Apple’s MacBook Pro: Rotting Core?

[overclockingrocks]

This article is right on target. Not only is Apple's marketing tactic shady it's blatantly ripping off consumers. The only parts of a macbook that are worth decent money now are the aluminum chassis and the nice LED backlit screen. Aside from those 2 things the macbook and even the macbook pro are nothing more than mid range pc's. Kinda sad that I have more powerful components in the Gateway laptop I just picked up for $600 than a new macbook pro has that costs almost 5x as much. I would think that if Apple wants to keep an edge it needs to refresh it's lineup every year heck ever 6 months. It wants to charge $2500-3000 for a macbook pro that's loaded? That's fine but for $3000 it better damn well come with a top of the line processor and graphics. Core 2 duo and a 9400m/9600GT graphics and the high $2500+ price tag in Canada? NO THANKS. Apple can call me when they have i7 based machines but high end graphics and a decent price. Decent to me is sub $2000. There are i7 based notebooks from HP that are loaded right now for $1700+taxes. Apple should take a look at what the most expensive fully loaded pc based laptop out there is and price there product accordingly ie if they have the same spec but they of course have the nicer built chassis and screen I could see an extra $200-300 for the mac after that it's nothing but ripping off the consumer and gouging.

 

[Guest]

I would emphasize on the low screen resolution and crappy font anti-aliasing...

 

[Guest]

"Apple is the only company with legal access to the Apple hardware and software"

If the total product is not worth the money, how would this help them?
If the total product is worth the money, what's your point?

 

[kevinpaquet]

[citation][nom]overclockingrocks[/nom]This article is right on target. Not only is Apple's marketing tactic shady it's blatantly ripping off consumers. [/citation]

How can you call it ripping off when the consumers ARE WILLING TO PAY for it. Stupidity.

 

[Guest]

Who really cares about apple on this site? Most people who use them would never vist a site like this.


-------------------------------------

Sorry mate got a macbook pro and it works + am visiting this site. Also if u can get me a laptop with mac osx running smoothly( no hackintosh) , let me know.

 

[cyrusfox]

Bad analogy about marathon runners, older runners perform better, in running you don't peak at such an early age. Chances are the 20 year old is burned out mid race while the experienced 40 year old runner is encouraging him to keep going as he passes him.

 

[dmylrea]

@kevinpaquet: The stupidity is that people STILL pay for it! Are they willing or do they have NO OTHER CHOICE for an OSX platform? Facts are facts. In this industry, there is nary an item that does not decrease in price as time marches on. Except Apple hardware. Price fixing, plain and simple. Look at Apple's profits the last few quarters. RECORD BREAKING. Why? Because money falls from the sky and lands at Apple headquarters? Or because Apple is buying components at much cheaper prices now than two years ago, and is pocketing the profits from keeping the price of their finished product artificially inflated instead of passing on the savings to their beloved customers by means of lowering the prices. Just because they can doesn't mean they should.

 

[dmylrea]

Oh, I forgot to mention my Dell 14" Hackintosh running Snow Leopard with a higher res 1600x900p LED backlit LCD, 256GB SSD and running 100% everything a Macbook PRO does, but for about 1/3 the cost of a new Macbook PRO 15. It looks pretty sweet, too. If I can do it, why can't Apple?

 

[Guest]

Ahh - this article is such a myopic load of crap: The HW is dated for good reason and the other benefits outweigh it in spades:

As pointed out by others the new Arrandale chips were just released and take a few months (this is Toms HW for crying out loud and the author doesn't know this?)

Apple got caught by going to the Nvidia 9400M Integrated graphics replacement - it was way superior at launch and allows a macbook air to have great graphics in a 3 lb. chassis - it still is the minimal compromise full laptop in a netback weight/size segment. Apple is either waiting for the next Nvidia solution (which is a mess because of Intel's nehalem lawsuit and it's killing NVIDIA and it's partners), downgrade to intel's integrated graphics, or re-architecting to get a separate lean GPU on there - there are no good choices for the macbook and macbook air, the pro will probably go intel integrated with AMD - but apple likes to have the whole family consistent for driver consistency in it's product line so it's a mess - the lack of a good integrated graphics roadmap is the cause of the graphics delay - duhh.


As far as blue ray is concerned other's have posted about the numerous incompatibilities on the PC side - and remember apple was never on the bandwagon and doesn't want to eat into itunes video downloads so they have no incentives to go that route until it really is a commonly used standard - I mean 1080p on a laptop for a trip is not worth it, and the burning media prices are crazy - just buy a SD card or jump drive if you want to archive stuff. You can always buy a drive and toast supports it if you really care.

Ok how many apple benefits were pointed out to justify the price: NONE - Here are some examples:

Magsafe - the best powercord invention yet - I can't tell you how many power cords/connectors have been trashed on my Dells and it is a non-issue on the macbook/pros. It is so superior - like 10 years ahead of the rest of the industry.

Multi-touch on the trackpads - it's been there for years now on the macbooks even back in the powerPC days - two finger scroll is genius and was out before it got put into the iphone - I can't stand using cheap ass PC teeny tiny crappy trackpads without multitouch - this convenience is worth the cost of computer by itself!

LED Backlit keys - if you ever use your laptop in bed you know how important this is - none of my PCs have it and they are unusable in low light conditions

Hassle free OS: I have a bunch of macs and a bunch of PCs with every version of windoze so am OS agnostic - but I am much more efficient in SAing my macs (i.e. 5 macs takes 10% of the SA time for 5 PCs - and years of SAing has proven this out time and time again.)

Also when I need to get stuff done - PDF print in the OS, Quicklook (which MS has knocked off in win 7) is beyond invaluable, Networking is seamless (I mean drive letters for PCs still? - come on enter the year 1990 microsoft.) Backups: all my networked macs effortlessly backup to a mac Pro server with a 2TB time machine disk - it is 10,000% better than PC backup options in terms of setup, maintenance and ability to find what you backed up and drag and drop to restore it - just set up by pointing to the volume and forget it. It is a SA's dream. I could go on but I doubt many will want to read this rant as it is.

In two months the HW will be up to date for those bootcamp PC gamers and this article will be a distant memory… next

 

[nikrusty]

good stuff, keep it up...

BTW... there is a spelling error under the pricing chart "The prices of the compoments in this chart"...should be "components"

 

[Guest]

Most useless article I've read in quite a while

 

[1pp1k10k4m1]

I love the article overall and have actually refused to upgrade my macbook pro for the last year for the same reasons listed here. Except snow leopard...comparing it to Vista issues...not really apples to apples (no pun intended). But they NEED to go Core i7, Blu Ray, Higher Res, larger standard hard drives, and faster memory, while they throw in a video card update along with USB 3.0.

I actually won't upgrade UNTIL they do these things. It drives me crazy, I love the product but they seem to be such elitists and pretend their product is so incredible...it's the OS i want. I'm capable of finding my own components, if they want to keep it closed then ok, but for a premium price I expect and demand premium components, screw their ROI. If they can't deliver premium components then I simply won't but another, I'll move to linux or 7. Others may buy hackintosh parts or simply write kexts for it.

 

[kctim]

There are several fallacies with some of the comments posted her, but I will hit the high points.

#1 NO ONE and I mean NO ONE can guarantee that the new MacBook Pro will only cost $2000 for the base model. My guess is that it will be more likely in the $2400-2750 range is it gets that many updates. It wouldn't look good for the new ones to outperform the previous versios that someone just plunked down 2K for. So instead of gradually lowering prices on models like other computer "Manufacturers" they keep prices the same and raise them on the new offerings.

#2 It is not Apple versus PC, it is Apple versus Microsoft. Apple does not "build" PC's any more than MS does. (Oh, by the way fanboys, OSX is just a repackages BSD Unix. Just sayin'"

#3 Every company, sports team, celebrity, etc. has their fanboys that will NEVER see reason no matter what. Did Vista have problems? Yes, but many of them hardware related. Whose responsiblility is it to write drivers that work with specific hardware pieces? The hardware manufacturers. Who gets blamed when a 7 year old pc with barely adequate hardware will not run Vista and 15 apps simultaneously? Microsoft. Fortunately for Steve Jobs, his user blame the right people.

One of my jobs is a Network Engineer for a large copier/printer company. When Vista came out and some of the drivers didn't work, "Piece of Junk Vista won't work with anything!!!" When OSX 10.6 came out, "You need to make this printer work with our new Mac Software that we installed (without consulting you or doing any research) right NOW!" Much as I don't like some of the way Microsoft carries out their business they are probably one of the most villified companies for some of the least valid reasons.

My parttime job is as a computer store retailer. I have to relay this story that happened a couple weeks ago. We had a couple drive to our store from 4 hours away because they saw that we had a $200 rebate on the MacBook (normally $999). They drove 8 hours round trip when we have a store 30 minutes from their house that has been in business for 6 months! So much for the intellectually superior Mac Owners.

Before everyone gets up in arms. I do like both platforms. I work on both platforms. I own PC's since I can build them myself from old componenets and I know what I am doing. I cannot afford prebuild Windows machines, much less Macs. I hold several IT industry certifications, including several Microsoft ones. I have always said, "Mac's greatest strength is also their weakness. Namely proprietary hardware and a draconion EULA. If I control the whole process I can acheive greater optimization, even on 2 year old hardware, (try running Windows 7 or worse Vista on 2 year old hardware). However, I like the freedom to chose my components, whether budget, or bleeding edge."

Just my $.02. Take it how you will.

Regards,

 

[Guest]

Your argument gets weaker when you discuss the "stale chassis" (still the best in the industry) and the "need" for a Blu-ray (a niche concern).

However, overall you're right; Apple is charging through the teeth for outdated components, which is why I do my audio production on a

 

[CptTripps]

[citation][nom]Anonymous[/nom]I'm using a 15" macbook pro as I type. The lack of reboots, crashes, antivirus/spyware, and driver issues since I bought it, have been worth the difference. Still have plenty of performance ... so over the long haul, it's been a great tool. In today's dollars and market - yeah, Apple should be dropping the price, or providing a quicker refresh. Still - it's an appliance I just use and find it reliable, unlike if it were a PC ...[/citation]

That is just dumb, are you saying that any PC laptop is unrealiable?

I have had an Asus laptop from Best Buy for about a year (Asus rocks and lacks the bloatware from the likes of gateway/hp). It is a dual core with 4gb ram and 512MB 9800M. It cost $900 and has never given me any problems. I ran win7 update (3pack for 125$) and have been even more happy with it.

 

[Guest]

I remember moans on the CivFanatics forum about having to drop off the collective events (like succession games) due to delay of patches for Mac. Nuff said for me; a notebook for work should be bought by one's employee, a notebook for joy should run games.

 

[TwoPynts]

Well written article with some good points made. Some interesting stuff in the comments too. When the competition has as good or better hardware for 1/2 the price and now has the more OSX-like Windows 7, then Apple needs to start moving it booty. I have only Mac desktops, but bought a Windows laptop for the reasons put forth in the article.

 

[Guest]

Fantastic article.Nice to read from people,who does think.

 

[Coyle]

We couldn't wait...picked up a 13" MBP and it is a great little machine. Be sure get a Shaggymac screen protector eliminates the screen smudges and key imprints.

http://www.shaggymac.com

 

[austntexan]

I'm still running my PowerBook, with the PPC chip and it was long in the tooth when I bought it. Best computer I've ever owned. I'm in the RR, TX area, I've always bought local, I worked for D and many of my friends still do. . . spent a lot of money with them over the last 15 years.

My Mac flat out works and will not die. I used to give my "Apple" buds a hard time about their systems being toys, but honestly, I've done more with my Mac than I ever did with the many PCs I've had over the years.

I'm just a consumer in the end. I buy what works. Speeds and feeds are a WinTel Box Pusher's marketing tool. The game has changed and Apple has forced the point before anyone else had a chance. . .software is what you're buying in the end.

With a stable platform, constant upgrades to a product lines are unnecessary. You think you're paying the premium for the hardware? The premium is for an OS that doesn't blue-screen when you try to export an MP3 or import/edit video. What? iLife is a part of the Mac. It's what you're paying for when you buy a Mac. Most folks who don't use a Mac won't understand that.

When I was a PC guy, first thing I do is tell the sales rep to pull all free and extraneous software off my system, I'll put my own stuff on there. In nearly 5 years, I think I've bought maybe 1 piece of software for my Mac. I just haven't needed anything additional. It's a pretty complete deal from the get-go. I feel like I've gotten my $ out of it.