You know that Mac desktops now constitute over 70% of Apple’s sales, at least as of the last quarter of 2008. That means that notebook sales went up, while the iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro declined rather substantially.

Now part of this is no doubt due to the perilous state of the economy. I sort of suspect that some people who might have preferred both decided they could only afford a single computer. So they choose a notebook, to get, as much as possible, the best of both worlds.

Of course, the entire PC industry is moving in the same direction, only Apple is leading the way.

Now this doesn’t mean that Apple is necessarily abandoning the traditional desktop any time soon. You will still see the iMac, which moves in good numbers, and the Mac Pro for high-end content creators. I also expect that the Mac mini will get its long-delayed refresh in the near future, though only Apple knows whether it’ll have the same form factor with just some new and faster parts, or will get a new look and focus.

Continue Reading...

Related Articles:

• Is the Mac Pro on Life Support?
• The Apple Hardware Report: Make it Better, Not Cheaper!
• Revisiting the Midrange Mac Minitower in a Down Economy
• Apple’s Products — But What About the Software?
• The Argument Against Major Mac Redesigns

To be sure, Macs have the reputation of offering pretty decent reliability, particularly when compared to a Windows PC. This isn’t to say they don’t fail, but it doesn’t happen very often, except, perhaps, early in the production process and usually due to some unexpected issue rather than a persistent defect.

Where problems are discovered later on in the production cycle, Apple will often set up an extended repair program that extends the warranty on the affected part or parts for an extra two or three years. That means that you shouldn’t have to pay for repairs if one of those parts fails.

Apple also sells AppleCare policies — basically a form of anti-breakdown insurance — that extends the warranty of a Mac from one to three years, and from one to two years on an iPod or iPhone.

After that, you’re on your own, unless you have a third-party extended repair contract that may last four or even five years. Worse, the cost of even a minor repair will usually exceed the cash value of your hardware, and it may not cost a whole lot more to just buy a brand new replacement.

Continue Reading...

Related Articles:

• Can Apple Blow It Before Microsoft Self Destructs?
• The i-What? Questions Persist About the iPad
• So Do We Really Know Everything About Apple’s January 27th Event?
• The 27-inch iMac Aftermath: Does Apple Ship Too Early?
• Does Apple Build the Gear You Want?

When releasing a new operating system, Apple will almost always tout a huge number of new features. With Leopard, that list exceeded 300, although some of the changes were, at best, exceedingly inconsequential in the scheme of things. But they look great as bullet points in Keynote presentations.

The exception will apparently be Snow Leopard, which is supposed to be a catch up release to fix underlying system performance. The actual list of new features will evidently be rather small, although the rumor sites are claiming that there are going to be at least some unannounced user interface refinements.

With the release of its Safari 4.0 public beta, Apple is once again playing the numbers game. This time, they’re boasting 150 features, but you have to look closely to see the true picture. You see most of those features are the ones you’ve already come to know and love — or whatever you feel about some of them.

Continue Reading...

Related Articles:

• Another Chapter in the Microsoft Death Watch
• Does Windows 7 Make a Difference?
• Does it Really Matter When Snow Leopard Appears?
• More Potential Nightmares for Microsoft
• Newsletter #474 Preview: Is Apple Using Focus Group Testing?

Accompanying reports of the upcoming Apple shareholders meeting is the fact that Steve Jobs won’t attend. This is supposedly a big deal, considering all the concerns about his health and all.

However, the tech pundits who have turned this development into a major story seem to be ignoring the critical fact of Jobs’ decision to take a medical leave from the company for six months. Logically speaking, that also means that he is not going to show up at public events. How could it be otherwise?

Sure, it’s right to talk about Apple’s future, possible new product directions and how they’d manage the succession process should Jobs decide, for whatever reason, not to return. I can well understand that there are concerns — valid ones — as to how well Apple will do without Jobs at the helm.

While lots have companies have CEOs moving in and out of the executive suite in a musical chairs fashion, a founder of the company is the person who shapes its direction, particularly if that person is a charismatic visionary.

Continue Reading...

Related Articles:

• Welcome to the Silly Season: Has Apple’s Creativity Left?
• Can Apple Blow It Before Microsoft Self Destructs?
• Is Apple Caving to the Antiglare Brigade?
• Getting Used to Apple Without Steve Who?
• Apple’s Stock on the Rise: What’s Wall Street Telling Us?