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Microsoft Says Windows PC Makers Seeing 'Continued Growth' in Premium Market Led by Apple
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No doubt enabled by the lull in Apple's update cycle.
The PC manufacturers still have to prove their products are worth the premium they are charging though. Or any gains they make in this period will be short-lived. Because from what I am reading from reviews online, products like the surface studio, razor blade and XPS are not without glaring flaws of their own.
The SurfaceBook is a good example, like the MBP it had some issues out of the gate, but now its a solid, fast machine. I think its proven its worth.
I agree. It sounds like excellent product.
That said, it seems next to impossible to find. I have a colleague in Singapore who is interested in getting one and I can tell you, there isn't one in the entire country.
If Microsoft wants to be a credible alternative to Apple, they seriously need to ramp up their manufacturing and distribution channels.
For MS, that's a slower process (I'm assuming) because they're being measured in what countries to sell the hardware.
Not that it helps, Surface Book is easily available in Hong Kong & China, I remember Kuala Lumpur being slow to get SP4, yet to see the Performance Base in Asia or Europe.
Q-6
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Stop drinking the coolaid, Apple doesn't "own" and have NEVER "dominated" the market share in Any PC Segment. They do well in phones and tablets. Do a simple google search before posting nonsense. I'm even going to link to a clearly bias source for you and the headline is STILL slanted. http://appleinsider.com/articles/16...as-windows-continues-to-cede-share-to-the-mac
My impression, having studied, worked, and lived around a large college campus for several decades, is that the last ten years have seen most students using the MacBook and MBP platform, while faculty and staff mostly use PCs. The last year, however, I've noticed more and more students migrating from Macs to top-line PCs such as the MS Surface, the Dell XPS laptops, as well as top-of-the-line Toshiba and ASUS laptops. I think Apple has pushed price-point vs. quality past the purchasing power of most students, and that PC offerings are getting much better - both in terms of hardware and software. Tech-oriented students also gravitate toward pre-installed Linux offerings by Dell such as the XPS-Developer Edition line. Nothing statistically to back it this up just now, but just my observations while in libraries, coffee shops, etc.
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Perhaps if Apple ends up getting out of the computer hardware (Mac) business, they will open up their OS offerings to the PC market. That would be a great move, IMO. The competition would be good for OS innovation and support. Hackintoshing, right now, is really attractive only to hobbyists with time and money to tinker with both hardware and OS software, as there is absolutely no tech support from either PC or Apple vendors.
Mac users, including myself stay for the OS, IMO. For me this is OS 10 and iOS. When Windows becomes secure I could see myself playing with a Microsoft Laptop out of curiosity. I'm on Win NT all day at the office, and there is never a day where IT is not putting out several fires. Upgrades are for planning your week vacation (includes all upgrades.)
I am not a Tim or Jony supporter any longer, but neither do I want Windows in my personal life in the least.
I bought a Surface Pro 3 two years ago and still use it today along with my 2015 15" MBP.
I could easily see myself switching to the Surface Pro permanently if I decide to never buy another MBP again. That may very well happen with the decisions Apple made with the 2016 MBP.
I don't use the pen for drawing or writing on my SP3 but I do use it to do screen caps. It's extremely easy to do and only takes two seconds to do using the pen.
Err do not think so
Apple got away with high prices as you note due to there sticky, shooting fish in a barrel, eco
There has always been premium/high priced Laptops on both OS's it's nothing new or some lull by Apple facilitating this
Apple equally has and always had to prove it's worth as they never represented a good bang for your $
What is noticeable there are far more innovations, options and multi used devices popping up in the Windows world where Apple simply cannot or refuse to compete even in the premium ranges
If Apple actually updated its products a bit more often I suspect you would equally see a rise in flaws, haven knows there is plenty to share around on MR for the new MBP ,they are no different to any other OEM in this respect.
Apple showed that good design mattered to the consumer and that you can use good design as a key differentiator in the PC market and escape commoditisation. Their Macs were expensive, but at least when I spend $2k on a Mac computer, I get a computer which looks and works like a $2k desktop.
The problem with windows PCs was that only until recently, they consisted largely of crappy hardware loaded with crappy software and tons of bloatware, backed up with crappy aftersales support. None of which justified the premium prices manufacturers dared to charge for them.
There is still a very long way to do before I am tempted back into the windows ecosystem, but the gulf between Macs and windows PCs is definitely less than 4-5 years ago.
I disagree with that assessment
Its well known that if you wanted play games on a computer, you would be better served with a Windows machine over a Mac. I agree bloatware can be and to an extent is an issue. Microsoft at times shot themselves in the foot as well with Windows but I think blanket statements saying that PC had crappy hardware and the macs didn't is completely false.
For years Macs had anemic GPUs, I mean this dates back to the PPC days when Apple down clocked the GPUs to make them cooler and those GPUs were not top of the line ones either. There's still an after market for people reflashing PC video cards to work in Mac Pros - that doesn't sound like crappy hardware when Mac users want what's in PCs.
Speaking of GPUs, Apple has had a long track record of laptops failing because of dGPUs, 2008 to 2011, so I think its safe to assume that there are many good examples of PCs having better hardware and plenty of examples of where Apple didn't
Still do not think we are eye to eye on this
I think your mixing design more with aesthetics Apple certainly popularised Ali Unibody and some minimalist aspects but there are plenty of leading edge designs from other OEM's over the years with innovations and unique aesthetics. Agreed its a strong selling point for MACs and helps to justify cost and possible other short comings
I doubt any OEM laptop can compete against an equivalent priced desktop.
Most would not ague for $ for bang value of MAC's (other than some belief they last longer) and that has never been the whole apple of Apple
to suggest similar premium windows laptops consist of crappy hardware is daft. As for crappy software numbers tell us otherwise outside of niche requirements or personal preference. Apple excel in support but do not think this and all those shops and assistants etc come free, you pay for it whether you use them or not and their value is probably higher for US and some European countries than others.Personally I never perceived a gulf between premium products as you simply choose the right device for your workflow if your not OS restricted
Apple make excellent products as do other OEM's however there are more options out there now than classic clamshells
Apple has something like 90% of the market for PCs over $1000. It's a small slice, to be sure, but they dominate that part of the market.
Hate to break it to you but it is a toy. Even the Surface Pro can do industry work such as hardware design on the go full blown photoshop on the go, architecture. Maybe you're the troll?
Hilarious. Of course the iPad is a toy because if doesn't run Photoshop. Like we "Pro's" in the industry measure everything in the availability of Photoshop, because so many people make a living from it.
Good luck explaining that train if thought to a Linux user.
Huh? What does this have to do with Linux? Doesn't make you special if you use Linux if that's what you're trying to imply.
No, that's not my point. The availability of Photoshop doesn't make a system a toy though either, example Linux. The forum is full of examples where iPads are used for work. It might not work for everyone, which I think is well established too. Calling it a toy is just a provocative exaggeration.
So it's like 2 racers at the starting line. The gunshot & Microsoft is 50 feet ahead when it looks back & sees Mac hasn't it's one shoe on. So it waits patiently until Mac is ready & dips it toe past the starting line to resume running?
Seems to me Apple should have been ready for this race.
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And you keep polishing your dongles collection.
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Why does Apple list Apple Watch under "Misc."? When things are spectacular, you boast. When their just very good, a company can spin.
Mac is a cash cow now. PCs are not a growing market.
As for Apple Watch it always was intended as ancillary revenue. Cook was under pressure to release something and it was low hanging fruit. It is telling that they and Samsung are the last 2 major players left. Watches are ancillary revenue to phones.
There is less incentive to upgrade with each passing hardware generation, so there's more to be spent on that one machine that you will keep for several years.
What you consider wrong I consider a good design decision. We can't keep holding on to old technology when much better technology is out there. USB-c brings along many benefits. You now have a truly universal port (4 of them) that can adapt to anything.
I seriously don't get why people are angry about this. Want to plug a USB-2 device in? Go for it! All you need is a cable (or adapter). Need to power your laptop from the other side? Go for it! All ports are universal. Need to drive two different types of monitors? No problem, just use an adapter and two of your ports. No need to worry if you only have one video port.
Sure there's some super minor inconvenience in using an adapter or a cable but its nothing in my opinion to having four universal ports.