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

[Abazigal]

Apple's ignoring of the developers is very dangerous indeed. Dangerous to Apple.

Sounds like that's what Marzipan is aimed at addressing.

Bringing iOS apps to macOS, and in the process bringing more desktop-class apps from the Mac to the iPad. Maybe in the future, there will be no distinction between iOS or macOS app developers. Just Apple app developers.

 

[dan9700]

I still cant believe i payed over £3000 for the 2017 macbook pro and its still slow running basic apps and amd drivers never get updated and cant play basic games i kinda wish i wasnt stuck in the apple eco system

 

[Flight Plan]

What you want is a pipe dream.

You still don't really get "what I want". You've apparently assumed that I just want Apple to open their software. If you don't take my other comments into account, then you have invented (or convinced yourself of) another false premise.

So I'll say it as clearly as possible: I want Apple to either

• Offer new hardware options that are competitive with the market

...or...

• Set the Mac free

I'd be happy with either. Make a choice. Poop or get off the pot. It's not that difficult.

The upshot here is that I'm a potential customer who is trying to tell Apple what things would make me spend money on their products. As a potential customer, I don't care about business models. Does somebody have to understand MacDonald's business model to enjoy a Big Mac? Does somebody have to understand Royal Caribbean's model to enjoy a Mediterranean cruise?

The hardware developer in this article, and 95% of the other respondents to this thread are trying to tell anybody (who will listen) precisely what you need to know if you want to make money from us as a seller of computers.

Apple still sells computers, so they can take that advice to heart or leave it, at their own peril of course. I don't give a rat's keester if it meets Apple's business model or not.

 

[dan9700]

To be fair apple now days cant even nail ios without so many bugs so macos isnt really looked after wow we get dark mode after buying 2 homepods for stereo airplay 2 isnt on mac or future mac beta so cant use honepods on mac in stereo without lag, whats apple playing at

 

[MandiMac]

I still cant believe i payed over £3000 for the 2017 macbook pro and its still slow running basic apps and amd drivers never get updated and cant play basic games i kinda wish i wasnt stuck in the apple eco system

Wait what? Which basic apps are running slow?

 

[Flight Plan]

Fine, then open the OS, let us build our own hackintosh machines, and let us build 'em to our own specs....

...macOS would become Windows in that case - with all the associated problems. The reason the Mac is unique and works so well is that one company controls the hardware and software. If you take away that link, it changes everything.

But that's the point. Windows 10 is actually reliable, secure, and workable. My work has completely converted to it and I use it at home too. So your premise, ("with all the associated problems") just doesn't apply to the great majority of users.

By comparison, Mac is NOT "working so well" anymore. This thread should have made this painfully obvious by now.

 

[seclusion]

It will be interesting to see what comes in the next year.
For Logic Pro I have used a G4, Mac Pro 1.1, 3.1, 5.1 and now an iMac 2017 I have to say the iMac is the simplest setup yet. Usb-c has made external drives a reality for music makers.
Clients can come in with an external drive and away we go.
Write speeds exceed anything internal made by Apple previous without expensive add on's.
For music production, ram and external drives are a must. Buying the most CPU and GPU isn’t as imperative, but should be considered on purchase.
Having the options to upgrade really does add a dose of always wanting the next thing, I for one like the fact I can easily upgrade ram if needed. I won’t bother with the maxed out CPU I ordered.
If I didn’t have this damn music habit, I’d be all iPad.
Here’s to hoping we get more interesting machines to continue on our quests for better.

 

[saudor]

Hackintosh fam, checkin' in!

Have you seen those AMD Threadripper hackintoshes? Holy crap, for like $1,000 you can get a Mac that runs circles around an iMac 'Pro' that costs $5,000... and ZERO upgrade path, LOL.

Yeah! I have a few pop up on r/Hackintosh! It's amazing.

It's not even just about upgradeability. Apple has a poor track record of GPU stability. And since everything is melded together, you're looking at crazy out of warranty fees for something simple. I rather spend that money and upgrade to the latest GPU.

That being said, the imac 5k isnt too bad if your needs fit within that playground. the 5K display is pretty hard to beat at that price point.

 

[Elian_Gonzalez]

I have immensely enjoyed the sustained bib-dribbling and spoon clanging from all the techie boyz who, on one hand, will tell you that Macs sustain their value longer than other computers, and then on the other hand, will complain that Macs have no value because they are "old" inside.

You are not the primary market for this company. Your limited talent for doing benchmarks, stupid unpacking videos and pretending you are video professionals because you make unpacking videos, at the expense of everything else is not the business model for this company.

But please proceed, techie boyz. Keep up the decibels with your whining about how this company needs to cater just to you and your gaming fetishes. Because, you're "super power users," after all.

 

[Flight Plan]

...for music production, ram and external drives are a must. Buying the most CPU and GPU isn’t as imperative, but should be considered on purchase.
Having the options to upgrade really does add a dose of always wanting the next thing, I for one like the fact I can easily upgrade ram if needed. I won’t bother with the maxed out CPU I ordered.
If I didn’t have this damn music habit, I’d be all iPad.
Here’s to hoping we get more interesting machines to continue on our quests for better.

Good points, and if you only do music, then your calculation is easy.

But this doesn't apply to all people equally. Many people who do music also do other things; some things that require more CPU, GPU, memory, or hard drives.
[doublepost=1529244395][/doublepost]

I have immensely enjoyed the sustained bib-dribbling and spoon clanging from all the techie boyz who, on one hand, will tell you that Macs sustain their value longer than other computers, and then on the other hand, will complain that Macs have no value because they are "old" inside.

You are not the primary market for this company. Your limited talent for doing benchmarks, stupid unpacking videos and pretending you are video professionals because you make unpacking videos, at the expense of everything else is not the business model for this company.

But please proceed, techie boyz. Keep up the decibels with your whining about how this company needs to cater just to you and your gaming fetishes. Because, you're "super power users," after all.

Hello. I don't get your post. Are you in favor of Apple upgrading their hardware choices, or are you opposed because you don't like unpacking videos?

 

[dan9700]

Wait what? Which basic apps are running slow?

Lightroom i have a windows laptop as well slightly better spec and runs 100 times better i wish apple stayed with aputure no photographer uses photos for raw

 

[Abazigal]

W T F are you babbling about??

"Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in April 1976 to develop and sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. It was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. in January 1977, and sales of its computers, including the Apple II, saw significant momentum and revenue growth for the company. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.

My point is that while Apple sells computers, they are not a computer company in the conventional sense, and if you try to evaluate them through the lens of what a conventional PC vendor would do, then you will miss the mark every time, just like what countless other analysts have.

There's a reason why Steve gave this famous speech.

"The reason that Apple is able to create products like the iPad is because we've always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts. To be able to get the best of both. To make extremely advanced products from a technology point of view but also have them be intuitive, easy to use, fun to use, so that they really fit the users and users don't have to come to them, they come to the user. And it's the combination of these two things that I think let us make the kind of creative products like the iPad."

This is why competitors have such a hard time going up against equivalent Apple products despite them having superior specs on paper. There are more to Apple products than just the technology inside. Apple is positioning the user experience - how consumers interact with technology - as more important than focusing on the sheer power found with technology.

Critics look at Apple entering new fields including (but not limited to) AR, health, cars, voice and TV and argue that Apple is losing its focus. I am like - of course Apple would tackle these areas, because they have so much potential for making technology feel so much more personal to the end user, which is what Apple is all about.

The biggest risk to Apple is not in being a design company, but in regressing to just being another boring tech company. Which is apparently what a small but extremely vocal (and influential) portion of the Mac community evidently desires, because they don't want the version of technology Apple is selling, and there is no sign of this dissatisfaction going away.

To put it plainly and simply, the Mac does not represent Apple's future. This ever-changing tech landscape will require Apple to play in new industries, and there is always the risk of long-term damage caused by the Mac becoming a resource strain on Apple and jeopardizing other initiatives.

And if Apple can't reconcile the two, then this group of Mac users may have to be Apple's to lose. In that in order to stay true to their vision of making technology more personal, Apple may well have to make the difficult choice of telling them - I am sorry, you want what I cannot and will not give you. You will have to find another vendor for your computing needs.

 

[Bacillus]

The average Mac user doesn’t know or care about the MacRumors upgrade chart for Mac hardware. If the consumer needed a new Mac right now, she would not consult Rogue Amoeba first. She’d just go buy one.

Apple indeed has become dependent on the more ignorant.
Congrats.

 

[jimsong]

Agreed. That’s why I specifically mention developers. And what about Google? They having a thriving mobile market share and no desktop market share to speak of.

Well, that's because most of their developers use Macs. Plus, Android development tools run on Windows, Mac, and Linux, whereas Xcode is Mac-only. I don't see Apple making a Windows or Linux version anytime soon.

 

[maflynn]

Apple indeed has become to dependent on the more ignorant.

Apple sells to the consumer and most consumers knows little about chip releases and what not

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

To put it plainly and simply, the Mac does not represent Apple's future. This ever-changing tech landscape will require Apple to play in new industries, and there is always the risk of long-term damage caused by the Mac becoming a resource strain on Apple and jeopardizing other initiatives.

And if Apple can't reconcile the two, then this group of Mac users may have to be Apple's to lose. In that in order to stay true to their vision of making technology more personal, Apple may well have to make the difficult choice of telling them - I am sorry, you want what I cannot and will not give you. You will have to find another vendor for your computing needs.

Completely untrue. The Mac will always be part of Apple’s future because the company relies heavily on professionals to create apps and content.

 

[Abazigal]

You still don't really get "what I want". You've apparently assumed that I just want Apple to open their software. If you don't take my other comments into account, then you have invented (or convinced yourself of) another false premise.

So I'll say it as clearly as possible: I want Apple to either

• Offer new hardware options that are competitive with the market

...or...

• Set the Mac free

I'd be happy with either. Make a choice. Poop or get off the pot. It's not that difficult.

The upshot here is that I'm a potential customer who is trying to tell Apple what things would make me spend money on their products. As a potential customer, I don't care about business models. Does somebody have to understand MacDonald's business model to enjoy a Big Mac? Does somebody have to understand Royal Caribbean's model to enjoy a Mediterranean cruise?

The hardware developer in this article, and 95% of the other respondents to this thread are trying to tell anybody (who will listen) precisely what you need to know if you want to make money from us as a seller of computers.

Apple still sells computers, so they can take that advice to heart or leave it, at their own peril of course. I don't give a rat's keester if it meets Apple's business model or not.

You don't have to understand a company's business model to enjoy their products, but it would certainly help one to better appreciate why that company chooses to do certain things the way they do (or not).

There's a third choice - leave the Apple ecosystem. I said it before and I will say it again. It's like walking into a French restaurant and demanding to be served Japanese cuisine. You want what Apple can't and won't provide. Just because you are willing to throw money at Apple means nothing if it costs Apple more to serve you (and others like yourself) than it will earn them.

You seriously think Apple isn't aware of all this? You think Apple isn't aware that the Mac mini hasn't been updated in close to 4 years?

 

[CodeSpyder]

Maybe Apple should spin off the Mac product line. Maybe then it would be given the attention it deserves.

 

[bootamac]

MicroCenter has Dell xps8930 i7 8700 for 699.00. Granted it lacks a graphics card but compare that to the price of a 2014 mac mini. If i pay top dollar for a computer I expect it to be the lastest and greatest available. They spent 5 Billion on new offices how much does cost to have a updated Mini? And why would any imac have 5400 RPM hard drives? I love MAC OSX but like others will much more likely spend my dollars on Windows Machines which come with alot more power per price than macs.

 

[hans1972]

The Mac Pro fiasco demonstrated that this isn't true. They dithered for years, just as they've dithered in the mac mini for years.

Have you considered that Apple stopped development of the Mac Mini, the MacBook Air and the Mac Pro and just did not tell anyone and kept selling the latest modell to this day?

The reason they still sell them is because people still buy them.

 

[Bacillus]

Maybe Apple should spin off the Mac product line. Maybe then it would be given the attention it deserves.

Agree. I'd favor Michael Dell over the current crop of Steve's traitors

 

[Abazigal]

Completely untrue. The Mac will always be part of Apple’s future because the company relies heavily on professionals to create apps and content.

My point exactly.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that Apple will stop selling the Mac altogether. What I am saying is that Apple clearly views the iPad and iOS as the more promising platform than Mac and macOS for the next few decades of computing, and this will affect the development of iOS and macOS likewise.

And what does it say about the Mac if its primary purpose is to be just that - an enabler of iOS devices and experiences? And as the Mac user pool shrinks (because I foresee more people migrating to the iPad in the future), it stands to reason that one does not really need that many different Mac models. The Mac mini will obviously go, and that just leaves the Mac Pro, a product which Apple may find that they have no choice but to keep supporting for no other reason than they create the content consumed by the rest of the user base.

 

[Rokkit]

I too am shocked that Apple is somewhere between neglect and abandonment of Mac hardware. I wonder if it’s this ‘planned obsolescence’ that’s permeating their product line. It might work for smaller ‘i’ devices, but it doesn’t translate well to full-blown computers.

I’m at a crossroads where I need to upgrade my mac hardware around my house and I’m at a loss as to what to do. I need a new desktop since my 2011 iMac, which has served me well, is getting long in the tooth even after upgrading it and its beginning to behave in a way that shows some components are beginning to fail. My 2011 macbook, having also been upgraded, seems to be at the end of its life.

The 2011 iMac was a solid workhorse. Upgrading a little tough, but it went well. The new iMac’s can’t be upgraded without complicated surgery, not interested.

I was looking to get a Mac mini since I need a mac desktop that can run VM’s... so it needs memory and disk. Preferably more than 16 GB. I’ve been waiting for Apple to update the Mac mini and I’m holding out hope that it’s upgradable but I’m losing patience.

Taking away the ability to upgrade systems by soldering in RAM and using extensive amounts of glue is a terrible mistake on Apple’s part. This is done in the name of reliability and that is complete garbage trying to get me to buy a new apple-priced computer more frequently.

Things on the laptop are better since Macbooks have at least been updated “recently.” Though I don’t need gimmicks like the touch bar that comes on the high-end model.

My naive hopes are for Apple to make Mac OS to work on other hardware, but highly doubt they’ll ever do such a thing since it would kill off mac sales.

sigh

Karl

 

[Wando64]

...Mac is NOT "working so well" anymore. This thread should have made this painfully obvious by now.

Says who?
Haven’t you noticed this thread is about hardware?

MacOS is a beauty (in comparative terms). No problems there.

 

[damianras]

Nonsense. What Apple really needs to focus on is delivering entirely new categories of products that the market isn't already saturated with and that the world has never seen before... like a smart speaker you can talk to. That... and more watch bands.

The more I think about it, really, just more watch bands. That is where they should continue to focus.