Did we know this was coming?
There’s now three models, with a “plus” model that combines the increased power of the Pro, but without a pass-through slot. I know that I, for one, might have gone this route with my purchase if I’d known it was going to be available…
Well now I feel cheated
First I’ve heard of it, but it’s a pretty easy thing to imagine that they could mix and match the features to make a plus like you said and a basic with a passthrough.
I wouldn’t trade my pro power or slot at this point, they are both super useful.
I just didn’t feel like shelling out the extra couple thousand for what seemed like a slight power increase and an opening in the side 
But this “plus” costs what a basic used to 
Pro at preorder was $500 less than the current Plus model. So it was worth for the extra feature, or are you referring to the fact that it should have been a preorder option to begin with?
No, it was announced for the first time today.
Do you feel cheated when <insert car manufacturer here> releases a new model vehicle? How about mobile phones? Just curious…
Yup, just checked, and I paid more for my basic during the preorder time (after the first price raise, I joined a year late) than the listed price for a basic now… nice kick in the teeth @dan
Actually it is closer to the price of a Pro preorder. Basic price, if I remember correctly, was 2.5k.
Edit: Just saw your new post and yeah I was unaware of the price changes after preorder prices.
No, because those aren’t usually released within a year of them finally releasing the first phone and/or car. With no marketing for those people who might be interested. And they usually don’t make the preorder discounts obsolete
Sure, the price comparison I was making for the preorder was that I paid roughly $3000 for the basic (after the first increase) and the new basic costs less then that. While at the same time, the list price for the plus is $4000, which is what the basic was going for when the preordering campaign finally fully ended.
And yeah, I know, they can do whatever they want with pricing and they’re not cheating me or anything since I felt (and still do feel) that this was an amazing machine to buy.
Yeah, it’s weird. I joined over a year after the 30 day campaign, and they had upped the prices. But somehow I still get the founders discount??? I’m not complaining about that mind you, just weird
I’m glad they are offering changes like this. I hope they offer a pro-plus in the future. I’d like to be able to buy a 55 or 60 watt laser tube for my pro (assuming that it won’t run too hot for the cooling system to handle) when it comes time to replace my first tube.
I’d have to relearn all my settings but I’d gladly do it for the faster speeds (in theory 10/20% in this case).
We didn’t wait over two years to receive our iPhone 6 only to have it made available to everybody as the iPhone SE at our “special” discounted price six months after we got it.
$200 worth of free materials feels like paltry thanks for that two years of frustration.
What leaves a bitter taste in my mouth is that I could order a basic today for less then I paid to wait a year for delivery. It’s a great machine, I don’t regret buying it by any means, but… it feels bad man.
That assumes that you don’t see any value in the fact that funding GF early is what allowed them the breathing room to develop the product as well as they did.
We’re early adopters, we can expect changes and improvements going forward. We gave them our money for a while in order so that they could deliver an excellent product. In theory, we all knew there were risks, and all that time is a sunk cost, so worrying about it now is sort of academic.
Onward and upward!
I’ll take your $200 in materials if you don’t want it 
Also whether or not someone else gets a shiny new glowforge at a special price or not is not really relevant. Do you like yours? Do you think it was worth what you paid? Address those questions and don’t worry about other people, you’ll be happier.
Haha well said @evansd2 
it’s the good old fight between wanting to see everyone have this machine and wanting others to suffer like you have… guess I’m on the wrong side of that one 
time for an attitude change!
When everyone is special, nobody is.
That’s the part that stings. We earned that discount by helping to fund the product. We waited, we suffered delay after delay…
Actually, never mind. I just double-checked my receipt and our $2,500 got us the Basic + Air Filter. So we’ve still got a $995 discount to crow about. 
Admittedly, it still stings a bit, but not quite as much.
Eh. I’m still glad I got the Pro. I wanted the slot, but I wanted the extra cooling, which the Plus doesn’t have, even more.
I bought my Pro specifically for the cooling (because I live in Southern California). I fear the Plus will be unsuitable for people in many regions due to the lesser cooling. The Basic already has a lot of trouble in warm areas and adding more power to the laser tube won’t help matters.