The decision is still based on marketing feedback. Basically, Apple marketing believes that the market will allow them to make *more* profit by giving the base M3 with 8 GB of RAM and one external monitor support. The engineering side designs the chip to this requirement and saves cost to increase profit margin.
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Macs With M3 Chip Still Officially Support Only a Single External Display
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No Apple chose money, in their bank. $1600 get you 8 GB and one external monitor. It's all about profit.
Or you can save the $400 to buy a second monitor or a bunch of other peripherals and accessories if the $1600 M3 can do two external monitors.
Yes, I think this is the key point. Apple made a (IMO reasonable) compromise not to include the 3rd display controller in the base M chips. But I think, if the internal display could be disabled in clamshell mode & both exposed as external displays that would make a lot of people happy.
I had this on a ThinkPad back in 2012 - it could only run 2 displays *at a time*, but was capable of turning off the internal display. Not perfect, but good enough if you're putting it in a docking station anyway.
And they wonder why MacBook product line sales are down 34%. Things like this are just so short-sighted. Product differentiation is necessary, I understand that, but for a machine to only support a single display for this kind of money is nonsense.
Yes, it is. It is a basic, high quality device, as opposed to most of the competition at this price level which are advanced, low quality devices. Price in itself is not indicative of the product type.
A high quality kitchen knife costs the same as a low quality chainsaw.
(This being said, I agree that it's ridiculous for MBP to only support one external display)
Can't have anything to do with so many being sold in 2020-2022 with buyers yet feeling the need to upgrade.
Nope must be over a feature most of them never realized missing !!
And yet consumers keep buying their products so where’s the incentive not to behave like this?
Everyone is complaining that there are no cheap new cars, but yet when they are/were cheap new car everyone bought specced out SUVs.
With Apple it's a bit different, "everyone" (the vast majority) buys what is on sale at amazon (the base spec), barely glances at the specs and is happy with it for the next 3-7 years, while a loud minority is nonstop whining (many of whom wouldn't buy even if all the "issues" were to be fixed).
Yes, that's part of it too. I'm not suggesting this is the only reason for sales being down. The cost of living crisis is going to be part of it too. But stiffing consumers by not including what many would see are essential features, even for a base model, isn't going to be helping.
Why'd anyone want to buy an iMac and have loads of screens off of it, just the one extra with it is going to look ugly.
A winking emoji was a pretty clear indication this was a joke.
Apple dropped the entry-level price by $400, and still you whine about it not supporting more than 2 displays. The new 14" M3 Pro is now the same price as the M1 and M2 entry level MacBook Pros.
WTF do you want? Free?
WTF do you want? Free?
They did not drop it by $400 and $500 Windows laptops and $300 Chromebooks can support two displays. Just because you don’t mind it doesn’t mean everyone does.
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A call centre has very little need for processing power, so two monitors will make very little difference. For most it seems more about fashion statement than real need.
Wrong. It’s obvious you’ve never seen a modern call center. Processing power and dual monitors have nothing to do with one another.
May I direct you to this page @ Apple.com? There it is: 14" MBP $1,599. The M1 & M2 MBP's were $1,999. Where are you getting your information from? And it does support two displays: built-in and external. And if you want a $500 windows or $300 Chromebook, why don't you stop complaining about Apple, and buy one of them, instead?
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Get a new MacBook Pro from only $133.25 per month. Select a model or customise your own. Buy now at apple.com.
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Why not get an Intel MacBook Air from 2018 that can do two external displays then?
Or why not just get rid of all external monitor support? It's a laptop so why would anyone need to plug it into multiple displays?