It is a typical strategy of Apple to slightly underspec desirable aspects of a product like hard drive capacity or RAM (...or ports - sigh). That way, they can release an updated version where those specs are bumped, resulting in a product that is perceived as significantly better instead of just slightly better in comparison to the previous model.
I think it's also about using components that give you the largest gross margin - A slightly outdated model of a component will always be cheaper and more readily available than the cutting edge model - which further carries the risk of being less broadly tested.
An in-between step is often to offer that option (like a larger SSD), but at significant additional cost. Particularly with things like RAM, apple sometimes charges you more than twice the regular market price: Getting a Mac Pro, for instance, you pay ~1k € extra when jumping from 6GB RAM to 32GB. Buying 32GB of RAM (yes, ECC and everything), sets you back 400€.
Their SSD prices have gotten slightly more reasonable lately (buying the regular HDD option, selling that drive and buying your own SSD often saved you hundreds), although they're still a good bit off - especially considering that Apple buys OEM from Toshiba and in bulk.
My personal conclusion is always to buy the bare minimum configuration and upgrade myself - I purchased a Macbook Pro 17" at the smallest configuration and added an SSD and an extra regular 1TB drive. Will probably add some RAM later this year. Had I gotten all that at Apple right away, I would probably have to pay 50% extra (although they don't even offer the option of exchanging the DVD Drive with an HDD).
If this is like the Air (which I'm waiting for the teardown), then I'm not sure how normal people are supposed to upgrade the memory as it's soldered, while the hard drive is upgradeable (though probably not feasible for non-techies unaccustomed to opening up their laptop).
Ouch, you're absolutely right. This was also what I was thinking as I watched the ads - "Great, so my old strategy is useless now?". How quick one forgets... ;-)
I was hoping for the 512 upgrade option too. In the keynote though he mentioned that a lot of pro users like to use external disks and with thunderbolt transfer rates will be very fast. That's probably their reasoning.
My guess is the SSD upgrade would have cost something like $500 and at that point it doesn't make sense to differentiate it from the higher-end model which also includes the new processor.
Indeed. I think most pro's who would need a computer like this would want to get the 512GB option on the laptop just to secure themselves over the next few years, specifically because one can't upgrade the internal hard drive themselves like the old MacBook Pro.
Though it's possible Apple figured that if they offered such option on the 'lower' model, most people wouldn't bother with the highest end because the processor bump is marginal.
Agreed - I'm in the same boat. A 500 dollar premium for a a larger SSD is steep, when I'm not particularly interested in the faster proc. Yes, I could use an external HD, but I really don't like having to carry around more than I absolutely have to.
Many of my colleagues agree. Slower cpu with 512GB at ~$2500 would be just about perfect.