Lets talk about "Pro"

[brenan999]

This isn't all about the MacBook Pro but since it's probably the biggest offender these days so many things will refer back to it. Also a bit of background on where I am coming from I grew up with Apple products the first computer in the house had Apple OS 7 maybe even 6. But that's what I grew up on and what I learned to use. To this day there are a few obscure shortcuts I learned then, that I still use today. First computer I ever bought was a first gen Mac Mini, odd to think that the base model didn't even have WiFi, now it's hard to find an ethernet cable on anything but a server. I have a MBP, a mid 2012 that is dire need of replacement but that will have to wait. I have a virtualized OSX set up and I have a very powerful gaming PC that is listed in my signature. I also use an iPhone 6 mostly because I hate how android phones just magically burn up battery for no reason.

 

So first of all what does Pro mean. Now that you've made up your mind I'm glad to let you know that I probably disagree and that your definition also differs from the next person. But why is that? In a word, marketing.

Just think of all the everyday things in the tech aisles that you will see. Now how many of them say pro and how many of them are a better version of a similar product. That's right you are probably seeing "pro" versions of products that don't have a different version available other than storage size or colours. So why is that you may be scratching your head.

 

Well cost justification is one thing but the biggest thing is word association. Pro is a word choice that isn't excluding to most people unlike elite (although you may argue differently and that's ok) but it also shows where the target is marketed in a non confusing manner. Look at old XBox 360 Arcade for example. Who is that marketed to? Say you're a parent buying little Timmy that console at Christmas and you have the 3 options of XB360, XB360 Arcade and XB360 Elite. Well the Elite is more expensive and well he just wants to play games so the other 2 would work. So which one do you pick if you know nothing about it? The cheaper option, the Arcade as the naming doesn't do anything to help the buyer decide.

 

Lets look at a different company and how they market their phones well without using the word Pro, Samsung. You have the S7, the Active, Edge and Note. The names also all relate to the intended purpose of what they were built around. The Note strikes people as business oriented or for the person that likes to keep track of things closely (well at least before the 7's all started blowing up), the Active for the person on the adventurous side, the Edge when seen becomes apparent and in many cases is a very style driven phone and well the S7 is the the Jack of all Trades. Now you can disagree with me that's fine but like it or not ask someone what the word note or active means to them outside of a phone and I bet it's similar.

 

So how does that apply to pro's, well again it's word association, leading us to Apple. There have been Mac Pro's, iPad Pro's and MacBook Pro's. But have they ever been "pro?" The Mac Pro yes; as they have Xeon's and have generally offered very powerful processors even when it was Power PC days. They have always been a large source of power to the user that has needed it. The iPad, no. Even though the display may be better, the processor is faster, who at this point cares. When was the last time you used a tablet and went this needs to be just slightly faster? Yes you can use it as a tablet for drawing and design but so can a Wacom tablet that attaches to your even more powerful laptop or desktop regardless of OS. So why is it a Pro, because it has a higher spec than the base model.

 

Before I get on about the MBP if you're going yeah it's a small spec difference that makes for better performance that's why it's pro. Well not really. Look at Micro SD cards SanDisk and Lexar both have a pro series. I have a GoPro4 Black and shoot stuff in 4K on the pro and non pro versions of those cards. The pro versions list that they are designed for 4K whereas the next model down makes no mention of this. I've used both in the GoPro and it makes no difference in 4K. Which is my point, the average user who uses a Micro SD card in an action cam will never have the end footage affected by it not being pro. This would be even less pronounced in a cell phone.

 

So why buy "Pro?" Having worked retail a lot of people just want the best of a brand they are a fan of regardless of what it is. Phones, printers, cameras, flash drives. So going back to that MacBook Pro. It's the same thing they want the best laptop that Apple makes. Now most on this forum would go why buy Apple there are way better laptops out there for the money. You're right there are better spec'd units out there but if you're like me you enjoy the OS. It's something I grew up with so it is comfortable and easy to navigate. I didn't get a similar comfort level with PC until I took my A+ certification. So for myself when I upgrade my laptop I'm going to want to have the most powerful version of what I'm comfortable with. It may cost more but I find it easier to use and easier use makes you want to use it. Specs don't make comfort. I do have issues with OSX but that's a conversation for a different time.

 

So if you place the MBP in the lineup of laptops it's easy to see why it's "Pro." Lets break it down. You have the MacBook with it's singular port design making it great for the lightweight basic use case scenario. The Air 13, legacy ports, light and with power between that of the MacBook and the Pro. This model in 2 years, will likely no longer be for sale so that way there will only be MacBook and MacBook Pro. It was never axed this year to act as the transitional unit in the mean time. Then the Pro, it's the fastest and has the best features of all their laptops. The flagship of this line.

 

So why are we pissed at these new MBP's? Again like the first question it's marketing, this time the marketing Apple has used over the years. Apples marketing for the MBP in the beginning was very much catered to the creative professional. Now they are marketing it as thin, ligh,t and responsive. Things that the average consumer cares about not the creatives. Most people aren't going to to do their primary work on a laptop. It's the change in direction. It feels like Apple has started to ignore the creatives that praised it in the past. The other side seems to be PC users or the tinker types that always like to keep things going that have given massive criticism why because they are used to the upgrades and enhancements that can slowly be rolled out. Not saying this is a bad attitude but the average Mac user doesn't care about changing out their RAM. They probably didn't realize that was an option to begin with.

 

TL;DR

The word Pro that is being used these days is different from the one used a decade ago when it was attached to a product. It's evolved in meaning and defines more than a group of users and is now a tool to show where it sits in a product lineup.

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

17 minutes ago, brenan999 said:

The word Pro that is being used these days is different from the one used a decade ago when it was attached to a product. It's evolved in meaning and defines more than a group of users and is now a tool to show where it sits in a product lineup.

Pro has been replaced by 'enterprise'.

[kokakolia]

This isn't a new thing. 

 

Take the word "Premium" for example. You see it on cheap junk food like beer, potato chips, wieners and bologna. These foods are obviously targeted towards fine-dining rich people LOL. 

 

The most surprising and awesome example of this is probably Grey Poupon mustard. It's nothing more than regular mustard in a glass jar. But the marketing was so good that even rappers sing about it today. It all started with this rich old man in a limo eating lunch:

 

 

[BuckGup]

Yeah it is a word that people abuse the definition because they shortened it. Professional still holds true but Pro was ruined with Wii sports and becoming a Pro bowler.

[brenan999]

9 minutes ago, kokakolia said:

Take the word "Premium" for example. You see it on cheap junk food like beer, potato chips, wieners and bologna. These foods are obviously targeted towards fine-dining rich people LOL. 

 

That's an excellent point and shows that marketing is just the worst. But at least we get a few solid commercials out of a few products.

Another word or phrase is Super Bowl which instead of big football game has become known as; half time and the only time you intentionally watch commercials.

[brenan999]

5 minutes ago, SamStrecker said:

Yeah it is a word that people abuse the definition because they shortened it. Professional still holds true but Pro was ruined with Wii sports and becoming a Pro bowler.

Which I think has been the hard part in the transition. 

[Mooshi]

The reason why Apple gets the most flack has to do with their own PR making them appear both pompous and Chester Cheeta "hip" at the same time within the creative market. 

 

I think we all remember those "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC"  commercials. These days, "pro" just seems like a tagline to mean "this is more than a dual core mainstream PC you pick up from Walmart." 

[Lord Nicoll]

1 hour ago, brenan999 said:

This isn't all about the MacBook Pro but since it's probably the biggest offender these days so many things will refer back to it. Also a bit of background on where I am coming from I grew up with Apple products the first computer in the house had Apple OS 7 maybe even 6. But that's what I grew up on and what I learned to use. To this day there are a few obscure shortcuts I learned then, that I still use today. First computer I ever bought was a first gen Mac Mini, odd to think that the base model didn't even have WiFi, now it's hard to find an ethernet cable on anything but a server. I have a MBP, a mid 2012 that is dire need of replacement but that will have to wait. I have a virtualized OSX set up and I have a very powerful gaming PC that is listed in my signature. I also use an iPhone 6 mostly because I hate how android phones just magically burn up battery for no reason.

 

So first of all what does Pro mean. Now that you've made up your mind I'm glad to let you know that I probably disagree and that your definition also differs from the next person. But why is that? In a word, marketing.

Just think of all the everyday things in the tech aisles that you will see. Now how many of them say pro and how many of them are a better version of a similar product. That's right you are probably seeing "pro" versions of products that don't have a different version available other than storage size or colours. So why is that you may be scratching your head.

 

Well cost justification is one thing but the biggest thing is word association. Pro is a word choice that isn't excluding to most people unlike elite (although you may argue differently and that's ok) but it also shows where the target is marketed in a non confusing manner. Look at old XBox 360 Arcade for example. Who is that marketed to? Say you're a parent buying little Timmy that console at Christmas and you have the 3 options of XB360, XB360 Arcade and XB360 Elite. Well the Elite is more expensive and well he just wants to play games so the other 2 would work. So which one do you pick if you know nothing about it? The cheaper option, the Arcade as the naming doesn't do anything to help the buyer decide.

 

Lets look at a different company and how they market their phones well without using the word Pro, Samsung. You have the S7, the Active, Edge and Note. The names also all relate to the intended purpose of what they were built around. The Note strikes people as business oriented or for the person that likes to keep track of things closely (well at least before the 7's all started blowing up), the Active for the person on the adventurous side, the Edge when seen becomes apparent and in many cases is a very style driven phone and well the S7 is the the Jack of all Trades. Now you can disagree with me that's fine but like it or not ask someone what the word note or active means to them outside of a phone and I bet it's similar.

 

So how does that apply to pro's, well again it's word association, leading us to Apple. There have been Mac Pro's, iPad Pro's and MacBook Pro's. But have they ever been "pro?" The Mac Pro yes; as they have Xeon's and have generally offered very powerful processors even when it was Power PC days. They have always been a large source of power to the user that has needed it. The iPad, no. Even though the display may be better, the processor is faster, who at this point cares. When was the last time you used a tablet and went this needs to be just slightly faster? Yes you can use it as a tablet for drawing and design but so can a Wacom tablet that attaches to your even more powerful laptop or desktop regardless of OS. So why is it a Pro, because it has a higher spec than the base model.

 

Before I get on about the MBP if you're going yeah it's a small spec difference that makes for better performance that's why it's pro. Well not really. Look at Micro SD cards SanDisk and Lexar both have a pro series. I have a GoPro4 Black and shoot stuff in 4K on the pro and non pro versions of those cards. The pro versions list that they are designed for 4K whereas the next model down makes no mention of this. I've used both in the GoPro and it makes no difference in 4K. Which is my point, the average user who uses a Micro SD card in an action cam will never have the end footage affected by it not being pro. This would be even less pronounced in a cell phone.

 

So why buy "Pro?" Having worked retail a lot of people just want the best of a brand they are a fan of regardless of what it is. Phones, printers, cameras, flash drives. So going back to that MacBook Pro. It's the same thing they want the best laptop that Apple makes. Now most on this forum would go why buy Apple there are way better laptops out there for the money. You're right there are better spec'd units out there but if you're like me you enjoy the OS. It's something I grew up with so it is comfortable and easy to navigate. I didn't get a similar comfort level with PC until I took my A+ certification. So for myself when I upgrade my laptop I'm going to want to have the most powerful version of what I'm comfortable with. It may cost more but I find it easier to use and easier use makes you want to use it. Specs don't make comfort. I do have issues with OSX but that's a conversation for a different time.

 

So if you place the MBP in the lineup of laptops it's easy to see why it's "Pro." Lets break it down. You have the MacBook with it's singular port design making it great for the lightweight basic use case scenario. The Air 13, legacy ports, light and with power between that of the MacBook and the Pro. This model in 2 years, will likely no longer be for sale so that way there will only be MacBook and MacBook Pro. It was never axed this year to act as the transitional unit in the mean time. Then the Pro, it's the fastest and has the best features of all their laptops. The flagship of this line.

 

So why are we pissed at these new MBP's? Again like the first question it's marketing, this time the marketing Apple has used over the years. Apples marketing for the MBP in the beginning was very much catered to the creative professional. Now they are marketing it as thin, ligh,t and responsive. Things that the average consumer cares about not the creatives. Most people aren't going to to do their primary work on a laptop. It's the change in direction. It feels like Apple has started to ignore the creatives that praised it in the past. The other side seems to be PC users or the tinker types that always like to keep things going that have given massive criticism why because they are used to the upgrades and enhancements that can slowly be rolled out. Not saying this is a bad attitude but the average Mac user doesn't care about changing out their RAM. They probably didn't realize that was an option to begin with.

 

TL;DR

The word Pro that is being used these days is different from the one used a decade ago when it was attached to a product. It's evolved in meaning and defines more than a group of users and is now a tool to show where it sits in a product lineup.

I use HP Proliant rack servers a lot, actual business professional gear, and gear for professional users, are to different things. A while they where the same, now it's slightly faster, lighter and costs a lot more, while the actual enterprise business grade gear costs even more it's scary, but it super robust, reliable, validated and just works, provided you buy from the qualified vendor list. That is what I consider professional, a product that works with/for you to get a job done, something that won't break and if it does you have a seriously good and speedy service route if you don't have a backup or spare on hand. 

[QueenDemetria]

"Pro": A subjective term that depends entirely on context, therefore making it an irrelevant term in most scenarios. 

 

Glad I could clear this up.

 

Edit: my computer has lots of specs.