Reply to Message

WHAT?!

Jeremy-UK 9th Jun 2009

You're kidding right? So not having "business" and "consumer" laptops
is a problem?

Clearly this isn't really a problem at all. More and more consumers
want products that serve BOTH personal and business uses. What
Apple have recognised is there is no real difference between these
things, having the 13" Unibody MacBook called "MacBook" and the
15+" Unibody MacBook called "MacBook Pro" didn't make sense -
many people want a bigger laptop for "non-business" use, and many
business users want a smaller laptop. The old "Pro"/"non-Pro"
segmentation makes no sense. Apple haven't raised prices, they have
just recognised that the distinction was always artificial.

Will this put buyers off? Hardly. If you're a business user looking for
something smaller - well now there is less confusion, a 13" MacBook
Pro is for you. If you're a consumer looking for a 13" MacBook, well
you get the "Pro" badge for the same money (and it never made sense
for it to not be there). Seriously, for the same money the Mac I'm
getting is now considered a "Pro" - where's the downside? (You could
beg the question, why was it ever different - but that's a different
issue)

I don't see this hurting Apple's laptop sales one bit, a lot of business
users will now consider a 13" MacBook where they wouldn't before. A
lot of consumers will see they can get a MacBook Pro for MacBook
money. (No matter how artificial that argument is)

Why do Apple need a "non-Pro" MacBook?! Actually I think the same
problem exists in Apple's desktop line up: Why isn't an iMac a "Pro"
system? Many business users use the iMac and find it an excellent Mac
for normal "line of business" applications. Personally I'd have moved
the iMac brand to "iMac Pro" when they "went metal". Or more
properly moved the whole Mac line to something different when it
moved from PowerPC to Core. The whole "Pro" branding never made
much sense.

The whole idea that computers need to be segmented into "Consumer"
and "Professional" is somewhat flawed thinking. Which is more
powerful? Some "professional" system that's going to run email,
wordprocessing, and spreadsheet, or a "consumer" system that's
going to run Crysis?!