I know this happened just in the changeover but I think it worthy of comment

Record sales by Apple



A slowdown over recent growth but the best ever second quarter for Apple. It seems that high end hardware still has a market. It will be interesting to see what happens if the expected new stuff arrives in June an July.

CC

I think it's fair to say it's the `software' that drives Apple's hardware sales CC. And I certainly wouldn't call their hardware "High end".

Apple are now a mobile music integrated device company (iPod+iPhone) with 51% of net sales coming from this sector.
Though the figures clearly show that people were prefering the laptops to the desktops.

Yep, without question.



I think the Mac sector is more profitable though, as it has higher margins.



That’s been the case for three years now, with the gap getting ever bigger:
http://publish.iwork.com/document/?d=Ma ... =p12462325

You wouldn't?

I bow to your knowledge of such things. I tend to think of things that I can't afford as "high end" and there is so much Apple goodness that I can't afford that I think of it as a high end brand.

Stuff I think of as high end includes MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPhone and the Mac Pro.

The mid range stuff would be Mac Mini, MacBook and iMac. (I don't think Apple do low end)

Then again you probably have deeper pockets than me.

No. Strip a Mac down to it's component parts CC. There won't be one single piece that is better than mid-range at best. Nail it all together and it suddenly becomes "high end"?

See any glaring flaws in your logic?

You have the advantage over me, you know your kit/processors etc. I was not really thinking of this as an exercise in logic. It was just an opinion I have formed over the time I have been pottering about with Macs.

However are you saying that say the MacBook Pro (a computer I quite fancy) has competitors out there that significantly out performs it? If I were to go into a shop (PC World say) that out of maybe 50 laptops on display the MacBook Pro would be mid range at best? To be honest you do surprise me.

CC

Edit.

I have just looked at the 15" laptops at PC World. I can't even see one that matches the CPU speed.

You really pulled my chain that time.

I've been looking at a Nehalem Mac Pro today, opened up and it appears to have a Hon Hai (Foxconn board) which is shipped to Foxconn by Supermicro for 'finishing' who then do basically ship it to whoever put the Pro's together. The older Mac Pro's had a motherboard based on this :

http://www.supermicro.com/products/moth ... X7DA3+.cfm

But both the older board and the new one are (at least on visible inspection) made down to a price. When you come to replace these motherboards, sorry 'Logic Boards' Apple rip your balls off on cost. Based on the fact the Pro board seems to be made down to a price, its more or less 'High End' spec with Dual Xeons but its not up to thes sort of stuff you might find in a PC based Dual Xeon machine. This is one of the reasons they manage to sell Xeon machines cheaper than firms like HP, they cut corners all over the shop. The cooling in the Pro also seems to be 'just good enough' probably to keep noise down.

As usual CC you have either a)

misunderstood what it was I was referring to as regards the components that actually make up the MacBook, not the actual price of the MacBook.

or, as is most likely, in your own inimitable style b)

Understood completely that I was referring to its component parts, but once again feign ignorance in an attempt to flame on this subject.

In the list of laptops you looked at in your favourite store, did you also compare them on amount of RAM, graphics options, Number of HDD's and their size, DVD/ROM options (Bluray) number of USB ports (2 for the 15" MBpro and 3 for 17" is a rather pathetic attempt)?

Had you managed to venture further than your bookmark for comparing all things non Apple, you might have found the answers you are looking for.

Google is your friend CC.

I think c) We are at cross purposes.

If any shop has a range of computers on it's shelf. That range could be neatly split into three categories. Low end computers, mid range computers and high end computers.

There will of course be differences in spec. between individual models in each range. Some with better cases some with more ports some with faster CPU etc but nonetheless the sales person could point you the low end, mid range and high end models.

Apple don't sell components they sell completed computers. If Amazon or PC World or indeed any big computer seller were to place the Mac Pro and Macbook Pro and Macbook Air onto a shelf I would expect them to be on the "high end shelf". Maybe the Mac Mini too.

Most of the rest of the range would be on the Mid range shelf. I can't think of any that would go on the "low end computer" shelf.

This is not a price/value argument. I might expect the man a PC world to say the MacBook pro is a high end laptop but not as good value as a Dell high end laptop. Though I might not agree with him of course.

CC

Wayhey, this old chestnut. Ever heard of the phrase "greater than the sum of its parts"?

Yes, from Mac users all of the time.

Ever heard "Can't make a silk purse from a sows ear" Tom?

I have indeed. But you can make a better purse out of a lot of sows' ears than you can out of one sow's ear.

LOL, pedant to boot. You're fitting the bill more and more by the minute.

And for that reason, I'm out.