Good explanation. I guess Apple will lose some customers when they switch the Mac over to ARM.
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Good explanation. I guess Apple will lose some customers when they switch the Mac over to ARM.
If Apple's ARM chips are superior in performance, it will be worth it and the impact of people leaving because of bootcamp will be minimal.
I'm not so sure people will be so easily won over and willing to embrace an ARM based Mac. I'm not expert by a long shot, but Apple's Ax processors are used in basically single used solutions. There's not a lot of multitasking occurring on the iPhone and iPad. Additionally we don't know who well multithreaded apps will perform. I'm not saying it will be slower but rather there's too much unknown and many people may not jump at the chance to buy early on.
No matter how you slice it, switching to a completely different processor is a risky move. Plus in all honesty, what advantage does this provide for the typical consumer walking into an apple store?
It explains and further allows Apple to dumb down the Mac ever more. People wont be so smug when they cant do their job as the software simply doesn't exist on the platform. Apple's been beating off it's dwindling professional community for years. Apple just wants base consumers with money to burn, those who only have basic needs and few if any questions. Apple can then foist it's allegedly "Pro" hardware on then, they will feel better about their expensive purchase and Apple will make out like a bandit on it's margins, pity that's already ongoing.
The advantage will be Apple's, make no mistake with that. Apple's not interested in how many Mac's it sells, Apple is solely interested in a revenue number, so the fewer Mac's it can produce and sell at elevated margin the better for Apple, and for that someone is paying...
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Apple's clearly not interested in the Mac's market share, or it would have done something years ago, nor have such a poor line up. If was going to strike out it would have been when Microsoft launched W8 that disrupted so many users at the time. Apple likely prefers IOS devices being cheaper to develop and bring to market. If so it certainly bodes ill for the Mac as we know it.
After all Apple dropped "computer" from it's name a good while ago. Tim Cook want's to sell you the iPad Pro and services, ultimately the iPad Pro as a service. Selling competent standalone hardware that can run applications outside of Apple's paywall, let alone W10 and it's associated applications absolutely contravenes the former premise, and that's a point well worth thinking about...
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Every business should be concerned about profit. It was never a secret that Apple wanted to protect margin. Why be like other brands who need to sell 10 units to make a $300 profit when you can sell 1 and still make a $300 profit. Market share is not as important depending on your goals.
But, if you are going to go for a botique approach with a focus on better than the rest at a price to match you have to be sure you can meet the demands of the user. Apple is failing on virtually every line in that respect at the moment.
But, if you change your strategy to focus on services, market share becomes everything as services need the mass market to be successful as you will only ever convert a certain percentage into subscribers/buyers and only by having that mass market appeal for your services can you keep the costs low enough that people will want to buy.
Apple wants to maintain margin and sell services without growing market share, won't work. Mac does not have a big enough share or appeal to the mass market.
However, if you focus your services on the items you have the greatest market share and put your efforts into growing that share then what you have is services focussed at iPhone and iPad. Let the rest slide.
Frankly I think Apple is simply "milking" the Mac for all it's worth while the going is good, and it will continue to do so for as long as it possibly can...
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Let me r
Let me re-phrase: Apple is concerned about profits OVER revenues or market share.
I agree with you 100%, though!
Let me re-phrase: Apple is concerned about profits OVER revenues or market share.
I agree with you 100%, though!
Of course people will switch, if the performance is great. macOS is worth it, Windows doesn’t come close for a lot of people (yes, pros, depends on your field and needs) and only people who want to justify their Windows laptop purchases claim that Apple is giving up on pro users. No, the type of “pro” user that @Queen6 (or people like Linus who mistake productivity for benchmarks) keeps talking about was never a Mac user in the first place.
Simply put, if you want a PC, nothing will beat a PC. Don’t expect a Mac to focus on the same things. If you want a Mac, for the reasons that make a Mac great, a great ARM cpu will be a benefit.
As for multithreaded performance, I don’t know where you got the idea that A chips are not good at it. A12X has impressive multithread performance and I can only imagine Apple is preparing something even better for a Mac. It’s all about nanometers and cramming transistors, and Intel is having serious issues there (which is the reason for their lackluster improvements YoY).
Heh, can’t wait to see the looks on some people’s faces here if a MBP runs circles around an Intel-based PC laptop.
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Its as much about the software though, what use is a mac without it? No expert so I may be talking out of turn but for ARM-based devices, existing software will need to be modified/developed to work. Assuming that is accurate, it needs the buy-in from a lot of areas.
Perhaps ARM will be the way to go, certainly a strong performance on the new iPad, but it's not a Mac
Not if it's still got a dodgy keyboard though
Perhaps I should be more specific. Apple seems to have given up on professionals who want:
A user-replaceable battery.
User-upgradable RAM
User-upgradable SSD
A choice of ports without a dongle.
Soon, Apple might give up on professionals who want to run x86-based software.
And even if somehow Apple's Ax chips are able to run natively-compiled software faster than x86/x64, there is still the problem of backward compatibility.
Respectfully, I think this is short-sighted. It's not just Excel pros and the spec-obsessed that are looking to greener pastures. Functional keyboards, interface options and serviceability are all important to professionals who work on their machines every day.
I'm a content strategist, so most of the work I do is writing on a keyboard. But our CEO, a designer, was also considering switching after our recent Apple Store experience with my MacBook Air, and he just messaged me to say that the command key on his own MacBook Pro has started missing inputs, just like mine. No matter how good Mac OS is, nothing is worth this. And after this experience, it doesn't matter how great the next MacBook Pro is — we're not throwing good money after bad.
For all of the complaints about how Windows can't match up, few have been specific. I haven't used Windows in over 10 years and after two weeks of using Windows 10, I... forget I switched operating systems most of the time. Obviously if you use a ton of native or platform-exclusive applications, you could have a drastically different experience. But mostly Windows feels like it gets out of the way, just like OS X did when I switched to it.
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Lol! Wonder what the look on his face his right now? Windows laptops run circles around Macs cause they all can type without missing letters......
Not if it's still got a dodgy keyboard though
Well, I agree. It’s embarassing, really.
But, you know, I’m confident Apple will change the keyboard with the next redesign. Windows will remain Windows
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I totally agree. First, the keyboard - serious issue. Nothing to add. I’m talking about a future Mac with (hopefully) a much more reliable keyboard. Second - agree with the Windows comment, too: if you don’t see the difference, that’s good. Your workflow is such and such. For me, I rely on several things unique to the macOS and I am much more comfortable and productive on it than elsewhere. It comes down to needs and preference. Some people do need/prefer Windows and PCs and they are not wrong. All I’m saying is: not everyone’s requirements are the same, so don’t always judge Macs by PC criteria, lest ye be judged
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Windows will remain Windows
Not really about Windows or macOS though, the hardware is the issue, well in terms of laptops which is a key sales line. Don't get me wrong, I love my new Mac Mini, it is really all I need. The combination of it and the Magic keyboard with num pad plus magic mouse 2 combo has been incredibly reliable so far.
Even the whole issue of ARM vs Intel, perhaps Apple will produce something faster and better than Intel has available at that time, but will it really make a difference to the masses? I mean I doubt the vast majority of users fully utilise what processor they have today, so anything faster tomorrow is just going to be a more underutilised component than the last.
The iPad Pro, the A12X is impressive, but to what gain? Did anyone really think older iPads were underpowered and really needed this new blazing fast chip? I doubt it. But I get it, progress. But until the iPad is more than just another iPad the value is in the marketing opportunities as I see it.
What was the general response when Apple switched to intel from powerpc? Why would it not be the same for arm?
I think Rosetta helped smooth the waters there, not sure they can do the same here.
The move from PPC to Intel was a huge boon to performance. The PPC chips at the time were languishing and underperforming compared to their Intel competition (particularly in mobile form). The architecture switch was a giant leap forward in tech. The Intel to ARM switch (should it happen) isn't at all like that. On the low-power/mobile side it's largely a lateral shift, and on the desktop/pro side it might not even be that.
Secondly, the PPC to Intel switch moved the Mac to a more mainstream platform that enabled things like Boot Camp and effective virtualization (Parallels, VMware Fusion, etc). An Intel to ARM switch ruins that. No more boot camp, no more dual booting, and no more good virtualization. Users give up a lot of flexibility.
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Interesting how Apple users really like trackpads. I really don't care for them, to include Apple, they for me are not as good as a mouse. I tried to use my Mac with just it's trackpad... No go, especially for spreadsheets and gaming. I just never got into the whole "gesture" thing and I turned off most of it. Guess I just don't have what it takes. I didn't know Apple's T2 chip prevents Linux... That is really upsetting... That disturbs me.
I don't find a mouse terribly practical on the go, it's the builtin trackpad all the way for me. Gestures I could personally care less about though. Turned off here due to inconsistent implementation in various apps.