Filed under: Apple Financial, iMac, Macbook Pro, MacBook
November sales data: Mac desktops down, laptops strong
The NPD data for November retail sales have arrived, and the news is not that cheery: year-over-year Mac sales were flat last month, while Windows PC sales grew 7 percent over 2007's total. Desktops on both platforms got hammered, with 20% drops across both platforms -- Windows machines down 15% and Mac desktop sales down a dramatic 38%. Some of this may be attributable to the long-idle Mac mini (soon to be refreshed, we hear), static feature set of the iMac, and reduced purchasing of Mac Pros and iMacs by education and corporate customers, but consumer buying is clearly down for the desktop.
The tables are turned on the portable side: year over year, Mac laptop sales grew 22 percent for November vs. a Windows increase of 15%. This is good news for Apple's refreshed portables as customers do seem to be taking to the unibody models. It's not clear from the report whether the blossoming netbook category, which includes a sizable chunk of machines shipped with a flavor of Linux, counts entirely as Windows laptop sales or if it's chopped up by the shipping OS -- I'll try to find out. Update: NPD tells me that the Linux netbooks were included in the Windows sales number, but those configurations didn't make a material difference to retail sales.
Did your microeconomic purchasing plans for year's end get derailed by the macroeconomic circumstances? Let us know below.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adam said 2:47PM on 12-16-2008
I just find these numbers really hard to read into. Was there a similar event at the end of October or early November last year that would have also triggered higher sales? With as much anticipation as the new laptops had, and how long people were willing to wait to buy I think it may have severely skewed the numbers, while at the same time Windows sales saw growth due to netbook, sub-$500 laptop sales.
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Will Ferrel said 3:46PM on 12-16-2008
has anyone noticed if that in the menu bar of their laptop that when you click on the battery symbol the drop down-ish menu that appears no longer has the ability to do the quick change between your power settings? as in i haven't updated my other laptop yet and it still has the ability to switch directly from your "better battery life", "normal" and "better performance" settings without having to go into system preferences thru this drop down menu.
after updating yesterday my macbook no longer shows that option. am i imagining that it was there?
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Alex said 4:02PM on 12-16-2008
No, mine disappeared also, I have no idea why they would take that out...
Jash Sayani said 3:21PM on 12-16-2008
I am getting a MacBook this Christmas !! YAY!
Can anyone tell me weather there is an Apple Store in Dubai..? Thanks.
Coz, I will be getting it from there....
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Anthony said 4:43PM on 12-16-2008
This trend seems to make sense to me. Laptops are very powerful and, depending on the model, can rival many desktop configurations for everything but constant scientific calculation crunching. (Not sure my lap could take that kind of heat!!!)
Recently I'm moved from a 2002 1Ghz DP G4 to a MacBook Pro Late 2008 which now allows me to edit video, mix multitrack audio, send and receive streaming content, and most anything else I need to do to produce materials for business presentations. And of course the laptop is capable of being my entertainment center while on those business trips.
Expandability is not as expansive as a Mac Pro. Not a problem for me though, because I'd rather have the portability and leave the extra drives and monitor at home.
In a perfect world I'd own both. As with most companies these days, the budget only has room for one or the other. Laptop wins.
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samuel said 6:24PM on 12-16-2008
What do you expect us to do, keep buying new laptops and computers. Come on, I earn £6 on a bar, I live in London and have to pay the rent. A timeCapsule cost me >£300, but I love my Mac and that's what counts.
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Faye said 8:15PM on 12-16-2008
Re: my Fall 2008 purchase of an iMac: I had saved some money in a CD that matured late this October because my previous desktop (a 2002 Dell) was getting ready for retirement. That provided just enough for the iMac plus a 1TB USB drive for its Time Machine backups. So this purchase didn't come out of my "operating budget".
I switched because I didn't want any part of Vista, and had gotten increasingly interested in Leopard; attended a couple of Leopard workshops and then bought my very first laptop (a MacBook) in early 2008. By November, I was ready to leave Windoze behind.
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Robb said 8:36PM on 12-16-2008
Actually, other news makes this a lot worst. A price bubble is bursting for used Macs too. People may be reluctant to buy a New Mac, if it unable to hold a over heated resale value.
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Joey said 10:18PM on 12-16-2008
"Mac desktop sales down a dramatic 38%"
Apple's portables are priced fairly reasonably. Enough so that I don't wince when I drop $1K every three years for an upgrade. However the desktop choices for someone in my price range are abysmal. They don't even offer an expandable system under $2400.
So it's of little surprise to me that their desktop sales are floundering. I mean if I'm going to spend $1500 on an all in one system, I might as well get a portable.
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Matthew Sandoval said 2:03AM on 12-17-2008
Yes, the macro environment has definitely impacted my purchasing decisions.
However, all things being equal, I still would probably be typing from a new MacBook right now.
Unfortunately, Apple's decision to pull FireWire from the consumer laptops killed it for me.
Yes, the economy sucks. But stupid decisions by Apple suck more.
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Carl Dobbins said 8:01AM on 12-17-2008
I don't have confidence in Apple. Feature changes are made in hardware and functionality without adequate disclosure. Four of my six purchases in three years have needed fixes. Reported costs for covered fixes are highly inflated which leads me to mistrust Apple's integrity.
I don't have plans to change computers right now. I had wanted to buy a MacBook Pro but I'm waiting for actual user reports given Apple's lack of transparency.
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bioadam said 10:41AM on 12-18-2008
I received my MacBook yesterday. It was not so much an early holiday gift as it was a belated replacement for an old Dell I sold off in October. When you add up features, longevity, and resale value, the MacBook makes a lot more sense than a budget Windows machine.
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bioadam said 11:06AM on 12-18-2008
I received my MacBook yesterday. It was not so much an early holiday gift as it was a belated replacement for an old Dell I sold off in October. When you add up features, longevity, and resale value, the MacBook makes a lot more sense than a budget Windows machine and if you need a computer, it is always a good time to buy.
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