RIP : Macbook - WHITE

Apple with the launch of the new Macbook Air...with the i5 and i7 ..have decided to discontinue the White Macbook Models...Its a sad end to what had been a great laptop for college students....and people who barely could afford a mac.This is just a tribute to all those owners and the wonderful white Macbook Cheers!!

 

they took them down... so it might be discontinued.. or just not for sale right now and will make a come back...

 

The white plastic Macbook just didn't fit into the current Apple brand. Now, there might be a market for throwback apparel, throwback footwear, but I'm not sure anyone is in the market for a throwback Mac?

The real issue with the cheapest 11" Macbook Air is that that it isn't a conventional notebook, but that's also the major selling point, in an era when plastic notebook PCs have become a commodity.

Then there's the issue of any white plastic laptop. It just doesn't look upscale, at least not in 2011. It also doesn't have any overt masculine appeal.

 

First guess.....discontinued. Now, it might just be smart marketing to temporarily pull the white plastic Macbook, due to the obvious price overlap. Actually, I am surprised that Apple didn't increase both the price and the specifications of the 11" Macbook Air, but there again, if the white plastic Macbook is dead for good.......time will tell.

 

The MacBook was barely less expensive than a base MBP or MBA, and a LOT less capable. If there's going to be a non-performance-oriented, plastic-cased, entry-level MacBook (which I think would be a good thing), it shouldn't be $999. Try, I dunno, $699, and it will actually have a point to it.

 

I agree, $599 - $699 price point for the MacBook would make it very appealing, I would think.

 

Not to mention the fact that the cheap plastic apple used for the macbooks was a piece of crap.

 

I think that even a couple hundred dollar difference and a minor refresh would have let it seen many more sales.

Something like an i3 with a decent clock speed (2.3 GHz or so), integrated Nvidia 4xx/5xx M series chip, 4 GB 1333 MHz, 250 GB 7200 RPM or 320 GB 5400 RPM (choice at the same included price) with an internal optical drive in a polycarbonate unibody black or white (buyer choice) chassis for $799.

I think this would do two things well: offer a very capable laptop running Mac OS X to consumers at a lower price, as well as offer an optical drive with the anticipation of it being removed from the MacBook Pro. I think it would be a nice, relevant model for them to offer, I think that it is much more "consumer" oriented.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, 13'' laptop with a 1440x900 resolution. I think this would be ideal, perhaps less than Apple would charge, though. I think $849.00 would be fair.

 

I am afraid $599 entry price for macbook would hurt their Ipad sale.

 

Sad but true.

 

I guess; so they consider the iPad their "entry level" device?

 

I dont think so, they appear to have quite conscious decisions regarding their line up, with the mba at the 999 price point, its their ''netbook'' and if you want a little more power get the mbp.

The point being that they lower their manufacturing costs by doing this, and there aint overlapping anymore, the premium is restored, and the line is shrank, its profit all around with less hassle, they might even drop a little on the price of the mbp 13.

 

The White Macbook died before... when they made the Aluminum Macbook... then they made a new white plastic macbook when they renamed the aluminum one Macbook Pro. So for a short time before they were not selling a white plastic Macbook before, so it might still make a come back later. Its probably gone for good, but don't be surprised if it shows up again.

 

I guess it depends on how many MacBooks were sold in since the third quarter of last year. With the entry level 11-inch MacBook Air being sold at the same price, it may have eaten too much into the MacBook sales to be viable. If it was selling well, I do not see any reason for them to discontinue it. If it was not selling than they would.

 

The MacBook was years behind the MBA, it's a good thing it has been discontinued. On another hand I agree that they could have sell it for $599/$699, that would have been an excellent way to get new Apple's OS users and thus growing their market.

 

Yes, but since when has Apple cut the price of a product by 30-40%..

The 11" MacBook Air is the perfect entry level product for selling additional products and services. Need more storage than 64MB? Get a Timevault or iCloud. Not powerful enough for home use? Buy an iMac to supplement the Macbook Air. Apple has made a fortune from iPad users who figure out an iPad isn't a computer and in frustration.......buy a Mac. Makes sense doesn't it. Provide a good, but limited, user experience, and users will fulfill their needs by buying yet another product.

In contrast, if you bought a real notebook with a HDD, you might not need additional storage. With a full powered processor and more RAM, you might not have to buy another Mac to supplement the first. Selling white plastic Macbooks might cost Apple more money than you realize, and not just from internal competition with the Macbook Air and Pro, but from lost sales of other products and services.

Oh and a discounted Macbook? Forget about it. Apple has maintained the value of the brand and I doubt that OS X marketshare is a primary consideration when it come to profitability. Apple knows how to make money.

 

I actually liked the white plastic MacBook in terms of looks. It's clean, simple, and the unibody versions look even more so. It was lacking in internal power for the price though. It also looks and feels more substantial than the MBA that replaces it.

The design was fairly durable as well...perfect for labs and students. I wonder if Apple's going to continue offering the plastic MacBook to educational buyers a'la eMac. (another favorite of mine...also gone.)

EDIT: Just checked, they are offering MacBook for K-12 and Higher Education customers. Good to hear.

I know, I know, optical media's dead, etc. But to some demographics, college kids in particular who might not be tech savvy, the optical drive is great for watching dvd's on the go. Also, a lot of profs use the CD/DVD add ons in college textbooks. It's hard to get your excel data files for statistics class (true event) when your computer doesn't have a optical drive. And who want's to have to remember to carry one with them?

RIP plastic MacBook, you'll be missed. (at least by me)

 

Even drug dealers know you need a gateway drug. With no $600 laptop to hook the next generation (currently middle-class school kids whose parents won't buy them a $1000+ unibody laptop), isn't the entire next generation going to be growing up on PC laptops? Seems short-sighted to me.

When I was younger, Apple had everyman appeal, even though it was a niche brand. It wasn't a luxury-price-tagged, high-dollar-only product. I really think a plastic-cased $600-$700 MacBook is necessary to snag the next generation and get them hooked on OSX when they're young.

 

I agree with this, and it's not like this idea hasn't had precedent: For a while, the eMac was one of the cheapest Mac's one could buy at 799. Now mac mini fills that role, but gives you less features (no keyboard, monitor or mouse). Still...both were entry level machines that allowed consumers to have a taste of the Mac experience before moving to a iMac or whatever.

The high price strategy with their notebook's has been largely successful. I cannot remember a MacBook or iBook going below the 999 barrier (this is non educational pricing of course) and they've been a hit. I do feel like a "more than a iPad" laptop in that 600 - 800 range would be a great idea though. Apple builds a ton of margin into their designs IIRC, so it's possible if they wanted to take a bit of a haircut.

 

What sort of PC user doesn't have a spare wireless mouse or keyboard already? Similarly, monitors typically outlive PCs. The point of the Mac Mini is to bring current PC users into the OS X fold - and judging by the price cut, it hasn't been as successful of late as Apple might have hoped.

Going back, the eMac was a very dated device, even in its time. Yes, I still reydn't like the concept in the 90s, and to be honest, the terrible Apple products of the 90s continued to impact my buying habits in the current decade.

To the contrary, unlike the dead-end product of yesteryear, devices like the Mac Mini c

A great idea for whom? Not for Apple, since it appears they've developed a recipe for profitability, despite an economic downturn.

 

If every kid had a Mac, Apple would cease being an aspiration brand and profit margins would collapse. Besides, I'm not sure that the entire Windows experience is addictive. To the contrary, when 80% of students want a Mac, it tells me that Apple can charge what it wants and doesn't need to discount. Not all 80% will be able to afford Macs, but you can say the same of any aspirational brand.

Apple has never been cost competitive, and before the switch to Intel, the hardware specs were always behind the technology curve. When marketshare feel to an all-time-low in the 90s, there wasn't any "everyman appeal," but a lot of quirky, slow products.

It looks like the next generation is already convinced. Apple can probably make more money than the rest of the industry combined just by sticking with their current business model.

 

Has anyone here actually tried to build and option a Mac Mini at the Apple store? It's a complete failure of the Apple "buy everything from us" philosophy. They offer only two monitor options: no monitor, and a $999 monitor (and who is going to buy a thousand-dollar monitor for a six-hundred-dollar computer?). So it forces you to go to Staples or Best Buy to buy a monitor anyway (not everyone has a reasonably-modern monitor in good condition sitting around...I sure don't), instead of allowing you to get everything you need from Apple all at once.

Dell offers monitors from their online store starting at $119. There's no reason that Apple couldn't offer a similarly-inexpensive monitor with Apple branding, the same plastics as the Mac Mini, as an option when you buy the Mac Mini. Offering no choices besides "no monitor" and a thousand-dollar Cinema display in your entry-level machine's configuration makes a potential buyer feel like they're jumping in an ice-cold lake.

 

So mac mini is basically a cpu so small that you can take it anywhere and hook it up to a monitor?

 

It's 7.7 inches by 7.7 inches by 1.4 inches, so you certainly could.

But where would you go where you would just find a keyboard and mouse and monitor just sitting there, ready to be hooked up to a small desktop machine? When I'm out and about, I don't find keyboards and monitors just sitting around unused, just like I don't find a nice chocolate cake just sitting there on the sidewalk.

 

I never understood the price point or appeal of the Mac Mini...seems like they should have gotten rid of THAT rather than the MacBook

 

How about both?

 

...and brought back a sub-$1000, all-in-one desktop machine called, I dunno, maybe the "Mac Classic"?

 

HTPC

Home Theater PC - it's amazing for that purpose.
Apple TV locks you into itunes the mini gives you all the options of a computer.

In college we also used them for multi-media art presentations in the gallery.
(art movies, interactive art etc.)

 

Don't have a monitor? I'll bet you have large HDTV with a HDMI port. The Mac Mini is the right form factor to the be the ideal HTPC. Sure it doesn't have a DVD slot anymore, not that I ever trusted slot loading optical drives.

The whole point of the Mac Mini is that it's a Windows PC replacement, not a bundled product. I, for one, have always disliked the practice of bundling monitors and PCs.

Then buy a really cheap monitor but don't expect Apple to race to the bottom. I really don't see the problem. $100 monitors are a dime a dozen. Quality is lower than every, but so are prices. Personally, I don't need another monitor and I'll bet that most potential Mac Mini users don't need another, especially the people who bought the Mac Mini as a HTPC.

Buy a cheap monitor if you need a cheap monitor.

 

You mean an iMac? You can get one for just under $1,000?

 

Starts at $1200 according to Apple.com. I'm talking about a $750 everyman machine.

 

Ah, I didnt even think of that. Excellent point indeed