Lovers of Apple’s MacBook Pro seem to have taken heart lately due to Apple’s display of shock and awe at this years WWDC. The amount of engineering and design hours that went into the impressive Mac Pro must’ve been huge.
But that doesn’t necessarily translate into a good news story for the laptop line.
The way I see it. The MacBook Pro is still getting squeezed on two fronts. One, many mobile users of iPads and iPhones wonder why they need to spend thousands of dollars on a MacBook Pro. And two, many laptop users wonder why they should spend any more than the $500 it takes to get a Windows laptop.
I’ve spent the last couple of years querying family, friends, and co-workers on why they think they need a personal laptop at home in addition to their phone or tablet. Without fail, no one ever mentioned it was because they needed the extra processing power or extra ports. The answer has always been along the lines of:
With the soon-to-be-released iPadOS, many of those things that “could only be done on a MacBook” will now be possible. Apple is about to remove a major reason that many people consider keeping a MacBook Pro in the house or buying a MacBook Pro for their college-bound child. And now, they’ve even added mouse/trackpad support. That’s bad news for the MacBook Pro.
Granted, heavy MacBook Pro users would say that my statistical sampling is anecdotal and skewed towards regular people and not power users. To which I would say, I agree. And these are the people who are propping up MacBook Pro sales. Good luck when these non-power-users abandon your platform.
All that Apple has to do to kill the majority of their remaining MacBook Pro market is to offer an Apple Display that allows for easy wireless desktop extension from an iPad or iPhone. Can you imagine just laying your iPhone or iPad down on the desk and reaching for your Magic Keyboard and Mouse and banging out something in Microsoft Word or Excel on your 27” Apple Monitor? That’s my dream. What I want from Apple more than anything is an Apple Monitor with wireless desktop extension from iOS.
Sure, Apple will continue to refine their MacBook Pro line for the near future. But even if they pay it lip service on stage, it’s a dead end product. As I’ve written countless times. It gets beat by desktop computers in terms of power and it gets beat by iOS devices in terms of mobility. It exists in a very tenuous middle ground that is shrinking.
The way I see it. The MacBook Pro is still getting squeezed on two fronts. One, many mobile users of iPads and iPhones wonder why they need to spend thousands of dollars on a MacBook Pro. And two, many laptop users wonder why they should spend any more than the $500 it takes to get a Windows laptop.
I’ve spent the last couple of years querying family, friends, and co-workers on why they think they need a personal laptop at home in addition to their phone or tablet. Without fail, no one ever mentioned it was because they needed the extra processing power or extra ports. The answer has always been along the lines of:
- Certain things that can only be done on the laptop. Mainly websites won’t work on iPad.
- Wanting a big screen for serious projects.
With the soon-to-be-released iPadOS, many of those things that “could only be done on a MacBook” will now be possible. Apple is about to remove a major reason that many people consider keeping a MacBook Pro in the house or buying a MacBook Pro for their college-bound child. And now, they’ve even added mouse/trackpad support. That’s bad news for the MacBook Pro.
Granted, heavy MacBook Pro users would say that my statistical sampling is anecdotal and skewed towards regular people and not power users. To which I would say, I agree. And these are the people who are propping up MacBook Pro sales. Good luck when these non-power-users abandon your platform.
All that Apple has to do to kill the majority of their remaining MacBook Pro market is to offer an Apple Display that allows for easy wireless desktop extension from an iPad or iPhone. Can you imagine just laying your iPhone or iPad down on the desk and reaching for your Magic Keyboard and Mouse and banging out something in Microsoft Word or Excel on your 27” Apple Monitor? That’s my dream. What I want from Apple more than anything is an Apple Monitor with wireless desktop extension from iOS.
Sure, Apple will continue to refine their MacBook Pro line for the near future. But even if they pay it lip service on stage, it’s a dead end product. As I’ve written countless times. It gets beat by desktop computers in terms of power and it gets beat by iOS devices in terms of mobility. It exists in a very tenuous middle ground that is shrinking.
RSS Feed