Apple anouncement 27 October

Ok just specced it how I would want it hmm £2750 for a 13 inch laptop is about £1000 more than I would have liked. Nothing to with Brexit or anything like that, they do that because they can. Heck even Microsoft made them look great value with their surface book when launched last year. Never forget it is us setting these prices.

I think I'll pass.
 
dejongj said:
Ok just specced it how I would want it hmm £2750 for a 13 inch laptop is about £1000 more than I would have liked. Nothing to with Brexit or anything like that, they do that because they can. Heck even Microsoft made them look great value with their surface book when launched last year. Never forget it is us setting these prices.

I think I'll pass.
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It's exactly due to the exchange rate, check the US prices.

Whether you choose to blame brexit is a different matter but the prices reflect the drop in value of the sterling.
 
Nawty said:
It's exactly due to the exchange rate, check the US prices.

Whether you choose to blame brexit is a different matter but the prices reflect the drop in value of the sterling.
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Don't forget US prices are excluding tax. Add the VAT to it or take it away from us and the difference isn't that bad. They've also become more expensive in the US.

I really think it is down to the market. Other high end devices made the MacBook Pro look like great value. I mean take a look at a surface book or a well specced surface pro. Or a Lenovo x1 etc. Somehow it seems normal now to have these super expensive top models again.

Makes the dell xps series seem great value for money. Shame I'm not in the market for a Windows machine.
 
neil_g said:
My favourite quote so far. .

"Is it me or can you not plug in your iPhone into this"

:D
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At least it's got a headphone socket :p

But yes you have a choice of 4 ports to plug your iPhone in ;) or just use it wirelessly.
 
I also wonder how much the new LG screen will be :)
 
dejongj said:
Don't forget US prices are excluding tax. Add the VAT to it or take it away from us and the difference isn't that bad. They've also become more expensive in the US.

I really think it is down to the market. Other high end devices made the MacBook Pro look like great value. I mean take a look at a surface book or a well specced surface pro. Or a Lenovo x1 etc. Somehow it seems normal now to have these super expensive top models again.

Makes the dell xps series seem great value for money. Shame I'm not in the market for a Windows machine.
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I think you're right - the pricing is there to differentiate this over competitor systems. The manner in which it was becoming more commonplace for people to buy high end computing kit meant that Apple was no longer differentiated on price, and they NEED that air of slight un-affordability to give them the air of being special again.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I think you're right - the pricing is there to differentiate this over competitor systems. The manner in which it was becoming more commonplace for people to buy high end computing kit meant that Apple was no longer differentiated on price, and they NEED that air of slight un-affordability to give them the air of being special again.
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Bang on the money.
 
Iren said:
So just if i find someone to buy for me using their student id (or i can use their student log in) i still can use with my profile etc?
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I'm pretty sure they have to buy it but you can set it up as yours, yes, teachers can buy for partners and children so they can't control who uses it after the sale, or resale
 
Ouch... 25% increase in price on old MacBook with a dollar rate difference of 19% against brexit. Looks like apple forsee further U.K. Exchange decline with those prices. For the spec, regardless of brand it's excessive. Disappointed to be honest although not surprised.
 
Andrew Moore said:
Ouch... 25% increase in price on old MacBook with a dollar rate difference of 19% against brexit. Looks like apple forsee further U.K. Exchange decline with those prices. For the spec, regardless of brand it's excessive. Disappointed to be honest although not surprised.
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Out of interest I just specified the Microsoft surface book to the same level at the MacBook Pro 13. The MacBook was still £50 cheaper.

I really think it is a trend.
 
dejongj said:
Makes the dell xps series seem great value for money. Shame I'm not in the market for a Windows machine.
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Or even the precisions, man I miss my M3800 and it's displaylink dock. That thing was unstoppable and could drive a pair of 1440. Plus you could upgrade the damn thing without spending £180 on an extra 8gb or big ass ssd without melting the credit card.

Best bit it had a carbon fibre/alu chassis.

Gutted they wouldn't let me buy it when I left.
 
neil_g said:
Ha yes, was the perfect opertunity to drive more wireless beats sales and they missed it..

I just loved the irony of not being to connect another Apple device without a dongle.. :p
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Or just get a USB c to lightning cable :) but yes I agree they should have put one in the box.

neil_g said:
Or even the precisions, man I miss my M3800 and it's displaylink dock. That thing was unstoppable and could drive a pair of 1440. Plus you could upgrade the damn thing without spending £180 on an extra 8gb or big ass ssd without melting the credit card.

Best bit it had a carbon fibre/alu chassis.

Gutted they wouldn't let me buy it when I left.
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Great machine but didn't like having to carry it nor the power supply. More like the luggable or moveable category in my opinion.

Although I am shocked by the prices, I just realised that actually I bought an i7 Plus and 7 sim free. Now in comparison that is properly expensive. Or am I starting to suffer from Stockholm and start to talk myself into buying one.
 
Hmm looking forward to CES in January now. Or maybe not, could be scary if everyone follows Apple pricing.

The maxed out MBP costs $6,649 ok that's with a 2TB SSD, but even with a more realistic 1TB it's still $5,369. That's bonkers, and you're stuck with 16GB RAM, hardly "Pro". You can get a low to mid range graphics card though, so all good I guess. :shifty:
 
neil_g said:
Ha yes, was the perfect opertunity to drive more wireless beats sales and they missed it..

I just loved the irony of not being to connect another Apple device without a dongle.. :p
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Why would you need a dongle?
 
£1574.40 to make a largely sideways move with my Uni discount, I've gone from definitely to no chance. Particularly since the Uni discount has reduced since the move to Unidays. £900 my 2015 13" model cost me under the old system!

Even with shifting my 2015 13" MBP that's a big, big upgrade cost.

As far as I can tell I would also need two adaptors just to plug my iPhone and USB3 SSD into it, c'mon! Using official Apple leads that's another £50 (£22.80 for USBC to Lightning, £16.80 for USBC to USBA)...and I'd still need something from a 3rd party to connect an SD card!
 
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All computer hardware prices are going up. HP and Dell were the first to announce increases. They both hedge their exchange rates and Dell were a bit cheeky increasing their prices a month before the hedge rates expired, but on the whole the tech companies are only doing what all companies tend to do, protect their margins. They could easily absorb the exchange rate increases but at the expense of the shareholders...and let's face it, no matter how much companies say their no.1 priority is to their customers, it's just marketing spin. They aren't charities. Of course, if the exchange rate ever improves, then I guess we'll see an equally rapid reduction in prices...oh wait.
 
NDevon said:
Why would you need a dongle?
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iPhone comes with a USB-A lead, so you'll need a USB-C - Lightning lead to connect it to the new MBP

I've just counted and just with my MBP sat on my desk I'll need at least 4 new leads/adaptors (HDMI, SD, at least two USB-A for my printer and SSD), and with one port needed to power the thing I'd be swapping things about quite a bit.
 
dejongj said:
Don't forget US prices are excluding tax. Add the VAT to it or take it away from us and the difference isn't that bad. They've also become more expensive in the US.

I really think it is down to the market. Other high end devices made the MacBook Pro look like great value. I mean take a look at a surface book or a well specced surface pro. Or a Lenovo x1 etc. Somehow it seems normal now to have these super expensive top models again.

Makes the dell xps series seem great value for money. Shame I'm not in the market for a Windows machine.
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The highest US tax is like 8% or something, many states are around 5% with a few at 0%.

It used to be cheaper to go to America and buy it and bring it back, but with the weak pound, I don't think that will even work even if you go to Oregon.
 
gregww1 said:
All computer hardware prices are going up. HP and Dell were the first to announce increases. They both hedge their exchange rates and Dell were a bit cheeky increasing their prices a month before the hedge rates expired, but on the whole the tech companies are only doing what all companies tend to do, protect their margins. They could easily absorb the exchange rate increases but at the expense of the shareholders...and let's face it, no matter how much companies say their no.1 priority is to their customers, it's just marketing spin. They aren't charities. Of course, if the exchange rate ever improves, then I guess we'll see an equally rapid reduction in prices...oh wait.
Click to expand...


Agreed. I think it is crazy to say that it is anything other than the exchange rate that is driving the price increases, yes it's a trend now but you need to understand the driver of that trend. As you say, companies have to protect margin and all these big companies have have finance rooms shifting hundreds of millions of dollars around each day (sometimes billions), hedging with the best of wall street - it's how they protect their dividends which is, pretty much, all that counts.

Apple, as normal, are just late to the game and when Apple do it it creates waves.
 
Nawty said:
Jeez, it gets worse too, they are still selling the base spec of last year's retina model and that's £1249 whereas yesterday it was £999.

If you look at the US prices then this is down to the exchange rate. Thanks Brexit :facepalm:
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The old model has gone up by £250?? Looks like I'm gonna have to keep my 6yr old steam powered Macbook Pro going that little bit longer!
 
The 12" Macbook has gone up £250 as well.

If you want one head to John Lewis or somewhere that holds stock at the old prices.
 
Nawty said:
Agreed. I think it is crazy to say that it is anything other than the exchange rate that is driving the price increases, yes it's a trend now but you need to understand the driver of that trend. As you say, companies have to protect margin and all these big companies have have finance rooms shifting hundreds of millions of dollars around each day (sometimes billions), hedging with the best of wall street - it's how they protect their dividends which is, pretty much, all that counts.

Apple, as normal, are just late to the game and when Apple do it it creates waves.
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So how come all the Americans and Canadians on the macrumours forums are also up in arms about the price increases. Sure there is some correction for pound vs dollar but we aren't the only ones experiencing those increases. There isn't a thread on macrumours where the price increase isn't mentioned.
 
Hmmmmm, I have found myself defending apple in the past, even with the removal of the headphone jack recently.

However, I really disagree with the update to the MacBook Pro.

Surely a pro laptop should be aimed at......professionals?

I realise things are moving to USB C but doing away with normal USB altogether in one hit is crazy, I don't want to carry several connectors to charge my phone or use a USB flash drive.

What is a gimmicky keyboard doing on a pro model? I don't want or need it and I'm certainly not paying extra for it.

Removing hdmi....so I now need to buy either an Apple TV or another adapter to use an external monitor?

I loved the MagSafe disconnect, I work with my laptop in locations where I sometimes need it plugged in but the cable lays across the floor. I realise it's not a feature everyone uses but I thought it was handy.

Still no card slots?

I see absolutely no reason so upgrade my late 2013 model.

I think this is a bad move by Apple, I was genuinely going to upgrade this year to the latest one but I'm not going to bother now.
 
I think it demonstrates we are all different. I don't think I've plugged my laptop into an hdmi port ever. Saying that you never know what you are going to get so I was already carrying a dongle from DisplayPort to vga/dvi/hdmi. In my experience most clients projectors are actually still old skool vga. A colleague of mine was thwarted the other week as his laptop only had hdmi and he couldn't connect it. So in my opinion a "Pro" is always prepared.

My nephew is a pro DJ, he and his pals have been going crazy over the touchbar and can't wait to try it out. Aren't DJs Pro's?

I loved it seeing the context change including for the Terminal. My Pro use is cyber type stuff, spend a lot of time down in developer mode and the detail. I love having a contextual level of keys.

At my base I would just dock it. I prefer docking stations but actually a single cable will be most welcome as well.

Just like for the video output I always have a small multi card reader with me. There are many more formats than just SD Card.

Too me the biggest lack of a "pro" option is the memory limit to just 16GB. Although saying that for my actual use 8GB is still fine and still allows me to run two or three virtual machines comfortably today. So I guess for my use it is more a want than a need.

As I said, this is for my use. But I'm a Pro too. I would use it for revenue generating activities not just to browse the web and read email.
 
Just found the receipt for my mid-2014 13" Retina MBP (with two years of Apple Care), £897.50 with the then 15% HE discount. I purchased that two years ago to the day.

£1124.40 is now the cheapest point of entry with HE discount (which buys you the old model), £1304.40 if you want a new model with no touchbar and only two ports, or £1574.40 for a touchbar model with 4 ports.
 
ukaskew said:
Just found the receipt for my mid-2014 13" Retina MBP (with two years of Apple Care), £897.50 with the then 15% HE discount. I purchased that two years ago to the day.

£1124.40 is now the cheapest point of entry with HE discount (which buys you the old model), £1304.40 if you want a new model with no touchbar and only two ports, or £1574.40 for a touchbar model with 4 ports.
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Decent price increase then.

Is there anything in the new model that would make you upgrade?
 
Ive never plugged mine onto an HDMI port either, never felt the need. I can't remember the last time I plugged my iPhone in too. Why all the surprise, Apple have always done this, remember the demise of the floppy disk or the CD/DVD drive, this is apples strategy. On saying that, I don't think I'm going to be upgrading my MacBook pro any time soon.
 
ukaskew said:
iPhone comes with a USB-A lead, so you'll need a USB-C - Lightning lead to connect it to the new MBP

I've just counted and just with my MBP sat on my desk I'll need at least 4 new leads/adaptors (HDMI, SD, at least two USB-A for my printer and SSD), and with one port needed to power the thing I'd be swapping things about quite a bit.
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Yea sure, that's a lead though not a dongle. Buying a £2000 computer and worrying about a £20 lead seems a bit strange. Other than charging which I think most people do via the mains socket anyway there isn't much need to plug an iPhone into a computer these days. I just think people are moaning about the wrong thing. The fact the 15" with a large hard drive costs just under £3k sounds like a bigger frustration to me.

I was going to get one, I assumed it would be £2k, not for the highest spec of course, but I don't want a 13" screen. The price is just too much when there's nothing wrong with the current (now previous) models and I can pick up a used one in really good condition for well under a grand. Sure the new one will be 151% faster, but so is a sports car over my family car (probably more but you get the idea) in reality I don't need that power, and most people don't either. They manage just fine with the current systems, which are much faster than previous systems, and so on.

The touch bar isn't just a gimmick, I can see a lot of use in it - I'm betting most have just looked on the website and read what people have said. It takes time but go and watch the launch. It's not just a short cut, I think it's going to be appearing on every computer in the next few years. In the leaked pics before launch I thought it just had a few options that changed in the middle, I didn't realise it was a retina display that showed video and could be used as a scrub bar, could be used to show previous saves of an image in photoshop, would change contextually to every screen in an app and could be customised. To those saying 'just learn your shortcuts' you really haven't seen the video and have no idea what it can do. It's not a gimmick.

What they've got wrong is the price and the ports, they are good ports and the fact each can charge the laptop is good, but it's going to frustrate people that they need new leads and a hub in a lot of cases. I just don't agree with the dongle thing, buy a lead not a dongle in most cases. For many people of course it won't be an issue. The ports are not a problem for me, my printer is wireless and fast enough that I just don't plug it in to anything, I wouldn't have an external monitor, I have no desire to plug my phone into it but if I did I'd buy a lead. That leaves charging, if I get one I'd also have an external hard drive, that may come with a lead, if not I'd get one. No huge deal and enough ports for my needs. The price though, that's painful. I'd rather save close to £2000 and get a new camera!

However the laptop will sell in huge numbers, it won't be a flop although many want it to be, and the world will keep on spinning. It's the way Apple do it and always will - premium prices and making changes that everyone thinks they couldn't live with. Ultimately people do live with them. Removing floppy drives, CD drives and then DVD drives and never including BluRay were all huge deals, much bigger than a lead need issue, yet people somehow manage without a floppy drive even today!
 
jakeblu said:
Ive never plugged mine onto an HDMI port either, never felt the need. I can't remember the last time I plugged my iPhone in too. Why all the surprise, Apple have always done this, remember the demise of the floppy disk or the CD/DVD drive, this is apples strategy. On saying that, I don't think I'm going to be upgrading my MacBook pro any time soon.
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Ha! I just posted the same thing at the same time. The drive removal was a much bigger deal than needing a new lead. Lack of ports? If you use that many get a hub, much more convenient anyway, you don't want to plug in 9 cables whenever you sit down at your desk. For most people the ports won't even be a minor issue, it's the price that will be.
 
dejongj said:
Great machine but didn't like having to carry it nor the power supply. More like the luggable or moveable category in my opinion.
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The M3800 weighs under 2kg and is very thin (and fits in "easyjet sized" hand luggage, I have tested this), it's hardly like the old Compaq portable without a built in CRT screen!
 
noneforit said:
Hmmmmm, I have found myself defending apple in the past, even with the removal of the headphone jack recently.

However, I really disagree with the update to the MacBook Pro.

Surely a pro laptop should be aimed at......professionals?

I realise things are moving to USB C but doing away with normal USB altogether in one hit is crazy, I don't want to carry several connectors to charge my phone or use a USB flash drive.

What is a gimmicky keyboard doing on a pro model? I don't want or need it and I'm certainly not paying extra for it.

Removing hdmi....so I now need to buy either an Apple TV or another adapter to use an external monitor?

I loved the MagSafe disconnect, I work with my laptop in locations where I sometimes need it plugged in but the cable lays across the floor. I realise it's not a feature everyone uses but I thought it was handy.

Still no card slots?

I see absolutely no reason so upgrade my late 2013 model.

I think this is a bad move by Apple, I was genuinely going to upgrade this year to the latest one but I'm not going to bother now.
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Pretty much what my designer friend said.

The sceptic in me thinks they removed the sd because of the people adding more storage that way. Before that they removed the optical which was another way to add another drive. .

/Tinfoil hat off

NDevon said:
Yea sure, that's a lead though not a dongle. Buying a £2000 computer and worrying about a £20 lead seems a bit strange.
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Don't worry it was fairly amusing, that's all.
 
neil_g said:
Pretty much what my designer friend said.

The sceptic in me thinks they removed the sd because of the people adding more storage that way. Before that they removed the optical which was another way to add another drive. .

/Tinfoil hat off



Don't worry it was fairly amusing, that's all.
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I expect to pay more for storage but apples price difference is unrealistic.

I have a 256GB SSD but even using iCloud, it seems to store them locally as well so I'm using 120GB for iCloud Drive due to photos.

Add a few Linux VMs and my music, 256GB is gone.
 
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