of a lot more important to Apple as a company than a very small set of customers. 
    rob53Rayz2016StrangeDayschiamdriftmeyerSolibrucemctmaywatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 2 of 75
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,239member
    One of these days investors will wake up and realize the majority of analysts haven't the faintest idea what they're doing or saying. I don't know when that time will be because there are a lot of business-ignorant people out there who blindly trust what analysts are saying, all while the analysts are working on ways to short a stock for their own gain. Even if analysts declare they don't have AAPL stock, they have enough stock that is affected by what AAPL does, giving them some kind of self-justification for coming up with bogus comments and numbers all the time. The first thing investors need to know is not to trust what analysts say because they always have ulterior motives.
    mdriftmeyerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 75
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    macxpress said:
    But but...the MacBook Pro is overpriced and the dongle hell issue keeps everyone from buying them! And those iMacs...gosh, those are just so lame today! 

    Where are all of these people who basically said the new MacBook Pro will be a failure because of its lack of ports, you need a dongle for everything, its way too expensive? And don't give me this crap about well what if it had more ports and was cheaper, they'd sell twice as much. Thats absolute pure BS! That touch bar is just a gimmick and won't help sell the MacBook Pro. 

    Where are these people now? All quiet with their tail between their legs in defeat as usual. They never learn. Apple know its market a hell of a lot better than any one of us here. They see things we will never see. They have more data than we could possibly ever get. We need to stop trying to run Apple to suit our own needs. Our needs may not be the needs of the majority which is a hell of a lot more important to Apple as a company than a very small set of customers. 
    While I don't disagree with the majority of your points, that net needs to be cast a little wider. I think there's a chain set up, with some of the "Pros" being very vocal disproportionate to their actual market sway about what they see as essential to Apple which feeds back to analysts. 

    See also: 32GB of RAM (which would be nice, but there are other technical considerations), doesn't need to be thin and light (it doesn't for some, but for most of Apple's market it does), and host of other crap.
    edited August 2017 watto_cobrajony0RacerhomieX
  • Reply 4 of 75
    technotechno Posts: 737member
    Did anyone else read that headline has Apple defeating the market of contractors? I had no idea contractors were in competition with Apple. LOL. 
    lolliverfirelock
  • Reply 5 of 75
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,821member
    Huzzah. Most curious to hear how the haters and critics spin these facts to fit their narrative...

    I was amused to see how the haters on MR spun the increase in ipad sales — “This is just the cheap new ipad padding the numbers!” first time i’d heard of anyone criticizing Apple for offering cheap ipads! what will they complain about next?!!
    edited August 2017 brucemcwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 6 of 75
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    Huzzah. Most curious to hear how the haters and critics spin these facts to fit their narrative...

    I was amused to see how the haters on MR spun the increase in ipad sales — “This is just the cheap new ipad padding the numbers!” first time i’d heard of anyone criticizing Apple for offering cheap ipads! what will they complain about next?!!
    Yeah, but it isn't even the cheap iPad. ASP on the iPad INCREASED in the quarter.
    zoetmbwatto_cobrajony0RacerhomieX
  • Reply 7 of 75
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    Huzzah. Most curious to hear how the haters and critics spin these facts to fit their narrative...

    I was amused to see how the haters on MR spun the increase in ipad sales — “This is just the cheap new ipad padding the numbers!” first time i’d heard of anyone criticizing Apple for offering cheap ipads! what will they complain about next?!!
    Avon will chime in that he provided no hard breakdown by units so it must just be spin and the new MBP sales in actuality sucked and all the sales the legacy MBP.
    Solitmaywatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 75
    To paraphrase Yogi Berra, nobody buys them anymore, they're too popular.
    montrosemacswatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 9 of 75
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,653member
    Before one rejects the criticism of Apple, you'd have to perform a more detailed analysis (which can't always be accomplished since Apple doesn't publicly release a lot of specifics).   In retail, you don't just look at the total retail sales of a chain, the primary number is year over year same store sales.  One has to look at Apple's sales the same way:  on a market-by-market basis, did sales for each product line go up or down?   Even if there were increases in each market, are they just revenue increases or were they also unit sales increases.   If there were increases, was it in the high end models or the low end models?   Etc.   In other words, did Apple increase sales by increasing prices, by expanding into new geographic markets or did they increase sales in existing markets?

    I can applaud Apple's great successes and still believe that their pricing is too high or that there are flaws in the product design unless Apple's strategy is to abandon mass markets and return to being a high-end, very high-margin niche player.   Nothing wrong with that, but it's the difference between Toyota and BMW.  

    Personally, I bought the late-2016 MBP because my late-2008 MBP died and couldn't be repaired, but I definitely wasn't happy with the pricing and the fact that I can't myself replace/upgrade the battery, memory and storage.  And then there's the fact that I find the Touch Bar almost useless, I miss the mag safe and the touch pad is way too large and constantly interferes with my typing and I'm getting nowhere near the claimed battery life.    Since I purchased it anyway, from Apple's perspective, they're successful.   But the bad taste it leaves in my mouth might make it the very last Mac I buy and I've been a Mac customer since the beginning. 
    hammeroftruth
  • Reply 10 of 75
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    zoetmb said:
    Before one rejects the criticism of Apple, you'd have to perform a more detailed analysis (which can't always be accomplished since Apple doesn't publicly release a lot of specifics).   In retail, you don't just look at the total retail sales of a chain, the primary number is year over year same store sales.  One has to look at Apple's sales the same way:  on a market-by-market basis, did sales for each product line go up or down?   Even if there were increases in each market, are they just revenue increases or were they also unit sales increases.   If there were increases, was it in the high end models or the low end models?   Etc.   In other words, did Apple increase sales by increasing prices, by expanding into new geographic markets or did they increase sales in existing markets?

    I can applaud Apple's great successes and still believe that their pricing is too high or that there are flaws in the product design unless Apple's strategy is to abandon mass markets and return to being a high-end, very high-margin niche player.   Nothing wrong with that, but it's the difference between Toyota and BMW.  

    Personally, I bought the late-2016 MBP because my late-2008 MBP died and couldn't be repaired, but I definitely wasn't happy with the pricing and the fact that I can't myself replace/upgrade the battery, memory and storage.  And then there's the fact that I find the Touch Bar almost useless, I miss the mag safe and the touch pad is way too large and constantly interferes with my typing and I'm getting nowhere near the claimed battery life.    Since I purchased it anyway, from Apple's perspective, they're successful.   But the bad taste it leaves in my mouth might make it the very last Mac I buy and I've been a Mac customer since the beginning. 
    1) Dollars per square-foot in Apple's retail are going up faster than prices are going up.

    2) There is overlap between Toyota and BMW. There are Toyotas that can be had for low and mid-range prices, and BMWs that can be had for Toyota's mid and high range prices. Apple is no different.

    Apple is more mass-market than it has EVER been.

    3) Pricing hasn't changed that much. Batteries have been glued in for five years, and memory has been affixed to the motherboard for the same. Storage isn't casually upgradeable. These are industry trends. By the time you're looking for your next machine by whichever manufacturer, "upgradeability" will be very hard to find, if it can be found at all.

    4) YMMV on features. But, the mass-market I spoke of above doesn't agree with you. Churn to and from Apple is positive for the iPhone, and probably equilibrium on the Mac. The halo effect from the iPhone boosts the Mac, versus how it all started with the Mac and iPod halo shining on the iPhone.

    This all comes back, again, to who Apple is for. Sure, "we" kept it alive in the dark years, and "we" have things we need and want. The larger market doesn't value these things like "we" do. 

    Like I keep saying, I want a massive Mac Pro with slots and whatnot. I really dig the eGPU concept, but I'm a tinkerer. Apple does what Apple needs, and they won't really shed a tear if "we" leave, regardless of how much clout and decision-making power we all claim to have.
    edited August 2017 tmaylolliverRacerhomieX
  • Reply 11 of 75
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    zoetmb said:
    Before one rejects the criticism of Apple, you'd have to perform a more detailed analysis (which can't always be accomplished since Apple doesn't publicly release a lot of specifics).   In retail, you don't just look at the total retail sales of a chain, the primary number is year over year same store sales.  One has to look at Apple's sales the same way:  on a market-by-market basis, did sales for each product line go up or down?   Even if there were increases in each market, are they just revenue increases or were they also unit sales increases.   If there were increases, was it in the high end models or the low end models?   Etc.   In other words, did Apple increase sales by increasing prices, by expanding into new geographic markets or did they increase sales in existing markets?

    I can applaud Apple's great successes and still believe that their pricing is too high or that there are flaws in the product design unless Apple's strategy is to abandon mass markets and return to being a high-end, very high-margin niche player.   Nothing wrong with that, but it's the difference between Toyota and BMW.  

    Personally, I bought the late-2016 MBP because my late-2008 MBP died and couldn't be repaired, but I definitely wasn't happy with the pricing and the fact that I can't myself replace/upgrade the battery, memory and storage.  And then there's the fact that I find the Touch Bar almost useless, I miss the mag safe and the touch pad is way too large and constantly interferes with my typing and I'm getting nowhere near the claimed battery life.    Since I purchased it anyway, from Apple's perspective, they're successful.   But the bad taste it leaves in my mouth might make it the very last Mac I buy and I've been a Mac customer since the beginning. 

    All good points.   If you want the most powerful MBP in 13" you have to get the TouchBar.   It's not an option.   And if you want the 15" you get the touch bar no matter what.

    I just bought a 2015 MBP because I didn't want the new keyboard but its still a sell .

    But in general Apple ain't going to be hurting even if they lose a few sells.

  • Reply 12 of 75
    NY1822NY1822 Posts: 621member
    The analysts on TV have no clue...this morning on CNBC they had a guy give his take on apple who didn't even know what AR stands for...he was trying to explain it to the host and took about 10 seconds to finally say "Augmented Recognition, no augmented response"...
    edited August 2017 lolliver
  • Reply 13 of 75
    gxcadgxcad Posts: 120member
    macxpress said:
    But but...the MacBook Pro is overpriced and the dongle hell issue keeps everyone from buying them! And those iMacs...gosh, those are just so lame today! 

    Where are all of these people who basically said the new MacBook Pro will be a failure because of its lack of ports, you need a dongle for everything, its way too expensive? And don't give me this crap about well what if it had more ports and was cheaper, they'd sell twice as much. Thats absolute pure BS! That touch bar is just a gimmick and won't help sell the MacBook Pro. 

    Where are these people now? All quiet with their tail between their legs in defeat as usual. They never learn. Apple know its market a hell of a lot better than any one of us here. They see things we will never see. They have more data than we could possibly ever get. We need to stop trying to run Apple to suit our own needs. Our needs may not be the needs of the majority which is a hell of a lot more important to Apple as a company than a very small set of customers. 
    Heh heh, I used to be a very loyal supporter of Apple until roughly the time Steve left us. I didn't dismiss Apple's newer products for this specific reason, I instead chalk it up to coincidence. I still loved the iPhone 5, still love the iPad, and liked the first round of retina macbook pros (before the USB-C mess).

    I'll admit, I was skeptical of Apple's continued success after the new Macbook pros and all of their new controversial features, however I am impressed and happy that they continue to succeed...sort of. In a way I am concerned that this validates their strategy, as I miss magsafe, I miss the old keyboard, I miss legacy ports, though I'll admit I haven't tried the touch bar... and I know there will be someone to jump in and defend those features and tell me to get with the times because it is the future...its inevitable so have at me lol.

    While I am at it, I miss flush cameras on the backs of iPhones. Sigh...

    Edit: Whoops, the link I posted earlier is not credible as it is simply based on the opinions of laptop mag. I thought I had seen data somewhere that consumer polls indicated declining satisfaction with Apple's new laptop, but I must have been mistaken. Perhaps consumers are dealing with the new design better than I had been (mistakenly) lead to believe...wonder if there are some numbers somewhere?

    Apple has a very strong brand loyalty...including myself. I keep trying to find ways to justify their new products and try to convince myself I want one. But I just bought the old 2014 MBP and absolutely love it. I'm not a fan of removing the headphone jack or going to all USB-C and all of this other 'courage' bullpoop.

    But I'm optimistic that they will start making products I can be more passionate about again! Aesthetically the new Macbooks are gorgeous, just wish they had SD card reader and at least one legacy USB-A port. Once the industry moves on to USB-C in the mainstream, maybe then I can finally get the 2016 design MBPs :D
    edited August 2017
  • Reply 14 of 75
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    gxcad said:
    macxpress said:
    But but...the MacBook Pro is overpriced and the dongle hell issue keeps everyone from buying them! And those iMacs...gosh, those are just so lame today! 

    Where are all of these people who basically said the new MacBook Pro will be a failure because of its lack of ports, you need a dongle for everything, its way too expensive? And don't give me this crap about well what if it had more ports and was cheaper, they'd sell twice as much. Thats absolute pure BS! That touch bar is just a gimmick and won't help sell the MacBook Pro. 

    Where are these people now? All quiet with their tail between their legs in defeat as usual. They never learn. Apple know its market a hell of a lot better than any one of us here. They see things we will never see. They have more data than we could possibly ever get. We need to stop trying to run Apple to suit our own needs. Our needs may not be the needs of the majority which is a hell of a lot more important to Apple as a company than a very small set of customers. 
    Heh heh, I used to be a very loyal supporter of Apple until roughly the time Steve left us. I didn't dismiss Apple's newer products for this specific reason, I instead chalk it up to coincidence. I still loved the iPhone 5, still love the iPad, and liked the first round of retina macbook pros (before the USB-C mess).

    I'll admit, I was skeptical of Apple's continued success after the new Macbook pros and all of their new controversial features, however I am impressed and happy that they continue to succeed...sort of. In a way I am concerned that this validates their strategy, as I miss magsafe, I miss the old keyboard, I miss legacy ports, though I'll admit I haven't tried the touch bar... and I know there will be someone to jump in and defend those features and tell me to get with the times because it is the future...its inevitable so have at me lol.

    While I am at it, I miss flush cameras on the backs of iPhones. Sigh...

    Edit: Whoops, the link I posted earlier is not credible as it is simply based on the opinions of laptop mag. I thought I had seen data somewhere that consumer polls indicated declining satisfaction with Apple's new laptop, but I must have been mistaken. Perhaps consumers are dealing with the new design better than I had been (mistakenly) lead to believe...wonder if there are some numbers somewhere?

    Apple has a very strong brand loyalty...including myself. I keep trying to find ways to justify their new products and try to convince myself I want one. But I just bought the old 2014 MBP and absolutely love it. I'm not a fan of removing the headphone jack or going to all USB-C and all of this other 'courage' bullpoop.

    But I'm optimistic that they will start making products I can be more passionate about again! Aesthetically the new Macbooks are gorgeous, just wish they had SD card reader and at least one legacy USB-A port. Once the industry moves on to USB-C in the mainstream, maybe then I can finally get the 2016 design MBPs :D
    My 2017 MBP just came in today and it's brilliant.  The USB-C port allows one connection to get data and power which is far superior to the prior MBPs which required a minimum of 2 connections.  A relatively inexpensive and small USB-C dock provides power, ethernet, USB-A ports, sd-card, 2 monitors over one USB-C connection both at home and on the road.

    4 USB-C is FAR superior to mag-safe + SD card + HDMI + 2 USB-A + 2 TB. 
    tmayThe_Martini_Catchialolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 75
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,293member
    gxcad said:
    . Once the industry moves on to USB-C in the mainstream, maybe then I can finally get the 2016 design MBPs :D
    That would be Apple leading the industry "moves on to USB-C in the mainstream", just as they did with USB back in the days of the original iMac.

    Sometimes you have to kill all the legacy crap to move on, and USB-C + TB 3 is a solid reason to do so.


    lolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 75
    gxcadgxcad Posts: 120member
    tmay said:
    gxcad said:
    . Once the industry moves on to USB-C in the mainstream, maybe then I can finally get the 2016 design MBPs :D
    That would be Apple leading the industry "moves on to USB-C in the mainstream", just as they did with USB back in the days of the original iMac.

    Sometimes you have to kill all the legacy crap to move on, and USB-C + TB 3 is a solid reason to do so.


    Not as a counter argument but as genuine curiosity, when Apple moved to USB in the original iMac, is it the only connector they had? I do prefer how Apple implemented USB-C alongside legacy USB-A ports on the new iMac. Suppose there isn't as much space to do so on the laptops and still be thin and pretty.

    One more thing, I did prefer the logo being absent at the bottom of the screen and its a minor additional plus about my 2014 MBP retina. I don't like branding as part of the design (though I understand it is important) and continue to appreciate that about the iPhone's front. Apple's logo also tends to be one of the better looking ones out there.
  • Reply 17 of 75
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,293member
    gxcad said:
    tmay said:
    gxcad said:
    . Once the industry moves on to USB-C in the mainstream, maybe then I can finally get the 2016 design MBPs :D
    That would be Apple leading the industry "moves on to USB-C in the mainstream", just as they did with USB back in the days of the original iMac.

    Sometimes you have to kill all the legacy crap to move on, and USB-C + TB 3 is a solid reason to do so.


    Not as a counter argument but as genuine curiosity, when Apple moved to USB in the original iMac, is it the only connector they had? I do prefer how Apple implemented USB-C alongside legacy USB-A ports on the new iMac. Suppose there isn't as much space to do so on the laptops and still be thin and pretty.

    One more thing, I did prefer the logo being absent at the bottom of the screen and its a minor additional plus about my 2014 MBP retina. I don't like branding as part of the design (though I understand it is important) and continue to appreciate that about the iPhone's front. Apple's logo also tends to be one of the better looking ones out there.
    The Bondi Blue had ethernet, a modem (most at 56K), and two USB A 1.1 ports. Having all USB Type-C ports in current MB's and MBP's makes sense in the long run, and most people do understand that. It was blown out of proportion by the tech media, et al.

    Link;

    http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_ab.html
    lolliverwatto_cobrapropellerhead
  • Reply 18 of 75
    danvmdanvm Posts: 1,396member
    macxpress said:
    But but...the MacBook Pro is overpriced and the dongle hell issue keeps everyone from buying them! And those iMacs...gosh, those are just so lame today! 

    Where are all of these people who basically said the new MacBook Pro will be a failure because of its lack of ports, you need a dongle for everything, its way too expensive? And don't give me this crap about well what if it had more ports and was cheaper, they'd sell twice as much. Thats absolute pure BS! That touch bar is just a gimmick and won't help sell the MacBook Pro. 

    Where are these people now? All quiet with their tail between their legs in defeat as usual. They never learn. Apple know its market a hell of a lot better than any one of us here. They see things we will never see. They have more data than we could possibly ever get. We need to stop trying to run Apple to suit our own needs. Our needs may not be the needs of the majority which is a hell of a lot more important to Apple as a company than a very small set of customers. 
    Many of those people that you talk about are customers from many years, or even new ones that were interested in purchasing a new MBP.  The ports issue was the most popular negative thing that I read about the new MBP.  Personally, my workflow don't require many ports, but my needs are not everyone needs.  My 4yr MBA already failed, and I'm looking forward to the new MBP 13", since I think it would be a nice option.  But I don't criticize others for being open of what is a real limitation in the MBP.

    That touch bar is just a gimmick and won't help sell the MacBook Pro. 
    From what I know, Apple didn't gave sales numbers per device.  What if the majority of notebooks were MBA, Macbook or MBP 13" without Touch Bar?  Or maybe MBP 15" that had no option to remove the Touch Bar?  Wouldn't that mean that that Touch Bar wasn't an incentive to purchase a Mac?

    Where are these people now? All quiet with their tail between their legs in defeat as usual. They never learn. Apple know its market a hell of a lot better than any one of us here. They see things we will never see. They have more data than we could possibly ever get. We need to stop trying to run Apple to suit our own needs. Our needs may not be the needs of the majority which is a hell of a lot more important to Apple as a company than a very small set of customers. 
    Those people you talk about were expressing their point of view on how to make the Macbook Pro better, in this case adding a few more ports.  If Apple had all the data you mention, how they miss the need for more ports?  Don't you thing they would had planned for a better option for their customers?

    We need to stop trying to run Apple to suit our own needs. Our needs may not be the needs of the majority which is a hell of a lot more important to Apple as a company than a very small set of customers. 
    I don't think that they are trying to run Apple to adapt to their needs.  They just want a device that adapt to their needs.  And for many of them the Macbook have been their choice for years, and now they feel the 2016/2017 models miss important features that affect their workflow.  And if you noticed, sales were flat even with the refresh of most devices.  I don't think that's positive at all.  
  • Reply 19 of 75
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    gxcad said:
    tmay said:
    gxcad said:
    . Once the industry moves on to USB-C in the mainstream, maybe then I can finally get the 2016 design MBPs :D
    That would be Apple leading the industry "moves on to USB-C in the mainstream", just as they did with USB back in the days of the original iMac.

    Sometimes you have to kill all the legacy crap to move on, and USB-C + TB 3 is a solid reason to do so.


    Not as a counter argument but as genuine curiosity, when Apple moved to USB in the original iMac, is it the only connector they had? I do prefer how Apple implemented USB-C alongside legacy USB-A ports on the new iMac. Suppose there isn't as much space to do so on the laptops and still be thin and pretty.

    One more thing, I did prefer the logo being absent at the bottom of the screen and its a minor additional plus about my 2014 MBP retina. I don't like branding as part of the design (though I understand it is important) and continue to appreciate that about the iPhone's front. Apple's logo also tends to be one of the better looking ones out there.
    Apple's move to USB killed DIN-8 serial since the Mac Plus, I want to say, but might be the 512Ke. It also supplanted ADB, first found on the Mac SE. Don't forget, the same machine aced the floppy drive, leaving the devout to buy USB floppy drives and Zip drives.

    When FireWire 400 came to the machine with the DV in 2000, you could say that SCSI was on its last legs.
    lolliver
  • Reply 20 of 75
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,837administrator
    danvm said:
    We need to stop trying to run Apple to suit our own needs. Our needs may not be the needs of the majority which is a hell of a lot more important to Apple as a company than a very small set of customers. 
    I don't think that they are trying to run Apple to adapt to their needs.  They just want a device that adapt to their needs.  And for many of them the Macbook have been their choice for years, and now they feel the 2016/2017 models miss important features that affect their workflow.  And if you noticed, sales were flat even with the refresh of most devices.  I don't think that's positive at all.  
    Sales were not flat. They were up year-over-year, and on the quarter as well, AND they were up in a quarter that the rest of the industry shrunk. The company does not operate in a vacuum.

    This is something I've been trying to wrap my head around for a while. What features? What can't you get to with USB-C and TB3 that you could on the older machine? In what way is the machine a step backwards?
    edited August 2017 tmaychialolliverwatto_cobra
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