Popular Mac Developer Slams Apple for 'Sad State of Macintosh Hardware'

[ignatius345]

To be fair, Macs (and PCs in general) don't become obsolete as quickly as they used to. I'm using a 2015 iMac 27" and it still feels fast as hell and is not lacking for anything. And I use the hell out of it, for hours a day. Macs don't need to be updated every single year! The 2017 iMacs and iMac Pro can't really be improved upon that much this year based on the hardware that's out there. There's just not much of a point in updating them.

Depending on the use, totally agree. I did a lot of graphic design on a pretty old Mac Mini for a long time, driving two 1600x1200 monitors, running Photoshop, Illustrator, Keynote and a bunch of other stuff concurrently. Was it a speed demon? No. But it was absolutely fast enough, even for firing up Final Cut Pro from time to time for light video editing. And that's one of Apple's more modest machines (to say the least). I look at something like the iMac Pro and think yeah, that's great, but what would I actually DO with all that speed? And I don't think I'm the only one.

 

[Geoff Myers]

It's a great time to build a Hackintosh in the meantime.

 

[dumastudetto]

The future of the Mac is iPad.
Mac devs should be investing in the future and figuring out how to bring their technologies and experiences to iOS.
Stop crying about the past.
The Mac still exists but it will never again be given high priority within Apple.
Apple has always been a company that doesn't let the past inhibit their future successes.

 

[Alan-in-CO]

It's probably already been said, but it seems like Apple's money and resources are now spent on really cool Memojis /s

 

[robertcoogan]

No, iOS isn’t as capable as macOS yet but “Post PC devices” as Jobs put it are being so focused on because they are the present and future. Macs aren’t so much anymore and haven’t been for a while. That’s the problem I think. A lot of folks on here have been fans of Apple since Macs were the only focus of the company, but they aren’t the only focus anymore and aren’t the main focus either. Post PC devices are and that’s the area that still has the most potential in the long term and still has vast amounts to be improved upon more so than Macs and PC’s in general.

Having said all that; yeah, they should probably update their damn Macs.

Ok - respectfully, I disagree. I think what you are speaking of is the business side. Macs may have been the focus of the company, but the appeal - as far as the consumers in the "beginning" - was the usability of the Macs, their ease of use, their function as it were (something that should - logically - extend to iOS).

 

[LoCarbHotrod]

Tim Cook MUST go. He has no balls. It’s absolutley incredible that no one is saying this. Apple was innovative and lean, now its just a monolithic company with no vision milking the winning formula. iOS has become pure junk, so many bugs it’s hard to keep up with. iOS1 has better auto correct than iOS 11 for goodness sake. Security bugs across all platforms. Minimal updates to Mac hardware. Confusing nomenclature in regards to the iPad. Apple Watch design is stale and competitors are getting much more battery life out of their smart watches. Plus a plethora of other things I won’t bore you with. Bring back Forstall, get rid of cook.

I’d wager money that Cook was waiting for Forstall to slip, and that he took full advantage of the maps situation to get rid of him. 5 years later and Apple maps still sucks. Forstall WAS Apple. Mac OS X was heavily inspired by his work at Next, and iOS was his teams creation. What has cook contributed? I suppose privacy, because he doesn’t want people looking at his dick pics to his boyfriend (not a jab, just keeping it real).

Even more annoying, Tim Cook has weasled his way into supposedly being someone whose opinion on politics and life are messianic. We get it Tim, you’re gay. Can we carry on now with refreshing the Mac hardware?

 

[MBAir2010]

I just realized how treating cancer is far more worse, all that money, awareness and pink can’t solve the problem!

 

[Abazigal]

THIS. Tim Cook is, and always will be, an 'Operating Officer'.

Once you realize this and use this knowledge to analyze each major decision he's taken, it all starts to make sense.

The fact that some Apple fans support the notion that MacOS should be open is a real indictment of how poorly Tim has managed the Mac department and how much he's allowed it to fester & rotten.
It would have Jobs rolling in his grave and I state that in all seriousness, despite how cliche it might sound because anyone who knows anything about Steve Jobs knows he'd never allow it. (People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware)

The decision to let Forstall leave was also a disastrous display of poor judgment, a taint on his leadership, and a costly hit on Apple's reputation because it led to (IMHO) an unprecedented period of embarrassingly buggy software. Such was the state of Apple, that they even had to re-edit a commercial to remove one of the bugs that slipped through unnoticed until it was picked up and pointed out to Apple by the public.

What perplexes me the most is this: if software innovation has dipped ( I'm sorry but I don't consider shipping iPhone features like Siri to the Mac an innovation) and quality control has become almost non-existent (to the point that the consensus among leading apple journalists is they should extend the refresh cycle to 2 years), all the while hardware design has stagnated and their most successful new invention in recent years are earphones - what exactly has Tim done right?

Plenty.

https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2016/12/6/milking-the-iphone

https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2017/1/19/grading-tim-cook

In summary, that Apple appears to be neglecting the Mac should not be confused with Apple apparently having lost the plot, unpopular as that opinion may be around here. Apple is, and will go on to be immensely successful, whether you all wish to acknowledge that reality or not.

 

[macgeek01]

You got to give Apple credit for not making a touch screen Mac.

 

[redheeler]

The future of the Mac is iPad.
Mac devs should be investing in the future and figuring out how to bring their technologies and experiences to iOS.
Stop crying about the past.
The Mac still exists but it will never again be given high priority within Apple.
Apple has always been a company that doesn't let the past inhibit their future successes.

Macs still work better than iPads for a lot of different tasks (development / coding, servers, video editing / graphic design, the list goes on). I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future.

It's questionable that Rogue Amoeba's apps would even be possible on non-jailbroken iOS, due to Apple's sandbox restrictions for App Store apps.

 

[Mal Blackadder]

The future of the Mac is iPad.
Mac devs should be investing in the future and figuring out how to bring their technologies and experiences to iOS.
Stop crying about the past.
The Mac still exists but it will never again be given high priority within Apple.
Apple has always been a company that doesn't let the past inhibit their future successes.

The only way devs can develop apps for iOS is to use a Mac, you do realise that don't you? Xcode only works on Macs.

 

[kmann1983]

The future of the Mac is iPad.
Mac devs should be investing in the future and figuring out how to bring their technologies and experiences to iOS.
Stop crying about the past.
The Mac still exists but it will never again be given high priority within Apple.
Apple has always been a company that doesn't let the past inhibit their future successes.

When XCode runs on iOS you'll be right. Until then the future is a desktop and a pad. They serve two different purposes. Any editing or programming is done on a nice large monitor which an iPad simply isn't.
Saying "stop crying" is what will push people back to Windows which does have updated hardware and does get you your money for the value.
But I think you're right in one aspect: The future is iOS. Even if that means suffocating itself and not updating hardware which makes the software for iOS and it dies from that suffocation. They'll either need to change or we'll need to change.

It will be quite interesting.

 

[Tech198]

"Some of the blame for Apple's lack of updates can perhaps be placed on its reliance on Intel, and in the past, some Mac refreshes have been pushed back due to delays with Intel chips"

Probably Intel, but Windows machines have no trouble to release on time when new chips are out.

Apple "too busy" to care ? What are they doing? Just sitting and twiddling their thumbs waiting for that "cloud" to come?

Perhaps when transitions to ARM in 2020, thing better pick up. But actions speak louder than words..

You can say "not enough reassurance" to users about updates coming soon, but if its like a siren, its only annoying.... It won't help if there is still "no updates"

 

[PaulRustad007]

My mid 2011 mini is still chugging along..upgraded the ram and the disks to SSD a few years back. We'll see what Apple does....but, like most, it does not look promising.

 

[s15119]

Should change the name from Mac Rumors to Trash Mac for Jr High school. I'm done. This used to be a worthwhile tech site, it's turned into garbage. Good bye and good luck.

 

[ipponrg]

The future of the Mac is iPad.
Mac devs should be investing in the future and figuring out how to bring their technologies and experiences to iOS.
Stop crying about the past.
The Mac still exists but it will never again be given high priority within Apple.
Apple has always been a company that doesn't let the past inhibit their future successes.

How does one make an app for the iPad/iPhone?

 

[Tech198]

My mid 2011 mini is still chugging along..upgraded the ram and the disks to SSD a few years back. We'll see what Apple does....but, like most, it does not look promising.

No updates to Mac mini, i think it would be discontinued, as how long as one keep saying "i'm waiting" ? If only there was some better announcement, but there ain't... Its just Apple tagging us along for the joy ride.

At some point you gotta cut the cord. Most are probably in the "holding out" category.

For me, i've stopped buying Apple hardware totally..

 

[redheeler]

It's really sad. I wish apple would realize that, while the profits come from iGadgets, it's the technologies from the Mac that makes iOS possible, not the other way around.

That was true in the beginning, and your point that iOS would not exist without the Mac remains true. However, more recently it has been more the other way around, entirely because Apple is innovating more on the iOS side than the Mac side.

How badly is the Mac lagging behind? All you have to do is look at features that exist on both platforms, and when those features were introduced for each. Here are a few recent ones:

• Siri - iPhone: 2011, iPad: 2012 (1 year behind), Mac: 2016 (4 years behind)
• Touch ID - iPhone: 2013, iPad: 2014 (1 year behind), Mac: 2016 (3 years behind)
• Homekit - iPhone + iPad: 2014, Mac: 2018 (4 years behind)

You'd think that feature parity is a top priority at Apple, but apparently not when it comes to the Mac...

 

[imageWIS]

Apple has already lost me and they'll keep losing more and more customers as their Mac hardware gets worse and worse. The choice of hardware is already too bad for me to keep using Macs, as much as I love macOS as an operating system (but even that is getting worse).

So. Much. This. High Sierra is utter crap. I've never, ever had graphical issues on my MacBook Pro until the moment I downloaded HS, and then it's constant graphical issues, which I'm almost certain stems from Metal 2 not being ready for primetime.

 

[Tech198]

That was true in the beginning. However, lately it has been more the other way around, simply because Apple is innovating more on the iOS side than the Mac side.

How badly is the Mac lagging behind? All you have to do is look at features that exist on both platforms, and when those features were introduced for each. Here are a few recent ones:

• Siri - iPhone: 2011, iPad: 2012 (1 year behind), Mac: 2016 (4 years behind)
• Touch ID - iPhone: 2013, iPad: 2014 (1 year behind), Mac: 2016 (3 years behind)
• Homekit - iPhone + iPad: 2014, Mac: 2018 (4 years behind)

You'd think that feature parity is a top priority at Apple, but apparently not when it comes to the Mac...

True, but Apple still has the "Back to the Mac" (eg.. features you introduce on iOS, make it over to Mac)...

We now have Siri on Mac, but only thanks to it being available first on iOS... TouchID, Homekit and Map, the same.

If it wasan't for iOS features, the Mac OS would be about as boring as bread & butter.

 

[AdamJD]

Removing the glowing logo is also frustrating.

YES!!!!! Function aside, it's one of the coolest parts of the former machines and a branding and marketing feature.

 

[zeesix]

I have a 4 year old MBP 13 and no desire to upgrade (maybe that's a good though though, so I don't spend money)

I have a 3 year old MBP 15 for work without any desire to upgrade even though I can and don't have to pay for it.

I don't like the touchbar, the keyboard, limited to 16gb ram, and there is no magsafe.

Oh and also I have an iPhone SE for over 2 years with no desire to upgrade either (granted I don't have an option to upgrade for that form factor)

 

[loby]

I think you misunderstand Tim’s role at Apple.

He was never intended to be the visionary at the company. That role belongs to Jony Ive and his team of product designers, who determine the user experience the products ought to have. Essentially, they hold all the power in Apple in this regard.

Tim is, and always has been, the operations guy. That’s what he was appointed to do, and that’s what he has done marvellously, considering how much Apple has grown in these few years.

And if the price to be paid for that is the languishing of the Mac line, well, I guess you win some and you lose some.

True, and it looks like Ive desires to retire or does not have the passion anymore like he use too. Now that Jobs is gone, he now can venture on other non-Apple projects and spend his time doing other things...

Quite deserved...and this probably explains WHY we see a lack of movement in product design, especially the Mac line-up. If there is any design, he is now just overseeing or looking at the end offerings instead of actually designing from the ground up.

And he now does not have anyone over him to say, “This sucks, go back and create the impossible..”

 

[Mockletoy]

Over the last couple of years I’ve just begun to accept that Apple is simply not interested in making the Macs I want to buy, and they’re certainly under no obligation to do so.

It’s annoying, but it is what it is. I debated and debated replacing my 2013 MBP with a 2016 model when they came out, and I finally did it, but I’ve regretted it (mildly) ever since. Unreliable keyboard, meaning I have to pack in a BT keyboard everywhere just in case, sleep issues (much better now, but awful for many months), flaky external display handling, stuff like that. Nothing major, really, but lots of nagging little things like that on a pro-level $2K+ device, that’s not good, espeically when that device was something I didn’t particularly even want but just sort of settled on. Which, you know, that’s 110% on me, not Apple. I let habit and intertia drive my decision rather than rationality.

Really, if everyone in my immediate circle of friends and family weren’t such heavy and exclusive iMessage users and if I didn’t have so much muscle memory and time/money invested in the Apple ecosystem, I’d just walk away. The “Mac” I find myself using most often is the Windows desktop I have been dual booting as a Hackintosh since Yosemite. Across many hardware and software upgrades all the way to 10.13.5 it’s funnily enough been more hassle-free and reliable than my latest MacBook Pro.

If Apple would sell me a basic tower I could put a GPU in to dual-boot with Windows I’d do it in a second. If they’d just sell me a capable but not extreme pro-level headless Mac of any kind that I could hook an eGPU up to I’d probably do that, even. But they don’t want to make either of those machines, just as they don’t want to make me the notebook I want, which isn’t the thinnest or the lightest or whatever, but is a workhorse like the old 17” machines were in their day.

It stinks, but they just seem to have decided to go a different way. If they have no interest in serving those markets for whatever reason, I wish they’d make macOS available to the community in an official but unsupported way so that folks like me could use the OS and ecosystem we know and enjoy on hardware that is right for us. I’d be happy to buy a license, but they don’t want to sell me one of those, either.

 

[JCsHands2]

You for

As long you can have the latest emoji, run Instagram and use filters for my narcissistic lifestyle... all good.

You forgot the "sunnies" for your Memoji.