Apple's all-new MacBook Pro
engadget.com
engadget.com
I really need a new laptop (PowerBook is ready to kick the bucket), but at a certain point Apple needs to understand that some of its users are decently traditional and just really, really like the Mac OS. I feel like if Apple had to compete with other Mac OS players, I'd get a better deal and better products. Apple is making great things right now, but they're also trying to force you into a corner by saying "if you want the good Mac OS stuff, you have to put up with everything else we want to push on you".
Maybe I'm the only one who feels like Apple is getting arrogant with their marketshare. Maybe this isn't parallel to how Apple previously got arrogant and lost nearly all its marketshare. Maybe I don't want to go back to the dark days when I was openly mocked for my Mac choice.
It is a real button. Did you not read the article/presentation etc? You can just decide that the bottom 1/3rd of the trackpad is the old button and keep using it just as you did with a satisfying click and small movement as before.
As for matt screens.... meh
Where did you get your information?
It /feels/ the same as the old trackpad thus it has tactile feedback. The entire trackpad clicks.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/apple-macbook-aluminum-an...
I asked a question in good faith. Why all the down-voting?
The copy on the apple site is ambiguous -- saying that the trackpad "is the button" could mean a lot of things, including that the trackpad acts as the button (which is how I read it). It isn't an unreasonable interpretation.
I guess they could make it more obvious that the trackpad is actually physically a button...
Followup question about sources is fair, but still seems to advance an erroneous impression based on "every source I've seen". So slight downmodding (perhaps just to zero) doesn't seem clearly abusive to me.
(I've only downmodded the original false comment, while upmodding those providing true information and details.)
Watch the video. 3/4 of the way in, they introduce the trackpad. You can clearly see that the trackpad gets recessed when you click on it.
Hell, you can probably type whole paragraphs with your eyes shut without erring. Without the feel of physical buttons, you'll inevitably drift one direction or the other. That's why BlackBerry typing is really so much better than the iPhone. When you have both in broad daylight and are staring at the buttons as you type, the difference isn't as noticeable. But on a Berry, you can text one-handed while driving (though I don't recommend it) while on an iPhone you'd slip up pretty fast. Or, more importantly, you can look at the screen exclusively as you type, as you would on a computer.
I'm not sure if this is relevant here though. Perhaps it will cause your fingers to drift upward when not looking? I really don't know.
In that case, yeah: what you said makes sense. I like the glass-over-everything aesthetic: it unifies everything. And losing matte is a shame, but I'll reserve criticism until I see the new Macbooks in action. If the screen really is bright enough to cancel out overbearing glare, then I'll forgive Apple for this. If not... then I'll just hope they have some revolutionary anti-glare thingie coming out soon.
My guess is that they could, at the very least they could just add a matte coating. Also, they claim that the track pad is glass, and it certainly isn't shiny, though how an LCD would look through it I'm not 100% sure.
This is why I didn't get a Dell Ubuntu laptop.
Methinks you have cause and effect backwards. Apple's willingness to simplify their product line is the reason they have a growing marketshare.
Apple's been making design decisions like this since Steve Jobs insisted on the one-button mouse. And left the floppy out of the original iMac. And released a notebook without a CD-ROM drive. You can't claim that this is something new. This is how Apple works. You can have any color so long as it's aluminum.
Having to pay a premium for Firewire is what makes me unhappy, since I just bought more Firewire peripherals, including a Firewire-based audio interface. But... oh well. The good news is my old Macbook is still working just fine. When it finally kicks the bucket, I might as well spend the extra money on a Macbook Pro and get my Firewire. It's not as if I'll save any money by migrating to Windows on a Dell, or by trying to figure out if there's a 1password equivalent on Ubuntu and whether I can transfer my 250 stored passwords to it without retyping them all.
Nice turn of phrase. The irony is that Ford made everything black because it was cheaper. Jobs is making everything aluminum because it acts as a distinguishing factor, so it lets him charge more... I imagine we're only a few years away from hardwood computers.
First Steve came for my right mouse button,
but I was silent;
I did not need both mouse buttons...
That's the way my brain is wired, I can't help it. I only hope that notebooks with matte displays don't disappear, and that I can install Linux on them.
I thought I'd hate it, but I absolutely love it. I've never had glare issues in an environment that wouldn't have totally washed out my old matte MacBookPro anyhow. For my use, the glossy screen has been an improvement 100% of the time.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore....
With computer prices falling (generally), it's remarkable that Apple hasn't responded to that at all. Even the old MacBook they're trying to pass off as the new entry level one is £20 more than the same machine was yesterday (yet $100 less in the US).
Apple has muddied the whole notebook range. The MacBook now comes in two totally different styles, as does the MacBook Pro (with the 17" now being a particularly poor deal, despite the increased standard res.) And what's with the new Cinema Display? Looks nice, but it's not workable for Mac Pro users (the market Cinema Displays were meant to be for) and it's heavily overpriced. It's really just an accessory for only the newest releases.
Apple was making good progress at bringing pro-level technology to the user at prosumer prices, but this whole update has sent them back into the stratosphere. The entry level "new" MacBook is over £200 ($400) more than the old entry level MacBook.. how can I recommend this to my PC-switching family now?
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, especially when it makes no sense.
Granted, $999 Macbooks aren't the best. I'd prefer it lower. But it's absolutely worth that price.
I'd say that makes Apple more like a Merecedes-Benz of the computer world than Porsche. Porsche produces extremely high end cars for under 1% of the market. Mercedes-Benz produces high quality "prestige" cars but still wants large market share.
Given that Jobs even drives a Merc, I think there's something to this comparison ;-)
It's also quite small in the grand scheme things, 1/10 of the global market.
Just think how often you use your laptop, and how important it is. When you think about it, all laptops are very very cheap considering how much we rely on them these days. So arguing about a couple of hundred dollars spread over maybe 2-3 years, to get you a significantly better laptop for all those years.....
Apple has 3.6% of the world computer market.
In the US Ford has 17% and Porsche has 0.2%.
So Porsche is around 10x as exclusive as Apple. If Apple want's to keep growing they need to keep putting out cheaper boxes to take an ever larger slice of the pie. However, Porsche is far more profitable than Ford so their are reasons Apple is not selling cheep boxes.
This then brings into question what WILL get updated during MacWorld. I'm thinking SnowLeopard, Mac Pro/Mac mini, Apple TV, and iPhone.
This is really true. A style change is a big upgrade in Apple terms. The next release of this will likely pack a lot more features.
Q2 next year?
I'm a proud owner of a black macbook - which I love. And I think the previous macbook pros look good. Maybe I just need to see one in person, where I can see all the "detail".
That, plus the permanent glossy screen, is a deal breaker. I won't be upgrading anytime soon. Maybe the next revision will give it a new feel or look.
No APT is a deal-breaker for me. At least as my main work computer. But looks insanely great.
i think the glossy screen is a deal-breaker for me, though. i'm hoping the next round will add a matte option.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_G4#Aluminium_PowerBoo...
If you mean "lower" when you say "higher", then your statement is true.
USB 2.0 is 480 Mbps. Firewire 400 is...100, 200, or 400 Mbps. Firewire 800, on the other hand, tops out at 800 Mbps, but uses an incompatible cable type, thus making it even less common than Firewire 400, and practically useless except for folks doing high end video work (since those are the only devices I can think of that still ship with 1394 interfaces...maybe some audio devices do, too).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#USB_2.0
Popular standards are good. Embrace them. Particularly when they are clearly superior, as USB 2.0 is.
From what I understand, it's designed for short bursts of data at very high speeds.
No, 480M is the baud. (Download the USB 2.0 spec and check out the wire protocol.) The fastest you can transfer data is with a bulk transfer, which top out at 53248000 Bps = 406.25 Mbps. (That's what I would call the "theoretical speed".) Other transfer types are slower.
Companies like advertising "480 Mbps" because it's a high number, but it's not physically possible to transfer data over USB2 that fast.
http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html
On-Paper standards are interesting. Real-world performance is more interesting.
There are some laptops out there with great keyboards. They don't run OS X though: http://herdrick.posterous.com/cant-i-have-tasteful-with-a-go