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Are cutting edge Apple laptops a thing of the past?

J

JamesGoodman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 3, 2015
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Tim Cook & Others at Apple say the future of the laptop is the iPad. Reviews -- to a man and woman -- reject that notion, and laptop lovers hope it isn't true,but it is the people at Apple not the reviewers and laptop lovers who are designing and building the computers. Do you think Apple is going to continue putting resources and great minds into its laptop lines?
 
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JamesGoodman said:
Tim Cook & Others at Apple say the future of the laptop is the iPad. Reviews -- the a man and woman -- reject that notion, and laptop lovers hope it isn't true,but it is the people at Apple not the reviewers and laptop lovers who are designing and building the computers. Do you think Apple is going to continue putting resources and great minds into its laptop lines?
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I wouldn't worry too much. They just need to pull their finger out and update the internals really.
 
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Sadly, the Windows pc makers are producing the cutting edge laptops -- powerful. very thin, 360 degree convertible, yoga style, with great speed, keyboards and very high pixel screens that are touch screens. apple needs to catch up and leave living under a dome in cupertino.
 
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That's my fear. As a writer, keyboards are as important as screens. If the Macbook I am typing on now is any indication, I think that Apple has given up trying to create great keyboards for writers. Compared to this -- and I am living with it now that I disabled the touchpad -- the MacBook Air keyboard is like an IBM Selectric.
 
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Personally I believe the answer is yes, Apple`s priority is IOS as the devices are cheaper to design & produce with greater margins, versus the Mac. Apple is seeking the middle ground and a larger volume of sales for the Mac, however those with more demanding needs and or interests will be less inclined due to the mediocrity.

The Windows OEM`s are now leagues ahead with innovation, not that all pans out as being successful. Apple`s sole focus is revenue & spin, this Apple excels at. Currently I find Apple to be dull, unimaginative & greedy.

Q-6
 
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I still like Apple's laptops more than just about any other OEM. With that said, they've taken a different approach to design they previously have and some may say it's forward thinking but from the outside it looks rather poor I think - Apple seems to have bought hard into the diminishing returns argument and seems more concerned with prettier, lighter, and longer lasting computers that still perform "OK" in competition. To the end user, it just looks like Apple is being cheap to increase margins. I don't think that's the case for the rMB considering the additional r&d to design it the way they did, but the 15" MBP and MBAs are both far too expensive for what they offer hardware wise, the screen being the only thing withstanding.

And I think it's okay to feel that way considering outside of minor hardware increases Apple hasn't really committed to the design ideas they seem to want to move forward with. With the exception of the rMB none of their computers have received a major design change in years. I'm very much hoping that either later this year or early next they unveil a revamped product line. It has felt incredibly static.

That's my take on it anyway.
 
I find a complete mishmash of messages from Apple

ln the Apple world of great design, styling attention to detail etc etc

We have devices that are changed every 6 months yet others stay externally the same for 8 years, new releases of scaled down version of last years design, old shells re-filled with last years components, deliberate stinting of features to encourage purchase of other devices, mediocre upgrades.

Whilst the rMB was a bit of life breathed back in to the MAC line up, the captive audience of OSX users have been bitterly let down in favor of IOS IMO, maybe we should get use to it with TC vision of laptops.

Whilst there is a lot of mediocre in the Windows and Android world once you step up to the higher ranges there is a lot more happening however we must bear in mind even once leaders like Sony with their Pro Z series are gone now.

Great feature rich laptops are not for the masses and Apples overhead for the best customer support adding to their price can make potential buyer fall either way with a range that stagnates in innovation other than on 1st release.
 
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Personally I'm quite content with the Apple product line. My mid-2012 rMBP is still the best 15" laptop I have ever owned. The rMB is likely the best computer i have ever owned full stop. It just ticks all the boxes for my needs. As a point of comparison only, I also have a Thinkpad Yoga Windows 10 machine and a Chromebook Pixel. They are both fantastic computers but the Macs are even nicer. I'm glad Apple has so far stayed away from touch screens on retina MacBooks. A Windows QHD+ Touch screen will reduce your battery life by about 3 hours over the same equipment with a FHD non-touch display. Look no further than the Dell XPS 13 or the ASUS UX305 for proof of this.

I think we get too caught up in the constant upgrade cycle. Just because competitors have 2 in 1 devices or touch screens doesn't necessarily make them better laptops. I understand that everyone's needs are different but that is why we have competition. In my opinion Apple makes the best quality laptop there is so lets not lose sight of that. Sure you can find this feature or that feature others may have but as a total package a Mac just can't be beat.
 
For the web surfer, email, games, and forum user the iPad is great..........it's a device for consumer entertainment.

It will never replace a real computer......desktop, laptop, notebook, whatever.
Serious <productive> users can't deal with a touch screen for any length of time and it's just not setup for hardcore work.

Apple is what it is.....take it or leave it.
Complaining on a forum won't change anything.

There are a ton of options out there......speak with your wallet.
 
The thing I've learned when purchasing a computer is looking at things that actually matter.

I have a work issued Dell laptop with a touch screen. It sounds nice on paper when a laptop checks off a feature list, but it doesn't mean much. I don't use the touch screen at all, the screen is as reflective as a mirror, brightness is very low, keyboard is mushy, and battery life is poor. I don't see anyone using this kind of laptop for 5 years.

Whereas, you'll see plenty of owners still using their 5yr old macbook. Macbooks have great resale value too so you'll be able to get something for it when you decide to upgrade.
 
If you look at the rMBP in isolation, it look fine, but when you look at it in comparison to the Dell XPS 13/XPS 15, you realizes how behind the rMBP is.
 
I think we have to see what happens to Mac updates for WWDC before we decide. It will be very telling if and how Apple redesigns their (in very need of updates) notebooks.
 
I think part of the problem is Apple likes different product lines. So if you want x,y,z you need this or if you need a,b,c you want this, other manufactures don't have that problem they can combine them all in to a single machine with everything. So if you put a retina display and a 8 core i7 in a MacBook Air what do you need the MacBook Pro for? Nothing you just made one of your product lines obsolete.
 
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MrX8503 said:
The thing I've learned when purchasing a computer is looking at things that actually matter.

I have a work issued Dell laptop with a touch screen. It sounds nice on paper when a laptop checks off a feature list, but it doesn't mean much. I don't use the touch screen at all, the screen is as reflective as a mirror, brightness is very low, keyboard is mushy, and battery life is poor. I don't see anyone using this kind of laptop for 5 years.

Whereas, you'll see plenty of owners still using their 5yr old macbook. Macbooks have great resale value too so you'll be able to get something for it when you decide to upgrade.
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Once you pick OSX as your OS choices are very simple and things that matter soon go out the window with such a limited choice

I had a HP work laptop it did what it suppose to do, no problem, not my personal choice but I can't fault it for that

Macbooks only have a good resale in a few countries (eg North America, Europe, Australia) many other places it's far easier to sell a Windows laptop, my ex top of the range $2000 2012 12" MBA won't even get me a pair of headphones at local Apple dealer and that was last year when I enquired.
 
Apple sells ipads like post-pc product, not post-mac. They want you intrucing yourself in the apple ecosystem, and if you have never thought about buying a mac, maybe the "new magical and revolutionary ipad" can do you to buy an ipad to replace your old windows laptop. At the moment you understand you need more to do your work and other pro things, you would be an apple user, and probably you would have an iphone too. So, why don't buy a mac? The "post-pc" game is a nebula, other way to fight against windows pc. Cannibalize mac sales is a little problem here. The benefits are many more!!
 
joscejrod said:
Apple sells ipads like post-pc product, not post-mac. They want you intrucing yourself in the apple ecosystem, and if you have never thought about buying a mac, maybe the "new magical and revolutionary ipad" can do you to buy an ipad to replace your old windows laptop. At the moment you understand you need more to do your work and other pro things, you would be an apple user, and probably you would have an iphone too. So, why don't buy a mac? The "post-pc" game is a nebula, other way to fight against windows pc. Cannibalize mac sales is a little problem here. The benefits are many more!!
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Agreed clever marketing except I think you need to be reasonable well informed to understand Applease that a PC/Laptop is not Mac, I'm sure most do not make this distinction

I think in the marketing email I got from Apple said "It does a lot of what a PC does and more" but missed the part it does even more of a MAC :D
 
What exactly do you expect? Without a new cpu architecture and corresponding I/O upgrades there is nothing for apple to change besides the form factor, and they already had issue with that because their chosen CPU supplier can't provide low wattage power that rivals even an iPad.

Don't blame Apple for not producing new laptops, blame intel and the PC OEMs for failing to provide any new technical upgrades worth changing anything for.... or blame Apple for being foolish enough to continue supporting x86. Apple needs to produce a laptop using its ARM A-series processors, and recompile OSX. Added bonus: No more NSA "trusted execution unit" pre-installed in every single x86 PC.

Apple is already in the midst of producing its own Servers to avoid US Govt snooping, they might as well produce a few lower-wattage offerings and drop intel's absurdly expensive and underpowered crap.

Remember when intel was going to be in the iPhone? Yeah, "LOL" is right.
 
applesith said:
I think we have to see what happens to Mac updates for WWDC before we decide. It will be very telling if and how Apple redesigns their (in very need of updates) notebooks.
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I won't be surprise at all if Apple does is upgrade the processor/graphics. Maybe add a new USB-Type C port.

kvyoung said:
I would take the current model rMBP over the XPS any day. What is it specifically that you think is far behind? Yes the rMBP is due for a processor\GPU upgrade but beyond that what?
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Oh, let's see. An InfinityEdge (edge-to-edge) display with higher resolution. Smaller body and also thinner. Upgradable memory. USB-Type C.

joscejrod said:
Apple sells ipads like post-pc product, not post-mac. They want you intrucing yourself in the apple ecosystem, and if you have never thought about buying a mac, maybe the "new magical and revolutionary ipad" can do you to buy an ipad to replace your old windows laptop. At the moment you understand you need more to do your work and other pro things, you would be an apple user, and probably you would have an iphone too. So, why don't buy a mac? The "post-pc" game is a nebula, other way to fight against windows pc. Cannibalize mac sales is a little problem here. The benefits are many more!!
Click to expand...

I can replace my mountain bike with a tricycle. Must be okay, right?

touchstoned said:
What exactly do you expect? Without a new cpu architecture and corresponding I/O upgrades there is nothing for apple to change besides the form factor, and they already had issue with that because their chosen CPU supplier can't provide low wattage power that rivals even an iPad.

Don't blame Apple for not producing new laptops, blame intel and the PC OEMs for failing to provide any new technical upgrades worth changing anything for.... or blame Apple for being foolish enough to continue supporting x86. Apple needs to produce a laptop using its ARM A-series processors, and recompile OSX. Added bonus: No more NSA "trusted execution unit" pre-installed in every single x86 PC.

Apple is already in the midst of producing its own Servers to avoid US Govt snooping, they might as well produce a few lower-wattage offerings and drop intel's absurdly expensive and underpowered crap.

Remember when intel was going to be in the iPhone? Yeah, "LOL" is right.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that Dell makes it own processors.
[doublepost=1460405509][/doublepost]Dell XPS 13 (top)
MacBook Air 13-inch (bottom)

DSC_0125.jpg
P1010052.jpg
 
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Buerkletucson said:
For the web surfer, email, games, and forum user the iPad is great..........it's a device for consumer entertainment.

It will never replace a real computer......desktop, laptop, notebook, whatever.
Serious <productive> users can't deal with a touch screen for any length of time and it's just not setup for hardcore work.

Apple is what it is.....take it or leave it.
Complaining on a forum won't change anything.

There are a ton of options out there......speak with your wallet.
Click to expand...

While, I agree with your post for the most part, I tend to disagree with one point. Serious productive users can use the touchscreen device based off of whatever apps are available to them.

I for one use my iPad all the time for productive uses including giving speeches and doing research on topics that are relevant for my nonprofit advocacy group. It's about your job, your profession, and whatever is available on the given platform as to whether something or not is productive.

For coding, for graphic designers, for professional sound people, and other similar professions, I can see your point.
 
touchstoned said:
What exactly do you expect? Without a new cpu architecture and corresponding I/O upgrades there is nothing for apple to change besides the form factor, and they already had issue with that because their chosen CPU supplier can't provide low wattage power that rivals even an iPad.

Don't blame Apple for not producing new laptops, blame intel and the PC OEMs for failing to provide any new technical upgrades worth changing anything for.... or blame Apple for being foolish enough to continue supporting x86. Apple needs to produce a laptop using its ARM A-series processors, and recompile OSX. Added bonus: No more NSA "trusted execution unit" pre-installed in every single x86 PC.

Apple is already in the midst of producing its own Servers to avoid US Govt snooping, they might as well produce a few lower-wattage offerings and drop intel's absurdly expensive and underpowered crap.

Remember when intel was going to be in the iPhone? Yeah, "LOL" is right.
Click to expand...

The MacBook Air is do for an upgrade even if they don't install a new CPU.
 
“I think if you’re looking at a PC, why would you buy a PC anymore? No really, why would you buy one?” Cook told the British publication.

I for one, and probably many others, cringed when they heard or read this statement from TC. Apple has been riding the coattails of the iPhone for obvious reasons, but if we've truly hit "Peak iPhone", they'd be well served to start giving some more attention to their computer lineup. I just hope they get proactive about it instead of waiting for the inevitable profit decline and go into panic mode.
 
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Let's all just get it right and get down to the basis of what is key, people wanted a connected experience without having to use a device. I had a term for it when I was younger and it was called knock on someone's door. I'm not old and I work in IT, so my life pretty much revolves around devices all day, but at least I can understand that devices are the problem that keep friends from looking at each other when they go out to eat.
 
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