[evildan]

I guess I have to consider myself pretty lucky. I've never been hit with the situation you find yourself in haasenphefer.

But I also learned this lesson many years ago from my father. He looks at this situation more linearly. He always said: “Research the product you want to buy. Consider all of the factors involved in your purchase. If you’re happy with the product then buy it. Don’t look at advertisements until you’re ready to be disappointed. And don’t talk yourself into waiting too long, or you’ll end up never buying the product at all.”

It’s no big secret that technology moves faster than we want it to sometimes. And I bet there isn’t a person reading this thread whose computer isn’t surpassed by something on the market today.

But speaking from your post, I admire the fact that you seek policy changes from Apple. I can’t say I agree 100% with the idea of releasing upcoming product information, because Apple’s main reason for doing this is to protect the resellers. I use to work for an Apple reseller, and the most commonly asked question before purchase was “Is something else going to come out in two months?”

To which, I could readily respond, “Apple doesn’t announce that information to us.”

Then the purchase would go on from that point. It was really up to the consumer, I couldn’t sway them one way or another, because I honestly didn’t know.

The simple fact is that most people won’t buy during that transitional period if they know something is going to be released soon. And when they don’t buy those products, it’s the reseller stuck with the computer, not Apple. (which is why most computers have to be ordered from those smaller computer stores).

If I know I am going to buy a computer, I call a few of my friends up to see if they’ve heard any rumours about upcoming product releases from Apple.

I also like to look at Apple’s website, to see when the last line was released. If it’s been more than six months and I can wait, I consider the possibility of waiting for a product release. But I am not willing to pay Apple’s hiked up debut price, because it’s not that important to me to have the fastest computer on the market. I usually end up buying the previous “top-of-the-line” computer. I’ve found you really have to let that part of your purchasing go when considering a computer.

I’ve also found that there are three kinds of people buying computers.

The first kind always want the top-of-the-line computer. Satisfaction of their purchase is immediate and also the shortest lived. As the market grows they consider themselves “behind” until they can afford their next computer. They purchase the most computers in a given time. Often paying the most because they need to have the best.

The second kind want the most bang for their buck. They want the fastest computer but they often have a budget that mandates what level of computer they end up with. Satisfaction is a bit longer than the first kind of purchaser, because they bought knowing they didn’t have the fastest computer to begin with. They also buy less, maybe every other generation or so.

The third kind of purchaser is the bargain shopper. They are less concerned with what they buy and more concerned about how much they spent for it. They very often purchase the oldest computers on the shelf. Buying for the long-term. They expect less from their computers so they hang on to them the longest.

Now, that being said, you can be one or any combination of these three types of buyers at once. You can also vary in the degree at which you fit into one of the three purchasers. But it's ideal to be the second purchaser.

At this point I want to make it clear I don't mean to suggest that somehow "you should have known better"... or "that's life", becuase it's not. And I can honestly say if I were you I would be feeling a bit “bitter” as well.

But you really didn’t get screwed, as much as you might think you did. You bought a product for an agreed amount of money. Your product works. It does everything Apple said it was going to do. And as soon as you cracked the seal on the box that computer dropped in value. It didn’t take a new line of computers released by Apple to do that.

This is where the Car analogy does ring true. Because people who buy new cars know this fact, they know that they spent a little more to have the best, for however long they could have it. They also take the risk that the car company won’t release a mid-year model. They also end up buying a product that very often has not been test in “real-world” conditions. Everyone who bought a new car in 1985 knows what I’m talking about. Often considered the worst year in car manufacturing... And why? Federal mandates required the installation of an onboard computer on models from that year and beyond. Most car manufactures were not ready for such an upgrade, so many of the cars had incompatibility problems with their computers.

I hope you can one day appreciate what you bought, not for my happiness, and surely not for Apple’s, but for your own. You seem like a nice person, who just happen to buy at the wrong time. You’re the consumer, and you really should be happy with you’re purchase, regardless of how much you spent.

My final advice is to go out and buy yourself an ice-cream cone. While you eat the ice cream think about your computer purchase and how lucky you are to have the money to even have a computer, see if you can feel better about it all by the time you finish the cone. (you might want to try a double scoop.) If you don't feel better, maybe remembering the fact that you had enough money left over to buy an ice cream cone will cheer you up a little.

Either way I hope one day you will be able to enjoy your mac.