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Apple needs 15.4" Macbook

S

siriusbeat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2007
13
0
Connecticut
Well, Apple just lost a potential sale. My dad hit 5 numbers on the state lottery and won just over $2K. He decided to do something fun with the money and get a new laptop. I kept pushing the Macbook on him, but he wouldn't budge from the Windows based laptops because of the screen size. He's about to turn 63 and most people that age don't want some tiny screen with super high resolution. Of course, he could have bought a MBP, but the $1999 starting price was more than he wanted to spend, considering he has to pay income tax on his winnings anyway. So, he ended up going with a ThinkPad R61 with a 15.4" screen, 2.2 GHZ Core 2, 160GB HDD, DVD burner, built-in webcam, Office 2007 Small Business Edition, etc. and it was still about $500 cheaper than the MacBook Pro. Of course, I'm happy he is getting a new laptop to replace his aging Gateway laptop that sounds like a lawn mower because of the loud fan, but I'm really disappointed that he didn't get a Mac because he's going to miss out on the experience of owning a Mac.

Apple is missing the boat on people who would like to switch to macs, but won't because of the higher prices and holes in their lineup of computers, especially in comparison to Windows based offerings.

Apple - let's see a 15.4" Macbook in addition to the 13" to give people more options, without having to pay way more for a MBP.
 
I have the same issue with a macbook and my dad. He would be fine with a macbook, but he needs it to be bigger, and the more expensive macbook pro is more than he wants to spend (He only wants to spend $1200 or so.) A macbook pro is really overkill for what he needs. I have to steer him to a pc, it's too bad Apple doesn't make a larger laptop model for a price he is willing to pay.
 
It's difficult to get people to switch away from Windows, especially when it's so ubiquitous. Of course, I know how great OSX is versus Vista, but when the price and hardware specs don't quite match up, the OS becomes less of an issue to many people since they are already used to using Windows.

Just checked refurbs and no MBPs under $2K right now anyway.
 
Apple used to do a 14.1 inch iBook but they discontinued the 14.1 model when they switched to Intel. Maybe it was a mistake to discontinue it. Maybe your dad possibly could have accepted a 14.1 screen i don't know.

I think that Apple could do with extending the current Mac notebook line up a bit. Currently there is no professional thin and light notebook and as you said OP maybe they could bring in a bigger MacBook as well.
 
I think there is a general consensus on this forum that there also needs to be a MacBook Pro ultra-portable model as well.
 
I agree, Apple should have an affordable consumer-grade 15" notebook, as well as a small MBP.

On the one hand, maybe Apple knows what they're doing, as their MacBooks are selling very well.

But on the other, they definitely lose sales to those looking for a larger screen at less than $2000.

Apple probably wants to differentiate their products. If they offered a $1500 15" MB, how would it differ from the MBP? Less standard RAM, smaller hard drive, slightly slower processor, older chipset and/or processor generation (CD v. C2D, Santa Rosa v. whatever was before it). No FW800 and expansion slot.

And if they ever get the resolution independence thing going full throttle, they could offer the pro line with a higher res screen.

I think they could and should do it.
 
lord patton said:
I agree, Apple should have an affordable consumer-grade 15" notebook, as well as a small MBP.

On the one hand, maybe Apple knows what they're doing, as their MacBooks are selling very well.

But on the other, they definitely lose sales to those looking for a larger screen at less than $2000.

Apple probably wants to differentiate their products. If they offered a $1500 15" MB, how would it differ from the MBP? Less standard RAM, smaller hard drive, slightly slower processor, older chipset and/or processor generation (CD v. C2D, Santa Rosa v. whatever was before it). No FW800 and expansion slot.

And if they ever get the resolution independence thing going full throttle, they could offer the pro line with a higher res screen.

I think they could and should do it.
Click to expand...

I don't really think they care about a few sales =\

They still sound thousands of macbooks fine... So.. yar.
 
You should have checked refurb before he bought that. The 2.16ghz appear occasionally for 1499...as well as amazon and a few other authorized resellers online have plentyt of the older models at cheap prices...all of which are basically a 15inch macbook, but with non-integrated graphics and a few other extras already mentioned...

The refurb store basically takes care of those wanting a 15inch macbook.... just a little extra research.

I think a 15.4inch macbook would look lame and just like all the other laptops out there... the 14.1 ibook was different because the powerbooks were widescreen and the ibooks weren't.... not the case anymore.
 
But the screen estate cannot be looked at alone, the resolution needs to be calculated as well. This is why the pixel size or density should be taken into account and I am fairly sure that there is not big difference in pixel size from Macbook to Pro. So unless he needs that extra estate I don't see a very valid point really.
 
More people want a 12" MBP then people wanting a larger MacBook, so the chances are none. Now I do wish Apple would have kept the 2 different screen sizes from the iBooks, but for them to make one now is very unlikely.
 
I don't think there is a lot of demand for a 15.4" macbook. At the time for me the price difference was around 500$ between the mb and the mbp. A 15.4" mb would obviously be inbetween the two. If you want a bigger screen the mbp is a great choice.
 
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