Killer deal: 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display falls to $1299
Portable Mac prices continue their downward trend, as one authorized reseller has dropped the price on Apple's entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display to just $1,299, a savings of $200.
The steep price cut was initiated by MacConnection, which is currently offering the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro with 8 gigabytes of RAM and a 128-gigabyte solid-state drive for under $1,300 ? the lowest price seen yet on Apple's high-resolution notebook. The same machine, which sports a 2.5-gigahertz Intel Core i5 processor, sells for $1,499 new when purchased direct from Apple.
Inventory of the thin-but-powerful professional-grade machine is available, with MacConnection advertising that new orders will ship today.
Continued price cuts from third-party resellers come after Apple itself was prompted to slash the suggested retail price of its high-end notebooks when new models were launched in February. At Thursday's sale price, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is considerably cheaper than when the notebook first went on sale for $1699 just last October.
In fact, Thursday's discount represents a $400 drop from the notebook's original price from just six months ago. But prices still haven't reached the level of Apple's legacy 13-inch MacBook Pro, which includes an integrated disc drive and thicker frame while lacking a high-resolution Retina display. The 2.5-gigahertz legacy MacBook Pro is available direct from Apple for $1,199, while the lowest reseller price is offered by B&H for $1,075.
Increasingly aggressive discounts on Apple's MacBooks come after the company failed to outgrow the overall PC market for the first time in years during its holiday quarter. Apple's 4.1 million Macs sold in the December frame was down from 5.2 million in the same period a year prior.
Apple's executives attributed shrinking sales to severe constraints of the new all-in-one iMac that debuted in December. The company began to catch up with demand earlier this year, and domestic sales data tracked by independent firm the NPD Group has shown that overall Mac sales have rebounded accordingly.
Still, the steep curve on which Retina MacBook Pro sales have dropped suggests that consumers may not have embraced the premium pricing with which Apple originally began to sell the notebooks. Even before Apple slashed the official prices by $200, resellers were offering their own discounts in an apparent effort to spur sales.
The full range of discounts offered by Apple's authorized resellers on MacBook Pros can be seen in AppleInsider's Mac Price Guide, a snippet of which is included below.
The steep price cut was initiated by MacConnection, which is currently offering the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro with 8 gigabytes of RAM and a 128-gigabyte solid-state drive for under $1,300 ? the lowest price seen yet on Apple's high-resolution notebook. The same machine, which sports a 2.5-gigahertz Intel Core i5 processor, sells for $1,499 new when purchased direct from Apple.
Inventory of the thin-but-powerful professional-grade machine is available, with MacConnection advertising that new orders will ship today.
Continued price cuts from third-party resellers come after Apple itself was prompted to slash the suggested retail price of its high-end notebooks when new models were launched in February. At Thursday's sale price, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is considerably cheaper than when the notebook first went on sale for $1699 just last October.
In fact, Thursday's discount represents a $400 drop from the notebook's original price from just six months ago. But prices still haven't reached the level of Apple's legacy 13-inch MacBook Pro, which includes an integrated disc drive and thicker frame while lacking a high-resolution Retina display. The 2.5-gigahertz legacy MacBook Pro is available direct from Apple for $1,199, while the lowest reseller price is offered by B&H for $1,075.
Increasingly aggressive discounts on Apple's MacBooks come after the company failed to outgrow the overall PC market for the first time in years during its holiday quarter. Apple's 4.1 million Macs sold in the December frame was down from 5.2 million in the same period a year prior.
Apple's executives attributed shrinking sales to severe constraints of the new all-in-one iMac that debuted in December. The company began to catch up with demand earlier this year, and domestic sales data tracked by independent firm the NPD Group has shown that overall Mac sales have rebounded accordingly.
Still, the steep curve on which Retina MacBook Pro sales have dropped suggests that consumers may not have embraced the premium pricing with which Apple originally began to sell the notebooks. Even before Apple slashed the official prices by $200, resellers were offering their own discounts in an apparent effort to spur sales.
The full range of discounts offered by Apple's authorized resellers on MacBook Pros can be seen in AppleInsider's Mac Price Guide, a snippet of which is included below.
Comments
One has to be very retarded to buy the regular MBP. They will for sure be discontinued this year.
However, i would love a 17" 2011 and an iPad mini. Where to find one?
They are just clearing out the crap screen models. Apple will update the MBP w/ retina displays shortly with , pray, better screens.
I wonder how much AI gets for constantly plugging these "Amazing, never seen before offers!!!". Really getting annoying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedromartins
One has to be very retarded to buy the regular MBP. They will for sure be discontinued this year.
However, i would love a 17" 2011 and an iPad mini. Where to find one?
I have a 17" 2011 I would be willing to sell, write to me directly...
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedromartins
One has to be very retarded to buy the regular MBP. They will for sure be discontinued this year.
However, i would love a 17" 2011 and an iPad mini. Where to find one?
Not everyone feels that they need the retina display, any MacBook is a costly investment and many can simply not afford the price tag of the current Retina MacBooks. Over time their pricing will come down and they will become the regular MacBook, but I would not look down on anyone for buying the non retina model at the moment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by saarek
Not everyone feels that they need the retina display, any MacBook is a costly investment and many can simply not afford the price tag of the current Retina MacBooks. Over time their pricing will come down and they will become the regular MacBook, but I would not look down on anyone for buying the non retina model at the moment.
So you would be willing to pay full price for a machine that will not be in production anymore?
You lose a lot on the regular MBP. (screen, design, overall quality, speed, SSD)
Apple better reduce prices in order to increase demand and sales.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peter236
Apple better reduce prices in order to increase demand and sales.
What? They are cleaning things and upping production so they can stop selling the regular models.
They are the only ones left with a healthy PC business. In fact it's better than all others combined. Stop the BS and go read a book.
Originally Posted by peter236
Apple better reduce prices in order to increase demand and sales.
Absolute nonsense. But what should I expect from someone who does nothing but lie?
Originally Posted by MJ Web
And as retailers slash Apple's mainstays Wall Street discounts AAPL's value. Exploring a change at the top is long past due. Tim Cook hasn't cut it!
Shut up.
Originally Posted by MJ Web
And as retailers slash Apple's mainstays Wall Street discounts AAPL's value. Exploring a change at the top is long past due. Tim Cook hasn't cut it!
Shut up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedromartins
So you would be willing to pay full price for a machine that will not be in production anymore?
You lose a lot on the regular MBP. (screen, design, overall quality, speed, SSD)
As a 15 inch retina user, I am more than happy with my MacBook. However, I have friends with the regular MacBook pros. I wouldn't say there is any difference except the display and SSD. The quality of both are top of the line. But many people prefer the CD drive. I haven't missed mine much but still do time to time.
I think it will be 2 more cycles or so before the retinas take over.
"So you would be willing to pay pull price for a machine that will not be in production anymore"
Does that effect the product? Why does it matter? You still got the laptop you paid for? There's a big difference between 1600 and 2200. I got my retina with education pricing so I saved about 300-400 on a 2.6 16gb 256. But I was about to start my jr year in engineering, the extra speed is great for heavy calculations necessary for my 3D modeling. However, I can't imagine as a student in liberal arts needing that kind of speed. A flow simulation takes my MacBook retina several minutes to run even on medium accuracy (more than usually necessary). But to do image editing, typing, why pay the 600 dollar premium on something that will never be used? Basically, a truck with 500hp that is used to drive around town.
Its a smart decision for someone in college to buy a laptop according to their needs. (Maybe sometimes wants, but usually if you are in college, it's needs that matter)
Plus my liberal arts friends really need the CD drive. So the retina just isn't suited for them. (Don't even say buy an external cd drive, that defeats the purpose of a laptop: portable)
Sorry, but this is bad news.
I think that i will reduce some of my aapl stock.
Perhaps 20%
I still believe in Apple but I'm getting more and more nervous ...
Originally Posted by Teamracer
Sorry, but this is bad news.
I think that i will reduce some of my aapl stock.
Perhaps 20%
I still believe in Apple but I'm getting more and more nervous ...
It's called a discount at the end of a product cycle. This happens at EVERY PRODUCT CYCLE. You want to waste your money and sell now, be Apple's guest. They don't care about people who don't know what they're doing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Seankill
Does that effect the product? Why does it matter?
Of course it does.
What if something goes wrong and you need new parts?
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedromartins
Of course it does.
What if something goes wrong and you need new parts?
Just because a product is "discontinued" does not mean the parts are out of production. Most companies that care about their customers will continue to offer support for the life of the product. I am pretty sure Apple does this, otherwise, I will be switching back to PC in 7 years.
... and WSJ runs this article from AI but with its own header:
Apple Killer: 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display fails
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
It's called a discount at the end of a product cycle. This happens at EVERY PRODUCT CYCLE. You want to waste your money and sell now, be Apple's guest. They don't care about people who don't know what they're doing.
The 13" MBP retina display is mid cycle not at the end of its cycle. The price was already dropped by Apple and now resellers are dropping the price even more. The price point on that product was bad from day one. Clearly it isn't selling well at the current price point. However I am going to bite on this one at 1299.00.
Quote:
Originally Posted by island hermit
... and WSJ runs this article from AI but with its own header:
Apple Killer: 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display fails
LOL, it wouldn't surprise me.
This price is tempting, but I'm still holding out for the hopefully soon to be released Haswell-based 13" rMBP. C'mon baby!
Originally Posted by extremeskater
The 13" MBP retina display is mid cycle not at the end of its cycle.
Still, Haswell chips will be out in a little over three months.