The decline in domestic MacBook sales could be explained at least in part by the fact that the only new portable Mac released by Apple ahead of the holiday shopping season was the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. The rest of Apple's MacBook lineup received updates over the summer, while the company's fall refresh focused on desktops, with a redesigned iMac and updated Mac mini.

In other words, sales of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) MacBook may have been better if the company had saved its updates for later in the year.

What are your thoughts on this report? Do you feel that the information from the NPD Group is accurate?

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