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After the iPod, this was what really helped. As someone on a college campus in 2006, the influx of people with MacBooks (not necessarily Pro’s but the regular o

by sylens 3y ago

After the iPod, this was what really helped. As someone on a college campus in 2006, the influx of people with MacBooks (not necessarily Pro’s but the regular one in black and white cases) was astonishing to watch, as they suddenly could dual boot Windows if they absolutely had to for their coursework. Combined with a much better version of iTunes as the iPod rose to prominence (the Video one came out the year before) and it became an easy sell to any 18 or 19 year old and their parents.

amatecha 3y ago
Yeah, I remember that explosion of MacBooks + iPods appearing everywhere in ~2006. It really stood out to me - suddenly almost everyone I knew was getting a MacBook (particularly people who had never owned anything from Apple before). The platform was really good then (IMO). :)
- saiya-jin 3y ago
  Sorry to tame down those rosy memories, but nothing like that was happening in Europe, or rest of the world for that matter. Apple was seen as vastly overpriced to PC (something students and their parents react very much to), without any added value if you ignore massive marketing (not going into other Apple products since they really stood above the crowd, but ecosystem wasn't existing much back then). Basically a very expensive PC built together with custom OS, without any possibility to extend or modify it, very un-hacker if I may say so. If you used it as Windows machine it was much smarter to go to similarly-priced enterprise laptops, which offered things like NBD on-site warranty repairs (I had whole keyboard block replaced once on Dell, from manifestation to fix it took maybe 1 hour and I just took a long coffee break), with which Apple simply couldn't compete in business segments.
  - paulryanrogers 3y ago
    Not sure why this was down voted. I for one appreciate a perspective outside the US bubble. Perhaps someone else from Europe can weigh in?
  - amatecha 3y ago
    Yeah, literally not one of the people I'm thinking of that bought a MacBook in those days cared about extending/modifying or hacking it. Not even adding RAM. They were legitimately good machines with a good operating system, that worked really well for these people. I was "the designated tech guy" for basically everyone I knew in those days, and I got almost zero queries about these Macs in those days. BTW, this was in Vancouver, Canada, not in US. Either way in NA the Apple platform had a serious resurgence then. The MacBooks were actually seriously solid in comparison to equivalently-spec'ed Dell or HP laptops, and those manufacturers didn't even come close in terms of hardware quality (especially the trackpad). Combined with the skyrocketing popularity of the iPod, there's really no doubt it was a good time for Apple and its users.

by sylens 3y ago

amatecha 3y ago

Yeah, I remember that explosion of MacBooks + iPods appearing everywhere in ~2006. It really stood out to me - suddenly almost everyone I knew was getting a MacBook (particularly people who had never owned anything from Apple before). The platform was really good then (IMO). :)

saiya-jin 3y ago
Sorry to tame down those rosy memories, but nothing like that was happening in Europe, or rest of the world for that matter. Apple was seen as vastly overpriced to PC (something students and their parents react very much to), without any added value if you ignore massive marketing (not going into other Apple products since they really stood above the crowd, but ecosystem wasn't existing much back then). Basically a very expensive PC built together with custom OS, without any possibility to extend or modify it, very un-hacker if I may say so. If you used it as Windows machine it was much smarter to go to similarly-priced enterprise laptops, which offered things like NBD on-site warranty repairs (I had whole keyboard block replaced once on Dell, from manifestation to fix it took maybe 1 hour and I just took a long coffee break), with which Apple simply couldn't compete in business segments.
- paulryanrogers 3y ago
  Not sure why this was down voted. I for one appreciate a perspective outside the US bubble. Perhaps someone else from Europe can weigh in?
- amatecha 3y ago
  Yeah, literally not one of the people I'm thinking of that bought a MacBook in those days cared about extending/modifying or hacking it. Not even adding RAM. They were legitimately good machines with a good operating system, that worked really well for these people. I was "the designated tech guy" for basically everyone I knew in those days, and I got almost zero queries about these Macs in those days. BTW, this was in Vancouver, Canada, not in US. Either way in NA the Apple platform had a serious resurgence then. The MacBooks were actually seriously solid in comparison to equivalently-spec'ed Dell or HP laptops, and those manufacturers didn't even come close in terms of hardware quality (especially the trackpad). Combined with the skyrocketing popularity of the iPod, there's really no doubt it was a good time for Apple and its users.