I thought the same thing about the MacBook because of what you hear in the tech echo chamber. The reality is that I t's mostly bullshit -- the notebooks have been selling extremely well. The disgruntled "pro" audience is mostly bullshit.
Intel isn't focusing very well on his category of product. Most of the PC OEMs have similar challenges -- faster laptops are bigger, have worse battery life and usually shittier screens.
I'm not sure how much to extract from this article but it seems a leap to state definitively that "the notebooks have been selling extremely well" and that concerns are mostly bullshit. I have no dog in the fight as I am fine with the MBP overall, but this article cites no hard data. And the sole quote from Apple references only initial sales at their online store. That's good news but it doesn't speak definitively to overall initial sales, let alone multi-month/longer-term sales. The only other quote is from an MBP supply component company and is encouraging but ambiguous and isn't about actual sales but its own internal forecasts.
MBP sales may indeed turn out to be great and these are apparently good signals as to potential, but it'd be premature to conclude from these reports that it is selling "great", relative to either historical periods or to particular expectations, let alone that it will continue to do so if it is.
The "tech echo chamber" is really the discussion of the market leaders. It won't affect sales this generation, but look for reduced sales next generation, and the bottom to fall out the generation after that unless Apple really shakes up their development model.
Intel isn't focusing very well on his category of product. Most of the PC OEMs have similar challenges -- faster laptops are bigger, have worse battery life and usually shittier screens.