Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I don’t know how old you are but I’m 57, I’m hoping in my lifetime to have achieved at best a system biologically integrating me with massive cloud based computing or at worst a wearable stepping stone to that.

I'm 46. Plan has always been, and continues to be, to slowly log off towards retirement and just live my life quietly around the people I care about, and not on the internet. I don't want to be hooked to something I can't easily disconnect from...easy as in no more difficult than closing a laptop lid.

Overall, I'm pretty disillusioned with the tech industry (Apple included) , and am not willing to follow them into a non-stop revenue generating cloud computing.
 
Last edited:
This reassures me because I've also read on this forum that when a Mac is no longer supported, it's best to abandon it. I can understand this position, but it breaks my heart to stop using excellent hardware if it still does what we ask it to do. So much for eco-sustainability: those who use Macs longer are also doing good for the environment!
One of my favorites of the many Apple laptops I’ve owned is my pristine Mid 2015 MacBook Pro Retina.

Once Apple stopped supporting it I installed Linux and continue to enjoy using it and appreciating what an excellent piece of hardware it is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sh3ldon and uller6
Yes. I never thought I'd be able to come up with all the workarounds I needed to be using a PowerMac G5 Quad up in to May 2020. But Apple empowered me with the creativity to push my Mac to that limit.

OCLP and the whole series of patchers before that were certainly not a thought at some early point to make Intel Macs run modern versions of MacOS. All that was Apple empowerment.

Although I'm pretty sure Apple would have preferred everyone using this stuff to just buy a new Mac rather than feeling empowered by them to make it work.
So you didn't use that 2009 Mac Pro from your profile instead?
 
One of my favorites of the many Apple laptops I’ve owned is my pristine Mid 2015 MacBook Pro Retina.

Once Apple stopped supporting it I installed Linux and continue to enjoy using it and appreciating what an excellent piece of hardware it is.
The 2012-2015 MBP generation is the GOAT!
 
  • Like
Reactions: WarmWinterHat
The 2012-2015 MBP generation is the GOAT!
So true, and how I know is the nature of my work dictates I have a powerful, current Mac. Thus I’ve had many of them over the years.

Presently using a 16” M4 Max MacBook Pro, it’s a great laptop but doesn’t overshadow my fondness for the Mid 2015.
I used a 2012 MBP (non-retina) for almost 10 years.

Still miss it.
Yes indeed
This is the future. Always has been, and always will be.
While thin clients may be the future for some, there are legions of us doing heavy resource intense work produced and stored on local networks, not connected to the cloud.

Many use the cloud for convenience with little concern for the various risks.

Even my personal computing data I keep out of the cloud, residing on my in-house network backed up via NAS. There’s a lot to be said for keeping one’s data private, local, and constantly backed up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: M.Brane
I thought that one of the things Apple did years ago was contract for guaranteed manufacturing commitments for memory and other things. I haven't heard an update on this in years, but I can only assume they did not do away with this. Does anyone know?
 
So true, and how I know is the nature of my work dictates I have a powerful, current Mac. Thus I’ve had many of them over the years.

Presently using a 16” M4 Max MacBook Pro, it’s a great laptop but doesn’t overshadow my fondness for the Mid 2015.

Yes indeed

While thin clients may be the future for some, there are legions of us doing heavy resource intense work produced and stored on local networks, not connected to the cloud.

Many use the cloud for convenience with little concern for the various risks.

Even my personal computing data I keep out of the cloud, residing on my in-house network backed up via NAS. There’s a lot to be said for keeping one’s data private, local, and constantly backed up.
I was mostly kidding. People have been predicting it my entire adult life.
 
I’m not doubting there will be a permanent impact, longstanding effects in some form to personal computing (or sort of lack thereof) whether the “AI” bubble bursts or deflates.

But is the sky falling? Are we really headed for the Matrix or Terminator land?


Morons chasing money. Selfish liars trying to save face. Etc.


A historical example:

Speaking of arrogant, excessively wealthy twits:

To round it out, I’ll include a Hollywood depiction:

And the more excess money these morons have, the more they’re willing to toss it around and hope someone hands it back to them with extra.


In this case, the influencer is seemingly correct. That is, Nvidia did the same for GeForce 40 series — which Nvidia also pulled back plenty early after their oops (i.e., eventually allowed the surplus and lost potential profits) during the 30 series window.


This, the non-1% getting pulverized, has been the path of the economy for decades, at least in the U.S.

I once came across a site with selectable charts though I didn’t bookmark it and can’t locate it again.

Anyway...

Regarding the rumors as well as predictions of an immediate dystopian hellscape… I respect a lot of the analysis from Steve (i.e., GamersNexus) but he also has at least some bias and gets caught up in drama — as one source example.


In fact, for (only) a brief period, Steve reminded fans/viewers that Nvidia’s advertised price was the base MSRP, which was in response to the common mistaken reference of the abbreviation MSRP. For example, saying/asking “Is the Astral 5090’s $1,360 price above MSRP worth it?” is at best careless. Why? Because the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090’s manufacturer’s price is $3,359.99. The Astral’s price is not $2,000 and never was.

If you want a very simplistic takeaway: take the tongue of any greedy/seflsih person, whether small-time or trillionaire, with a grain of salt.
We are in late stage capitalism. We as consumers CANNOT compete with these businesses trading dozens of billions of dollars which are essentially IOUs. We have become just a drop in the bucket. And it will get worse.

You mentioned that 1% is benefiting now, it will just get worse. We will lose our jobs to AI and make nothing. Meanwhile the 1% gets richer.
 
So you didn't use that 2009 Mac Pro from your profile instead?
I didn't own that 2009 Mac Pro until May/June 2020. Everything was PowerPC from 2001 to 2020. By 2016-2017 Intels did start coming in to the house, but my price range at the time was Macs that topped out at Snow Leopard. Wasn't too helpful.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WarmWinterHat
We are in late stage capitalism. We as consumers CANNOT compete with these businesses trading dozens of billions of dollars which are essentially IOUs. We have become just a drop in the bucket. And it will get worse.

You mentioned that 1% is benefiting now, it will just get worse. We will lose our jobs to AI and make nothing. Meanwhile the 1% gets richer.

AI is going to bomb out in that regard, and many places are already giving up on it. Doom and gloom is coming for AI companies.
 
Last edited:
I don't see this being an issue. There isn't a compelling reason for Mac users to upgrade as frequently as Windows users (see the first few posts of this thread). And Apple, being Apple will figure something out, they always have. Plus, I would suspect, like NVIDIA, they have pre-purchased an expansive amount of RAM and NAND flash for their hardware, and likely have their capacity locked down at TSMC for the next 5 years.

However, Apple will be largely immune from the AI bubble pop that is quickly approaching. I suspect that many companies who have be leveraging it as their whole identity will be in a world of hurt (including NVIDIA), and Apple will be able to weather the storm.
 
Is Apple doomed?

Hmmm, who knows?! Maybe, something like this would help that "doom" to happen?

Lenovo Yoga Mini.jpg

The new 'Lenovo Yoga Mini i', 5.12-inch (130mm) diameter, just revealed at CES 2026...
Lenovo didn't share the hardware specifications of the entry-level model(s), but the PC will have up to an Intel Core Ultra X7 368H processor, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 NVMe storage. All models will have Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0. The PC will ship with Windows 11, and since it's using regular x86-based Intel processors, desktop Linux should also work. A modern Mac Mini, in comparison, is limited to booting macOS and running ARM-based versions of Windows and Linux in virtual machines.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: AgeOfSpiracles
So true, and how I know is the nature of my work dictates I have a powerful, current Mac. Thus I’ve had many of them over the years.

Presently using a 16” M4 Max MacBook Pro, it’s a great laptop but doesn’t overshadow my fondness for the Mid 2015.

Yes indeed

While thin clients may be the future for some, there are legions of us doing heavy resource intense work produced and stored on local networks, not connected to the cloud.

Many use the cloud for convenience with little concern for the various risks.

Even my personal computing data I keep out of the cloud, residing on my in-house network backed up via NAS. There’s a lot to be said for keeping one’s data private, local, and constantly backed up.
But where is your off site backup? Most local backups are vulnerable to something as simple as a house fire
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.