Laptop: ultralights (MacBook. This can be all soldered), value (MBA, or even the old 13" MB unibody, somewhat upgradable), powerful (13"/15" MBP, ram and ssd upgradable with standard components)
Desktop: all-in-one (slick design), value (smallish, somewhat upgradable), pro (flexible, upgradable)
And the pro models really need some semblance of upgradability, especially desktop pro.
Where is the 4k 17in MBP? The old one was 1920x1200, it would be a perfectly obvious upgrade
Sure they are absolutely losing pro customers, but does that really matter when they have the iPhones and high-end laptops? It's only the very high-end professionals that aren't able to make due with an Apple product anymore.
I actually was all set to buy a new MBP for around 3k, but the last round's market segmentation pissed me off. They always have one cheap reasonable option and then charge an arm and a leg after that. IMO, they would be better served aiming for a 35% profit margin on everything vs the ridiculous upgrade costs for high end they currently use.
EX: 1TB PCIe-based SSD upgrade from 256GB + $564.00. When 1TB SSD's are running under 300$ and they are saving on the cost of a 256GB SSD. Think about it, if this was a removable drive you would not only save money getting a 3rd party SSD, but also end up with and extra 256GB drive. Which means they would still have a ~40% profit margin if it cost 300$ to upgrade.
You could be right of cause, but it seems a little unlikely doesn't it?
This really needs to be qualified, as there are plenty of high end pprofessionals still served well by Apple products.
There's not a lot of choice in the high end for eg. Notebooks. The Surface Pro Performance Base comes close to the MacBook Pro, for example, but not a lot else on a balance of features. If I really need 32GB RAM (For example) I need to lug a back breaking brick from Razer , or deal with the Dell XPS 15 which can't be charged on an airplane.
Non-mac PC -> probably Samsung phone & definitely not iPad
2. Apple could sell those parts themselves at a much more reasonable profit margin than they do today.
3. Better to sell the cheapest option (at a good profit margin) than nothing at all.
It's possible to make a computer that's upgradable with non-standard components. People will hate you for it if they realize you're gouging them, but it's a time-honored strategy.
I am not a power user by any means, so I don't need lots of raw computing power. To me, the values of owning a MBP is design, build quality, good compromise between weight/power, OS X, and longevity. However, longevity is reduced by removing upgradability for RAM and SSD. I don't see MBP as attractive as before, especially with the price premium. I admit that I am cheap, and I try to spend as little as possible. I typically get the lowest spec'd MBP that fits my current need. After a few years, I upgrade RAM and storage (used to be HD, now SSD), and that will last me another few years.
Apple's current offerings doesn't fit my need, and I am exploring other alternatives (currently test driving Asus Zenbook 305 running Xubuntu alongside my MBP). I am not bitter, just disappointed since I much prefer Apple laptops.
Also, the lack of reasonably priced SSD upgrade for Retina MBP due to proprietary interface is driving me nuts. I am running out of storage space and can't do anything about it.
Home, end, page up, page down, and the power button moved back to not being a keyboard key.
I find the built-in style is fine for casual work, even typing documents, but for programming I love my delete key too much.
On the mini keyboard I find myself using ⌘X in place of Fn-Delete, it's a one-handed thing that's more convenient. If you have nothing in your paste buffer that's important it works out well.
Those that care about a forward delete key are in the minority. They're also the type most likely to have some kind of highly personalized keyboard with very particular Cherry switches and keycaps.
Most people would rather have a 14 hour battery that's not replaceable than a 6 hour one that is.
I've had a lot of laptops in the last fifteen years and the only time I'd ever removed my battery was to add memory or a hard drive simply because it was in the way. Maybe one in a hundred people actually care about having a replaceable battery.