At least once in the past, Apple had chipsets and CPUs before the rest of the market. It is not impossible for that to happen again.
General availability - June
Apple availability - April
I'm not saying that it WILL happen, but there is some precedent for it.
The only problem here is that I (like I'm sure many of you) just received today, an advertising email from Apple touting the "MacBook Air" - "Still light years ahead" (of the competition).
I have NEVER received an email like this from Apple unless it was for a brand new released product announcement. Never for a last generation laptop. This tells me they are saying "Hey, don't wait around for a new Air anytime in the near future, dude. It's gonna be a little while longer than we expected. So get out there and buy the existing Macbook Air today!!"
Again; I've never gotten an email from Apple advertising an 8 month old product.
The only problem here is that I (like I'm sure many of you) just received today, an advertising email from Apple touting the "MacBook Air" - "Still light years ahead" (of the competition).
I have NEVER received an email like this from Apple unless it was for a brand new released product announcement. Never for a last generation laptop. This tells me they are saying "Hey, don't wait around for a new Air anytime in the near future, dude. It's gonna be a little while longer than we expected. So get out there and buy the existing Macbook Air today!!"
Again; I've never gotten an email from Apple advertising an 8 month old product.
Or, they're advertising to help clear out the channel inventory.....
Or, they're advertising to help clear out the channel inventory.....
Yeah, maybe... But they've never done this before. This would suggest to me their having an awfully large chunk of excess inventory. On the MacBook Air (?!) I don't think so. I think they, pretty much, sell 'em as fast as they make 'em. We'll see.
We're in a world where EVERYBODY is shifting away from desktops to laptops. AIO's are the only place of strength left in the desktop world... and Apple is destroying everybody else in that market.
All the facts we have in front of us go directly against the things you are saying. I'm not sure where you are getting any facts that back up "the iMac is barely holding on"... because that is a ridiculous statement.
The future of desktop computing is AIO. There is very little need for a "pro" machine without display anymore. Trust me... I'm a power user and wouldn't have even considered anything BUT an iMac.
Apple knows this... I know this. Most of the rest of us know this.
I like the Pro machines being Pro, but I also am a bit jealous of the ease with which an Air or iPad user can whip out their device in situations where I wouldn't bother carrying or opening my 15" MBP, and I've been leaning toward getting an iPad 3 for this reason. However, what I really want is a computer that's very portable, and if the 15" MBP attained essentially the form factor of the MBA, that would be my ideal device and I wouldn't need a tablet.
I'm just not convinced that they can make it that small without it being underpowered. They've never been able to do it with the MBA before, but there's always a first time when they wow us with how small they can make things. When the first iPod came out, who could have imagined today's nano being so much more feature-packed in that form factor? I hope we're about to see a similar unprecedented display of miniaturization and power, but until we see it, I'm not getting my hopes up. More likely, I think we'll see them get halfway: it will be more powerful than any other MBA, but not quite as good as a top-of-the-line MBP.
Take away the laptops and things would look pretty bleak in Mac land. I really doubt that they sell more than 50,000 PROs a quarter, Mini sales are down also. The iMac is barely holding on. So yeah one could say Apple has shoot itself in the foot with the Mac desktop line up.
Sometimes... when people speak with such knowledge and authority... I guess they think people won't check facts.
Remember... industry wide, desktop sales are getting crushed. Apple is growing desktop sales fairly significantly even in this environment, despite your "facts." Apple has made the RIGHT move shifting desktop users to the iMac... all the actual facts show it, regardless of your opinion.
I think the MBA and MBP are different categories and that Apple will keep both lines going. I had a 15" '08 MBP for years and then replaced it last year with the 13" MBA. Since I travel on business nearly half the time the MBA has been a real back saver.
At home I hook up the MBA to the Thunderbolt Display and it's like working on a whole different desktop workstation with all the connections and peripherals I need. So, personally, I want the laptop as light as possible for the road but a 15" version that doesn't weigh over 3 pounds would be the perfect MBA a few years down the line for me.
Still, I see that a lot of people use the MBP as their only computer without external monitors and they want the 15" or 17" screen, a lot of RAM and storage space, extra connectors and the optical drive. But I do think the MBA is closing the gap and that most people would be fine with it connected to an external monitor like the 27" Thunderbolt Display.
Eventually, I do believe that the MBA and MBP lines will be merged with four different screen sizes.
The whole point in having a Pro line up is to have features not available in the run of the mill line up. That means a considerable increase in performance, a high performance GPU, ports and at battery life. Apple changing everything over to AIRs would be likened to shooting ones self in the foot.
Both of you seem to want to ruin the laptop line in the same way Apple has borked its desktop lineup. That is to eliminate choice in such a way that people go else where. People make a rational choice to buy the PROs because they offer something they need in a laptop that one can't get from an AIR. That might be a better screen or larger disk storage or maybe a better battery. Whatever it is the frame of the AIRs will never offer it up.
Absolutely. I don't understand this anal-compulsive need by users to eliminate the line they don't necessarily care about. You prefer a small-screen Air with a lesser processor? Fine...buy that. I prefer a fully-featured 15" or 17" pro. And although it's pretty obvious they're going to eliminate the optical drive in the Pro, I think that is a very bad move. I still need and want that drive for a variety of reasons. And I also still need a very high capacity hard disk in my laptop (I just put a 750MB drive in my MBP 2008) that cannot be replicated in a solid state drive for anywhere near the cost.
So I sincerely hope the pundits and posters are wrong and Apple maintains both lines.
Personally, I see the Airs as more of a "consume content" device and the Pros as "working" device. They're both great lines that serve different markets and they both should be maintained. One thing that would make sense to me (although based on this announcement, they don't seem to be doing) is that I could see the 13" only being an Air and not a Pro. It seems to me that anyone who wants the portability of the 13" would want it in the smallest, lightest package available and that would be the Air, not the Pro.
So the 11" and 13.3" would be the Air (small case, solid state drives) and the 15" and 17" would be the Pro (hard drives with solid state option, larger battery, better graphics, more connectivity and IMO, still with optical drive, at least as an option). If Apple eliminates the equivalent of the Pro line, I could see a lot of pro users, people who do intense work in video, Photoshop, Illustrator, Office, etc., reluctantly leaving Apple.
What people seem to be missing is that the chips suitable for the AIR have been pushed out even farther. A new AIR rev won't likely come till July or later. The info was clear that the AIR type chips have been pushed out even further.
The problem with Apple ad though is this. People in the know will realize that the AIR will benefit greatly from Ivy Bridge so they will wait. Hell AIR could benefit from Fusion. Sadly their isn't much to bump AIR with unless they adjust SSD size mid cycle. So the current machines could be around another 4 months.
That is one year, sort of makes you wonder if Apple has convinced Intel to deliver chips on their schedule.
Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
The only problem here is that I (like I'm sure many of you) just received today, an advertising email from Apple touting the "MacBook Air" - "Still light years ahead" (of the competition).
I have NEVER received an email like this from Apple unless it was for a brand new released product announcement. Never for a last generation laptop. This tells me they are saying "Hey, don't wait around for a new Air anytime in the near future, dude. It's gonna be a little while longer than we expected. So get out there and buy the existing Macbook Air today!!"
Again; I've never gotten an email from Apple advertising an 8 month old product.
First; those numbers don't represent US sales, further if you dig deeper you will find that the only positive there is the iMac. My point remains, iMac desktop sales suck.
Quote:
Remember... industry wide, desktop sales are getting crushed. Apple is growing desktop sales fairly significantly even in this environment, despite your "facts."
Did you read that entire article for content. It was stated clearly that Mac desktop sales are flat. In fact the entire coverage was pretty negative. If you dig deeper you will find that the only desktop Mac selling well is the iMac.
Quote:
Apple has made the RIGHT move shifting desktop users to the iMac... all the actual facts show it, regardless of your opinion.
That is garbage, Apple has effectively kept many off the platform due to the lack of a respectable desktop. Likewise it has forced many to leave the platform. If you call that the right move I'd have to say your business sense is off. What you have left is many that are forced to the iMac even if it is a terrible deal for their needs. Again forcing customers into bad deals isn't in your business best interest. Again if you read for content you will find that things isn't going well at all in Apple desktop land.
There are many ways to interpret data but I think you are excessively optimistic about Apples sales.
The whole point in having a Pro line up is to have features not available in the run of the mill line up. That means a considerable increase in performance, a high performance GPU, ports and at battery life. Apple changing everything over to AIRs would be likened to shooting ones self in the foot.
Both of you seem to want to ruin the laptop line in the same way Apple has borked its desktop lineup. That is to eliminate choice in such a way that people go else where. People make a rational choice to buy the PROs because they offer something they need in a laptop that one can't get from an AIR. That might be a better screen or larger disk storage or maybe a better battery. Whatever it is the frame of the AIRs will never offer it up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobringer
Yeah... screw pro users. All the developers I work with that have 17" MBP's that switched to mac over the last 5 years... who needs 'em!
Whatever any enthusiast thinks or we here wish, Apple's mantra is clearly to move into high volume/rapidly expanding markets - wherever they find or create them (e.g., after beginning as spectacular consumer successes, the iPad and iPhone are also becoming the wedges into the Enterprise market Apple's long hoped for, and reasserting Apple's primacy in education.
That's why they could dump their server hardware (nice stuff from what I know) and made the server OS an add-on to the regular one so that any Mac could be converted to a small-net server. And I remember commentors here and pundits alike bemoaning how this marked Apple's "giving up for good" on big corps. My own reaction was "not so fast!" (not that I foresaw what's happening right now).
They will keep manufacturing a product that's not hurting them for awhile in its middle-age, and operate slightly lower margin businesses to fill out their burgeoning "ecosystem," but while I hope and expect to see a TB-equipped Mac Pro with a burnin' CPU and graphics card, it could be the last. As others have pointed out, a TB-connected maxed out iMac can now do what likely 98% of users need.
But even iMacs - while the case will get a nice re-design or two - are more likely to enter a period marked more by refinement and incremental improvement than revolutionary make-over.
And yes, even notebooks - after the 2012 roll-outs - are not immune to a time when they'll be receiving a lesser proportion of HQ love.
Bottom line, if desktops are "trucks," Pro notebooks are SUV's and Airs are Cross-overs.
While iOS devices are becoming the mass volume cars and bikes.
And next up looks like Apple might well be turning its next big thing resources toward the Living Room.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ireland
Thinner 13" MacBook Pros? Air?
I believe they should rebrand the whole lineup with one name, and drop the 17" version entirely.
The best I could come up with with 7 seconds to think about it is:
AirBook
11, 13, 15
I played with this in my my mind for awhile and read the other comments. Not bad, but haven't we taken the Mac name off enough things already this year?
Quote:
Originally Posted by loveandcapture
My humble opinion on this is that the MacBook Air just becomes the MacBook (as it's now Apple's only consumer notebook), while the 13" - 17" MacBook Pros keep their name.
I don't think they'll ditch the 17" MBP. While Apple does kill off features and product lines all the time, I think they still like to have leading-edge hardware, especially in the portable world, and won't kill it off unless they have a fitting replacement. ie, they still sell the iPod classic (probably because it has capacity no other iPod has... yet).
The Mac Pro has more to worry about, as Apple seems to think Thunderbolt's expansion possibilities on MacBook Pros and iMacs renders it unnecessary. God I hope not. Alas, that's another thread, sorry.
What I said. And I fully expect a re-architected 17" notebook - but, while it will be tweakable in later iterations, the form factor it takes could be the last for a good while at least.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cxc273
I don't know how Apple reconciles the Pro line's larger storage capacity if the company trends everything to the Air's profile.
The first part of your comment is simple to devine: Apple's answer is three-pronged. 1. iCloud, 2. Thunderbolt. 3. The declining price/increasing capacity of SSD's (and follow-on tech) over the next year or three or five.
They're calculating that total notebook local storage on the road will matter less to most users over time, even while the current speed/size benefits of SSD add enough value to the total computing experience to hold onto most of the storage hungry until SSD price/size ratios become more favorable.
People will have any needed files in the Cloud and that big honkin' cost-effective HDD (for now) will be on the other side of their TB connection - that one wire to a set of peripherals for when they need any of these at home, ideally hooked to a 27" TB monitor that will accomplish things for both Apple and users.
For us: We can upgrade the whole motherboard (do they still call them this?) of our 27" systems without buying a new screen (which iterates more slowly and lasts longer), or other new accessories for that matter. So we'll upgrade our notebooks every 1-3 years and have systems that stay leading edge by only replacing one component.
For Apple: They get to sell mega tons of thousand dollar monitors as ADD-ONS to notebooks. Ka-ching!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cxc273
I doubt that Apple would leave a conventional hard drive in. With the price of SSDs right now, is it feasible for the new Macbooks to top off at 512 GB, or is that still too crazy expensive?
I would love a 13" laptop with the form factor of the MBA but with lots of storage.
If there's still a slimmed down but separate Pro line after this July, it might have a volume proportionally similar to this machine for whatever screen size - except nicer, more tapered and ditching the ODD. I also seem to recall reading about a newish slim form single platter HDD with up to maybe 320-500 GB of storage that might be suitable to a still distinct if Airish Pro line (and pairable with a 64-128 GB SSD, tho' the hybrid route doesn't feel quite Appleish).
But the 13" Pro is endangered for other possible reasons. A pro level processor generates more heat and the slim form leaves less space to dissipate it, and the form factor begins to limit a "pro" port complement (about which Apple, granted, might say (as it has in the past), hey, you got TB, so quit yer bitchin' about FW or GB ENet, etc.). Battery space also becomes an issue at a certain point.
Meanwhile, a 15" Air with an upgraded processor and an overall volume/weight still less than today's 13" MBP could grab some of the sales that go to these machines today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
That is my whole point, how do you stuff these high wattage components into an AIR like chassis? A 45 watt processor still requires the same amount of cooling as does one in today's machines.
Feel free to correct me, but my impression was that Ivy Bridge is going to deliver a notably higher amount of processing power per watt, allowing improved performance with less heat - with the ratio naturally changing as you go from the bottom to the top of the line. So Pros - with the noted possible exception of the 13" - could be quite slim and no hotter than today with still quite a boost. Yes/no??
(I know that the next generation is touted to improve the power/watt equation by a much larger amount, but still have a sense that Ivy Bridge's improvements will still be considerable.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
There is no possibility of a disk drive in any of the AIRs.
But as noted, maybe in a slightly fatter hybrid drive Pro.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
There is no room for a high performance processor nor a GPU.
I don't know what they are doing but the suggestions in this thread would effectively ruin the laptop line up for anybody with high expectations performance wise. It would in effect make the product line like the desktop line where only a few niche users are well served. Apples great success with the laptops comes from being able to sell to a wide array of users. Almost everyone could find a laptop to fit their needs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
Especially when a users storage needs are only going up. It is a huge problem which the AIR fans refuse to acknowledge. Even if Apple doubled capacity in the AIRs it still wouldn't be enough.
So would , well maybe a 15" variant. Contrary to the opinion of some, I really like the concept of the AIRs but I can't justify one today and most likely not the next rev. SSD's just don't cut it for capacity.
I'll stand by my answer above to all of these points, except, I guess, GPU's. I'm just not conversant enough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody
The 13" MacBook Pro is by far the most popular choice and the MacBook Pros lead their OS-X sales.
Even if I'm wrong about being skeptical that this is still true (about the MBP 13 in particular) in the last quarter or two, the growth rate of Air sales is far faster than Pro sales, and Pro sales are increasing faster than iMac sales. People just don't seem to give enough weight here to the fact that Apple's eye is never on where the ball has been, rather on where they think it's going to be next.
PS: More evidence supporting my last set of comments immediately above:
Only 80 total posts on the first substantive MacBook story (even if only a rumor) in days? A newer fairly routine iPad story ("20% of non-iPad buyers would consider a $399 entry-level iPad 2") already has 85.
Again, I submit, the day when Apple was exclusively about personal computers as we've known them is 5 years gone, and the days when it's still even mostly about them are few and far between. Despite the growth in Mac sales, it's incredible that something like 2/3 of AAPL revenue comes from sources that didn't exist 5 years ago!
And if Apple wants to keep defeating the "law of large numbers," and keep growing at something like its recent pace, it has to stay fresh and has a history of not being afraid to kill still successful products and product features in the focused pursuit of that goal.
The guard has changed, and so has Apple's focus on its truck division - eventually it will see consumer-facing "computers" primarily as supportive of and providing an extension of its ecosystem, i.e., personal computers will be just another node on that system, not its hub or core in any way shape or form.
And phones, tablets, ATV's, iPods and devices yet to come will be other nodes. And the core will be the ubiquitous connectivity and syncing between nodes that will let you pick up nearly any content or capability from nearly any node, even though some will best be handled by one node or other, e.g., Macs will be better high-power video editors, and phones will be better, d'ohh, mobile phones. But much will be available on all.
And over time, only people who need a truck will buy trucks when millions more discover that (especially as phones and tablets mature) what they really wanted were fast, sexy little cars in the first place. So those who care about pro features in notebooks better hope there are really enough dedicated truckers to keep Apple interested in investing in evolving the division.
Jobs' name change from Apple Computer to Apple, Inc. was totally prophetic, and when Cook said recently that the Cloud was central to Apple's strategic direction over the next several years, he was neither kidding or exaggerating.
Comments
At least once in the past, Apple had chipsets and CPUs before the rest of the market. It is not impossible for that to happen again.
General availability - June
Apple availability - April
I'm not saying that it WILL happen, but there is some precedent for it.
The only problem here is that I (like I'm sure many of you) just received today, an advertising email from Apple touting the "MacBook Air" - "Still light years ahead" (of the competition).
I have NEVER received an email like this from Apple unless it was for a brand new released product announcement. Never for a last generation laptop. This tells me they are saying "Hey, don't wait around for a new Air anytime in the near future, dude. It's gonna be a little while longer than we expected. So get out there and buy the existing Macbook Air today!!"
Again; I've never gotten an email from Apple advertising an 8 month old product.
Probably about the same as saying "down with the kids."
That's cleared that up then. 13" MacCock it is. Unless Proview have nabbed that one too.
here, here.
On the subject of language, this one is a pet peeve of mine: why do people have such difficulty saying "hear, hear"?!
The only problem here is that I (like I'm sure many of you) just received today, an advertising email from Apple touting the "MacBook Air" - "Still light years ahead" (of the competition).
I have NEVER received an email like this from Apple unless it was for a brand new released product announcement. Never for a last generation laptop. This tells me they are saying "Hey, don't wait around for a new Air anytime in the near future, dude. It's gonna be a little while longer than we expected. So get out there and buy the existing Macbook Air today!!"
Again; I've never gotten an email from Apple advertising an 8 month old product.
Or, they're advertising to help clear out the channel inventory.....
On the subject of language, this one is a pet peeve of mine: why do people have such difficulty saying "hear, hear"?!
you got me. i goofed. get over it.
Or, they're advertising to help clear out the channel inventory.....
Yeah, maybe... But they've never done this before. This would suggest to me their having an awfully large chunk of excess inventory. On the MacBook Air (?!) I don't think so. I think they, pretty much, sell 'em as fast as they make 'em. We'll see.
you got me. i goofed. get over it.
I have nothing to get over. I am cool. You just happened to be a handy, apropos example. Thanks!
How about, "MacPrayer"?
How about MacGyver, mullets optional.
The iMac is barely holding on.
The iMac is barely holding on? There's not enough head shaking available to express my feelings about the above statement...
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles..._pc_sales.html
We're in a world where EVERYBODY is shifting away from desktops to laptops. AIO's are the only place of strength left in the desktop world... and Apple is destroying everybody else in that market.
All the facts we have in front of us go directly against the things you are saying. I'm not sure where you are getting any facts that back up "the iMac is barely holding on"... because that is a ridiculous statement.
The future of desktop computing is AIO. There is very little need for a "pro" machine without display anymore. Trust me... I'm a power user and wouldn't have even considered anything BUT an iMac.
Apple knows this... I know this. Most of the rest of us know this.
I'm just not convinced that they can make it that small without it being underpowered. They've never been able to do it with the MBA before, but there's always a first time when they wow us with how small they can make things. When the first iPod came out, who could have imagined today's nano being so much more feature-packed in that form factor? I hope we're about to see a similar unprecedented display of miniaturization and power, but until we see it, I'm not getting my hopes up. More likely, I think we'll see them get halfway: it will be more powerful than any other MBA, but not quite as good as a top-of-the-line MBP.
Take away the laptops and things would look pretty bleak in Mac land. I really doubt that they sell more than 50,000 PROs a quarter, Mini sales are down also. The iMac is barely holding on. So yeah one could say Apple has shoot itself in the foot with the Mac desktop line up.
Sometimes... when people speak with such knowledge and authority... I guess they think people won't check facts.
http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/25/lesse...ngs-statement/
Desktops
Unit sales up 16 percent
Revenue up 15 percent
Remember... industry wide, desktop sales are getting crushed. Apple is growing desktop sales fairly significantly even in this environment, despite your "facts." Apple has made the RIGHT move shifting desktop users to the iMac... all the actual facts show it, regardless of your opinion.
At home I hook up the MBA to the Thunderbolt Display and it's like working on a whole different desktop workstation with all the connections and peripherals I need. So, personally, I want the laptop as light as possible for the road but a 15" version that doesn't weigh over 3 pounds would be the perfect MBA a few years down the line for me.
Still, I see that a lot of people use the MBP as their only computer without external monitors and they want the 15" or 17" screen, a lot of RAM and storage space, extra connectors and the optical drive. But I do think the MBA is closing the gap and that most people would be fine with it connected to an external monitor like the 27" Thunderbolt Display.
Eventually, I do believe that the MBA and MBP lines will be merged with four different screen sizes.
I have nothing to get over. I am cool. You just happened to be a handy, apropos example. Thanks!
Your welcome! and thanks for being a handy, perfect example of the usual Apple douchebag!
The whole point in having a Pro line up is to have features not available in the run of the mill line up. That means a considerable increase in performance, a high performance GPU, ports and at battery life. Apple changing everything over to AIRs would be likened to shooting ones self in the foot.
Both of you seem to want to ruin the laptop line in the same way Apple has borked its desktop lineup. That is to eliminate choice in such a way that people go else where. People make a rational choice to buy the PROs because they offer something they need in a laptop that one can't get from an AIR. That might be a better screen or larger disk storage or maybe a better battery. Whatever it is the frame of the AIRs will never offer it up.
Absolutely. I don't understand this anal-compulsive need by users to eliminate the line they don't necessarily care about. You prefer a small-screen Air with a lesser processor? Fine...buy that. I prefer a fully-featured 15" or 17" pro. And although it's pretty obvious they're going to eliminate the optical drive in the Pro, I think that is a very bad move. I still need and want that drive for a variety of reasons. And I also still need a very high capacity hard disk in my laptop (I just put a 750MB drive in my MBP 2008) that cannot be replicated in a solid state drive for anywhere near the cost.
So I sincerely hope the pundits and posters are wrong and Apple maintains both lines.
Personally, I see the Airs as more of a "consume content" device and the Pros as "working" device. They're both great lines that serve different markets and they both should be maintained. One thing that would make sense to me (although based on this announcement, they don't seem to be doing) is that I could see the 13" only being an Air and not a Pro. It seems to me that anyone who wants the portability of the 13" would want it in the smallest, lightest package available and that would be the Air, not the Pro.
So the 11" and 13.3" would be the Air (small case, solid state drives) and the 15" and 17" would be the Pro (hard drives with solid state option, larger battery, better graphics, more connectivity and IMO, still with optical drive, at least as an option). If Apple eliminates the equivalent of the Pro line, I could see a lot of pro users, people who do intense work in video, Photoshop, Illustrator, Office, etc., reluctantly leaving Apple.
The problem with Apple ad though is this. People in the know will realize that the AIR will benefit greatly from Ivy Bridge so they will wait. Hell AIR could benefit from Fusion. Sadly their isn't much to bump AIR with unless they adjust SSD size mid cycle. So the current machines could be around another 4 months.
That is one year, sort of makes you wonder if Apple has convinced Intel to deliver chips on their schedule.
The only problem here is that I (like I'm sure many of you) just received today, an advertising email from Apple touting the "MacBook Air" - "Still light years ahead" (of the competition).
I have NEVER received an email like this from Apple unless it was for a brand new released product announcement. Never for a last generation laptop. This tells me they are saying "Hey, don't wait around for a new Air anytime in the near future, dude. It's gonna be a little while longer than we expected. So get out there and buy the existing Macbook Air today!!"
Again; I've never gotten an email from Apple advertising an 8 month old product.
Sometimes... when people speak with such knowledge and authority... I guess they think people won't check facts.
http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/25/lesse...ngs-statement/
Desktops
Unit sales up 16 percent
Revenue up 15 percent
First; those numbers don't represent US sales, further if you dig deeper you will find that the only positive there is the iMac. My point remains, iMac desktop sales suck.
Remember... industry wide, desktop sales are getting crushed. Apple is growing desktop sales fairly significantly even in this environment, despite your "facts."
Did you read that entire article for content. It was stated clearly that Mac desktop sales are flat. In fact the entire coverage was pretty negative. If you dig deeper you will find that the only desktop Mac selling well is the iMac.
Apple has made the RIGHT move shifting desktop users to the iMac... all the actual facts show it, regardless of your opinion.
That is garbage, Apple has effectively kept many off the platform due to the lack of a respectable desktop. Likewise it has forced many to leave the platform. If you call that the right move I'd have to say your business sense is off. What you have left is many that are forced to the iMac even if it is a terrible deal for their needs. Again forcing customers into bad deals isn't in your business best interest. Again if you read for content you will find that things isn't going well at all in Apple desktop land.
There are many ways to interpret data but I think you are excessively optimistic about Apples sales.
I think you are excessively optimistic about Apples sales.
Now he's clearly just doing it for the lulz
The whole point in having a Pro line up is to have features not available in the run of the mill line up. That means a considerable increase in performance, a high performance GPU, ports and at battery life. Apple changing everything over to AIRs would be likened to shooting ones self in the foot.
Both of you seem to want to ruin the laptop line in the same way Apple has borked its desktop lineup. That is to eliminate choice in such a way that people go else where. People make a rational choice to buy the PROs because they offer something they need in a laptop that one can't get from an AIR. That might be a better screen or larger disk storage or maybe a better battery. Whatever it is the frame of the AIRs will never offer it up.
Yeah... screw pro users. All the developers I work with that have 17" MBP's that switched to mac over the last 5 years... who needs 'em!
Whatever any enthusiast thinks or we here wish, Apple's mantra is clearly to move into high volume/rapidly expanding markets - wherever they find or create them (e.g., after beginning as spectacular consumer successes, the iPad and iPhone are also becoming the wedges into the Enterprise market Apple's long hoped for, and reasserting Apple's primacy in education.
That's why they could dump their server hardware (nice stuff from what I know) and made the server OS an add-on to the regular one so that any Mac could be converted to a small-net server. And I remember commentors here and pundits alike bemoaning how this marked Apple's "giving up for good" on big corps. My own reaction was "not so fast!" (not that I foresaw what's happening right now).
They will keep manufacturing a product that's not hurting them for awhile in its middle-age, and operate slightly lower margin businesses to fill out their burgeoning "ecosystem," but while I hope and expect to see a TB-equipped Mac Pro with a burnin' CPU and graphics card, it could be the last. As others have pointed out, a TB-connected maxed out iMac can now do what likely 98% of users need.
But even iMacs - while the case will get a nice re-design or two - are more likely to enter a period marked more by refinement and incremental improvement than revolutionary make-over.
And yes, even notebooks - after the 2012 roll-outs - are not immune to a time when they'll be receiving a lesser proportion of HQ love.
Bottom line, if desktops are "trucks," Pro notebooks are SUV's and Airs are Cross-overs.
While iOS devices are becoming the mass volume cars and bikes.
And next up looks like Apple might well be turning its next big thing resources toward the Living Room.
Thinner 13" MacBook Pros? Air?
I believe they should rebrand the whole lineup with one name, and drop the 17" version entirely.
The best I could come up with with 7 seconds to think about it is:
AirBook
11, 13, 15
I played with this in my my mind for awhile and read the other comments. Not bad, but haven't we taken the Mac name off enough things already this year?
My humble opinion on this is that the MacBook Air just becomes the MacBook (as it's now Apple's only consumer notebook), while the 13" - 17" MacBook Pros keep their name.
I don't think they'll ditch the 17" MBP. While Apple does kill off features and product lines all the time, I think they still like to have leading-edge hardware, especially in the portable world, and won't kill it off unless they have a fitting replacement. ie, they still sell the iPod classic (probably because it has capacity no other iPod has... yet).
The Mac Pro has more to worry about, as Apple seems to think Thunderbolt's expansion possibilities on MacBook Pros and iMacs renders it unnecessary. God I hope not. Alas, that's another thread, sorry.
What I said. And I fully expect a re-architected 17" notebook - but, while it will be tweakable in later iterations, the form factor it takes could be the last for a good while at least.
I don't know how Apple reconciles the Pro line's larger storage capacity if the company trends everything to the Air's profile.
The first part of your comment is simple to devine: Apple's answer is three-pronged. 1. iCloud, 2. Thunderbolt. 3. The declining price/increasing capacity of SSD's (and follow-on tech) over the next year or three or five.
They're calculating that total notebook local storage on the road will matter less to most users over time, even while the current speed/size benefits of SSD add enough value to the total computing experience to hold onto most of the storage hungry until SSD price/size ratios become more favorable.
People will have any needed files in the Cloud and that big honkin' cost-effective HDD (for now) will be on the other side of their TB connection - that one wire to a set of peripherals for when they need any of these at home, ideally hooked to a 27" TB monitor that will accomplish things for both Apple and users.
For us: We can upgrade the whole motherboard (do they still call them this?) of our 27" systems without buying a new screen (which iterates more slowly and lasts longer), or other new accessories for that matter. So we'll upgrade our notebooks every 1-3 years and have systems that stay leading edge by only replacing one component.
For Apple: They get to sell mega tons of thousand dollar monitors as ADD-ONS to notebooks. Ka-ching!
I doubt that Apple would leave a conventional hard drive in. With the price of SSDs right now, is it feasible for the new Macbooks to top off at 512 GB, or is that still too crazy expensive?
I would love a 13" laptop with the form factor of the MBA but with lots of storage.
If there's still a slimmed down but separate Pro line after this July, it might have a volume proportionally similar to this machine for whatever screen size - except nicer, more tapered and ditching the ODD. I also seem to recall reading about a newish slim form single platter HDD with up to maybe 320-500 GB of storage that might be suitable to a still distinct if Airish Pro line (and pairable with a 64-128 GB SSD, tho' the hybrid route doesn't feel quite Appleish).
But the 13" Pro is endangered for other possible reasons. A pro level processor generates more heat and the slim form leaves less space to dissipate it, and the form factor begins to limit a "pro" port complement (about which Apple, granted, might say (as it has in the past), hey, you got TB, so quit yer bitchin' about FW or GB ENet, etc.). Battery space also becomes an issue at a certain point.
Meanwhile, a 15" Air with an upgraded processor and an overall volume/weight still less than today's 13" MBP could grab some of the sales that go to these machines today.
That is my whole point, how do you stuff these high wattage components into an AIR like chassis? A 45 watt processor still requires the same amount of cooling as does one in today's machines.
Feel free to correct me, but my impression was that Ivy Bridge is going to deliver a notably higher amount of processing power per watt, allowing improved performance with less heat - with the ratio naturally changing as you go from the bottom to the top of the line. So Pros - with the noted possible exception of the 13" - could be quite slim and no hotter than today with still quite a boost. Yes/no??
(I know that the next generation is touted to improve the power/watt equation by a much larger amount, but still have a sense that Ivy Bridge's improvements will still be considerable.)
There is no possibility of a disk drive in any of the AIRs.
But as noted, maybe in a slightly fatter hybrid drive Pro.
There is no room for a high performance processor nor a GPU.
I don't know what they are doing but the suggestions in this thread would effectively ruin the laptop line up for anybody with high expectations performance wise. It would in effect make the product line like the desktop line where only a few niche users are well served. Apples great success with the laptops comes from being able to sell to a wide array of users. Almost everyone could find a laptop to fit their needs.
Especially when a users storage needs are only going up. It is a huge problem which the AIR fans refuse to acknowledge. Even if Apple doubled capacity in the AIRs it still wouldn't be enough.
So would , well maybe a 15" variant. Contrary to the opinion of some, I really like the concept of the AIRs but I can't justify one today and most likely not the next rev. SSD's just don't cut it for capacity.
I'll stand by my answer above to all of these points, except, I guess, GPU's. I'm just not conversant enough.
The 13" MacBook Pro is by far the most popular choice and the MacBook Pros lead their OS-X sales.
Even if I'm wrong about being skeptical that this is still true (about the MBP 13 in particular) in the last quarter or two, the growth rate of Air sales is far faster than Pro sales, and Pro sales are increasing faster than iMac sales. People just don't seem to give enough weight here to the fact that Apple's eye is never on where the ball has been, rather on where they think it's going to be next.
Only 80 total posts on the first substantive MacBook story (even if only a rumor) in days? A newer fairly routine iPad story ("20% of non-iPad buyers would consider a $399 entry-level iPad 2") already has 85.
Again, I submit, the day when Apple was exclusively about personal computers as we've known them is 5 years gone, and the days when it's still even mostly about them are few and far between. Despite the growth in Mac sales, it's incredible that something like 2/3 of AAPL revenue comes from sources that didn't exist 5 years ago!
And if Apple wants to keep defeating the "law of large numbers," and keep growing at something like its recent pace, it has to stay fresh and has a history of not being afraid to kill still successful products and product features in the focused pursuit of that goal.
The guard has changed, and so has Apple's focus on its truck division - eventually it will see consumer-facing "computers" primarily as supportive of and providing an extension of its ecosystem, i.e., personal computers will be just another node on that system, not its hub or core in any way shape or form.
And phones, tablets, ATV's, iPods and devices yet to come will be other nodes. And the core will be the ubiquitous connectivity and syncing between nodes that will let you pick up nearly any content or capability from nearly any node, even though some will best be handled by one node or other, e.g., Macs will be better high-power video editors, and phones will be better, d'ohh, mobile phones. But much will be available on all.
And over time, only people who need a truck will buy trucks when millions more discover that (especially as phones and tablets mature) what they really wanted were fast, sexy little cars in the first place. So those who care about pro features in notebooks better hope there are really enough dedicated truckers to keep Apple interested in investing in evolving the division.
Jobs' name change from Apple Computer to Apple, Inc. was totally prophetic, and when Cook said recently that the Cloud was central to Apple's strategic direction over the next several years, he was neither kidding or exaggerating.