Dear Apple, do I get a free upgrade to the new MacBook?
This post was published 3 years 10 months 8 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.An open letter from Jason Kottke to Apple Support:
From: jason@kottke.org
Subject: Powerbook support
Date: January 10, 2006 4:55:31 PM ET
To: Apple Tech SupportHello,
I purchased a new Powerbook three weeks ago. It was working fine until a few hours ago when you announced the new Intel-powered MacBook Pro at MacWorld and I started to cry. “Four to fives times faster,” I sobbed, “a built-in iSight, and a brighter, wider screen.” [...]
Are there any readers out there that feel as though their new Apple computer doesn’t quite feel new since the recent Macworld hardware announcements?
Not to detract from the original author or this blog, but surely *every one* knew that new products and possibly a new laptop would be announced this week?
If you decided to get a new laptop 3 weeks before this then take it like a man and STFU – you obviously needed the hardware and it’s likely to be more than adequate for at least 1-2 more years.
I won’t go into technical issues such as software availability, how Apple have “fudged” their benchmarks by using multiprocessor tests on single core machines etc. Use your brain and don’t fall for the hype, particularly when it’s the first version of a product.
i believe jason wrote the open letter as a joke. i think users smart enough to know new products are likely to be updated are smart enough to know not to make any significant purchases.
Maybe people knew there was going to be a new laptop, but the new iMac blind sided just about everyone. The iMac had only just been updated last October after all. We just bought 50 of them and are a little bit annoyed…
That said, Jason’s letter was obviously meant as a joke, as are (more or less) my own complaints. The G5 iMac is still a pretty cool machine.
Just in regards to Stams’ comment; If you look at product update cycles (www.macrumors.com) for example you’d see that the powerbook wasn’t expecting an update any time soon, but the iBook definetly was. Most people predicted an iBook update and felt great in their purchase of an Powerbook thinking there’d be no soon updates.
My PB is only 6 months old, but I’m not complaining as they only updated the 15″, and mine’s the 12″. Sure, MB Pro is a fine machine, but my primary concern is portability right now.
Yeah, I just bought an iMac a month ago and I’m slightly annoyed. Like the poster above said, it was out of nowhere. But then again, I’m not sure I want a first generation Intel Mac…
OK don’t and I repeat Don’t go over him. I bought a new powerbook 1 week before the MacBook Pro release!!! Now how do you think we’re feeling??, really pissed off!!!. The release of the new MacBook Pro was a surprise for all the developers!! :’(
ikonQ: Well if you trusted macrumors.com’s guide, maybe you should complain to them and not to Apple. Why does everyone expect Apple to announce when they are releasing a new hardware. They don’t have to. When it is ready, they will announce it.
Everyone seems to want the latest hardware all the time. But that won’t happen. That gets expensive.
Also, the previous generation PowerBook G4’s are still awsome computers. They run most current apps natively, while the MacBook Pro will have to rely on Rosetta for the PPC apps. Rosetta on the Intel Mac may not even be as quick as the PowerBook G4, so you might be better off for a while wiht your PPC Mac.
Bottom line, product updates happen. Technology advances. That is just the way things are. You can’t expect Apple to wait for everyone’s approval before releasing somethign new.
I ordered today a iMac, but a G5!
I will not be a part of the big beta test,
and I like my software without the “speed reducing” of rosetta.