With Apple’s recent update of the Macbook, consumers are again disappointed with Apple’s progress or more accurately Apple’s lack of progress. While the updated Macbook now includes some new features such as a slightly larger battery, an updated processor, faster flash storage and the addition of a rose gold color, these updates don’t address the larger issues consumers have voiced about the previous generation of the Macbook. These two primary issues being the inclusion of only one USB Type C Port and the 480p camera.
Companies usually address consumer demands, fixing problems their consumers have identified, but Apple has made zero effort to address these concerns. The fact that the newest Macbook only has one port means that if one wants to charge the laptop while having a USB flash drive plugged in, one has to buy a $79 dongle that allows one to use HDMI, USB and USB Type C. If you want to plug in both a USB flash drive and USB Bluetooth remote to use with mouse, you’ll have to spend over $158 and make your laptop look like an octopus with each cable.
For an already overpriced ultrabook starting at $1,299 that uses the Intel M processor series, one can purchase a lighter, thinner, more powerful Windows laptop for less. The newly announced HP Spectre boasts the title of the world’s thinnest laptop that utilizes the Intel Core i series and starts at $1169.99. The complacency of being an established brand has made Apple smug on its throne and diminished its drive to innovate. HP, on the other hand, faced with numerous criticisms of its laptops over the years, has allowed public and media pressure to improve its products, pushing laptops to new heights, or rather, lower heights with its thinness. HP’s laptop represents thinness without tradeoffs of performance and it includes multiple ports, 3 USB Type C ports to be specific. The fact that HP has been able to fit an HD camera into a laptop thinner than the Macbook raises some concerns on Apple’s level of innovation.
Over recent years, Apple has relied heavily on its brand as the primary marketing tool of its products. Already an established brand for innovation, we, as consumers, have simply come to accept any Apple product as innovative rather than subjecting each product to a level of scrutiny applied to new market products. Apple has had such innovative products, the iPhone and iPad, that we have come to deem any Apple product innovative. While its success was well deserved, it also doesn’t drive Apple to perform at its highest potential. Like a runner in a race who can see that he is further ahead of anyone else and slows down, Apple has been lagging over the past few years. However, as evidenced by HP, Apple’s slowdown has meant that the lead is diminishing and all but gone.
If you’re in the market for a new laptop, reward companies taking bold steps to alter the way we interact with technology and respond to the feedback of users.
