Apple Notebook Computers

Apple notebook computers are gaining market share in the US. Mac laptop computers are an easy option, if you have enough money. Most of the choices I talk about when I talk about deciding what kind of laptop to buy are made for you.


You only need to decide how much money you want to spend and what size hard drive and how much memory you want.

Apple has chosen not to compete in the lower end laptop market. Apple notebook computers prices start at $999.

APPLE VERSUS EVERY ONE ELSE

Apple is unique in the computer world, for several reasons. The first is what I said above. They are a general consumer marketer and do not compete at the low end of the market. A second is that they are the only computer brand that develops it's own operating system. Another is that they completely control and restrict what hardware goes into the computers they sell. Apple has been on the cutting edge of laptop design with the unibody construction of their laptops and the thin and lightness of the MacBook Air, the concept that Intel is trying to co-opt with the Ultrabook initiative they have launched.

One way they are not unique is in offering direct sales from their website. Fujitsu, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, Dell laptop computers, and HP laptop computers also offer direct sales. Acer, Asus, Samsung, and MSI do not have direct sales from their websites.

These factors work together to generally get Apple near or at the top in customer satisfaction surveys. Within computer brands where they sell the whole range of computers, a larger percentage of buyers are satisfied with their computers as the price increases. If you chopped off everything that cost less than $999 from their numbers, I would bet that Apple's advantage would disappear. Generally, at the same price you get better hardware in a windows (or linnux) machine. This may not be true for ultrabooks.

The other two factors I mentioned work together for Apple. By writing their own operating system and closely restricting the hardware that you can buy in Apple notebook computers Apple is able to be certain that everything works together properly. Microsoft has to write an operating that will work with an insanely large number of hardware combinations. The wonder isn't that sometimes some subset of windows users have a problem, it is that windows works with as few problems as it does. Companies like Dell tweak hardware so that only their tweaked version will work in their machine. Microsoft sends out an update but doesn't know exactly how everybody has tweaked their video cards, and some are incompatible with the update. Everybody blames Microsoft, but the fault is with the maker this time. That doesn't happen with Apple. They do it all and know all their tweaks.

Another selling point with Apple is that their computers do not get viruses like other computers. There is a good reason for this, but it has very little to do with Apple or the computers themselves. I said Apple's market share is increasing in the US. It is world-wide now, too. Most mal-ware and viruses are not written in the United States. They come from Europe and Asia. Apple's share of the market in these areas has been so small, you don't get any bang for your buck with your mal-ware. This seems to be changing. Less than five percent of the computers in those region have been Apples. Only in America do people overbuy un-cautiuosly enough to give Apple a market. This is changing and mal-ware that hadn't been seen on Macs before is starting to get reported.

As I said, the only question most people need to ask if they are going to buy Apple notebook computers is how much do I want to spend? Once you have made this decision, there are a limited number of different configurations that will be in your price range. They are available at the Apple website or they will direct you to the nearest Apple Store (stand alone or in another retailer). For most people, the Apple notebook computers they buy this way will be more computer than they need. For that reason, they will be happy with it.

Apple Notebook Computers August 2011

The 15 inch models have faster core i7 processors. One has a slightly slower AMD graphics card and the higher price model has a faster AMD card. The graphics are still switchable to save power. The hard drive is bigger and the price is down a bit on the more expensive model. You still get way better hardware for the money if you don't pay for the Apple brand.

The 17 inch model is faster in every dimension and a $100 more expensive. You are paying a lot for the Apple name, operating system and styling.

Apple has refreshed the MacBook Air line to match the refresh of the MacBook Pro earlier this year. You still don't have much of a choice of hard ware, some of the new hardware is better and some isn't.

In the "new" MacBook Air, the low power second generation core i processors are faster than the low power core 2 duo processors they replaced. The Intel HD Graphics 3000 is slower than the NVIDIA GeForce 320M. The solid state drives are still standard (and relatively small), and there still is no internal optical drive.

The new processors are faster than what Apple used before, but they are among the slowest of the second generation core i processors and the graphics are the same as you will get on anything other than the worst new Intel processors. For your $1000+ you still get a computer that runs the Apple operating system and otherwise performs like a $500 PC in the hot Apple package.

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