It's doubtful that Amazon is price gouging. More likely, one of their fly-by-night "partners" is jacking up the price. For some insane reason, these often come up first in Amazon searches, even when Amazon itself has an item in stock for the same or better price.
I agree. I checked and Amazon.com is still discounting the Macbook Airs that they have in stock. The "premium" prices are being listed by other companies selling through Amazon.
Like so many other here, I got to say I am not surprised.
I had been thinking of upgrading my 2009 MBP with a SSD but took the plunge and bought a new MBA (13 inch, 128Gb) and it is just fantastic. The MBP was the best comp I ever had when I got it but this does everything it did and faster.
I hardly ever use my iMac now apart from playing WoW (it will run very well on the Air but the screen is a bit small)
I am also proud to say I have been responsible for 3 more sales as a result of people using mine and liking it.
After reading fashionbug's posts on another thread about how optical drives are are steadfast requirement for all 'PCs' of the future for doing anything other than consuming I'm surprised these are selling at all¡
See, fashionbug is right, they could have included a 5 1/4" floppy drive as well because those disks were pretty thin. That almost stopped my upgrading from the previous-gen 11" to the i7 11" model - but then I realized that I haven't missed the DVD drive - or a floppy - yet. Or Blu-Ray. Or a serial port. Or SCSI. Or a parallel port for my dot matrix printer.
Thanks to the portability, I use the Air way more than any laptop I had in the past. Including laptops that did have DVD and floppy drives.
Excellent question. I suspect they will catch a few suckers who assume that Amazon always has the market price and doesn't notice that they are buying from so no-name third-party instead. Some consumers aren't very sophisticated even in this day and age.
Excellent answer. I had been wondering this myself, and that's a better answer than anything i could come up with.
After reading fashionbug's posts on another thread about how optical drives are are steadfast requirement for all 'PCs' of the future for doing anything other than consuming I'm surprised these are selling at all¡
Which? (a consumer-focused forum/campaign body) recently posted survey results that says 74% of their 644 respondents would a PC without DVD drives. NVidia is also considering streaming game technology in the future. Meanwhile, OnLive will start their service in the UK before the year ends. That pretty much says it all. Optical drives are not necessary. Heck, I don't buy hard copies of media anymore. Saves me a lot of space.
Which? (a consumer-focused forum/campaign body) recently posted survey results that says 74% of their 644 respondents would a PC without DVD drives. NVidia is also considering streaming game technology in the future. Meanwhile, OnLive will start their service in the UK before the year ends. That pretty much says it all. Optical drives are not necessary. Heck, I don't buy hard copies of media anymore. Saves me a lot of space.
I've never missed the optical drive on my Thunderbolt Air, not once.
They're called CNC "milling" machines, not CNC lathes.
It appears as though Apple is up to its old tricks as the Wintards like to say. Deliberately holding back inventory to hype the products. After all, if consumers aren't buying Wintel PCs, why would they be buying overpriced Apple products?
Very clever and sly comment - except that I worry that some knuckleheads out there will take you seriously! \
The apple store shows both 13" MBA models ship "within 24 hours". What's the shortage of which you speak? Why would anyone pay a marked up price, a surcharge, when they can get the product at list price and quickly, from the manufacturer?
When the 2010 models debut, Apple was selling way more 11" models than the 13" model. I got the relatively unpopular 13" at the time, and it's great. Why the reversal in popularity?
Others have made some good arguments. In summary, IMO:
1.
The 13" base model has double the RAM, a decent 4GB this time, Thunderbolt, and latest generation CPU.
2.
Backlit keyboard.
3.
Lion.
4.
Not to mention a higher-res, less-glossy screen.
5.
A great design and weight for 7 hours (I suppose 3-5 hours in "real life") of battery.
6.
People have become less reliant on optical media
7.
It could be a tough choice between the 11" and an iPad 2 for many users, leading to (OMG) "cannibalisation" of the 11" MBA
8.
MBA 13" base model is now just $100 more than the cheapest 13" Macbook available.
9.
Our lives continue to demand more mobility and flexibility.
The MBA has all of the PeeCee laptop vendors running scared! It is spectacular, but also priced UNDER their similar offerings that look arcane when put next to MBA.
I recently bought a fully loaded iMac so I can't justify buying a MBA now, but when I played with them at the store, I was salivating.... Wife stopped my hand reaching for my wallet!
It's doubtful that Amazon is price gouging. More likely, one of their fly-by-night "partners" is jacking up the price. For some insane reason, these often come up first in Amazon searches, even when Amazon itself has an item in stock for the same or better price.
Invisible Hand Safari plug-in is a great way to avoid getting gouged. It doesn't always find the cheapest price but in the least it helps insure I'm not getting totally ripped off.
Comments
If I had the money I would pay a little over the maker's price to.
It would be worth every freaking dime!!!
It's doubtful that Amazon is price gouging. More likely, one of their fly-by-night "partners" is jacking up the price. For some insane reason, these often come up first in Amazon searches, even when Amazon itself has an item in stock for the same or better price.
I agree. I checked and Amazon.com is still discounting the Macbook Airs that they have in stock. The "premium" prices are being listed by other companies selling through Amazon.
When stacked with Amazon's already applied 5% discount, I got mine for $987.99
I had been thinking of upgrading my 2009 MBP with a SSD but took the plunge and bought a new MBA (13 inch, 128Gb) and it is just fantastic. The MBP was the best comp I ever had when I got it but this does everything it did and faster.
I hardly ever use my iMac now apart from playing WoW (it will run very well on the Air but the screen is a bit small)
I am also proud to say I have been responsible for 3 more sales as a result of people using mine and liking it.
Build it and they will come!
After reading fashionbug's posts on another thread about how optical drives are are steadfast requirement for all 'PCs' of the future for doing anything other than consuming I'm surprised these are selling at all¡
See, fashionbug is right, they could have included a 5 1/4" floppy drive as well because those disks were pretty thin. That almost stopped my upgrading from the previous-gen 11" to the i7 11" model - but then I realized that I haven't missed the DVD drive - or a floppy - yet. Or Blu-Ray. Or a serial port. Or SCSI. Or a parallel port for my dot matrix printer.
Thanks to the portability, I use the Air way more than any laptop I had in the past. Including laptops that did have DVD and floppy drives.
FANTASTIC machines.
Excellent question. I suspect they will catch a few suckers who assume that Amazon always has the market price and doesn't notice that they are buying from so no-name third-party instead. Some consumers aren't very sophisticated even in this day and age.
Excellent answer. I had been wondering this myself, and that's a better answer than anything i could come up with.
After reading fashionbug's posts on another thread about how optical drives are are steadfast requirement for all 'PCs' of the future for doing anything other than consuming I'm surprised these are selling at all¡
Which? (a consumer-focused forum/campaign body) recently posted survey results that says 74% of their 644 respondents would a PC without DVD drives. NVidia is also considering streaming game technology in the future. Meanwhile, OnLive will start their service in the UK before the year ends. That pretty much says it all. Optical drives are not necessary. Heck, I don't buy hard copies of media anymore. Saves me a lot of space.
Which? (a consumer-focused forum/campaign body) recently posted survey results that says 74% of their 644 respondents would a PC without DVD drives. NVidia is also considering streaming game technology in the future. Meanwhile, OnLive will start their service in the UK before the year ends. That pretty much says it all. Optical drives are not necessary. Heck, I don't buy hard copies of media anymore. Saves me a lot of space.
I've never missed the optical drive on my Thunderbolt Air, not once.
They're called CNC "milling" machines, not CNC lathes.
It appears as though Apple is up to its old tricks as the Wintards like to say. Deliberately holding back inventory to hype the products. After all, if consumers aren't buying Wintel PCs, why would they be buying overpriced Apple products?
Very clever and sly comment - except that I worry that some knuckleheads out there will take you seriously!
When the 2010 models debut, Apple was selling way more 11" models than the 13" model. I got the relatively unpopular 13" at the time, and it's great. Why the reversal in popularity?
Others have made some good arguments. In summary, IMO:
1.
The 13" base model has double the RAM, a decent 4GB this time, Thunderbolt, and latest generation CPU.
2.
Backlit keyboard.
3.
Lion.
4.
Not to mention a higher-res, less-glossy screen.
5.
A great design and weight for 7 hours (I suppose 3-5 hours in "real life") of battery.
6.
People have become less reliant on optical media
7.
It could be a tough choice between the 11" and an iPad 2 for many users, leading to (OMG) "cannibalisation" of the 11" MBA
8.
MBA 13" base model is now just $100 more than the cheapest 13" Macbook available.
9.
Our lives continue to demand more mobility and flexibility.
All this shifts the balance to 13" MBA somewhat.
I recently bought a fully loaded iMac so I can't justify buying a MBA now, but when I played with them at the store, I was salivating.... Wife stopped my hand reaching for my wallet!
It's doubtful that Amazon is price gouging. More likely, one of their fly-by-night "partners" is jacking up the price. For some insane reason, these often come up first in Amazon searches, even when Amazon itself has an item in stock for the same or better price.
Invisible Hand Safari plug-in is a great way to avoid getting gouged. It doesn't always find the cheapest price but in the least it helps insure I'm not getting totally ripped off.