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Mac sales surging

Leongsam

High Order Twit / Low SES subject
Admin
Asset
Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 10:29 am PT (01:29 pm ET)

Apple's focus on value in 2014 has sent Mac sales surging

Feature
By Neil Hughes

Hardware updates to the Mac lineup thus far in 2014 have been generally unexciting, and yet Apple has still achieved record sales this year, as consumers are seeing plenty to like about the company's newest and more affordable computers.

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Earlier Tuesday, Apple refreshed its MacBook Pro with Retina display lineup, adding slightly faster Intel Haswell processors. But the real emphasis from Apple has been on value: The company trimmed $100 off the starting price of the top-of-the-line 15-inch configuration, and also made 16 gigabytes of RAM standard for all 15-inch models.

The entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display also comes with added value, doubling the default RAM to 8 gigabytes. The RAM upgrades alone represent a significant discount over what Apple had previously charged for those specifications.

And Apple also slashed $100 off its legacy non-Retina MacBook Pro, selling it for just $1,099.

Tuesday's moves are not surprising: Value has been the primary focus for Apple thus far throughout 2014. In April, Apple boosted the processors on its MacBook Air lineup by just 100 megahertz, but cut $100 off the models to reach a new starting price of $899 for the 11.6-inch model.

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With their current pricing, the new MacBook Air models are the most affordable mass-market notebooks that Apple has ever sold.

And then in June, Apple debuted a new $1,099 iMac with low-end hardware that serves as the new entry-level model for the company's all-in-one desktop brand. That undercuts the previous base model by $200.

These kinds of upgrades don't represent the bleeding-edge hardware that enthusiasts crave, which is why Apple's 2014 updates have been met with general indifference or even disappointment by some in the tech community.

Reaction from the general public, however, has been quite the opposite: Mac sales were up 17.6 percent to a record 4.4 million units in the June quarter, which was the same three-month span in which the more affordable iMac and MacBook Air lineup launched. And with price cuts helping to drive sales last quarter, Apple is clearly hoping that lower prices and greater value on its MacBook Pro lineup will do more of the same.

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The company has even been experimenting with even lower pricing through authorized Mac resellers, allowing the company to move inventory at new price points without having to budge on its own direct sales. AppleInsider has been tracking such deals through its official price guide and has noticed the company allowing major partners like Best Buy to offer big savings — the likes of which were previously unseen — which are then matched by the company's various other authorized resellers.

There has been added value on the software front as well, as last year starting with OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Apple made its annual Mac operating system updates available for free. That means that everyone who buys a new Mac today will get OS X 10.10 Yosemite for free this fall.

Benchmarkers and power users are likely waiting for Apple to introduce next-generation Macs running Intel's upcoming Broadwell architecture, which aren't expected to begin arriving in mass quantities until early 2015. Broadwell CPUs will be a 14-nanometer die shrink of Intel's existing 22-nanometer Haswell architecture, and the new, smaller chips are expected to bring a 30 percent reduction in power consumption while offering the same horsepower.

But Apple's surge in Mac sales in the June quarter suggests that the average consumer sees no such need to wait. To those people, lower prices and greater value were enough to seal the deal on a new Mac.
 

Scrooball (clone)

Alfrescian
Loyal
Never use a fucking Mac for work. A bunch of imbeciles who used the Mac system are always having compatibility issues with office files. The Office for Mac is just not the same as the Windows version.

If u really want, you can install windows as an additional OS to run the 'right' Microsoft Office. But it is just stupid. Macbooks are so behind times. Doesn't even have a touchscreen.
 

Leongsam

High Order Twit / Low SES subject
Admin
Asset
Never use a fucking Mac for work. A bunch of imbeciles who used the Mac system are always having compatibility issues with office files. The Office for Mac is just not the same as the Windows version.

If u really want, you can install windows as an additional OS to run the 'right' Microsoft Office. But it is just stupid. Macbooks are so behind times. Doesn't even have a touchscreen.

I've been using a Mac for work since 1986. Never had any problems with office files. Word for Mac was released in 1985.
 

Timerty

Alfrescian
Loyal
macs very hard to access the dirty things on the internet. only good for kids without active private parts.
 

johnny333

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
How things have changed. Last time there were only about 2 or 3 stores selling Mac related products at Sim Lim Sq.

Now you will find many stores doing repairs, selling 2nd hand Macs & all kinds of iPhone accessories. Apple has come of age:smile:
 

Jah_rastafar_I

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
My macbook has windows bootcamp installed and i installed win 8 on it. I actually wanted 8.1 but didn't want to go thru the hassle of upgrading or reinstalling it.
 

Charlie258

Alfrescian
Loyal
How things have changed. Last time there were only about 2 or 3 stores selling Mac related products at Sim Lim Sq.

Now you will find many stores doing repairs, selling 2nd hand Macs & all kinds of iPhone accessories. Apple has come of age:smile:


Of course. Mac is the best damn' thing invented. Ever. Only the automobile, lightbulb, telephone, come even remotely close.
 

Froggy

Alfrescian (InfP) + Mod
Moderator
Generous Asset
Was an ardent supporter of Thinkpad's X series been started with the X20 changing everytime a new model comes out until X61 after this didn't like the X200 so thought I'd try Macbook Pro I had never looked back using both Pro and Air now. Why? Its simple to use and extremely fast in starting and shutting and I've never have a problem with virus nor slowing down in performance. Love the hardware too the keyboard especially. I don't install Windows OS in it its a matter of getting use to it and once used to it i found that its a rater intuitive piece of machine.

Bloody 12" model is taking forever to be launch.
 

Froggy

Alfrescian (InfP) + Mod
Moderator
Generous Asset
Another bloody news about delay :mad: :mad:

http://www.ecumenicalnews.com/artic...tipped-for-2015-release-date-rumor-says-25840

[h=2]Macbook Air 12-inch Retina Display model tipped for a 2015 release date, rumor says
Aira Quintana
Saturday, August 02 2014

[/h]
Apple fans may have to wait a little longer as the release date for a Macbook Air 12-inch Retina display model is allegedly pushed back to 2015, according to reports.


Rumor mills claim that the delay is caused by processor supply constraints in Taiwan.


However, the regular 11-inch and 13-inch variants will
arrive just as scheduled, as East Asia partners are already receiving parts and items for mass production.


The new set of Macbook Air 12-inch will carry a Retina display and Intel's Broadwell processor.


Intel also
cleared the air and confirmed that they will be shipping Broadwell chips to partners including Apple:


"We said we would have products on shelves for the holiday season and we continue to work with our partners and we're on schedule to have product on shelf in the holiday,"
Brian Krzanich said.
 

Froggy

Alfrescian (InfP) + Mod
Moderator
Generous Asset
What's the big deal about the 12"? I don't find the retina display to be much use either unless I peer at it through a magnifying glass.

The 11" macbook air is perfect for travelling. For everything else, I use a desktop model.

No big deal really but seems like its about time to change my Air 11", so a good model I think will be a 12" as 13" is a little too big for me which I gave to my staff before. Change my notebook every one and a half year.
 

yellowarse

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
The Office for Mac is just not the same as the Windows version.

If u really want, you can install windows as an additional OS to run the 'right' Microsoft Office..

'Right' Microsoft Office? That's how imbecilic some chaps here are.

Back in the early '80s when PC geeks were still pecking away on their keyboards at WordStar on MS-DOS, Apple Macintoshes with their WYSIWYG GUI were already used in advertising, publishing and organizations using digital typography throughout the world, including here in Singapore. Adobe Pagemaker was the standard software then for professional DTP. PC users had never even seen, much less touched, a mouse those days.

Against this backdrop the first Microsoft Word was released in 1984 for Mac; first Microsoft Excel in 1985 for Mac; first Microsoft Powerpoint in 1987 for Mac.

The first Microsoft Office was released in 1989 for Mac.

By contrast, the first Microsoft Office for Windows was released only in 1990, when GUI finally reached the PC world.

Even today, Microsoft still tends to introduce cutting-edge features for Mac before Windows. E.g. Project Gallery and PowerPoint Movie were introduced in 2001 for the Mac version before it was introduced in Office 2003 for Windows.
 
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