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Report predicts "monster holiday season" for Apple

Apple appears set to ride a surging wave of holiday spending, with customers reporting a big jump in their plans to buy new Mac notebooks over the next three months.

According to research performed by ChangeWave, buyers who report plans to buy a new notebook computer in the next 90 days have peaked to 10 percent of the survey group of 2,812 people, the highest level noted in the last three years.

Apple's share of that market has also jumped, from around 25 percent to 36 percent of the survey group. Buyers' sharply increased plans are likely related to the introduction of the new MacBook Air, which reaches new lower price points while delivering iPad-like portability.

Research director Paul Carton wrote, "the manufacturer most responsible for the surge in laptop demand is Apple, with 36 percent of planned laptops buyers saying they'll purchase a Mac, a huge 11 percentage point jump since our previous survey of a month ago.

"Simply put," Carton said, "it's the highest level of planned laptop buying ever for Apple in a ChangeWave survey."



57 Comments

solipsism 18 Years · 25701 comments

I wonder how those MacBook Airs will sell when they are just really slow “netbooks” for 3x the price, according to some.

aaarrrgggh 18 Years · 1607 comments

Curse those insider traders!!!

Like this should be a surprise to anyone here...

dcj001 17 Years · 301 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism

I wonder how those MacBook Airs will sell when they are just really slow “netbooks” for 3x the price, according to some. \

New Benchmarks Show 13-Inch MacBook Air Rivaling Its MacBook Pro Counterpart



http://www.macrumors.com/2010/10/26/...o-counterpart/

nicolbolas 14 Years · 254 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by DCJ001

New Benchmarks Show 13-Inch MacBook Air Rivaling Its MacBook Pro Counterpart



well, this shows that its faster, but this is access times, when you try running something CPU or GPU intensive, show me the benchmarks.

that being said, a lot of people wouldn't need this speed.

also, i believe a test was with flash, vs. w/ out flash, but no other add ons, i would say these tests aren't that great...

addabox 22 Years · 12567 comments

You pick up the average netbook at BestBuy and you're likely to think "yeah, it's about all I can afford, I guess."

You pick up an 11" Air and you're likely to think "I wonder if I can scrape up a little more money so I can get this?"

The combination of size, weight, solidity, full size keyboard, excellent screen and OS X is just very compelling. I have no earthly use for one and I have to talk myself down every time I pick one up. Typically for Apple, a lot of little things go into a highly desirable whole.

For instance, i think I remember some people claiming that the Apple videos showing the 11" being flipped open with one hand were misleading, because the thing was so light you had to hold it down to get the screen up. But every one I've played with gets that exactly right, where it's almost effortless to lift the screen, but it stays exactly where you put it. Don't know if wear and tear will take a toll on this, but if it's designed like my MacBook Pro it seems to hold up pretty well. I think Apple may be the only CE company out there that would be willing to spend (what I would imagine to be) a great deal of time and effort to make sure something like lifting and orienting the screen is excellent.