Line between pro and consumer no more?

jsnuff1

The new updates just dont make any sense to me. The only thing I can think of is that apple is trying to abolish any diffrence between consumer and pro products. Right now the imac and macbook "pro" have almost the exact insides except for the imac having less system and video ram. Hell the imac even has a faster proccesor and its cheaper. The macbook is far from pro compared to the imac now.

gregmightdothat

Quote:

Originally posted by jsnuff1

The new updates just dont make any sense to me. The only thing I can think of is that apple is trying to abolish any diffrence between consumer and pro products. Right now the imac and macbook "pro" have almost the exact insides except for the imac having less system and video ram. Hell the imac even has a faster proccesor and its cheaper. The macbook is far from pro compared to the imac now.

Except for the fact that it's a LAPTOP.

lorre

Before this the PB 15" had a 1.67GhZ G4 processor, The iMac had a 2.1GhZ G5 processor, the iMac was A LOT faster than the PB, now the difference has gotten really minimal.

rolandg

I just read that the Apple's vice president for world-wide Mac marketing admitted that the innards of both Intel-based Macs are infact pretty much alike.



Concerning the distiction between "pro" and "consumer" lines, the iMac has gone a little step further into the "pro" direction: it even supports "extended desktop" on an external display now, a feature once crippled.



So, the "Core Duo" systems are Apple's professional base platform.



Considering, Jobs stated that all product lines will be transition during this year, I guess we will see new "PowerMacs" (or maybe "Mac Pros") und Xserves based on Intel's Xeon successor which will be quad-cored if I am not mistaken. And the "consumer" line (iBooks and the Mac mini) will be based on the Intel's "Core Solo" platform.



I wonder why Apple had nothing to answer the compelling "VIIV" media center announcements from CES...

synp

IMHO the pro-consumer dichotomy hasn't made sense in a long time. Just to make sure we're clear on definitions, a "pro" tool is a tool that's used at work. So a secretary using Word is a pro. A gamer is a consumer. The mark of a pro is not using the most powerful hardware available (otherwise all pro drivers like pizza delivery guys would be driving 18-wheelers). The mark of a pro is using the right tool for the job. In the desktop line, a pro can choose a mini, an iMac or a PM, depending on their needs.



Apple has been hampering itself by having a "pro" laptop line that's both more powerful than the "consumer" line and thinner. Reallistically, when designing a laptop, they have to balance four requirements:

- CPU power

- Battery life

- size & weight

- price



In the past, they have pushed the PB to be better then the iBook on the first three, ending up with both a much higher price, and pretty mediocre results on both CPU power and battery life. If Steve Jobs was willing to compromise on size and weight, they could get a G5 into a laptop that would then be a "desktop replacement" rather than the thin wonder that it was.



I think they should have their product line reflect different sets of compromises, and should not be necessarily tied to any pro vs consumer dichotomy. An executive that just uses office and safari can settle for low power but with a good battery life and would appreciate a small size. A pro photographer would accept a heavier load to be able to run Aperture in the field and work for a while on batteries.



Power, battery life, and a thinness. Pick any two.

vinney57

Quote:

Originally posted by RolandG



I wonder why Apple had nothing to answer the compelling "VIIV" media center announcements from CES...

Because they don't have to answer them until they are ready. All that V//V stuff at CES was pre-announcement... nothing is shipping. Apple are the potential 800lb Gorilla in this market and they will not show their hand prematurely.

rolandg

Quote:

Originally posted by vinney57

Because they don't have to answer them until they are ready. All that V//V stuff at CES was pre-announcement... nothing is shipping. Apple are the potential 800lb Gorilla in this market and they will not show their hand prematurely.

One can easily get the impression that the Windows MCE eco-system offers features that the Mac platform still leaves to be desired - DVR and TV, for example...



Granted, the Win scenario seems to still be the mix-and-not-always-exactly-match system Win users are used to. This is where Apple with its great integration and UI capabilities could really shine.

krispie

Quote:

Originally posted by jsnuff1

The macbook is far from pro compared to the imac now.

This is a troll, right?



The iMac just got a massive upgrade. And the PowerBook got a much MORE massive upgrade such that it's now on a par performance-wise with the iMac. Whereas it seriously lagged it before

hmurchison

here ...I'll settle this.





From this day forward a Pro machine shall be one that supports Dual Link DVI. Thus the Macbook Pro is indeed a Pro computer whilst the iMac is not.

towel

It's been SOP for a long time for Apple's pro laptop line to have simlar specs to the consumer desktop line. The first gen of PPC (601) never made it into a laptop - the PowerBooks shared 68040s with the most of the Performa and LC lines. With the second gen, both Performas and PowerBooks ran 603's, while the PowerMac ran 604s.



Then, for a brief time when the power-miserly G3 was the only game in town, the top-end PowerBook almost caught up to the top-end PowerMac. But iMacs weren't far behind - the low-end PB was usually the same as the iMac - and when the PowerMac went to dual-processor G4s and then to the G5, the PB couldn't follow. The PB beat the iMac to the G4 by almost a year, but the iMac quickly caught up again in clock.



The equilibrium broke only when the iMac went to the G5, and left the PBG4 in the dust. The huge performance gap between a $1300 iMac G5 and a $3000 PB G4 (hell, even the $500 mini was neck-and-neck with the PB) was the clearest sign that Apple had to do something, anything, to boost the PowerBook. With this release, balance has again been restored. And since Intel has clear roadmaps for mobile, desktop, and workstation variants of their next-gen chips, expect the usual equilibrium to last a while.

1984

It will become even more confusing when the iBook becomes the MacBook later this year. We will have the MacBook and MacBook Pro but everyone will just refer to them both as MacBooks. I really think it was stupid to drop the PowerBook name. That's 15 years of marketing down the drain. I hate it when companies change well known product names and company logos just so they can start fresh. The name iMac or iPod is kind of stupid when you think about it but everyone knows what they are. The PowerBook may not be as well know as them but I think most people know what a PowerBook is.

drboar

The iBook may be replaced by a cheaper single core CPU (or some kond of dual core celeron). A non pro MacBook



Apple also need something to replace the eMac for the K12 market.A minimac is to easy to lose and the current iMacs are overkills and to expensive.



The minimac also need to keep its price low so it also a candidate for cheap CPUs.



Now I just wish for a Psion like clamshell like PDA that work with OS X

1337_5l4xx0r

Hmmm... unless there's a higher-end laptop coming?

linky

onlooker

The Pro laptop is never going to be a Pro workstation replacement - don't kid your self. An alignment with the iMac as a desktop replacement, or portable desktop is exactly where, and what it should be. The iMac is a suitable Photoshop machine (once Adobe pulls their head out) I think they will both probably get merom processors when, or soon after the new PowerMac (I like the name ProMac) is released with woodcrest processors. Until then I think Apple will put the single core Yonah in the iBook, and later upgrade it with a faster than current version of the core duo after the MacBook Pro, and iMac are updated with merom processors.