How Apple Could Have Doubled MBA Sales...

[Thalesian]

Occam's Razor

If they offered both 2 and 4 gig ram models in Apple stores across the country at introduction they would have had to build thousands of 4 gig models that would have sold less than the 2 gig models. The math of the distribution alone probably led to their decision. If 4 gig models sell well online, I wouldn't be surprised to see them in stores.

For the record, I have a wonderful base model 11.6 with which I am generating 3D scatter plots for carbon isotope research. It is handling some frightening spreadsheets and is doing just fine. There is sometimes a lag switching to spaces, but the same is true of my 15.4 MBP with 4 gigs of ram.

Serenity now, serenity now.

 

[Capt Crunch]

crazy statement, imo. Apple has over 50 Billion CASH in the bank, they have some of the highest profit margins in the industry ... companies ARE too greedy.

And suppose that suddenly Steve Jobs dies, we have a double-dip recession, and sales for Apple computers plummet. Thank god they have $50 Billion in the bank so they can pay the salaries of all their employees while they ride out the downturn.

Seriously, are you guys mad that a company is saving money?! By that logic, GM is the paragon of moral greatness for giving all their money away to pension plans!

 

[Fraaaa]

Just stumbled on this while researching for my uni case study(uniformed laptop purchase).

Dell Latitude 13" which is ment for business

entry level £359 Celeron 1.3GHz 800MHz BUS 1MB cache shipped with 1x1GB RAM 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel

top series is £729 C2D 1.3GHz 800MHz BUS 3MB with 1x4GHz DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel
320GB HDD 7200RPM

of course with Intel graphics, 1366 x 768 resolution
16GB or 64GB SSD optional
1.52Kg


...I still think the MBA is good money for value.

 

[netdog]

No offence, by I doubt that Apple is considering hiring the OP based on this thread.

 

[gwsat]

Those who decry Apple for being "greedy" either don't understand free markets and how publicly traded companies have to operate, or have chosen to ignore the facts. If a company gets really "greedy" their potential customers will buy competing products instead. Then, when the loss of business begins to bite the company either lowers its prices, improves its products, or both, or it fails. That's the beauty of free markets, it's a self correcting system.

Apple is a publicly traded company. As such it has a fiduciary duty to its shareholders to maximize profits. Thus, Apple's management team has to engage in a balancing act between pricing its products high enough to insure a profit for its shareholders but low enough to convince potential customers to buy them.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

I have to disagree with the OP - Apple made the right choice of balancing the price point and specs.

Disagree with what?

At no time did I criticize the current model lineup.

My post was _nothing but positive_ http://goo.gl/88Tz4

This is a forum of public opinion, I stated mine.

I suggested that if they would have equipped the MBA with more ram, it would reflect in increased sales. What is bad about that? What is bad about Apple selling even more computers?

The negative thinking on this forum never ceases to amaze me. It's as though people are getting paid to argue.

 

[jeznav]

Can't get enough of ram.

I have 18GB of ram in my MacPro and most of the time, the system consumes about 2.3-3.4GBs average. It goes up to 6GB+ when I have Final Cut, Maya, Safari, AfterEffects, Photoshop, Handbreak, Aperture, Qmaster running at the same time even if some of the applications are idling. The only program that utilized my 18GB of RAM to the extent is AfterEffects which dumps the entire rendered frames to ram for previewing.

Otherwise if your not going to run these programs all at once, just basic webbrowsing and wordprocessing, then 2GB is enough to accomplish these tasks. Even if you ran out of memory, OSX will page out RAM to your fast SSD disk.

 

[Carouser]

My post was _nothing but positive_

Really?

"To put a new model on the market in the year 2010 with a measly 2GB is a travesty." "Anyone not so bloody greedy?"

I suggested that if they would have equipped the MBA with more ram, it would reflect in increased sales. What is bad about that?

It's pure conjecture and fairly implausible.

At no time did I criticize the current model lineup.

Your whole point is that Apple should have had put 4GB in every MBA. That changes the pricing structures and the models available. I don't know how else to say it. Also, you think this is negativity - do you just want everyone to come in and agree with you? I don't get it.

 

[gwsat]

[Iff your not going to run these [RAM hungry] programs all at once, just basic webbrowsing and wordprocessing, then 2GB is enough to accomplish these tasks. Even if you ran out of memory, OSX will page out RAM to your fast SSD disk.

I agree. The lightning fast flash storage in all of the new MBAs is a game changer and I can't imagine that 2GB of RAM on a new MBA wouldn't be enough for anybody but those with a special need to run memory intensive applications.

I run Windows 7 and a couple of Windows apps in VMware Fusion's Unity mode. I simultaneously run a half dozen OS X apps. In the era of electromechanical hard drives the conventional wisdom was that you couldn't run such a setup satisfactorily without at least 6GB of RAM, preferably 8. My own experience showed me the truth of this.

I have been able to run my memory hungry setup easily on my MBA with only 4 GB of RAM because the inevitable Page Outs that having only 4GB of RAM causes have little if any discernable effect on either the speed or stability of my computer's operation. In short, Page Outs no longer hurt performance like they did in the old hard disc days.

 

[shootingrubber]

AND did you hear that the new iPod Touch has only 256 mb RAM?? I tried it out at the store and... oh wait... it works fine. In fact, all the 2 gig MBA's are said to work amazingly well in all the reviews I've read. I do understand your argument about how it wouldn't have costed much more to Apple, but you have to realize that the $999 MBA already has one of the lowest margins they've ever used. The price of the components alone is somewhere around $700.

I can't tell if their decision is right or wrong but they did what they did for a reason, and there's nothing we can do to change it now.

Can you post a source for this? That the components of the 11" MacBook Air cost around $700. I haven't seen that online anywhere as of yet....

 

[wirelessmacuser]

do you just want everyone to come in and agree with you?

The purpose of the thread ? http://bit.ly/dsq5e7

 

[Carouser]

The purpose of the thread ? [a very useful link to a dictionary definition of 'discussion', yes indeed]

User silverblack said "I have to disagree with the OP - Apple made the right choice of balancing the price point and specs." That is discussion, plain and simple, yet you use that as an example of how negative the thread is.

Well, I'll contribute again to the discussion: your opinion, that Apple could have doubled MBA sales by making 4GB standard, is poorly supported and very unconvincing. As silverblack pointed out, what you suggest would certainly change the specs and price points of Apple's products, as well as complicate differentiation. If Apple bought more RAM up front (perhaps doubled their demand for it?) to do what you say, the price of it would definitely increase, and I believe would increase significantly.

Also, other posters have responded extensively to your opinions and arguments, yet you do not carry on the conversation, you respond with disappointment at the negativity of the thread and some irrelevant links.

 

[shootingrubber]

Can you post a source for this? That the components of the 11" MacBook Air cost around $700. I haven't seen that online anywhere as of yet....

Anybody have a source for this?

 

[wirelessmacuser]

Anybody have a source for this?

I second your request...

 

[coochiekuta]

some people just dont get it.

who cares if 2 gig will run the next os. is that all you will be doing is running the os? no. bottomline, todays programs need more and more ram.

while i dont expect anything from apple, it would be nice if they rewarded their fanbase time to time. or is it awarded? they dont need to cash in on them, or milk them every chance they get.

whatever tho. im not losing sleep over it.

 

[skottichan]

some people just dont get it.

who cares if 2 gig will run the next os. is that all you will be doing is running the os? no. bottomline, todays programs need more and more ram.

while i dont expect anything from apple, it would be nice if they rewarded their fanbase time to time. or is it awarded? they dont need to cash in on them, or milk them every chance they get.

whatever tho. im not losing sleep over it.

Actually, so far several people have pointed out, the memory page outs go to the SSD, which (if I've read correctly) works just fine in optimizing the 2GB.

So I'm not sure if they're the ones "not getting it".

 

[baypharm]

I also think Apple is shortchanging us MBP users by STILL including an optical disk drive (which always malfunctions in mine anyway). I think that most of us who use our MBP for business (even video processing and still image exporting) would get along nicely with an USB external drive. The optical drive is simply not used enough to justify it being there. At least in my case.

The only reason for an optical drive is to burn CD's or DVD's. And they are becoming extinct very quickly. I haven't bought an audio CD in years. Instead downloading the MP3 equivalent for use in my iPod or now Droid smartphone which is quickly being used more than my iPod. For kinetic image editing I transfer files to a USB drive. Wedding customers no longer want a DVD of their day diary. Most have plasma or LED tv's that have built in USB capability. Just plug in a thumb drive and watch your wedding day. For broadcast work such as sending kinetic files to HBO, for example, completed TV shows or documentary files are sent in on a hard disk. Not DVD.

For as much as Apple claims to be on the forefront of technology, in practice they are lagging behind. Just my two cents.

 

[baypharm]

And suppose that suddenly Steve Jobs dies, we have a double-dip recession, and sales for Apple computers plummet. Thank god they have $50 Billion in the bank so they can pay the salaries of all their employees while they ride out the downturn.

Seriously, are you guys mad that a company is saving money?! By that logic, GM is the paragon of moral greatness for giving all their money away to pension plans!

Yes well that 50 billion American dollars is not what it was in 1967 when the dollar was worth $1.00. It is worth at best currently around 13 cents. Maybe a little more. Anyway, should China, being communist, decide to call in America's debt, our economy will not be worth the ink on the paper.

 

[skottichan]

I also think Apple is shortchanging us MBP users by STILL including an optical disk drive (which always malfunctions in mine anyway). I think that most of us who use our MBP for business (even video processing and still image exporting) would get along nicely with an USB external drive. The optical drive is simply not used enough to justify it being there. At least in my case.

The only reason for an optical drive is to burn CD's or DVD's. And they are becoming extinct very quickly. I haven't bought an audio CD in years. Instead downloading the MP3 equivalent for use in my iPod or now Droid smartphone which is quickly being used more than my iPod. For kinetic image editing I transfer files to a USB drive. Wedding customers no longer want a DVD of their day diary. Most have plasma or LED tv's that have built in USB capability. Just plug in a thumb drive and watch your wedding day. For broadcast work such as sending kinetic files to HBO, for example, completed TV shows or documentary files are sent in on a hard disk. Not DVD.

For as much as Apple claims to be on the forefront of technology, in practice they are lagging behind. Just my two cents.

I totally agree with what you said about optical drives. I'm sincerely hoping the MBA is really what Jobs claimed "The future of the MacBook line". Pull the optical drive, make it a bay for either more battery, or even better, raided SSD blades.

 

[gwsat]

Actually, so far several people have pointed out, the memory page outs go to the SSD, which (if I've read correctly) works just fine in optimizing the 2GB.

So I'm not sure if they're the ones "not getting it".

Exactly. The MBA's super fast flash storage is a game changer. For the first time, having to use a swap file to swap RAM from active memory to storage and back again doesn't cause the performance hit that it did when storage devices were electromechanical hard drives.

I haven't seen a single post in which a poster has complained about the MBAs coming with 2GB of RAM, rather than 4, has told us exactly how they would be constrained by having only 2GB of RAM and flash storage. They say only that they feel cheated by Apple not having made 4GB standard. Their attitude reminds me of the commercial for, I think, some brand of HDTV a few years ago. The pretty country girl who played Daisy Duke in The Dukes of Hazard, said, after mentioning 1080i, "I don' know what that is, but I wan' it."