Apple Plans Laptop Upgrades to Take on Microsoft

Megalith

Megalith

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Apple will supposedly be revealing updates to their MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air during their June conference. Bloomberg believes that this a direct response to Microsoft’s recently unveiled Surface Laptop, which many are comparing to the Air, but I think the actual reason is that the MacBook line has been getting a bad rap lately and they need a reputation boost. I don’t know if the new models will have any real effect, though, since it sounds like they are just processor upgrades and not redesigns.

Apple Inc. plans to announce an update to its laptop lineup at an annual conference for app developers in early June, a move that could help offset new competition from Microsoft Corp. as well as declining iPad sales. Apple is planning three new laptops, according to people familiar with the matter. The MacBook Pro will get a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel Corp., said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss internal planning. Apple is also working on a new version of the 12-inch MacBook with a faster Intel chip. The company has also considered updating the aging 13-inch MacBook Air with a new processor as sales of the laptop, Apple’s cheapest, remain surprisingly strong, one of the people said.
 
If only Apple could see that they don't need to redesign their laptops so drastically then maybe they can concentrate on what really matters: Specs and I/O.

They already have great looking laptops so if they could focus on those two areas, and not on adding stupid shit like a Touch Bar, then maybe they'll have a computer that Windows users would actually want to switch to.
 
Sonicks said:
If only Apple could see that they don't need to redesign their laptops so drastically then maybe they can concentrate on what really matters: Specs and I/O.

They already have great looking laptops so if they could focus on those two areas, and not on adding stupid shit like a Touch Bar, then maybe they'll have a computer that Windows users would actually want to switch to.
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Apple sells consumer laptops, not business machines. Specs go out the window in favor of the shiny and new. Just like with phones.
 
U-238 said:
Apple sells consumer laptops, not business machines. Specs go out the window in favor of the shiny and new. Just like with phones.
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Except that they are super easy and mostly already locked down. That makes them ideal business machines.
 
My 2013 MacBook Air is getting long in the tooth. Still works fine, I'm just getting the upgrade itch.

Seems like everyone has good ultra books now so I have way more options that 2013. I think people forget that the air really was a light weight full function laptop. Dell might be the replacement.
 
Apple: "In response to our competitors bringing cheaper and more powerful laptops to the market, Apple will be increasing the cost of each of our existing laptops by $2,000.00. This should solidify the perception amongst our product users that their MacBook is superior to any Windows machine."

Apple fans: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! That's so revolutionary!!!!!!!!"
 
SticKx911 said:
Except that they are super easy and mostly already locked down. That makes them ideal business machines.
Click to expand...

Docking station support?
Standard ports (VGA/HDMI/USB) without carrying around dongles that get lost?
Durable enough to handle dozens of trips every year?

No, they would not even be usable by most employees where I work, and we are not willing to pay the Apple tax.
 
Apple needs to remove the charge-cord port from their laptops.

Because courage.
 
nutzo said:
Docking station support?
Standard ports (VGA/HDMI/USB) without carrying around dongles that get lost?
Durable enough to handle dozens of trips every year?

No, they would not even be usable by most employees where I work, and we are not willing to pay the Apple tax.
Click to expand...

MacBooks are more durable than most the Windows laptops out there, I have dropped my Macbook twice on the corner and nothing but a dent. I also use it for field service work, opening and closing like 20 times a day easily.

I wish people would stop spreading unfounded shit about Apple, their laptops are probably their most impressive products build quality wise. Specs wise they don't really need to compete with other laptops because they don't run Windows bloatware. I/O... well I think they are superior, if you see USB-C as the future anyway.

Only thing I hated was the removal of magsafe which they pioneered but I do get it in regards to having USB-C charging through the 1 port.
 
I sure hope this upgrade is more than just a fancy "touchbar."

aokman said:
MacBooks are more durable than most the Windows laptops out there, I have dropped my Macbook twice on the corner and nothing but a dent. I also use it for field service work, opening and closing like 20 times a day easily.

I wish people would stop spreading unfounded shit about Apple, their laptops are probably their most impressive products build quality wise. Specs wise they don't really need to compete with other laptops because they don't run Windows bloatware. I/O... well I think they are superior, if you see USB-C as the future anyway.

Only thing I hated was the removal of magsafe which they pioneered but I do get it in regards to having USB-C charging through the 1 port.
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What you're doing is comparing a $1000+ laptop to the $300-400 laptops most people buy. People who buy Macbooks are willing to spend the money on a quality product - people who buy Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, etc., aren't. I've seen some of the $1000+ Dells and HP elitebooks, and they are every bit the quality build of a Mac, with better specs for a lower price. The only thing you really get with a Mac is OSX, which may or may not be worth the price premium.
 
No they arent... basically no one does a aluminium unibody construction except razer who basicslly ripped Apples design and painted it black then cut corners elsewhere

Some windows machines are decent but they still fall short with overall rigidity, screen flex, hinge strength etc.

I can pick my macbook up by the top of the screen and the hinges dont even move let alone bend. Dell are shocking with stuff like that using die cast hinges that crack.
 
What is this "Bad Rap" you speak of? The late 2016 models have been doing very well, and I sure don't see any issues with mine. Other than it was fucking expensive as hell :)
 
aokman said:
No they arent... basically no one does a aluminium unibody construction except razer who basicslly ripped Apples design and painted it black then cut corners elsewhere

Some windows machines are decent but they still fall short with overall rigidity, screen flex, hinge strength etc.

I can pick my macbook up by the top of the screen and the hinges dont even move let alone bend. Dell are shocking with stuff like that using die cast hinges that crack.
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That sounds like Ford advertising their "Military Grade" aluminum bodies for their trucks, until it was shown how fragile that actually is. If I were buying a computer with the idea I would be abusing and mistreating it, I'd buy a ruggedized laptop.

Right now, for MSRP of $650 less than a MBP, I can get a Dell XPS 15" with a faster processor, faster RAM (DDR4 instead of DDR3), faster video card, higher rated battery, and higher resolution screen. So buying a MBP, for an additional $650, I get a slower computer with a lower resolution screen, less battery life, but I gain an aluminum body and OSX. Not a good trade-off in my mind. Yes, I believe that Apple definitely needs to update especially the Macbook Pro line to stay current for productivity.
 
nutzo said:
Docking station support?
Standard ports (VGA/HDMI/USB) without carrying around dongles that get lost?
Durable enough to handle dozens of trips every year?

No, they would not even be usable by most employees where I work, and we are not willing to pay the Apple tax.
Click to expand...

They have as much docking station support as most laptops these days, which is basically a shitty USB brick of ports, or a much better thunderbolt brick of ports. They dock fine.
Looking at all the dells and HPs around here, they need dongles to ge the legacy ports as well. Welcome to the future, it has dongles for old shit. (granted, dell has a really nice all in one dongle for their xps 13, so I'll give them points there).
The 2012-current redesign have been icnreadibly durable. Mostly because apple didn't fuck up the air flow pathway and did a stellar job. Shitty airflow and overheating is the #1 laptop killer in our experience. 2010-2015 were the fucking dark ages in PC land in that regard. But we require a 5 year service contract and lifecycle on laptops. The macbook pros fare better than most.

We are a heavily mixed brand environment, pretty much all your points are bullshit. The one point that ISN'T bullshit you didn't cover, which is that pretty much every other vendor is light years more pleasant to deal with in terms of negotiating pricing and service contract terms outside of their standard offerings than apple is.
 
SticKx911 said:
Except that they are super easy and mostly already locked down. That makes them ideal business machines.
Click to expand...
Business machines require a degree of support and maintenance that apple is not currently providing and is not in their interests to provide. People complain about Windows 10 and all the spying and advertising it does, just try to use an Apple with out providing them your credit card and an iTunes account and from a network level I see a lot more advertising based traffic being generated from those 12 Mac's on a daily basis then I see from the 388 Windows 10 boxes in a week.
 
I loved Macbooks, but they made me question them the moment they started soldering the ram to the mobo. Hurts my brain.
 
aokman said:
MacBooks are more durable than most the Windows laptops out there, I have dropped my Macbook twice on the corner and nothing but a dent. I also use it for field service work, opening and closing like 20 times a day easily.

I wish people would stop spreading unfounded shit about Apple, their laptops are probably their most impressive products build quality wise. Specs wise they don't really need to compete with other laptops because they don't run Windows bloatware. I/O... well I think they are superior, if you see USB-C as the future anyway.

Only thing I hated was the removal of magsafe which they pioneered but I do get it in regards to having USB-C charging through the 1 port.
Click to expand...

Ok, you like Mac's, I don't.

We buy the Dell business line (not the cheaper consumer laptops).
I have laptops in use that are over 6 years old that are still fine.
We replace laptops for the power users/travelers every 3-4 years, but then redeploy the laptops for other office users.

As for durability, no complaints, even though some people are really tough on their laptops.
I've had some laptops come back that look like they were used as the puck during a hockey game, yet they still work fine.
Main reason I retire a laptop is due to it being to out of date, too slow, or just so dirty/scratched up nobody else would want to use it. :wtf:
 
twonunpackmule said:
I loved Macbooks, but they made me question them the moment they started soldering the ram to the mobo. Hurts my brain.
Click to expand...
Of course they don't want people upgrading their laptops. Soldered ram is the least of your worries. They want them to last 2 years then buy a completely new one when their battery stops holding a charge. Or how about when it decides to shit itself and you lose your data cause that is also soldered on and not removable either. Nothing on these laptops is very consumer friendly when it come to repair. You either buy a new laptop or pay Apple hundreds to replace the battery if you can even buy a genuine battery in a few years time.
 
raz-0 said:
They have as much docking station support as most laptops these days, which is basically a shitty USB brick of ports, or a much better thunderbolt brick of ports. They dock fine.
We are a heavily mixed brand environment, pretty much all your points are bullshit. The one point that ISN'T bullshit you didn't cover, which is that pretty much every other vendor is light years more pleasant to deal with in terms of negotiating pricing and service contract terms outside of their standard offerings than apple is.
Click to expand...

Don't like the USB docks, but had to switch with the latest model. Luckily the latest USB dock actually works good and charges the laptop at the same time.

As for service, very happy with Dell's service even though I rarely use it.
We buy the 3 year on-site warranty which is great for people who travel in that I can send them out to a customer location or hotel to fix an employees laptop.
 
aokman said:
MacBooks are more durable than most the Windows laptops out there, I have dropped my Macbook twice on the corner and nothing but a dent. I also use it for field service work, opening and closing like 20 times a day easily.

I wish people would stop spreading unfounded shit about Apple, their laptops are probably their most impressive products build quality wise. Specs wise they don't really need to compete with other laptops because they don't run Windows bloatware. I/O... well I think they are superior, if you see USB-C as the future anyway.

Only thing I hated was the removal of magsafe which they pioneered but I do get it in regards to having USB-C charging through the 1 port.
Click to expand...

Nothing tops the design and build quality of Macbooks. I'll give you that. I still have a late-2011 Macbook that is going strong even though it has a gnarly dent I put in on it after stupidly longboarding my way to class with my less-than-ideal laptop bag. Tiny pebbles are the enemy of longboards, lol.

However, their specs could do with a bump. Yes they don't run Windows software but why release new Macbooks with generations behind processors? It doesn't make sense.

On the I/O: their inclusion of USB-C is fine by me but having only 4 of them on the top end is still way less I/O than they could put on there, nevermind the fact that they did away with the display port, and nevermind they did away with an Ethernet port altogether in favor of their 'wireless' future. Having one USB-C port on the non-Pro line is ridiculous since it also doubles as the charging port. It has all to do with their slimming of the design would can and should be sacrificed for more ports. All new Macbooks also don't seem to come with SD readers anymore which does come in handy. So yes, their I/O is extremely limited and they could do well to improve that.

Until USB-C adoption becomes the absolute norm, the fact that you'll have to purchase, at minimum, one type of dongle for basic I/O functionality is beyond comprehension on the modern Macbook/Pro.
 
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vegeta535 said:
Of course they don't want people upgrading their laptops. Soldered ram is the least of your worries. They want them to last 2 years then buy a completely new one when their battery stops holding a charge. Or how about when it decides to shit itself and you lose your data cause that is also soldered on and not removable either. Nothing on these laptops is very consumer friendly when it come to repair. You either buy a new laptop or pay Apple hundreds to replace the battery if you can even buy a genuine battery in a few years time.
Click to expand...

My main problem with some of the newest Dells, is the internal battery. I can't just order a replacement battery and hand it (or ship it) to the employee any more.

I had an older XPS laptop (manager had to have it) and the battery died after a few years.
I tried to order a replacement from Dell, and they kept canceling the order.
After talking to our rep, I found out the order was canceled because I'd have to also order service to have a tech come out and replace the battery.
So, I went on Amazon, bought a Dell replacement battery (actual Dell battery) and replaced it myself. Only took me about 10 minutes, and even saved a few bucks.
Really dumb Dell. Hope you don't try it on the newer laptops.
 
How about a new Mac mini? It's been like 3-4 years and the last one they brought was crap.
 
Good. They need some higher grade hardware and an upgrade. Competition is good. I'm sure Apple would have loved to go another year or so without major upgrades. Once Apple does this, I'm sure Microsoft's next offering is going to be a leapfrog over Apple.

Cool. I like Apple laptop. Decent OS on great hardware. My sister has one and I like using it. I wouldn't own one (I'm a Windows guy), but they are great machines. I'd love to see a new, top of the line model.
 
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Just release a 12.9" iPad Pro update so I can strap a keyboard to that.
Most people want my iPad with keyboard more than the Macbook these days.

When they release a Pro laptop again, I'll consider getting one.
 
rflcptr said:
Bring back MagSafe.
Click to expand...

Good lord, this. It's saved my ass more times than I can count. I won't buy another unless I can get MagSafe and reasonably up-to-date hardware. I've even heard some good things from friends about the touchbar.

Flame on, haters. I love my mid-2009 MacBook Pro. Bought it used for $800 in 2011, and it's still getting great, free OS updates. I suppose you *could* get an update to Windows 10, but do you really want to?
 
Terpfen said:
Apple threads on this forum are worse than the comments section on Youtube.
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Then dont go to the Ars Technica forums, you will become clinically depressed.

That place is actually worse than MacRumors and 9to5mac.
 
grtitan said:
Then dont go to the Ars Technica forums, you will become clinically depressed.

That place is actually worse than MacRumors and 9to5mac.
Click to expand...

I stopped going to Ars when they became a thinly veiled political advocacy platform for crap. The few remaining solid technical articles are overshadowed by the vapid politics.
 
I bought my first ever MacBook Pro 2015 a couple of weeks ago. This thing rocks. It makes me sad whenever i have to go back to Windows.
 
Apple could have hired me for $60K a year and I'd have told them what they needed in laptops...
 
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