Apple lops $500 off the price of SSD-based MacBook Air - Page 2

Originally Posted by cameronj

Let the whining and crying begin. Apple - the only company whose customers won't let it lower prices.

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

That's true: My wife is very rich. </end sarcasm>

Originally Posted by teckstud

He means- It one of the SLOOOOWEST running MACS ever.
And that's not a complaint but a fact.

Originally Posted by JeffDM

That person said "lowest selling" (there was no "S" in the word), which is almost impossible now, the lowest selling would be one of the models in the mid-90's.

Originally Posted by teckstud

You are misquoting him. He said "ONE OF THE......" not the lowest selling. Good attempt at distortion but you're not being accurate.

Originally Posted by teckstud

No- just a bad shopper!

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Even with that, I'm pretty sure it's far away from even "one of the". In the mid-90's they had many more models and less than a quarter the total sales to divide more models against.

Originally Posted by datamodel

Really? What should his wife have bought?

Originally Posted by teckstud

I don't know- I'm not her "personal shopper".

Originally Posted by teckstud

Whatever. Are you a lawyer? Methinks you nitpick every word, grammatical error, nuance, etc. on here endlessly to win your arguments. This is a simple discussion board not a post-graduate debate forum.
Using the word "ever" is currently often used as a colloquiolism and should not be alwaystaken literately- he was merely making a point! Good grief!

Originally Posted by teckstud

I don't know- I'm not her "personal shopper".

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Why? How? Because it doesn't work for you, perhaps?

My wife has one, as does a colleague at work, and they both can't live without it.

Why do you feel the need to devalue things from which others get value.

Originally Posted by teckstud

Whatever. Are you a lawyer? Methinks you nitpick every word, grammatical error, nuance, etc. on here endlessly to win your arguments. This is a simple discussion board not a post-graduate debate forum.
Using the word "ever" is currently often used as a colloquiolism and should not always be taken literately- he was merely making a point! Good grief!

Originally Posted by datamodel

But you know it shouldn't have been an Air? How did you know?

Originally Posted by quinney

The thing is, when you make so many mistakes it is difficult to take anything you
say seriously. In the quote above, you write that something should not be taken
"literately". I think you meant "literally", but I cannot be certain. You seem to be
making the argument that being illiterate has no importance, so maybe the spelling
was correct.

Originally Posted by JeffDM

The part I don't like is throwing in every half-assed statement they can think of to make a pretty weak point. A better argument leaves out the spurious statements. If it's really a bad machine, it should be easy to say so without ridiculous hyperbole or taking several paragraphs to delve into specs minutia like a trekkie talks technobabble.

From the tone that I read from the people arguing the Air is bad, it almost sounds like they're complaining that Apple is taking away other options. That, and prospective buyers are told they must be stupid if they're buying anything like it because "it can't do anything", and I really don't see the point in doing that. How are Air buyers hurting other people? How are these Air-gripers really benefiting anyone? It's almost as if they're arguing for a one-size-fits-all world.



Really? You're almost there when you say it's not a good fit for their needs, without even knowing what they need.

Originally Posted by teckstud

So now we have a 4th of July spelling bee competition.
Have another hot dog.

Originally Posted by TheToe

The same model is still available on refurb for $2,699.00.

Originally Posted by teckstud

One again you misquote- I never said "it's not a good fit for their needs".
Stop misquoting people- it's a very bad trait.

Originally Posted by hillstones

Real world tests confirmed an SSD drive offered no significant benefits over a hard drive, just a waste of money for a small amount of storage. Still a useless computer.

Originally Posted by teckstud

No- just a bad shopper!

Originally Posted by teckstud

I don't know- I'm not her "personal shopper".

Originally Posted by teckstud

He means- It one of the SLOOOOWEST running MACS ever.
And that's not a complaint but a fact.

Originally Posted by dontlookleft

LOL what a deal.

still a large waste of money.

Originally Posted by solipsism

Also, the tests showed no significant speed or power benefits. The solid state of the drive has plenty of benefits as it theoretically will be less prone to damage or wear and tear as it has no moving parts. On the flip-side, it's also less tried and true then HDDs.

Originally Posted by hiimamac

The Air is one of the lowest selling macs ever.

IMHO, it is worth $799.

And, for what its worth, (and you really need to think about this), Apple needs to get away from the NO GPU in MINI, MACBOOK, and AIR (regardless of battery life).

Now, besides the Air being over priced, under powered, and okay, light, Apple has this mind set that they insist on screwing the PRO user.

Entertain me.

When the 1st Macbook came out, the OpenGL came out scoring 71%, not bad, then it jumped to 120%, still, no gaming right, so who cares? Well, as it turns out, Barefeats reports MOTION could run on the Macbook. Then, the next gen with Leopard made Open GL jump to 171%, wow, still, no gaming, but motion was great. So, what did apple do, the crippled it and now it scores at a measly 24%. Why? It was never good for games, so why screw with the PRO users, who cares if they can use a cheap machine for motion, chances are you can rest assured they have a PRO machine and you can't play games on it, so why screw with us?

Now, could you play games on a mini or a Macbook, you could be sure that MOTION and 3D would run great. SO WHAT?!

Why does Apple keep insisting on screwing with the PRO, which by the way is the smallest user base. Its baffling. Reallly. You can then look at the iMac, which used to ship with MATTE, but now its all GLOSSY, again, NO PRO USE for COLOR or GRAPHICS (which was not the case a few years back), again, screwing the consumers.

To make matters worse, the Macbook and iMac also use CHEAP NON STANDARD Firewire chipsets (Macbook Pro and Mac Pro use TEXAS INSTRUMENTS), if you read some audio forums, many high end studios complain that their audio device won't work with a macbook or iMac, in fact, from Sept 07 to FEB 08, the Macbook Pro had the same cheap chip-set.

So, all in all, Apple continues to reduce prices, and focuses on the CONSUMER and not the PRO, but at the SAME time, screws over the PRO user.

It makes no sense. With gaming being one of the biggest markets, bigger than music, think about what it would be like if EVERY APPLE had a GREAT GPU, everyone and their mother would by a MAC mini or a Macbook, as a second computer that you could use for games, PRO use and not worry about as much as your $2500MBP or Mac Pro, not that you would lose that latter.

Still. Apple needs to grow up and get away from this whole ON BOARD GPU crap and let users play games then use it for motion if they want.

It's terrible marketing. It really is.

Originally Posted by matt_s

According to Apple's last quarterly meeting notes, the MBA was not selling very well, and had disappointed analysts as well as the company. The forecast was off by almost 90,000 units. One executive compared it to the Cube.

I've been phoned by sales from over at the local Apple Store on 3 occasions in June alone, pushing the MBA (they know I'm in the market for a laptop). But it's just not going to work for me. I wanted it to... but I just can't "settle" for a functionality-depleted machine & go for looks.

It's a very cool computer but it wasn't designed for the road warrior. As I closely evaluated the unit, I looked over my product spec and PPT folders and those alone were 92 GB. I would have to do some serious paring down everywhere. When you're 10,000 miles from the office & no net connection, you better have every PPT and spec available

There would be many sacrifices needed, such as no more 1394 & saying goodbye to my whole back-up plan, which is very elegant. I use SuperDuper to a 1394>SATA external drive that is the exact same size as the drive in my Mac laptop, so a quick switch gets me up & running in less than 10 minutes. No longer effective with the MBA ... I'd have to wait 2 weeks or so & take it to the Apple Store.

The major problem was the poor choice to use a Parallel bus for the SSD drive. This means when Samsung releases their 250 GB Solid State 1.8" SATA drive in Q4, MBA owners will not be able to put one inside their MBA's, even though the form factor is right on.

The battery is the real killer, though. Flying from LAX to MEL takes 16-1/2 hours. It takes 9 hours to fly from ORD to CDG. It takes 9-1/2 hours to fly from SYD to HKG. I'm supposed to travel with a laptop whose battery can't be replaced? Gimme a break, dude.

Unlike Steve, I wasn't given my own private jet, so I need to tote extra batteries to keep working and watch movies ripped to the hard drive - whoops, sorry - with such a tiny drive, I guess ripping DVDs would be out of the question.

Also, I kind of think $1800 for one USB port is a little goofy. Again, the laptop is very cool but I think Apple went overboard on the whole thin thing. I mean, unless we're still in 1995 and laptops are 4-1/2" thick again, I don't think this is a problem anymore.

I'd love to tote a MBA around to local coffee shops and hear the oohs and aahhs. But to head out on the road to do business? Naw, it's just too limited. It's been stripped down way too much. Plus, it still has a 13" screen, and anybody who travels knows that 12" is the perfect size for that seat back tray!

Originally Posted by teckstud

He means- It one of the SLOOOOWEST running MACS ever.
And that's not a complaint but a fact.

Originally Posted by teckstud

Haha - fool me once with the iPhone- $200 price drop in less than 3 months!
You don't fool me twice -$500 in in 5 months!!!

Originally Posted by teckstud

I never said "it shouldn't have been an Air." All I said was that she was a bad shopper. You don't have to have a PHD or be a CPA to realize that anything that gets devalued by 1/6th of its initial cost in 5 months is not a smart purchase. That's double the standard rate of depreciation of a 5 year write down- you do the math. And that goes for any purchase: Apple or otherwise.

Originally Posted by hiimamac

The Air is one of the lowest selling macs ever.

IMHO, it is worth $799.

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

That's interesting... the Air has been at or near the top of the best seller list on several Apple Store sites (several countries) for months.

Originally Posted by solipsism

The MBA has also been above many other Macs on Amazon and ahead of most other competitor's notebooks, usually only an Asus Eee PC for around $300 beating it.

As for Hiimamac's comment that it's worth $799 to him, well that can't be contested. But if he meant that the cost of the machine plus a fair profit for Apple should amount to more no more than $799 for a retail sales price than he would be very wrong indeed.

Originally Posted by melgross

While he might deny it now that you've given him an out, I don't remember Hiimamac's post stating the it was worth $799 to him, just that it was worth $799, in the sense that it was equal in value to a $799 portable.

Originally Posted by solipsism

HAHA I guess I have given him an out, but I think most posts on this forum regarding an item being overpriced seem to stem from the poster looking at how the performance, capacity and other such aspects compare to other machines that aren't in the same category. In other words, a limited scope view.

I assume that he most likely compared it to the MacBook as it has the same size display, but then knocked a few hundred dollars off his "worthy" price of the base MB model as it has a slower processor and less capacity HDD. To say it's only worth $799 implies that he has not considered how a 40% lighter notebook with the same size display and keyboard might be more expensive to design and manufacturer, or that there are people who would find the MBA's design a perfect fit.

When the MBA was first announced there was shock that Apple charged $999 for a 64GB 1.8" SSD. Yet a Google Product search at the time presented not one company willing to sell you one for less than that; and most were around double the price. I believe it wasn't until weeks later that Toshiba or another PC manufacturer started offering a 64GB 1.8" SSD option for notebooks for around $750.

We've already seen two makers come out with comparable machines since the MBA's release, with at least one of them using the same HW components, right down to the 2GB RAM max, 80GB HDD or 64GB SSD, and processor/die design. I find it most humourous that these machines cost more than the MBA, yet they came out several months after the MBA and shouldn't be subject to the "Apple tax."



(Note: It's late, I'm tired and my memory could be completely wrong)

Originally Posted by teckstud

I never said "it shouldn't have been an Air." All I said was that she was a bad shopper. You don't have to have a PHD or be a CPA to realize that anything that gets devalued by 1/6th of its initial cost in 5 months is not a smart purchase. That's double the standard rate of depreciation of a 5 year write down- you do the math. And that goes for any purchase: Apple or otherwise.