Quote:
Originally Posted by kscherer
I would suggest that it also needs to do away with the Air name. Just call the darned thing a MacBook and be done with all the fluffy stu..
MacBook
MacBook Pro
See how easy that is?  |
Yeah, but where does that leave the $1,299-1,499 13" Pros which are always slightly less-than the full-blown $1,799+ models, but a good bit more than the Air? I think there's that third middle-ground market that they're already selling to (and shouldn't be abandoned/neglected), it's just named/marketed weird.
You're on the right track (by removing part of a product's name)...
- Keep the Air, and its $999. That's your "small and light" platform and their "let's see how far we can push design" test-bed...students, writers, travelers, mommy bloggers, grandpa, etc. Those who don't really need to do much heavy lifting on a demanding, consistent basis.
- Keep the $1,299-1,499 models but simply re-name
those MacBook...the "default", standard line for many (most?) users who need a bit more than the Air can do (slightly better graphics, a fan for a bit more demanding work, etc.) but don't require full-out, expensive ($1,800+) muscle.
- The "Pro" is reserved for the $1,799+ (14" and 16") models, with no-apologies, balls-out
performance, for those who truly need it, and are happy to pay for it (and will get it).
"Pro" shouldn't be used by anything that truly isn't. It cheapens the word and confuses customers. Those two $1,299 and $1,499 models are fine machines, but should just be sold as MacBook, IMO. They're more than Air, but not quite Pro. Customers would have three obvious, truly distinct lines to look at, vs. the weird-ass mess it is now (and has been for years, with the all-Intel lineup). And it's extra confusing/weird right now because it's half M1, half Intel (Apple should've just held off on the MacBook Pro transition, IMO, and did it all at once...renaming, or removing, models as needed, once everything was on equal M1 footing). They kinda created a weird situation for the moment with those $1,299-1,499 M1 models being "better" than the $500 more expensive Intel-based ones. That's a bitch-and-a-half to try and explain to people.
"You're not gonna believe this, but you're actually better off getting the $1,299 model...".
"You're on drugs, and I feel like I'm being trolled. Knock it off."
"No, really...here's what happened." (out come the charts, timeline, etc.).
They can go about all this in a couple of ways, I suppose. We probably won't know until the day they announce those redesigned 14" and 16" models what the rest of the lineup will look like...what stays, what goes away, what might get renamed, etc.
Just imagine how nice everything is going to be, 12-13 months from now.
That's the thing you gotta keep telling yourself. This transition will all shake out and be over and then it's all M-whatever (all the notebooks, the iMac, etc.).