Remember when low-end Macs were not as good as high end Macs? With Apple’s quiet announcement of their new updated Macbook line I continue to be astounded that people continue to buy Macbook Pros.
This started a year ago when my wife announced that after years of using a PC she wanted to buy a Macbook Pro. So I started researching for her. I looked at graphs and charts on AnandTech and compared specs on Apple’s own website. What amazed me was that the important specifications between the regular Macbooks and the Macbook Pros were nearly identical. At least in most of the ways that would effect performance for a casual user. Granted, there were differences, the Pros had the option to put in one more gigabyte of RAM, slightly better video cards, and were bigger in size, but these slight improvements didn’t, in my mind, justify a nearly 100% increase in price between the models. So I advised my wife to buy a regular Macbook and we haven’t looked back.
So now Apple has quietly upgraded the regular Macbook line to my continued astonishment. The processors are nearly the same as the Pros. The frontside bus is the same. The level 2 cache is the same. And now BOTH are upgradeable to 4gb of RAM. Nearly all factors that effect the speed and “heft” of the computer are identical! So just what does that extra 100% price increase get you? Again, a better video card and a larger screen. Oh, and a few extra ports as well.
Now, I need to expose my bias. I am an audio guy. I write, record and mix music with my computers, so I need the fastest computer I can get to process all my audio demands. And even when buying for my wife, who’s demands on computers is far less, I still look for the “fastest” or “best” computer for the money. But with this latest announcement I’m having a hard time, again, understanding why anyone would buy a Macbook Pro. I guess if you’re doing remote video editing or gaming the better video card would be nice, but I’ve done both on my wife’s regular Macbook just fine.
But obviously thousands of people disagree with me as Macbook Pros continue to sell. That’s fine, I’d just like to know, from their perspective, what that extra $1000 got them? I guess in the mean time I’ll just continue to enjoy the speed and robustness of a Macbook Pro on my wife’s Macbook!
Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans@next2friends.com
www.Next2Friends.com





























