Quote:
Originally Posted by Robo
… I think the real reason people were buying the old MacBook Air was because it was a MacBook for $999.
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ding ding ding!
In fact, it's the
only reason people were buying them. All the other systems had more modern RAM/storage, faster RAM, Retina displays, etc. The air had price, and for the segment, price is
very important. Seriously, the most common customer for that computer is the student and/or people on tight budgets who do a lot of word processing and internet stuff (email and the like), but still want to manage a small photo library and/or music library. The Air was (and still is) their best and most affordable option.
Remove that price point and people start to look at used systems, but might be talked into a Pro—and they won't be happy about it because that's another $300 out of their student loans, and believe me that's a lot! My daughter was silly tickled that she had enough left over in her final semester's loans to be able to replace her aging Air, and the current Air was the only system that she could afford. This is super common with students on thin budgets, and Apple knows that, because they sell the current Air to students for $999, which is below wholesale. It's important to hit that price. Any less and Apple doesn't make much, any more and the student might be tempted to look elsewhere.
Adding to the conundrum is that the vast majority (I would say over 80%) of computer user's needs (other than photo storage) are met with both the current and previous MacBooks Air.