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Apple Now Selling Better Than One Laptop In Six 767

Lucas123 writes "Apple's share of the laptop market has grown over the past few years and the company is now beating Gateway in sales, according research firm NPD Group Inc. in Port Washington, NY. 'Their sales are continuing to grow faster than the rest of the marketplace,' the firm stated. In June Apple was responsible for 17.6% of laptops sold (at retail) in the US and is now in third place behind HP and Toshiba."
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Apple Now Selling Better Than One Laptop In Six

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  • College kids (Score:4, Interesting)

    by PlusFiveInsightful ( 1148175 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:33PM (#20391807) Homepage
    Most college kids I see at coffee shops have a Mac notebook...
    I guess Apple's strategy of marketing to younger people is finally paying off. Also, does this prove the iPod's halo effect is Real?
    • by Tackhead ( 54550 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:37PM (#20391841)
      > Also, does this prove the iPod's halo effect is Real?

      That's not the iPod's halo effect. That's the Vista Black Hole of Suck effect.

      • Re:College kids (Score:4, Insightful)

        by cmowire ( 254489 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:45PM (#20391939) Homepage
        No, it's the Windows Black Hole of Suck effect.

        Vista just made things worse.

        The simple truth is that at least for IBM (now Levno) laptops and HP... and probably others... the build quality is just not there compared to Apple.

        Plus, the risky gamble of allowing people to run Windows on their MacBooks really did work out. People can talk their employer into buying them a MacBook, instead of being issued a winblows machine.
        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by ncc74656 ( 45571 ) *

          The simple truth is that at least for IBM (now Levno) laptops and HP... and probably others... the build quality is just not there compared to Apple.

          I've bought a couple of HPs (most recent one was the "Lance Armstrong special") and I've not had any issues with either of them.

          That said, if I were in the market for a notebook today, it'd most likely be a Mac. HP still offers XP on its BTO notebooks, but there's less and less stuff for which I need Windows...both of my machines boot Linux (the older one

        • Re:College kids (Score:4, Informative)

          by Brian Gordon ( 987471 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @08:04PM (#20392739)
          Thinkpads are simply the most solid laptops money can buy. Undeniably number-one support. Also they're a lot more durable than macs. And the included IBM software is really very useful (like Active Protection System for your hard drives) unlike usual OEM crap.
          • Re:College kids (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Penguin's Advocate ( 126803 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @08:15PM (#20392847)
            When I went to college I got a Thinkpad, my brother got an iBook. My Thinkpad barely made it through 2 years, my brother still uses his iBook (this is now ~6 years later). A year ago I relented and bought myself a MacBook Pro, today's Lenovo Thinkpads don't even compare. A couple people at my office have the new Thinkpads, but far more now have MacBooks or MacBook Pros. It has nothing to do with PC vs. Mac, Apple simply makes excellent machines. For the record, my office is a Windows XP only shop, so all those Mac owners are running XP on their macs (at least at work).
            • Re:College kids (Score:4, Interesting)

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @08:40PM (#20393097)
              We have at least a thousand running Thinkpads and have had several thousand over the last 3 years. T41,43,60,61,62 and X30,31 and maybe a few oddballs in there. For those that are familiar with IBM and Lenovo, you will notice some of those laptops were pure IBM, some hybrids, and some are pure Lenovo. We have seen no difference in the quality of these laptops over the years. People can have their own opinions based on a neighbor or a relative but my experience is from a real data with a significant quantity that we support on a daily basis. I currently have three of them assigned to me that I use daily as well (A T60 at home, a X32 for utility work and testing in the server room, and a T43 at my desk which is about to go back on lease which I will replace with a T61)

              Overall, the quality on these laptops is outstanding and they are very durable and very stable. I'm not comparing them to any other current companies offerings because I can not (other then the HP/Compaq models we had years ago maybe).
              So overall, we have not seen any reduction in quality over the past few years, no increase in maintenance costs, and they are very reliable units.
              YMMV.
      • Re:College kids (Score:5, Interesting)

        by mycoupons ( 1148887 ) <greg@mycoupons.com> on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:00PM (#20392121) Homepage
        My youngest son is a new freshman at Kent State. He wanted a Mac, I got him a Mac and well... one for myself too. When comparing my MacBook to my ThinkPad running Linux (or my office machine running Linux), I look forward to heading home not only for the beer but to use my Mac. Steve Jobs understands that things need to just work, period, they need to be straight forward and easy to use and great design is important. The Mac just works.

        As soon as my company moves from the red to the black, I'm investing in MacBooks for my entire staff. I'm no zealot, I'm a business man. I want my people to be productive and I want my people to enjoy their work. After spending a few weeks getting used to the interface, I honestly believe that my people will enjoy using their computers. The really amusing thing is that I really like MS Office on the Mac a hundred times better than on Windows. Entourage is actually pretty cool (when compared to Outlook or dEvolution) and after learning it I love it.

        When choosing whether to move the company from XP to Vista or just to a Mac, if I can pull it off financially, Mac it will be and Vista will never make it in the door.

      • Re:College kids (Score:4, Interesting)

        by jellomizer ( 103300 ) * on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:14PM (#20392267)
        No windows has suck for a long time. If anything I would say it would be the iPod halo effect... Why...
        First iPods are rather cheap and can be considered an impulse buy for Middle Middle class-Wealthy people for Poor- Lower Middle Class an iPod Shuffle would be at christmas gift.
        Being that they are in these price ranges a lot of people are using these and realize they like they way that Apple does things.
        Being happy with apple products using iTunes and checking the Apple Web site every once in a while to see what is new or going to the Apple store or to the Apple section of the stores they will see other Apples Product
        Seeing their products knowing you are happy with the brand you are more likely to get that brand.
        Now that you see and know the specs for say an Apple Notebook you go out and compare prices of PCs vs Apples based on Apples Specs and you find they are competitive price (If you Compare Apples to PC Specs they are Apples are expensive) So you go with Apple.

        Also Apple has good word of mouth advertising and a loyal fan base. Most people I known once they switch to Mac and allow themselves to get use to it are actually very happy with their Mac, and they repeat buy. Heck I am on my second Mac that is the first time I purchased the same brand after the old model went obsolete (and it is not about fear of switching OS's, I went From a TI-99 (1984-1988), DOS 2 Box (1988-1992), * Windows 3.1 (1992-1997), Linux (1997-2001), Solaris (2001-2002), Mac OS X (2002-2006), Mac OS X intel (2006 - Present) so I am use to swiching primary OS's)

        * I switched to Linux back in 1994
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by BronsCon ( 927697 )
      No, it proves that people who would have bought an IBM ThinkPad want the best. Since the LeNovo ThinkPad is not the IBM ThinkPad, the best is now the MacBook Pro.

      Or, anything at this point is just conjecture and this is nothing more than a small market fluctuation, the meaning of which we won't know for years to come.

      I have no affilliation with either of the companies I mentioned, nor do I own any of their products. This post was typed on a Compaq notebook. ...

      and, as I have karma to spare... ...

      IMPEACH BUS
      • by croddy ( 659025 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:44PM (#20391927)
        Or, it could simply be that they are genuinely afraid of Dells. Apple has certainly burst into this market, but Dell's products are literally bursting.
        • "Apple's share of the laptop market has grown over the past few years and the company is now beating Gateway in sales. So Apples market share is the trigger point for company buy outs....interesting
      • Re:College kids (Score:5, Interesting)

        by cp.tar ( 871488 ) <cp.tar.bz2@gmail.com> on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:04PM (#20392167) Journal

        No, it proves that people who would have bought an IBM ThinkPad want the best. Since the LeNovo ThinkPad is not the IBM ThinkPad, the best is now the MacBook Pro.

        This is as close to my case as could be expected.

        I wanted a T61p. With Linux. Or FreeDOS. Or empty. Whatever; I just didn't want to pay for Windows. I'm not using it, I'm not paying for it. Period.

        In the time it took me to collect the money, it was out of stock - mostly everywhere (in Croatia). Except for a more expensive version with Vista, and I'm not that stupid.

        Then someone told me I could buy a MacBook Pro for that kind of money anyway. Oh, really?
        Turned out, oh, yes, really. Comparable hardware, comparable price, available, polished, and with an OS I actually would and do use.

        I'm only having some trouble installing Linux on it, but I'll get there, too.

        And if I only found a way to stop my gf from trying to steal it... (I think it's because of the remote.)

    • Re:College kids (Score:5, Interesting)

      by datapharmer ( 1099455 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:08PM (#20392203) Homepage
      I don't know about the ipod effect, but something is definitely working, and I think some of it is quality and ease of use.

      I looked around in a large lecture hall class of 100+ at University of Florida and 4/5 of the laptops were macs of some sort, and most of those were the new macbooks. They are at the price point parents can afford to get their kids (I mean seriously.... a crap dell of for a few hundred more something that won't burn down the dorm room), small enough to put in a backpack (there is a lot of wasted screen real-estate compared to the powerbook, but alas they still get the job done), and are powerful enough to do almost anything a college class could require (except maybe some 3d graphics work - FCP works fine).

      When I got my powerbook a few years back it was almost a grand more than many other laptops (sony vaios and some upper end thinkpads aside), but the difference is I am still using it, and despite having it get pulled off a desk by my dog twice and being dropped, bumped, and lugged around to 3 jobs, clients houses, and college classes it is still working great. The screen was starting to degrade so I replaced it for $210, but that was ENTIRELY my fault. If it were most other machines it would be in the garbage.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jShort ( 1140435 )
      I work at the bookstore at my college, and I recomend Mac laptops to almost everybody who comes in here. We sell Dell laptops as well, but price/preformance is crap compared to Mac, and most of the students here are commuters, who will gladly pay $999 for a well-eqquiped computer that only weighs 5 pounds and fits into just about any backpack. Comporable Dells are thicker, wider, and heavier, and no fun to carry around at all. The only people who get a Dell recomendation are certian business and engineer
    • by graymocker ( 753063 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:35PM (#20392509)

      Three years ago I helped my parents find a great deal on a Dell laptop for my sister, who was just heading off to college at NYU. I was rather pleased with myself too; we used one of those 50% off coupons I found and got a great-spec machine for the price.

      When the family got together for the holidays I asked her how the computer was working out; she complained to me that all the cool kids had MacBooks and she was "embarrassed to be seen in public with the ugly Dell next to all the sleek Macs."

      So I can honestly say the Apple's success here is unsurprising to me; the laptop market is one that is well-suited to Apple's core strengths. Though a desktop is largely perceived as an appliance - it's an utilitarian box that you use to do stuff with - a laptop has the additional function of being a status symbol and expression of personal taste. Your desktop stays at home, but you can carry your laptop around with you. An iMac may look great, but its usefulness as a signifier of taste is constrained by the simply fact that it stays in your room. Now that the laptop market has become so important, Apple is in a great position to capitalize on their previously under-exploited brand identity.

      And this is before we even consider Apple's incredibly devious "buy a Macbook, get an iPod" promotion. If Mom and Dad offer to buy you a computer for college, are you going to choose the PC or the Mac that comes with a great MP3 player? Unless you're a gamer, you're going to opt for the latter (and even if you are a gamer, you may just decide to get your fix by playing networked games with the roommates on an 360 anyway),

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      well, the major disadvantages of mac desktops are they are overpriced, they don't play games and to upgrade, you throw them in the bin and buy a new one.

      But all lap tops are overpriced, can't play games and can't be upgraded, so the mac disadvantage disappears.
      • Old and busted (Score:3, Informative)

        by SuperKendall ( 25149 )
        well, the major disadvantages of mac desktops are they are overpriced

        Equivilent WIndows desktops cost more, even when (or especially when) they make some with the same useful form factor.

        they don't play games

        Except of course for all the Windows games, via bootcamp. Or the fair and growing number of native games. Or the fact that you can just buy a console and play all the same games people are playing anyway.

        and to upgrade, you throw them in the bin and buy a new one.

        I suppose that might happen with my s
    • by Shag ( 3737 ) on Wednesday August 29, 2007 @02:18AM (#20395309) Journal
      I'm (non-teaching) graduate-level support staff in astronomy at a state university known for its graduate-level astronomy program, and from what I see among the post-docs, professors and staff I work with, both at the university and elsewhere through collaborations, I think Apple's market share in some of the sciences is significantly better than one-in-six laptops, and has been for the last few years. A friend who did database work for an observatory told me of going to an ADASS conference a couple years ago, and getting looks of pity because he had the only non-Mac laptop in the room.

      Why is this the case? It's not about iPods and it's not about Vista. It's about UNIX, X, and Boot Camp/Parallels/VMWare. The professor who used to have a Sparc, a PC and a PPC Mac in his office now just does his number-crunching and scientific visualization on an 8-core Mac Pro with dual 30" displays, and takes a MacBook Pro places with him. (I'm low on the totem pole, so I have a plain black MacBook.)

      What's really amazed me lately is that this isn't just a US thing. I work near a major Japanese facility, so there are always Japanese scientists around. For years, they've always had these cute little Panasonic/Toshiba/Sony/Sanrio/whoever laptops that we never see at stores in the US (except at Shirokiya in Honolulu, I guess). Earlier this month, I actually worked with three of them one night, and they brought 2 laptops with them - both Macs. I never thought I'd ever see any "American" brand become that popular with the Japanese scientists.
  • More to Come (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mordors9 ( 665662 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:37PM (#20391847)
    Let me preface my comments by saying that I have not used in a Mac in 6 years or more. So I am not a zealot. From what I saw at Best Buy this weekend, I think the sales may go up even more. I hadn't realized that they were selling them now, but I saw a crowd ganged around a table where they had the laptops and iMacs sitting out for people to play around with. There was a steady stream of people and you could feel a sense of excitement about it. Unfortunately I was there to buy a washer and dryer...
    • by McLovin ( 1145861 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:46PM (#20391943) Journal
      Listen, up.


      If you want titties and beer, buy a macbook.


      Got that? Titties (.Y.) and BEER!


      If you want to join the chess club, buy a PC.

    • by feepness ( 543479 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:46PM (#20391945)

      Unfortunately I was there to buy a washer and dryer...
      If you can't get excited about buying a matching washer/dryer set then you've just lost your taste for life.
    • by cp.tar ( 871488 )

      From what I saw at Best Buy this weekend, I think the sales may go up even more. I hadn't realized that they were selling them now, but I saw a crowd ganged around a table where they had the laptops and iMacs sitting out for people to play around with. There was a steady stream of people and you could feel a sense of excitement about it.

      Macs have always been considered as overpriced.

      From what I've seen in the last few weeks, they are still regarded as such, but to a much lesser extent - a year ago, there was not a single topic about Macs on the largest Croatian forum; now there are quite a few, and most are about MacBooks.

      I think their desktop sales will go up as well - for one, when I finish college and start earning real money, I'm switching my desktop to Mac, too. But I know people enough who want a Mac as well.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by jcgf ( 688310 )

        Macs have always been considered as overpriced.

        Well now that depends. I just checked the dell and apple websites and here is what I found: (canadian $)

        dell xps 1330: $1729
        # 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
        # 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM
        # 160GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
        # SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
        # intel gma 3100

        black macbook (std build): $1649
        # 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
        # 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM
        # 160GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
        # SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
        # intel gma 950

        So for slightly less money, you get a machine with a slig

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by jdc180 ( 125863 )
          Funny thing about dell, is you have choices.... like

          dell Inspiron 1420: $1,159
          # 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
          # 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM
          # 160GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
          # SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DVD±RW/CD-RW)
          # intel gma 3100

          black macbook (std build): $1649
          # 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
          # 1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM
          # 160GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
          # SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
          # intel gma 950
          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by G-funk ( 22712 )
            And you're dreaming if you think that $600 difference didn't go into cheaper internal components and / or an ugly plastic case.

            A co-worker and I recently both purchased laptops of almost identical performance. His is a Dell XPS of some sort, mine's a Macbook Pro. His was about $500 more, but it's a 17", and the price difference would be neligable had I bought a 17". They're almost identically specced, although mine's a slightly less powerful DX10 video card, his has slightly more balls but is DX9. Mine's al
  • Brand Synergy (Score:4, Insightful)

    by EmbeddedJanitor ( 597831 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:37PM (#20391851)
    Yes that is an over used term, but in this case it is warranted. With all the brand exposure over the last few years (ipod) and more recently (iphone) is it suprising that people are getting the idea that Apple makes cool stuff?

    With Vista firmly planted on the rocks, Apple are in a strongest position they have been in since the original Mac.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by MouseR ( 3264 )
      You're missing a key point: Boot Camp and the promise of multi-boot makes getting an Apple machine a polyvalent solution.
    • Re:Brand Synergy (Score:5, Interesting)

      by gujo-odori ( 473191 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:12PM (#20392247)
      How cool is Apple's industrial design?

      When I started a new job in January, they issued me a MacBook Pro. The first time I brought it home and pulled it out of my bag, my four year old daughter - who is used to various desktops, LCD and CRT monitors, my and my wife's Thinkpads, and the Toshiba Tecra I had at my previous employer - immediately popped it with "Wow, that's a cool computer!" as soon as she saw it.

      She'd never seen a Mac before, has no clear idea about brands and stuff, yet immediately recognized that it looked cooler than the other computers she's seen. Couple that level of cool with OS X and you have a winner, so Apple's surging laptop market share doesn't surprise me.
    • Re:Brand Synergy (Score:4, Informative)

      by Plutonite ( 999141 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:22PM (#20392361)
      In addition to that, they have hit the sweetest spots on both desktop and laptop markets with their high-end intel based hardware. I am no fanboy, used windows (games, dev) linux and BSD (most everything else) in the past, now I bought the second macbook pro model and I am blown away by the quality of the hardware. My god.. a REAL wireless card that actually supports passive monitoring? And a mid-to-high range nvidia 8600GT with enough speed and RAM to run anything graphical AND support Direct X 10 on Vista, which you can boot up natively like a charm with apple software? I tell you, it's a good laptop, and considering it has the absolute top of the line intel has to offer in terms of mobile processors, plus 2 gigs of main mem, plus all the normal fun stuff, it's worth the 2.5 thou. This is many times better than the crappy plastic dell, alienware and even Asus (which I hugely respect for quality engineering) will sell you. It's not just that the hardware is better, the bootcamp deal gives people al the motivation they need if they have the money. Yes, I'm still pretty sure I'm not a fanboy :)
  • by MiKM ( 752717 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:39PM (#20391867)
    For those too lazy to read the summary, this doesn't include online sales.
    • by DECS ( 891519 )
      NPD's numbers only cover most retail stores (although they don't include major retailers like WalMart), and exclude Apple's own retail stores.

      The also exclude online stores like Amazon and Apple, and direct marketers like Dell.

      However, that means Apple's outside retail sales have jumped by nearly double. That would suggest that Apple's own sales are also doing "well."

      Apple set a new record of 1.7 million Macs last quarter, which is commonly its slowest quarter. This quarter is back to school, and next is Ch
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      Also, the numbers from IDC (also mentioned in the article) put Apple's share at 5.6%, not 17.6%:

      Research firm IDC also has Apple in the third spot; data it released last month put Apple's share of U.S. sales at 5.6%, far behind leaders HP (28.4%) and Dell (23.6%) but tied with Gateway.

      In other words, 1 laptop out of every 18, not out of every 5.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Solandri ( 704621 )

        Also, the numbers from IDC (also mentioned in the article) put Apple's share at 5.6%, not 17.6%:

        Research firm IDC also has Apple in the third spot; data it released last month put Apple's share of U.S. sales at 5.6%, far behind leaders HP (28.4%) and Dell (23.6%) but tied with Gateway.

        In other words, 1 laptop out of every 18, not out of every 5.

        I puzzled over that too since the article itself says Apple is selling more than 1 in every 6 laptops. I think the 5.6% figure is referring to all computer sal

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          No, 5.6% is the actual Apple laptop market share in the USA, for last month. The 17.6% figure is if you ignore online and direct (i.e., corporate) sales. Quoth the copulating article:

          "NPD, which collects its data primarily from retail sources and excludes most online and all direct sales, said Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops accounted for 17.6% of June's unit sales"

          In other news, market research firm SJB, which collects its data primarily from Apple stores and excludes all other sources, said Apple'
  • Snore. Let's see the actual numbers that include direct order.

    That's not to say that this isn't impressive, but how about keeping the sensationalism down a bit?

    In any event, this doesn't really get me excited, as I'm even less inclined to buy into Apple's expensive machines when I can run FreeBSD or Linux on the cheapest of the cheap laptops and be very happy.

    It's too bad that more market share for Apple doesn't translate into more open hardware specs instead of "we support Windows and Mac OS."
    • Re:At retail... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Warin ( 200873 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:51PM (#20392013)
      You can run FreeBSD or Linux on the "expensive" Apple machine as well. Heck, you can also run Vista on one, if you must!

      The cheapest of the cheap laptops are generally sucktastic, big, and heavy (And generally come pre-installed with Vista). My MacBook Pro is far more stylish and compact than almost every other equivalently priced Windows notebooks. OS X is a joy to use, and coupled with an AG-HVX200, Final Cut Studio, and a couple of big external drives... and I am a production unit on the go. It just works best for what I do. Which is why I "drank the koolaid" in 2003 and bought a Mac to start with. After 17 years of using MS-DOS and then Windows... I am loving being an "Apple Fanboi" and I cant see going back to Windows for anything other than the occasional game.

      I think a lot of people are discovering that OS X just works, and doesnt need the sort of tinkering and maintenance that Windows rigs generally do to stay in top running shape.

      I cant remember the last time I did a virus scan or a defrag...

      Oh...

      Last week...

      On my roomies computer, so the damn XP rig would actually work again.
      • Re:At retail... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by PhotoGuy ( 189467 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @08:26PM (#20392977) Homepage
        I too, used to laugh at Apple Fanboys. I got fed up with XP, thought I'd try OS X, with the ability to fall back to XP on the same hardware, if I wasn't happy with OS X. Well, there was no looking back! (And Parallels lets me run any old legacy thing I need, which turns out only to be MSN webcam, and little else.)

        So crash free, virus free, and great performance, it's a dream come true for me. External displays work as expected. Everything just works, in general. (A few gotchas, but *very* few as compared to XP.)

        The funny thing is, I don't consider myself a Fanboy. But when I talk about the Mac, I get excited about how well it works, and people accuse me of it! Well dammit, I *am* excited about how well it works for me! And want to share it with others. At the end of the day, I don't care if people convert, as long as it's there for me. :) (But the more market share they get, the stronger they'll be, and the longer they'll be around for me :). The only reason I want people to convert, is I know it would be for *their* own good, not for validation of myself as a Fanboy.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      In any event, this doesn't really get me excited, as I'm even less inclined to buy into Apple's expensive machines when I can run FreeBSD or Linux on the cheapest of the cheap laptops and be very happy.

      Well, then you're not in Apple's target market. Personally, I'd buy an expensive laptop and run Linux or FreeBSD on it, since I value things like light weight, long battery life and fans that don't sound like a turbojet. If you factor in the hardware and include things like noise level, size, weight, build qu
  • from TFA:
    > NPD, which collects its data primarily from retail sources and excludes
    > most online and all direct sales

    Given what a large (and qualitatively different) chunk of the market has been excluded from the stats, it doesn't seem like their 1/6 number is necessarily representative of the full state of the laptop market.
  • My $0.02 armchair guesstimate is that Vista's resounding belly flop is helping Apple's sales figures. For most of those who yearn to escape Microsoft's bumbling clutches, the Orchard is definitely more inviting than the herring-scented wilds of Linuxland. I've got at least one family member of my own who has looked out through the broken window and found the air under the apple trees to be a very welcome change (and two others are seriously considering it).

    Cheers,

  • by the.Ceph ( 863988 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @06:55PM (#20392069)
    I find it kinda amusing that either earlier today or yesterday there was an article about how Gateway got bought out for just over a dollar a share and most the comments were tashing the company's business model and how it was driven into the ground.
      Then this article triumphs being tied with Gateway as an achievement.
    • The music industry's business model is busted. Traditional news media's business model is busted. Hell, you could argue that Microsoft's is busted. Having a busted business model doesn't mean that a company is small or easy to beat.

      Apple is further hampered by their policy of selling their own OS on their own hardware, while Gateway piggybacked on the success of Windows. Apple still beat them out. So, yes, I'd say that's an achievement -- if only an achievement until Gateway is bought by Acer, but an achiev
  • This will get modded flamebait, but I doubt that this bump in sales will be sustainable.

    I expect that lot of these new Apple buyers are people who, like me, just grew weary of Microsoft,their attitude, and the endless virus and other problems.

    The problem for Apple is that they, and the fanboys, are selling the product as perfection, as complete out of the box, as seamless and needing no attention beyond plugging in the power supply once a day.

    The reality of course is much different. Macs have some
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by ummit ( 248909 )

      I won't mod you as flamebait (no mod points today), but I will respond to this bit:

      Macs crash just like a Windows computer. Macs experience hardware issues. Macs, if you use them heavily, need regular maintenance to keep them running smoothly.

      You're one for three, in my experience. Hardware issues: yeah, I've had a few. But my Mac just never crashes. And I have no idea what you're talking about when you say that "heavy usage" implies "regular maintenance". My Mac runs smoothly all the time, and t

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by king-manic ( 409855 )
        You're one for three, in my experience. Hardware issues: yeah, I've had a few. But my Mac just never crashes. And I have no idea what you're talking about when you say that "heavy usage" implies "regular maintenance". My Mac runs smoothly all the time, and the only "maintenance" I do is backing it up regularly.

        I think the implications is the other way. Windows got better not Macs crashing a lot. My windows box has yet to crash. Haven't needed to reboot except for patches (adobe and windows update). Windows
  • Many of my co-workers are now using 30" Apple displays on the MacBook pro's (even though they spend most of their time in Windows through Parallels). I'm a Linux user and not ready to make "the switch." However, those 30" displays are fantastic.

    I guess I could try to run Linux on the Mac hardware, but I'm worried so few people probably do that, I would be in relatively uncharted waters and have lots of problems. So what's the scoop? Does Linux on MacBook Pros work, including driving the 30" screen at f

  • by dindi ( 78034 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:44PM (#20392571)
    It is definitely not my reason for owning a macbook, but I heard that several times:

    ".... and it can also run Windows if I really need it for something ....."

    I think the Intel switch and the option to run Windows is a huge selling point for many.

    For me on the other hand is that it is the only laptop that actually runs UNIX out of the box with a functional desktop, without constant headaches for drivers and all.

    I respect, love and use Linux every day, but when you face all the little quirks of a laptop when trying to put Linux on it (especially a new one) you know what I am talking about. And when you think you solved it all, you realize that your battery dies a lot faster, or your backlight just does not go out when the screen saver starts.

    I myself own a Macbook, and while I have seen many OSes, touched and owned many hardware devices, I have to say that this was my best ever computer/OS selection. I admin servers and develop mostly for LAMP web, if you wondered, and yes I also enjoy having a decent DVD player program with a remote under UNIX (yes mplayer + lirc + whatever - but i mean out of the box, not after 3 days of hacking)

  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @07:47PM (#20392593)
    The numbers in the summary do not include direct sales (i.e., nearly all corporate buys) or internet sales. In other words, it doesn't include the two main channels through which laptops are sold. The article, however, does include the full numbers:

    Apple's share of U.S. [laptop] sales [is] 5.6%, far behind leaders HP (28.4%) and Dell (23.6%) but tied with Gateway.

    In other words, Apple sells 1 laptop in 20 (in the USA; it's closer to 1 in 50 if you look at global numbers), not 1 in 6. Not quite as impressive as the summary or title make it appear, eh?
  • by TibbonZero ( 571809 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [nobbiT]> on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @08:35PM (#20393059) Homepage Journal
    I live in Boston, Mass. and here it seems that most of the computers are Macs (as far as laptops go). Go into any coffeeshop, and well, it's all Macs. We hosted a Plone Sprint and training session here, and it was about 70% Macbook Pros (we converted one guy halfway though, and I bought a new MBP then as well). The office I worked in, which is a co-working suite called the Betahouse in Cambridge (it's all web developers) is 90% Mac.

    Maybe it's just the huge number of 'creatives' in the city, but it seems that around NYC and Boston, that Apple's pretty well taken over. Hell, my office has 70% of the people carrying iPhones (and that was true the first week they were out). I have yet to actually see anyone with a Zune. Period.

    What's odd is that I lived in North Carolina for about 8 months, and most of the computers there were Windows-based PCs. My 4 macs were seen as oddities down there. Here it's par for the course.
  • A Little Perspective (Score:4, Interesting)

    by donnacha ( 161610 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @08:49PM (#20393175) Homepage
    I am no Apple fanboy, been around /. for enough years to be pretty cynical about all corporations and technology cheerleaders but I bought a MacBook Pro about two months ago and am surprised to have come to the conclusion that it's the best piece of hardware I've ever owned.

    I don't mean that in a fevered, evangelical way because, really, I don't care what the rest of the world uses but for me, personally, switching has made a big difference to my productivity and enjoyment of computers - I'd kind of forgotten the excitement I used to feel back in the day.

    Over the past couple of years, Apple seem to be have been slowly but steadily getting it right in a sustained manner that I suspect will come more clearly to fruition when Leopard is released in October. I was kind of slow to notice this build-up, kind of resistant to the idea of buying into the cult of Apple and probably should have made the switch sooner, could have used this productivity boost a year ago, but, whatever, I'm glad that I eventually cottoned on.

    Again, I don't much care what the rest of the world does as long as my experience and working environment keep improving. Some enjoy treating this as a spectator sport, like a never-ending baseball match between Apple and Microsoft, enjoying each play that seems to bring victory that little bit nearer. Bollox.

    Sure, Apple probably will see quite a jump by the holiday season but Microsoft have simply dominated the market for too long to be pushed aside - the vast majority of people don't know and don't care to know much about computers and will happily "upgrade" to Vista when their existing machines die. What we will see, however, is a fairly fast and comprehensive migration towards Mac by programmers and other people who need to be creative and productive with computers. That probably represents just 15% of the market but it's an important 15% and giving those people better tools to do what they do is going to be beneficial for everyone.

    In the meantime, I certainly recommend giving the whole Mac proposition a closer look, you might find yourself as surprised as I have been.
  • Quality and Intel (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jwiegley ( 520444 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @09:06PM (#20393291)

    I just bought my first Mac. A Santa Rosa macbook pro. And I use it almost exclusively now.

    Here's what I don't like.

    • The OS/X user interface is crap.
      1. The application menu constrained to the top of the screen hides information present in other applications and forces the user to either learn all the shortcut keys or suffer rediculous amounts of additional mouse travel.
      2. A single mouse button was NEVER a good idea. It's a terrible idea actually. It was terrible when the macintosh was launched and never got better. If you're too stupid to figure out the different functions of two to five mouse buttons then you shouldn't be allowed to have a computer and you should stick with pencil and paper. I've got ten fingers and I can move them independently. Why should I have to be limited to operating a computer like I have mittens on one hand? At least the mighty mouse fixes a lot of this. But Apple certainly could have put two buttons under the mouse bar, one under each end. Just program OS/X to do the same thing should either button be pressed to make the mac zealots happy and then for other operating system bred people you could send the normal left/right/middle events.
      3. Finder is a joke. Why does Apple hype this "application" up so much?? It's a frickin' directory browser people!
      4. Glitz wise they just aren't keeping up. Compviz/Beryl for instance is way better than the eye-candy offered by either OS/X or Vista these days.
    • Hot!! Oh my god! don't set it on your lap if you have shorts. And this is the newer model without the battery problems.

    Ok, so why do I LIKE it (a lot)?

    • Design: The design is sleek and simple. It's the fastest laptop I've ever owned and yet it is also the thinnest. It's no thicker than my fujitsu P7010 is but it's about five times faster. (Though its footprint is much bigger too.)
    • backlit keyboard keys
    • Ambient light sensitive backlight (both lcd and keyboard)
    • USB AND Firewire ports!
    • Neodynium Magnetic power jack. (Yes, I've tripped over, and destroyed, power cables before. This solution is just tits!)
    • Great sound, even from the speakers
    • Solid feel. Nothing seems to bend where it shouldn't. Hinges operate crisply and smoothly.
    • Absence of any stickers plastered all over it to provide useless FCC crap.
    • Incredibly bright LED backlit screen.
    • Built in 802.11N AND Bluetooth
    • 2.4 Core 2 duo processors. That's as fast as any of my workstations save one. This makes it a workstation replacement by far. A better docking interface (such as power on the same side as DVI/USB) would have been a good idea.)
    • Intel based. I hate windows but my CAD program is only available for Windows. Windows needs an x86 CPU. Yes, you could use fusion or parallels to run windows, I know. Have you ever actually tried to work on a multi-dozen part 3D CAD assembly and compared your productivity of a native OS versus a virtual machine? Big difference! So I get to run windows natively and work remotely and do it fast..
    • Fast Nvidia GPU. I'm not an ATI fan but either way, great graphics

    There's nothing not to like about this hardware.

    Pair that up with the fact that their design team is solid and is producing exceptional quality designs such as the iPod line and the iPhone. (I don't own one and won't based on cost and that I have a good PDA phone but my colleague has one and I've tried it out and it's a good design.)

    Apple made three pivotal moves:

    1. The move to adopt OPENSTEP/FreeBSD/Unix as the foundation for their operating system. It made their OS flexible, scalable and more open to community involvement. This saved them. (It is also what is going to allow them to significantly penetrate the server and high-performance computing markets over then next five years.)
    2. The iPod. A product that outclassed the competition by a mile. This made them profitable and restored people's trust in apple producing a relia
    • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @11:17PM (#20394223)
      The application menu constrained to the top of the screen hides information present in other applications and forces the user to either learn all the shortcut keys or suffer rediculous amounts of additional mouse travel.

      Said applications should be designed to show whatever information might be useful in some other location than a menu bar. And the extra mouse travel distance is not a problem because it's easier to hit a target always at the top of the screen than one that might be mixed around other menus (In Windows I've found myself accidentally raising windows I did not mean to when I mistook which menu bar was for the active window).

      A single mouse button was NEVER a good idea.

      You say that now but when you realize how much more manageable a single large button is that you can chord into two, vs. two mouse buttons on a laptop where at least one is awkward to hit... on top of that applications are designed to work with one mouse button instead of requiring two,

      The single button design aspect across all Mac platforms is what allows the laptops to be especially usable.

      The iPod. A product that outclassed the competition by a mile. This made them profitable and restored people's trust in apple producing a reliable, desirable product.

      Apple was quite profitable, and had a huge cash reserve, well before the iPod when they were just selling iMacs and OS X. The iPod did vault them into a new straosphere of awareness and is obviously having an effect though.

We must believe that it is the darkest before the dawn of a beautiful new world. We will see it when we believe it. -- Saul Alinsky

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