Analyst: MacBooks are best consumer notebooks Apple has created, sure to be big winners
Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 12:27 PM EST"With the release of the new MacBook series of laptops, Apple finally enters the world of thin and light laptops," Tim Bajarin writes for Technology Pundits. "Up to now, the MacBook’s predecessor, the iBook, has been Apples best selling portable computer even though it was boxy and a bit on the heavy side. But these new models clearly bring Apple and their new portables into a segment of the market that continues to be the fastest growing area for laptops and where thin and light portables have the lion’s share the market."
MacDailyNews Take: "Apple finally enters the world of thin and light laptops?" Wha? Uh, 12-inch PowerBook, Mr. Bajarin? Heck, the 15-inch PowerBook G4, introduced over five years ago in January 2001, qualifies as "thin and light" at 1-inch thin and just 5.3 lbs. If Bajarin meant "consumer" laptops, he should have qualified it as such. Apple's been leading the world of thin and light laptops for many years with their PowerBook models.
Bajarin writes, "These are the best consumer notebooks Apple has created and are sure to be big winners with a lot of mainstream consumers. Although they start at $1099, they are really good buys given that they all have Core Duo processors and thanks to Apple’s Bootcamp software, can run OSX and Windows XP. The black MacBook could be a Trojan Horse to get MacBooks into mainstream business markets. The consumerish look of the white iBooks did not necessarily look like business machines but the black version could pass as a Lenovo ThinkPad but with Apple’s famous Logo on it. Plus it can run OS X and Windows. I believe that this version could end up in a lot of business users hands who have lusted after the ease of use of OS X but have to live in a Windows IT world. With these new laptops, Apple clearly takes aim at a broader market for mobile devices where thin and light designs are important and no-compromise machines are driving the exceptional growth in portable computers over desktops."
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Most business people that we see with Apple notebooks carry PowerBooks and, now, MacBook Pro models - of which Bajarin has apparently never heard - that offer features such as PC Card and ExpressCard slots that iBooks and MacBooks do not. MacBooks are for consumers. MacBook Pros are for professionals. It's pretty simple. That said, we do agree with Bajarin that Apples' new MacBooks are best consumer notebooks Apple has created and are sure to be big winners with a lot of mainstream consumers.
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Hype, that is. The new MacBooks are NOT READY - noisy heaters, they are.
Wait until Apple fixes 'em or they will never quit introducing crappy products or even admit they have these problems.
Sales guy at my Apple store, after looking over his shoulder, told me to wait until they worked like they are suppose to. No joke.