Apple trimming notebook orders; plans fixes for new models
Apple has decided to cut back on its notebook production for the current holiday quarter, according to one report. Meanwhile, the company is said to be working on a software fix for at least one issue surrounding its latest offerings.
MacBook production cut
The Chinese-language Commercial Times said Monday that both Apple and Asustek have recently reduced orders for notebooks that will be manufactured this quarter by 20 to 30 percent.
Quanta, which shares MacBook assembly duties with Foxconn, will absorb the impact of the cuts, according to the paper, which did not provide figures on how many units the company had initially ordered.
Also unclear is whether Apple is seeing reduced demand across the board, or if the cuts pertain to a specific model. It was reported last month that Quanta and Foxconn were splitting orders for some 300,000-400,000 previous-genration white 13-inch MacBooks, which the Mac maker now sells for $999.
It's possible Apple may be seeing lower than expected demand for those older systems as users gravitate towards the more premium offerings of the new unibody models, which fetch $300 more.
The Cupertino-based company admitted to seeing a drop-off in notebook demand in the weeks leading up to last month's introductions but said sales took off once the new MacBook lines were introduced.
"As you know, there were rampant rumors and lots of press reports about a potential portable transition and we saw some slowing toward particularly the final weeks of September and the initial weeks of October," chief operating office Tim Cook said during a conference call. "However, once announcing last week, we saw a considerable rebound in sales and we’re very, very optimistic about those results."
Software patch coming for display issues
Meanwhile, Apple is working on another software update for its unibody MacBooks to address external video glitches, according to one customer who spoke to the company's support teams.
Specifically, the customer was experiencing issues with his new MacBook Pro connected to an external display, where the display would sporadically lose signal for a second and flick back on.
"After not finding anything the technician put me on hold to talk to the engineers and then updated me that it is now a known issue that will be addressed in a software patch sometime in the future," he told AppleInsider.
The issue is said to be similar, but not identical to those experienced by other users attempting to use their new MacBooks with external displays. There's a thread on Apple's support forum from users who say their external video feed cuts in and out when attempting to playback QuickTime support media, and another where users say iTunes movies fail to display on external displays connected to the new notebooks over a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter.
The new MacBook Pro's sleep functionality is also being cited as the source of two more widely reported issues. In one thread, users explain that their external displays connected via a DVI adapter routinely fail to come back on after a period of sleep unless they're physically unplugged from the notebooks and then reconnected.
Another thread is full of complaints from users who say sleep mode is malfunctioning, leaving users to find their notebook batteries drained and the systems running unusually hot when they should have been idle.
MacBook production cut
The Chinese-language Commercial Times said Monday that both Apple and Asustek have recently reduced orders for notebooks that will be manufactured this quarter by 20 to 30 percent.
Quanta, which shares MacBook assembly duties with Foxconn, will absorb the impact of the cuts, according to the paper, which did not provide figures on how many units the company had initially ordered.
Also unclear is whether Apple is seeing reduced demand across the board, or if the cuts pertain to a specific model. It was reported last month that Quanta and Foxconn were splitting orders for some 300,000-400,000 previous-genration white 13-inch MacBooks, which the Mac maker now sells for $999.
It's possible Apple may be seeing lower than expected demand for those older systems as users gravitate towards the more premium offerings of the new unibody models, which fetch $300 more.
The Cupertino-based company admitted to seeing a drop-off in notebook demand in the weeks leading up to last month's introductions but said sales took off once the new MacBook lines were introduced.
"As you know, there were rampant rumors and lots of press reports about a potential portable transition and we saw some slowing toward particularly the final weeks of September and the initial weeks of October," chief operating office Tim Cook said during a conference call. "However, once announcing last week, we saw a considerable rebound in sales and we’re very, very optimistic about those results."
Software patch coming for display issues
Meanwhile, Apple is working on another software update for its unibody MacBooks to address external video glitches, according to one customer who spoke to the company's support teams.
Specifically, the customer was experiencing issues with his new MacBook Pro connected to an external display, where the display would sporadically lose signal for a second and flick back on.
"After not finding anything the technician put me on hold to talk to the engineers and then updated me that it is now a known issue that will be addressed in a software patch sometime in the future," he told AppleInsider.
The issue is said to be similar, but not identical to those experienced by other users attempting to use their new MacBooks with external displays. There's a thread on Apple's support forum from users who say their external video feed cuts in and out when attempting to playback QuickTime support media, and another where users say iTunes movies fail to display on external displays connected to the new notebooks over a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter.
The new MacBook Pro's sleep functionality is also being cited as the source of two more widely reported issues. In one thread, users explain that their external displays connected via a DVI adapter routinely fail to come back on after a period of sleep unless they're physically unplugged from the notebooks and then reconnected.
Another thread is full of complaints from users who say sleep mode is malfunctioning, leaving users to find their notebook batteries drained and the systems running unusually hot when they should have been idle.
Comments
a lot of us .always. wait for R2 or get the refurbished models much later down the road.
good luck with that.
_____________
- it's $US300 for a much better screen and glass covering; a much nicer body with tougher materials; a lighter unit overall; way better graphics performance and the new workings on hardware acceleration (or whatever one calls the improved video via GPU); faster (potentially in the future) FSB and RAM and more RAM standard!
It's easier to see that happening than the further $US300 for 20% clock speed, a bigger hard drive and keyboard backlighting! The only possible thing I can see in favour of the $US999 is the FireWire!
R2 FTW!!! But it sounds like Apple will find a fix for these issues, at an rate.
All that aside, I LOVE my new unibody MacBook. The trackpad issue is a little annoying, but a fix is coming... and I don't regret it one bit.
External video glitches? What about the shitty displays on the MacBooks?
My display is gorgeous... it all depends on what manufacturer you got to make the display in your MacBook. The displays by LG/Samsung/etc are great, but the unlucky ones that got that Chinese crap should send it back and try again. Apple needs to get the message and cut out this display supplier.
My display is gorgeous... it all depends on what manufacturer you got to make the display in your MacBook. The displays by LG/Samsung/etc are great, but the unlucky ones that got that Chinese crap should send it back and try again. Apple needs to get the message and cut out this display supplier.
My unibody MB display is nice too. How can you tell who made the display?
My display is gorgeous... it all depends on what manufacturer you got to make the display in your MacBook. The displays by LG/Samsung/etc are great, but the unlucky ones that got that Chinese crap should send it back and try again. Apple needs to get the message and cut out this display supplier.
Apple has generally had four suppliers for MacBook displays ... LG/Philips, Samsung, Au Optronics, and Chi Mei. I've had direct experience with three of these -- the LG/Philips, the Samsung, and the Au Optronics.
The LG/Philips was superb in terms of colour reproduction (low amount of dithering).
The Samsung was horrible to the point that I'm surprised Apple even ships MacBooks with these displays (very rough, distracting dithering everywhere, even under menus, and it was dimmer).
The Au Optronics was as good or better than the LG/Philips for colour reproduction, and a touch brighter. Reports I've heard say that the Chi Mei is about the same.
So ... the "Chinese crap" actually is a decent display. In my experience, it was the Samsung that was unusable. I wrote sjobs@apple.com and they replaced my display in a hurry away from the Samsung.
My unibody MB display is nice too. How can you tell who made the display?
Here's an example of some last-gen MacBooks on how to find out the manufacturer. Everyone else agrees that the Chi Mei is the worst of the bunch... you'll have to do some more research to find out the info on the newest MacBooks, but the method to find the manufacturer is the same. I just don't know the numbers for the new machines and don't have time to find them.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=467198
I always wait for the R2
_____________
And if we all waited for R2 Apple would go out of business!
I assumed AAPL had old MB parts in inventory or they would've discontinued that model. Now I'm curious which models their cutting back on.
Here's an example of some last-gen MacBooks on how to find out the manufacturer. Everyone else agrees that the Chi Mei is the worst of the bunch... you'll have to do some more research to find out the info on the newest MacBooks, but the method to find the manufacturer is the same. I just don't know the numbers for the new machines and don't have time to find them.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=467198
Excellent! I never thought there would be any real difference between screens of the same notebook model. It appears that I have the better of the two reported MB screens. WOOT!.
if I ever need it replaced, I wonder if I can get the MBA screen put in, which is clearly better than the MB screens.
More definitive date on the new MB displays...
And if we all waited for R2 Apple would go out of business!
that is true
___________
can a software update actually fix these problems, or are some of them hardware oriented? Are we, the new macbook pro owners, doomed to a life of short-in-functionality notebooks?
Depends on the cause. It's possible that some software is polling the ports looking for a disconnect signal and tiny bits of noise is triggering it... and a software fix could poll less often or be less sensitive to noise. It's also possible that some bad soldering or fluctuating power is causing problems, which probably doesn't have a software solution. It sounds like they identified the root cause, though, and are confident they can fix it in software.
And if we all waited for R2 Apple would go out of business!
Or they would be responsible and put out a better Rev the first time.
I was beta with Gen 1 and 3G iPhone and I'm tired of beta testing Apple's crappy hardware/software.
Early adopters bare the brunt of glitches and pay an introductory price. Specs rise, prices fall, and bugs eventually get squashed. That's the reality.
That's what people get for baring their brunts.