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

[iReality85]

Definitely did not expect an article like this to garner 1300+ comments. Just goes to show people are passionate and there’s a lot of pent up feelings.

Clearly, Apple can and should do more for their power users.

I’ve never owned a Mac. I do consider myself a real Apple customer though, despite a comment I read a couple pages back. I’ve only used iPhones since the arrival of smartphones, and I’ve only ever used iTunes for my music needs. I have two of the newer model Apple TVs. And come this fall, I will be picking up an Apple Watch once the new model arrives.

Their computer lineups have always struck me as odd though. I’m a PC user — always have been — and a DIYer at that (it's fun!). I build my own, and it's cost effective for me. That said, I have a lot more disposable income these days than I did 4-8 years ago, and it would be fun to pick up a Mac mini to monkey around with, because I’ve never really experienced MacOS.

However, there’s just no way I can justify buying something like the Mac mini which is 4 years old; that’s a long time in tech. Or paying the Apple premium for options like SSDs and RAM (SSDs are dirt cheap right now, FYI).

It perplexes me. You would think Apple would keep the Mac mini constantly up to date — even as a loss leader — as a cheap but powerful option for people to experience MacOS.

 

[sog1927]

If you absolutely need a top spec machine... how do you get by with a 2014?

In my case, it's (late) 2012 - and the one word answer to your question is "badly". If a 32GB MBP had been available 2 years ago (when I was scheduled for an upgrade), I would have bought it - as would the 9 people who work for me. Unfortunately, it wasn't. I suppose, since I'm condemned to swapping because of inadequate RAM, that I could derive some benefit from the faster SSD - but that's not worth the added number of dongles I'd have to carry (and lose!), the crappy keyboard, the loss of a physical ESC key (I use vi), and the loss of the MagSafe.

 

[manu chao]

iMac Pro.

Give it time, at some point one if its internal components will turn out to be the one that fails the first (on an average level) and the not-so-easy repairability will make some people very mad.

 

[JGRE]

maybe they'd be happy with slightly boring boxes with up-to-the-minute standard components in them that could run Mac OS without hacking...

Exactly, we do not want gimmicks like this expenses touch bar, or ultra thin and light. We just want up to standard specs (not soldered on) that's all.

 

[sog1927]

However, there’s just no way I can justify buying something like the Mac mini which is 4 years old; that’s a long time in tech. Or paying the Apple premium for options like SSDs and RAM (SSDs are dirt cheap right now, FYI).

It's not just 4 years old. It's 4 years old and was outdated when it first shipped. That's even worse.
[doublepost=1529272850][/doublepost]

I believe Apple is waiting for Intel processors without security bugs.
All the current processors are vulnerable.

"With Intel for a friend, who needs an enemy?"

 

[kyjaotkb]

Hardware AND software. Microsoft is completely having them on with Office. A $500 Windows laptop runs the latest version of Excel 64-bit in multi-threaded mode and can effortlessly manipulate large datasets. An iMac Pro? It will lags. A Macbook Pro? It will most likely crash. I am long overdue for a new laptop (my 2011 MBA is now running like a dog) but I use Excel a lot, with loads of filtering and pivot tables and 50k+ line-long datasets - a Mac just won't cut it. It's an embarrassment and a frustration that no Mac currently on the market can run at least 50% as fast as my work-issued plasticky HP laptop from 2015.

 

[Nuno Lopes]

Why? Because computers are much more powerful and have much longer useful lifespans. A lot of people on this forum are still getting by perfectly with the original 2012 retina MBP and even non-retina models in 2018. With iPhones if you're not running something that runs at least iOS 10 well, you're not getting the most out of the software. Many apps require 10 as the minimum today and it will get worse by the end of the year. An iPhone 5/5s simply is not good enough for 2018.

Lots of us would be fine with an iPhone 6S with a new battery as we are fine with a 2015 Macbook Pro. Its almost a three year model. My wife uses an iPhone SE bought December last year and its totally fine for her, fast and responsive. It was actually my previous phone before the iPhone X.

Lots are buying Macbook Pro's 15" Retina from 2015/16. I'm one of them and its fine for me, it was a conscious choice. But people continue to buy the new models.

The truth is, Apple is already more or less doing it, its just not updating yearly as they do with the iPhones. Imagine an iPhone with no updates since the iPhone 7 (no 8 oor 10) ... that is more or less what they are doing with the Macs!

Now on a funny note. The trackpad was designed to be at the center is kind of a middle ground between lefties and righties because it is not cost efficient to build PC specifically for either. But the truth is, for righties the best position would be on the right, for lefties ... Now imagine a trackpad that cover the entire surface from left to right .... better since the center would be in a dead position in this case (worst position given the option for anyone), remove touch bar and put an actual screen in the middle

 

[LiveM]

Remember when the 2014 Mac Mini event invitation teased “it’s been too long”? Apple should say “it’s been way, way too long” this year.

 

[Thrack]

Rogue Amoeba developer Quentin Carnicelli, who works on Mac software like Airfoil, Audio Hijack, Loopback, and Fission, this week penned a critique of Apple's Mac lineup and the company's recent lack of Mac updates, and that missive has been gaining some attention from Mac fans.

Using MacRumors' own Buyer's Guide, Carnicelli points out that it's been more than a year since any Mac, with the exception of the iMac Pro, has been updated.

It's been 375 days, for example, since the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air machines were last updated, and it's been 437 days since the Mac Pro saw the price drop Apple implemented as it works on a Mac Pro replacement.

The Mac Pro has not seen a hardware update since December of 2013, more than 1600 days ago. Apple has promised its professional users that a high-end high-throughput modular Mac Pro system is in the works, but we thus far have no details on when it might see a release.

The Mac mini, Apple's most affordable desktop Mac, has gone 1338 days without an update, with the last refresh introduced in October of 2014. While Apple has made promises about a refreshed Mac Pro, no similar statement has been provided about a future Mac mini, aside from a comment from Apple CEO Tim Cook stating that the Mac mini continues to be important to Apple.

According to Carnicelli, the state of the Mac lineup is "deeply worrisome" to him as a person who works for a Mac-based software company. Customers are, he says, forced to choose between "purchasing new computers that are actually years old" or "holding out in the faint hope that hardware updates are still to come."As Carnicelli points out, Apple could reassure its Mac users with updates and speed bumps to its Mac lineup on a "much more frequent basis," calling the current lack of updates "baffling and frightening to anyone who depends on the platform for their livelihood."

Apple in 2017 refreshed much of its Mac lineup (iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook) at its Worldwide Developers Conference, but this year, Apple opted to focus instead on software, with no new Mac hardware announced. With no new hardware in June, based on past release history, we could be looking at an 18-month upgrade cycle this time around, as pointed out by iMore's Rene Ritchie, with new Macs making an appearance in September or October.

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. This is likely one of the reasons why Apple is planning to transition from Intel chips to its own custom made Mac chips as early as 2020.

MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, and MacBook Air upgrades are not in the dire state that Mac Pro and Mac mini upgrades are in, but increased attention on issues with the MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards has left Apple customers eager to see those machine updated, especially as Apple has not acknowledged these keyboard issues despite their prevalence in the media.

"Apple needs to publicly show their commitment to the full Macintosh hardware line and they need to do it now," writes Carnicelli.

Carnicelli's comments on the state of the Mac lineup came just before Apple released a new Mac advertising campaign. Called "Behind the Mac," the campaign highlights creators who use their Macs to "make something wonderful."

The first ad spots in the series focus on photographer and disability advocate Bruce Hall, who uses his Mac for editing photographs, musician Grimes, who uses the Mac "from start to finish" to write all of her music, edit music videos, and more, and app developer Peter Kariuki who used his Mac to code the SafeMotos app, which is designed to connect passengers with safe motorcycle drivers in Rwanda.

These ads, while inspiring, may be seen as too little too late by those who have grown frustrated with Apple's Mac lineup and have come to see the lack of updates as an indicator of a lack of commitment to the Mac.

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

[doublepost=1529273604][/doublepost]Couldn't agree more. Both the hardware and the software (which used to just work) seem almost like afterthoughts now. And abandoning the Time Capsule, one of their great products, presumably because it doesn't earn enough, pretty much says it all. I have colleagues who have been using Macs forever who are starting to look at PCs out of disappointment. Really sad about what's happening to Steve Job's company.

 

[quatermass]

Follow the money. Look at the graphs that are presented each quarter showing which products are the biggest revenue streams. Now take a guess as to what receives the most attention and development. Apple have already demonstrated that the worse thing that can happen if they ignore the Mac side of things is nothing, and that will continue to be the case. Now we have re-inventing TV, making new content for TV, augmented reality, self-driving cars, thinner, smaller, faster tiny shiny boxes and software updates who's biggest feature is to turn you into a smiling, dancing pile of poo. Times have changed. The tail wags the dog. Fake news, fake presidents, fake progress. You know it's bad when the biggest news on the Mac front is 'Dark Mode". Solutions to problems we didn't know we had. There will be new Macs, but they will also be solutions to non-existent problems. Thanks Tim. Good to know we're important to you.

 

[Kabeyun]

That philosophy ("we know what's good for you") is fine, as long as you're right. Maybe they were right 25 years ago, but now times have changed. All decisions should be reviewed periodically.

I think it’s more of a per-decision thing than a time thing. For example, the relatively recent decisions to kill the 30-pin accessory port, adapt USB-C, and perhaps even kill the 3.5 mm audio jack we’re all probably correct, although there’s certainly room to quibble with the implementation on some. The problem here is that we have no idea what their damn decision is regarding the macOS hardware line. Neglect-until-abandoned isn’t a strategy that came out of any meeting, yet that’s where devs and consumers alike have arrived. This is where Apple’s legendary tight-lippedness is really hurting them.

 

[Wandering Wastrel]

Correct, but isn't it just too sad?

Yes, it is sad. The vast number of replies in this thread just goes to show how much, and how many, people still care. These people still want to use Apple products for their computing needs.

I don't know if Apple will, or can, or even wants to, satisfy this group of users. But what will be even more sad is if very few people reply in threads like this, because very few people care anymore.

A walled garden is nice. But if you stop weeding even a small section of the garden, the whole place soon looks like a mess.

 

[bladerunner2000]

This article needs to stay at the top / get stickied until Apple pulls it's head out of it's ass.

 

[GoodWatch]

Follow the money. Look at the graphs that are presented each quarter showing which products are the biggest revenue streams. Now take a guess as to what receives the most attention and development. Apple have already demonstrated that the worse thing that can happen if they ignore the Mac side of things is nothing, and that will continue to be the case. Now we have re-inventing TV, making new content for TV, augmented reality, self-driving cars, thinner, smaller, faster tiny shiny boxes and software updates who's biggest feature is to turn you into a smiling, dancing pile of poo. Times have changed. The tail wags the dog. Fake news, fake presidents, fake progress. You know it's bad when the biggest news on the Mac front is 'Dark Mode". Solutions to problems we didn't know we had. There will be new Macs, but they will also be solutions to non-existent problems. Thanks Tim. Good to know we're important to you.

What he said. What we need is transparency and truth. Not gripping speeches (tears almost rolling from Tim's eyes) that convey that the Mac is "still very important to us, we love our loyal customers". Yes or no.

 

[toke lahti]

The number of posts to this thread tells everything, if Apple would listen.
Apple, please, let Macs go free!
Let Macs be their own company, with priority of their own products!

 

[Ladybug]

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.

Exactly right..I bought my PC two years ago and it’s never needed to be reinstalled, booted into safe mode, nor have I gotten any viruses or malware in all this time. Windows has made great strides into improving their OS. Nor do I need to track down and update drivers either. It is very stable.

Apple needs to put up or shut up. I feel they are leaving their customers hanging at this point. No one knows what to expect or when anymore. I no longer recommend Mac computers.

 

[Jack Neill]

This just shows that they want faster horses. But no one is able to clearly elaborate why.

You did read the 40+ pages of comments before writting that right? I am honestly asking why you are defending selling old hardware at "new" prices? If HP or Dell did this they would be crucified by everyone. I guess Apple is special and gets a pass...

 

[ziggy29]

Exactly right..I bought my PC two years ago and it’s never needed to be reinstalled, booted into safe mode, nor have I gotten any viruses or malware in all this time. Windows has made great strides into improving their OS. Nor do I need to track down and update drivers either. It is very stable.

Apple needs to put up or shut up. I feel they are leaving their customers hanging at this point. No one knows what to expect or when anymore. I no longer recommend Mac computers.

The Windows experience is still lagging behind using a Mac, but it is getting better. Like you, right now I just can't see buying another Mac with the current product lineup. Even with a refresh, I'm concerned about Apple's commitment to the MacOS and their computer lines, since they are clearly emphasizing tablets, phones and watches. If they tried to force MacOS to become more like iOS, I'd also be gone. I don't want a mobile OS on my desktop.

 

[nwcs]

There's no way I could write a novel on glass without losing my mind. It would be easier to get a pen and paper than subjecting myself to that horror.

iPads work with Bluetooth keyboards and the Smart Keyboard. I wouldn’t want to type on glass for a long time but this problem is solved.

 

[0388631]

However, iOS market share is shrinking. I’ll bet it would see even a bigger drop if Mac was to be EOL. At any case, Apple isn’t trying very hard with Mac. Actually, for the past year it seems they are hardly trying at all.

Probably. There's a lot of tie in between iOS and macOS. Shame, too.

 

[nwcs]

This isn’t really a true statement. Sales of Dell, Lenovo, HP and Apple combined have been roughly flat, grown slightly. It is sales of other brands and Acer that have shrunk.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/263393/global-pc-shipments-since-1st-quarter-2009-by-vendor/

How is it not a true statement? In context it was clear I was referring to the whole industry of desktop devices. Specifically those sold to the consumer. Global vendor shipments doesn’t really say anything about consumer purchases of desktops vs mobile devices.

 

[groadyho]

I am really conflicted about this. In my family my wife and I are the only 2 android hold outs. The wife refuses to ever use Ios she says it to difficult. That said, out of 9 family members here only 2 of us even have computers. My sister uses a HP laptop for her law firm to work from home and we have a 9yr old HP desktop, a old Toshiba satellite pro laptop, a custom for my
gaming and a new surface i5. Tbh I rarely use any of them except to game, my wife and sister use theirs for work.
I really don't think many even use comps at home anymore. Phones and tabs have taken over for most of the general population.
I really feel people like us here are in the minority. We all just love tech while most don't care.

 

[Sevendaymelee]

iPads work with Bluetooth keyboards and the Smart Keyboard. I wouldn’t want to type on glass for a long time but this problem is solved.

Obviously you don't write novels. lol

 

[dmx]

This is a good article. I’m sadden to agree with it and I am hopeful that Apple takes it to heart as well as every comment.

My work laptop that I got months ago has an 8th generation i7 that i *still* can’t get in my MAC. The butterfly keyboard while “innovative” still sucks and is not anywhere near the old keyboard that made Mac great amongst writers and other professionals.

Where’s the new technology in the MacBook Pro? Where are the sculpted batteries? The thinner bezels? The Touch Bar looks pretty but is wildly inconvenient for most use cases. All this needs to get better.

 

[Queen6]

This article needs to stay at the top / get stickied until Apple pulls it's head out of it's ass.

Apple knows exactly what it's doing, highly likely repositioning the Mac with ARM. The Mac as we know it being EOL & SOL. Then Apple can get back to business of making money and "spin" the excuses; it's faster, it's Apple, it must be, equally meeting Apple's target audiences low expectations...

Q-6