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Dropbox Mac App With Apple Silicon Support Now Available to All Beta Users
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You do realize that for every unhappy Dropbox user there are hundreds of happy ones? Everyone has different priorities.
My experiences with Dropbox has been great. Simple, integrated into the OS and can use on the web. I have no issues and love Dropbox. Our company uses OneDrive so I have that with my Office365, but I can't stand it and the syncing is fraught with issues, at least from my experience. Requesting a file is dead simple with Dropbox and people here generally ask me to supply links rather then get the OneDrive to work. Comes down to preference I am sure, glad there are options for everyone!
I have a similar experience. As someone who uses macOS and Windows regularly, Dropbox is my go to cloud file service because of how well it works on both platforms. I use OneDrive for work and it's 90% of the way to catching up to Dropbox but the sync client leaves much to be desired. I use iCloud for various iOS functions and some of the built-in macOS functions with various apps but it is not a good experience on Windows. OneDrive and iCloud are both biased toward one platform over the other for obvious reasons. Dropbox is a best-in-class platform for both macOS and Windows.
This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how Dropbox works, and the biggest value it provides. The app itself could port over from iOS as you said. But the beauty of Dropbox is not the app. It's the system-wide integration with Finder. I have nearly 30 TB of data that I browse seamlessly through finder, just as if it were stored locally on my hard drive. Some of it is, some of it isn't, and I can decide what is and isn't with a click of my mouse.
If it is similar like the Intel vs native client of Discord (“Canary”, in beta, native apple silicon) which is still a 400MB app install, launches several processes as helpers and uses close to 500MB of RAM for a chatting app, then not really much changes regarding some of the resources besides the translation layer hit.
Would have to try it but being “Beta”, losing all files or something catastrophic comes without warranties I guess?
Would have to try it but being “Beta”, losing all files or something catastrophic comes without warranties I guess?
I'd love to hear others chime in on the big three. GoogleDrive vs. Dropbox vs. OneDrive in terms of speed and reliability.
I've used OneDrive in the past and found it to be quite good. Dropbox has been a distant memory for me, from the early days of cloud storage, but maybe they've improved.
I'm always tempted by GoogleDrive's free 15gb offering, but have mostly stayed away for privacy reasons.
As far as Apple's own iCloud, I mainly use the free 5gb for seamless backup of my devices, but that's barely enough and I may have to go up to the 50gb paid tier...which would negate the need of the previously three services.
BTW, is it even possible to sync across your Apple devices on anything other than iCloud?
Better late than never, I guess.
I've since migrated to iCloud 200 GB shared with my family. Helpful, though, I might need to upgrade to 2 TB soon.
I've since migrated to iCloud 200 GB shared with my family. Helpful, though, I might need to upgrade to 2 TB soon.
It is kind of insulting that Apple's free tier is only offers 5 GB. They should be competitive with Google Drive's free 15 GB at the very least.
Anyone successfully installed it?
My Dropbox just updated to v140.3.1903 - but Activity Monitor still says it's an Intel app.
I've tried restarting app and restarting computer.
UPDATE: problem solved. Had to manually download the ARM installer here. The automatic updater installed the Intel version.
UPDATE OF UPDATE: you then need to restart the computer (or perhaps just the Finder?) to fully clean up the Finder integration.
My Dropbox just updated to v140.3.1903 - but Activity Monitor still says it's an Intel app.
I've tried restarting app and restarting computer.
UPDATE: problem solved. Had to manually download the ARM installer here. The automatic updater installed the Intel version.
UPDATE OF UPDATE: you then need to restart the computer (or perhaps just the Finder?) to fully clean up the Finder integration.
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It has something to do with the inital rumor (Dropbox CEO refusing to develop M1 version and stuff). Then, you know, you fave Apple fanbois and so it goes.
I've been using Dropbox from day one, and simply nothing beats it in terms of options, speed, efficiency and stability for business purposes. It's entirely category of its own compared to others.
Might still take some more time for it to be available as a general release. Hopefully soon.
I get the point of your comment. But Dropbox's free tier offers less storage than competing services, which can be frustrating for the many people who have a limited budget for subscriptions. Apps with free tiers are kind of a lifeline.Pretty sure Dropbox isn't missing you sucking off their system for free, Mr. Big Spender.
And maybe Dropbox should miss Mr. Big Spender. I teach college students who rely on apps with free tiers while in school; this allows them to get to know these apps, and then they subscribe to the ones they like most after they graduate and get a job.
For me it is the integration with the Finder. I have dropbox folder on my desktop, in there I have sub folders for different clients, proofs, etc. I can drag and drop as I would for any other folder on my desktop, it looks identical save for little green check marks beside it to show it has synced. Super simple to add a new folder as again it is just like the Finder, right click or keyboard shortcut and make a new folder, that is now in Dropbox as well. I love the file request feature in Dropbox, super handy and makes it super simple for the not tech people who need to send a large file but get confused with the online transfer sites. I create the file request link in Dropbox online, it gives me a link, I paste that link and email it to the client. When the client clicks the link a window opens up asking them to navigate to the file they want to send and that is it. Super simple and always works. Had mixed results that were not as clean and simple with others.
I use Dropbox to also backup my moms photos on her iPhone. So dropbox is setup on her phone, when she takes a picture as normal it saves to her photos but also saves to the dropbox folder I created for her so everything is auto backed up.
The other players have additional revenue streams. Microsoft can afford to throw in 1TB of OneDrive with an Office 365 subscription. Apple can offer 250% more base storage than Dropbox as an afterthought because of iPhone sales. Google is more affordable because they can skim data from Drive, anonymize it, and sell it for profit. All Dropbox does is sell Dropbox. They realized a few years back that the free tier was TOO good so they had to cut it back or else they couldn't effectively monetize their subjectively superior offering.
I've used OneDrive, Google Drive, and Apple's iCloud for syncing, and - for me - Dropbox works better.
Dropbox ran flawlessly for me on my M1 Macbook Air under Rosetta, though I have 16GB maybe that's why I never ran into memory problems as others have. A day or two ago, Dropbox self-updated to the public beta of the new version that natively supports Apple silicon, and it's running great (though of course, I've haven't had long to evaluate it.)
I agree with @wonderings about Dropbox's Finder integration being a huge part of why the competing services never won me over. And also, Dropbox's file sync is almost instantaneous, well over 99% of the time in my experience. Whether it's syncing between my M1 MBA and one of my other devices, or collaborating in real time with a coauthor in another location by using a shared dropbox folder, sync just works.
I know other people have had issues with Dropbox, and I'm not saying they're wrong. Most folks in the macrumors forums are more "pro level" while I'm more "enthusiast" or "above-average novice". So definitely consider opposing viewpoints here - I do.
Dropbox ran flawlessly for me on my M1 Macbook Air under Rosetta, though I have 16GB maybe that's why I never ran into memory problems as others have. A day or two ago, Dropbox self-updated to the public beta of the new version that natively supports Apple silicon, and it's running great (though of course, I've haven't had long to evaluate it.)
I agree with @wonderings about Dropbox's Finder integration being a huge part of why the competing services never won me over. And also, Dropbox's file sync is almost instantaneous, well over 99% of the time in my experience. Whether it's syncing between my M1 MBA and one of my other devices, or collaborating in real time with a coauthor in another location by using a shared dropbox folder, sync just works.
I know other people have had issues with Dropbox, and I'm not saying they're wrong. Most folks in the macrumors forums are more "pro level" while I'm more "enthusiast" or "above-average novice". So definitely consider opposing viewpoints here - I do.
Or... not all tech companies have infinite resources, despite everyone assuming that they do.
Except Maestral doesn't do everything Dropbox client does and doesn't advertise itself as secure in transit.
For something secure, look to CloudMounter for all your cloud services. Paid and supported unlike open-source Maestral.
You don't think Dropbox, one of the largest Global cloud services, has the resources to invest in this development earlier on?
College students don't buy Dropbox when they get jobs. Their employers pay for Dropbox which they already have org-wide when college student is hired and makes them use it.
"Mr. Big Spender" wasn't happy with a free product and replaced it with other "almost free" products. Companies don't stay in business catering to people who don't want to spend money.
Everyone assumes large tech companies have infinite engineering resources and can turn on a dime to instantly take on any and all projects simultaneously, along with the accompanying risk. It's just not true.
And that's especially true if there's already a solution in place that works well and is proven reliable. Speaking from experience having an engineering career in several large tech companies in Silicon Valley.
Also...unless there's someone here who works for Dropbox, no one knows what kind of testing/QA/reliability procedures they use and thus how long it takes to certify a new software release.
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Just checked for pricing to compare - iCloud and Google monthly 2TB plan is maybe a buck of two cheaper from DropBox plan with same storage (which I'm using).
Companies offering free tiers receive value from doing so or else they wouldn't offer a free tier.