Is my anger due to the original MacBooks being discontinued a reasonable reaction?

place to inserts discs (don’t know what that part is called). It’s called an optical drive.

Eh, Steve Jobs and the rest of Apple have a history of being assholes to their customers, I’d have expected something of the sort to happen sooner or later.

@Aethelflaed Thanks.

@King_Pariah I want to send a letter to tell them how I feel about this. To think how many people this company has inconvenienced and lost business from!

@desiree333 Knowing Apple, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it because they know how many people will actually pony up the money to get a Pro. Apple has many fans, but none for the reasonable prices.

Apple doesn’t keep any model for long. The white MacBooks ran their course. If you really want one, you can get a refurbished one.

The white MacBooks have been gone for a long time—especially by Apple’s standards. All of Apple’s laptops went aluminum around the time that the Macbook Air first came out. I am surprised, however, that they eliminated regular MacBooks altogether. It’s annoying, but I guess people are increasingly capable of making do with an external optical drive these days.

At least my wife will be excited that the Air is now available at a lower price point. She has wanted one since they first came out.

Time to go PC. <runs and hides>

@dappled_leaves Some would say it hardly matters anymore.

@SavoirFaire The white MacBooks were discontinued in August this year. It hasn’t been a long time. I really don’t want to have to get an external optical drive. I don’t understand why they just don’t include it inside the laptop! It’s not like it gets in the way or adds much weight I don’t think.

@dappled_leaves I’ve had PCs all my life and I want a Mac so it will hopefully last throughout university.

@desiree333 Macs don’t last longer than PCs. Macs are well made, and not all PCs are, but many PCs last just as long as Macs. Macs are also more likely to become obsolete quicker (because Apple pulls stunts like discontinuing Macbooks, and then discontinuing support for those Macbooks).

@Aethelflaed Hmm. Well, I need a new computer and my OSAP will pay for it. I know, being a student (will be a student for 10 more years) that I will be in debt and probably broke many times. I won’t be able to afford a Mac on my own so I want to try one while I can with my funding.

@desiree333 If you like Macs, get a Mac. I was just trying to say that if the only reason you want a Mac (and are going to pay extra money for one) is the extra life, then you should know, it doesn’t have one, and that’s money that could be spent elsewhere.

@desiree333 When my wife tried replacing her old white MacBook, she was told they were unavailable and had to get an aluminum MacBook instead. She went to an Apple Store, though, so maybe they just stopped shipping them to retail outlets while still selling them online. You’re the one who has been using the Apple website lately, so you would know that better than I. My mistake.

As for the optical drive, the official line when the MacBook Air first arrived was that people didn’t use optical drives when out and about. It was much more practical for the computer to be thin (too thin to hold a drive) and light if it was going to be taken from place to place. Unofficially, however, I think it also has to do with encouraging use of the iTunes store and generally bypassing physical media altogether.

@SavoirFaire That’s okay. I am hoping I can still purchase one at Future Shop or my University’s store (they sell Apple stuff, even iPods and iPads surprisingly). Oh that makes sense, so the Air lacks an optical drive so it can be as thin as it is. That really bothers me that Apple tries to push iTunes on people so much, it will probably soon be the only way for Mac users to store any music on their computer.

The still have MacBooks at the refurbished store. The refurb stuff comes with a new battery and the same warranty.

I am pissed too. I had to go eBay to get a Walkman.

It definitly sucks, I saved a grand and a half for the hp laptop Iw as going to get and it was discontinued a few weeks before I could order it, so I had to get one with less features :(

Seems par for the course with Apple, the reason why they are so innovative and pushing with changes is because they don’t mind forcing new things on customers and not trying to support legacy designs and standards like many other makers do.

However, According to Engadget Apple is still selling the Macbook through educational institutions for students, so check if your school might be selling them.

@XOIIO Ughh, I feel your pain.

@sinscriven Exactly, how can you still sell deviations of the MacBook such as the Air and Pro but not honour the whole legacy by suddenly discontinuing the original model. Why couldn’t they just update it? Yes, my university has a tech store that sells them. I hope they still do now and that they didn’t jack up the price due to the new demand.

I also heard that there is no headphone jack in the Air either! Hopefully that is not true.

@desiree333

“Why couldn’t they just update it? ”

They did. Today, what was the MacBook is now the MacBook Pro.

@crisw But the MacBook Pro already existed. The new MacBook Pro is the updated version of the old MacBook Pro, not the old MacBook.

@SavoirFaire

Indeed, there was a MacBook Pro before the current MBP- I have one of the old ones. But the MacBook did indeed become the MacBook Pro.

@crisw That’s a misleading headline. The article is about the computer I am typing on at this very moment, which is most definitely not a MacBook Pro. When I bought this computer, I had various options. I considered buying a MacBook Pro instead, but went with the (newly aluminum) MacBook.