I'm just saying that its not really a "fantastic" upgrade. Apple can price their products however they want, but I would have been impressed if they reduced the price by $200 without removing $30 worth of RAM from the machine. It just seems kind of petty to do it, that's all. It gives the impression that they are nickel and diming their customers, just like it did when they spent a bunch of money developing the overpriced 5C, when all their customers really wanted or expected was an iPhone 5 at a cheaper price.
We are used to Apple charging a premium for their products. That's fine, because they have historically made some really nice stuff. What we aren't used to is watching them take obvious, public actions to reduce manufacturing costs.
If we ignore the RAM reduction for a moment, its not a bad upgrade, its just not "fantastic." The 5S was a fantastic upgrade (even if most people won't use the extra horsepower), the iPad Air is a fantastic upgrade, the original rMBP was a spectacular upgrade, but this is just ordinary.
3. The GPUs are amazing for integrated graphics, but that's Intel's accomplishment, and soon everyone will be using them.
4. I didn't say that Apple removed a GPU from anything.
If we're just discussing your definition of fantastic who cares really?
They lowered prices by $200-300, made them faster, more battery life, basically all you can do to improve a product, along with making a bunch of software free, that's several hundred more dollars there too.
I mean the Retina MacBook has no competitors. They don't need to lower prices.
Adding to that, a good quality laptop is honestly the same price or higher at other companies.
I guess Apple is nickel and diming their customers, though. That definitely follows...
>If we're just discussing your definition of fantastic who cares really?
I was responding to someone who said the he felt the upgrade for the rMBP was "fantastic." He expressed his opinion (which no one is obliged to care about) and I did the same. If you don't care, why take the time to respond?
>They lowered prices by $200-300, made them faster, more battery life, basically all you can do to improve a product, along with making a bunch of software free, that's several hundred more dollars there too.
If they did all you could do to improve a product, they wouldn't have cut the amount of RAM in the baseline model, when people were already complaining about the previous model not having enough.
Another issue is that the improvements are incremental. Like I said, I don't consider incremental improvements a "fantastic" upgrade.
These are opinions, if you disagree, that's an opinion too.
>I mean the Retina MacBook has no competitors. They don't need to lower prices.
Incorrect. You personally may not like any of the alternatives, but there are now several machines, around 3.5 lbs, with full HD and retina displays, targeted towards professionals.
There's the Yoga 2 Pro, which features a 3200x1800 display, and improved upon every aspect of the original. It doesn't have Iris Pro graphics, but many people have already been comparing it to the rMBP. Apple has excellent keyboards, but many people prefer Lenovo's. Having used both of them, I have a slight preference for Lenovo.
Lenovo also has the T440s, and the T440p coming out soon, with Full HD IPS screens. They are close in size and weight, and also marketed towards professionals.
Asus has a few things either on the market or in the works, which are clearly designed to compete with the rMBP.
The rMBP has quite a bit of competition in 2013, and 2014 isn't going to be any different. Some people act as if its a foregone conclusion that any non-OSX system is going to be inferior to something made by Apple. In reality, there are quite a few really nice systems out there, and some of them run Windows by default.
>along with making a bunch of software free, that's several hundred more dollars there too.
Apple's software simply isn't worth hundreds of dollars. As much as I would like for something cheap or free to replace Microsoft Office, it isn't going to happen any time soon.
>Adding to that, a good quality laptop is honestly the same price or higher at other companies.
Build quality does cost money, I agree. My issue lies in the fact that a company shouldn't downgrade any aspect of a system when they release a new one. RAM is inexpensive enough to make Apple's decision mind-bogglingly stupid. It would of made more sense to reduce the price by $170 instead of $200 and leave the extra 4GB in. Once again, this is a matter of opinion. You are entitled to disagree.
We are used to Apple charging a premium for their products. That's fine, because they have historically made some really nice stuff. What we aren't used to is watching them take obvious, public actions to reduce manufacturing costs.
If we ignore the RAM reduction for a moment, its not a bad upgrade, its just not "fantastic." The 5S was a fantastic upgrade (even if most people won't use the extra horsepower), the iPad Air is a fantastic upgrade, the original rMBP was a spectacular upgrade, but this is just ordinary.
3. The GPUs are amazing for integrated graphics, but that's Intel's accomplishment, and soon everyone will be using them.
4. I didn't say that Apple removed a GPU from anything.