Presumably because a lot of people wanted to buy a computer in, say, January but decided to hold out for the next refresh, which was at the time expected to happen in March or so. Unfortunately, that new model was seven months overdue (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Retina_MacBook_Pro) and yielded disappointment over the price (I recall hearing that the price of the base model went up by about $200, but I can't find a citation for this) and the suitability of the system for their work (e.g. replacing the tactile escape key with something that seems like "a useless gimmick").

So they have a computer they wanted to replace ten months ago (or indeed any time since then) and no good options from Apple. And before you suggest they just buy a previous-generation MacBook Pro; do you really think the best thing to do today is to buy a two year old computer?

Cause "everyone and their mother" has been ramming "wait until the new ones come out" in to their heads for 3 years and they want to finally get the new MBP.

I know roughly 4-5 people in this exact situation right now.

Because many bought simultaneously with new Apple releases and have been waiting to see the next major version. In my case our MacBook pros are > 3.5 years old, which is too old for my comfort level; I expect major failures after 3 years that aren't worth even one day of lost productivity.

I think a lot of people are thinking ahead, sparked by the circus that new Apple announcements cause.

Premature optimization? :)

My MacBook Pro from 5 years ago when I started college just died due to a logic board failure a couple of months ago. A new board was ~$600, so I saved up a little more and bought an Intel NUC. I'm missing the portability though and my Dell 11 chromebook is a bit too small to use comfortably.

I don't _need_ one right now, but I'm definitely in the market and weighing my options.

I think most have similar reasons as me. My Laptop died a few months ago and I've been planning on buying the new MacBooks (would be my first Mac). The very high prices (especially for the 16GB of Ram that I would get) have made me look elsewhere.

It's like politics, it becomes an echo chamber every fall when the big players make their announcements (aka marketing).

back to school in most universities. everyone see the freshmans with newer models. also apple (thankfully vanishing) reality distortion field passing by