Cheaper MacBooks spark outrage
Nick Heer: The New MacBook Pro Is €35 Less Expensive in E.U. Countries, Ships Without a Charger
In Ireland, the MacBook Pro used to start at €1,949; it now starts at €1,849; in France, it was €1,899, and it is now €1,799. As mentioned, the adapter is €65, making these new Macs €35 less with a comparable configuration. The same is true in each Euro-currency country I checked: Germany, Italy, and Spain all received a €100 price cut if you do not want an A.C. adapter, and a €35 price cut if you do.
This current outrage cycle is just silly business. As Heer nicely breaks down, not only is much of the complaining performative, it’s also wrong on the facts. In reality, Apple is doing exactly what these people say they ought to be doing by lowering the price in some countries.
For clarity, the law in question that goes into effect in April makes it required that certain classes of tech products, including laptops, to be sold to users with the option to not get a charging brick included. The law does not block companies from including a charging brick, it just makes sure that customers who don't need one aren't required to get one. The goal of this law is to reduce the amount of e-waste being created from chargers that users don't need.
We can certainly debate whether this is something reasonable for a government body to mandate, but I think the goal is a good one. I saw this peculiar post from Mark Gurman when the news broke:
But, to be clear, I find the law completely ridiculous. MacBooks require special chargers and can’t get away with any off the shelf component or a friend’s charger like a phone can.
Apologies for my bluntness, but he's just plain wrong here. I was recently on a trip to Toronto, and for the entire week, I charged my MacBook Pro with a 20W charging brick over USB-C. It didn't charge particularly fast, but it totally worked.
Meanwhile, I haven't used the included charging brick in a Mac for at least five years because I use a Thunderbolt dock, and when I'm not around that, I just use whatever random-ass USB-C cable I have handy, and they all work fine. My wife bought a MacBook Air last year, and she's not once used the included charging brick or cable. She exclusively uses an old Dell USB-C charger that was already plugged into the wall in our living room.
Now obviously there are people who will need a charging brick because maybe this is their first laptop or they've given their old computer to somebody else, including the brick, and now they don't have it anymore. I'm not saying nobody needs this, I'm just saying I would wager there are quite a few people buying MacBook Pros who already have a drawer full of cables and charging bricks that are completely useless, and many of them would buy this computer and throw the included charging brick straight in that drawer. They've already got a surplus. What's one more?
And I'll reiterate, in numerous countries, these laptops are €100 cheaper than they were before. And even if you do buy the charging brick with the computer, you're still saving €35. Tell me again why we’re upset about this?
