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Popular Mac Developer Slams Apple for 'Sad State of Macintosh Hardware'
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What people don't understand is that Mac computers are so mature, after decades of improvement, that actually they do not require regular updates anymore. I'm posting this on a three year old MacBook Air that is still incredibly fast. Buy a worthless HP or Lenovo laptops and we'll talk as well in three years...
What comes to my mind everytime I read some thread about Apple forgetting about Mac is a company called Porsche. Yeah, that Porsche.
Porsche used to be a sportscar company until 2002 when they started producing the Cayenne which is an SUV. Because most of Porsche sportscars were / are not that expensive like Lamborgini or Ferrari they were selling more cars than those two companies, yet the company was not as huge as BMW for example, so until 2002 they made a niche products. Since 2002 they started producing the SUV which turned out into a huge success and the company profits started raising. After several years the Cayenne became the most profitable car they have been making. It was no longer a niche product. After another few years they started producing a Panamera which IMO is also not such a niche product as 911. So let's get to the point – did Porsche started ditching their niche products because they were not making that much money? Hell no! Since then they produced a lot of expensive-to-develop cars like the Carrera GT/918 or GT3/GT2 which had to be really expensive to produce without a vision to became a huge profit, but they love their heritige and loyal customers. And that is my friends a nice example how to do the business when you produce a consumer focused products and also a niche products. You use the money earned by the consumer products to build those amazing niche products that made your company different at the beginning.
Porsche used to be a sportscar company until 2002 when they started producing the Cayenne which is an SUV. Because most of Porsche sportscars were / are not that expensive like Lamborgini or Ferrari they were selling more cars than those two companies, yet the company was not as huge as BMW for example, so until 2002 they made a niche products. Since 2002 they started producing the SUV which turned out into a huge success and the company profits started raising. After several years the Cayenne became the most profitable car they have been making. It was no longer a niche product. After another few years they started producing a Panamera which IMO is also not such a niche product as 911. So let's get to the point – did Porsche started ditching their niche products because they were not making that much money? Hell no! Since then they produced a lot of expensive-to-develop cars like the Carrera GT/918 or GT3/GT2 which had to be really expensive to produce without a vision to became a huge profit, but they love their heritige and loyal customers. And that is my friends a nice example how to do the business when you produce a consumer focused products and also a niche products. You use the money earned by the consumer products to build those amazing niche products that made your company different at the beginning.
The components in Apple Computers don't magically run faster for longer then their Window PC counterparts. Yes Apple are known for very reliable Hardware but in 3 years time a 2018 Dell XPS is going to run rings around a 2018 MBP because it has a faster CPU/GPU combo.
Yes, they should keep selling them forever in their current configs and at the same price points, adjusting for inflation of course.
Of course. My point is not about the actual components. People need to understand that there's an elephant in the room. And the elephant is the merger of hardware and software. macOS being developed purely for the Mac hardware, the results is far more powerful than any other worthless computer joint with overly complex Windows.
As for the components, 100% of the computers I've worked with at work (and some very high end) ended up after not even a year with an overly loud fan running loudly almost all the time. That's just one small example out of many.
I would get offered any type of PC for free, I would not even accept it. I would prefer my 2015 MacBook Air with the low resolution than any $3,000 brand new PC.
Once you go Mac, you never go back. So what I want to say to Apple is... thank you. I would not imagine a world without Apple.
That’s the funny thing. Many people asking for Apple to update Macs more frequently actually are still using Macs from 5 years old or even older. So why would Apple do what these people demanded when they themselves are not frequent upgraders?
Plus, unlike iDevices where Apple control the progression of the Ax chips, Apple relies on intel for the Mac. And intel themselves have gone to tick-tick-tock cycle, making every generation less and less of an improvement over the previous gen. I’m sure Apple is also tired of waiting for intel to deploy any new tech that they wanted.
The Apple Watch is having the same design since its inception. Should they also change it all the time just for the sake of it? Computers are not about components. It's about what could can do with them. I don't care having 1 or 12 GB of RAM, as long as my computer is fast. For instance, my MacBook Air has 4 GB of RAM. I could upgrade to a new one with more RAM, but I don't even see the point. So, what I'm even saying is that the current configurations of Macs are even too fast for most people. And what do you do with your computer? Watching YouTube clips and dropping tweets? Who cares about processor's Kaby Lake or whatever name there is. It's about user experience, not about what's inside.
I think this is pretty much the case, I was on my way to saving for a new MacBook Pro since I'm currently on the early 2013 15 inch retina but after some consideration I decided just the use the money to get an iPhone X since I was still using a 4s. I edit with Final Cut Pro X which is perfectly capable for my needs at the moment so the only thing I'd really need the new MacBook pro for is to upgrade the internal SSD to 1 or 2 TB.
Perhaps they should have just come out and had a state of the Mac during the WWDC keynote and had an honest conversation about what their plans are going forward for the Mac.
In recent times?
The Skylake series. There wasn't an iMac CPU refresh in 2016... in 2015 yes (Broadwell) and than last year, 2017 (Kaby Lake).
But now we are already at Coffee Lake since October 2017 (mobile CPUs).
The desktop CPUs are massively availabe since April 2018.
When something like a small piece of dust results in a $700 repair, their a massive problem with the product. Sadly your are not the first person I have heard of having this problem, more like the 100th or 1000th.
Also Congratulation you were the 1000th post in this thread, not many MacRumors thread manage this, not many issues angry and frustrate Mac users as much as this has recently
This reinforces my point. It’s getting lazy. The top management eyes are on something else but their products with the exception of the iPhone. Even the iPad in comparison pales in advances. Anything that does not move a needle in the stock does not seam to be in the top management agenda.
We are starting to get announces a year a head of release if not more ... products that are announced that aren’t released ... so on and so forth. A startup would be dead with this kind of procedure.
This is not being managed as a startup anymore and does not look like it is being managed like a large corp either, managing product/business portfolio with acquisitions, like MS is doing.
It’s kind of like Kowait and it’s oil. Huge oil reserves ...
It does not looks like Steve Jobs work anymore. Sorry guys, it is changing dramatically.
I like Tim, but he is not visionary. It does not look like Fred or Eddy are either. I had hopes that Jonathan would be the guy, but he does not seam interested in filling that shoe, he his more of a problem solver in design.
Maybe things will change a bit for the better. I really like Apple products, but I’m starting to wonder if I like current Apple products with the exception of the iPhone or I like the potential.
Take Continuity. It does not seam to be moving much. Will it be another Airplay case that moves only when everyone else is already ahead? AirPlay was ahead of the game for 4 years or more and now is behind. They burned the lead with the lack of action.
Siri the same thing. I suspect the iPad will be the same thing.
They had plenty of brilliant foundations to work on for years, they inherit that and put emojis has a major priority. With this latest conference its the third they talk about emojis, emojis for f* sake. Don’t remember ever SJ talk about stuff like this as major beaks. And now watch bands, and the gay flag. Again WTF? What saved last year was the advancements in the Apple Watch.
I like what they shown this year in software, but it was very little considering their growth. I really like Apple products and Apple in general, but its getting hard to like complacency.
Complacency, I see no other word tha characterizes anything else but the iPhone line, that now we have 5 kinds to choose from.
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Apple would’ve been a trillion dollar company five years ago if they had stayed committed to their desktops. Leadership there is blinded by the easy success of iPhones.
I really wish they’d spin off Apple desktop products as its own division. Like MS did with Xbox. Let them run themselves and grow in their own market that big daddy Apple doesn’t see as something worth the time.
I really wish they’d spin off Apple desktop products as its own division. Like MS did with Xbox. Let them run themselves and grow in their own market that big daddy Apple doesn’t see as something worth the time.
You are missing the point completely it is not about the hardware, it's about software and thats where macOS comes into its own, so in 3 years time its actually Mac + macOS that runs rings around the same year version of any Windows laptop...
But that my friend is a myth, I built a custom PC about 3 years ago running Windows 7 and it still runs like the day I built it. Also in your example if you do a clean install of the OS on both machines after the 3 years the Machine with the better specs is still going to run better. Even my MBA needed a clean OSX install yesterday as it was starting to run like crap. In general OSX lasts longer between needing a fresh OS install but thats about it.
Well, I don't have problems with running/using Windows daily since the days of version 3.1.
Yes, there was a time (Windows 9x line), when some drivers were "wonky", but nothing more. Especially the later version (Windows 8.1 nad 10) are really stable. At least for me.
And the software I use, are available on both platforms. So I only need to choose the OS, that has a much faster hadware underneath. And this time it is my mini-ITX PC.
I upgraded the Mac mini as much as I could, but that is. There are physical boundaries. And it is getting long in the tooth. I won't sell it yet, but I am using it less and less.
For people watching youtube and browsing email old technology works just fine, we can agree on that. Also, they might as well use their phone. But even then it’s not decent to charge the same price the did on release date.
8th Gen CPU's are on the same lithography with more cores. Intel lowered the base frequency to maintain a 45W TDP for the mobile H series processors, however Intel significantly increased Turbo for additional performance with resultant increased power consumption. My latest notebook with Intel's new hex core 8750H scores 1273CB under Cinebench R15. This is one of the highest results I've seen on the web for a notebook with the 8750H hex core CPU, equally I've observed over 86W power draw from the CPU package in isolation (PL-2 limit being 90W) under Prime95 Small FFT stress test. Current 15" MBP power supply is rated at 87W for the entire notebook...
Some OEM's are power limiting the 8750H in order to keep the CPU within "their" design limits, resulting in significant reduction in Turbo frequency and performance. Although the 8750H remains to be a 45W TDP component (at base frequency of 2.2GHz) one can see why Apple may have it's hands full getting similar performance in the MBP's diminutive chassis with USB C charging. Bottom line is the increased performance of the 8th Gen H series requires additional power & cooling to reach full potential.
FWIW A well set up 7th Gen 7700HQ will pull approximately 45W on full boost, generally never tripping the power limits. 8750H being clearly far more power hungry, equally vastly more performant...
Q-6
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I don't know whether 2018 Apple are known for very reliable hardware...
Oh I totally agree, hence why this thread caught my attention.
What kind of a wonderland do you live in dude?
What are you talking about?
Try to run UE 4, modo or any 3D or any kind of engineering modeling software and watch your precious you tube watching ring runner crawl like a smashed coackroach.
Besides Windows 10 is not vista!!!
That’s a myth....I ve had it on my Digital Storm desktop for 3 years now with no issues whatsoever!!!
At the end of the day I’m not arsed with people defending Apple.
The bottom line is old hardware should not be premium. Regardless of whether it performs “ok”
If your paying 30% more they should be using the very best parts available.
No excuses. Consumers aren’t stupid.
It’s a catch 22 Apple not updating not hardware means reduced sales, reduced sales means Apple is less interested in updating.
There’s no win for consumers.
I’ve been waiting for a replacement for my 2010 Mac Pro for 8 nearly 9 years. My 11” full spec MacBook Air was stolen. No product came close in 2016 the MacBook is underpowered and no chance I was paying £400 more for a MacBook Pro which is bigger heavier less ports and really only 10% faster...
Pissed off is an understatement.
The state of the whole line is a disgrace. High prices, compromises everywhere and the top OTS (off the shelf) configs are woefully inadequate unless you are a casual user. Casual users shouldn’t be paying £2k for a 13” MacBook Pro with a dual core and integrated graphics.
Neither should they be getting a 1tb spinning disk with a 24gb ssd in a top tier 27” iMac.
Appauling.
The Mac used to be the standard everything was compared to. Now it’s all lost in the haze of very good machines from other manufacturers.
At the end of the day most software is multi platform meaning the user experience is the same over different platforms. Apple only having 2 bits of software that is optimised is not a reason to stick with high Sierra which for a lot of people was an absolute joke on release, nothing was compatible.
Frustrated is an understatement.
The bottom line is old hardware should not be premium. Regardless of whether it performs “ok”
If your paying 30% more they should be using the very best parts available.
No excuses. Consumers aren’t stupid.
It’s a catch 22 Apple not updating not hardware means reduced sales, reduced sales means Apple is less interested in updating.
There’s no win for consumers.
I’ve been waiting for a replacement for my 2010 Mac Pro for 8 nearly 9 years. My 11” full spec MacBook Air was stolen. No product came close in 2016 the MacBook is underpowered and no chance I was paying £400 more for a MacBook Pro which is bigger heavier less ports and really only 10% faster...
Pissed off is an understatement.
The state of the whole line is a disgrace. High prices, compromises everywhere and the top OTS (off the shelf) configs are woefully inadequate unless you are a casual user. Casual users shouldn’t be paying £2k for a 13” MacBook Pro with a dual core and integrated graphics.
Neither should they be getting a 1tb spinning disk with a 24gb ssd in a top tier 27” iMac.
Appauling.
The Mac used to be the standard everything was compared to. Now it’s all lost in the haze of very good machines from other manufacturers.
At the end of the day most software is multi platform meaning the user experience is the same over different platforms. Apple only having 2 bits of software that is optimised is not a reason to stick with high Sierra which for a lot of people was an absolute joke on release, nothing was compatible.
Frustrated is an understatement.
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Maybe Apple is on the way, to open iOS and Swift development on other platforms (Windows, Linux...)?