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I have a feeling the current ambiguity is a result of a vision from leadership that is more focused on what they will be doing in 2020 than what those of us need now (because our current devices are failing and we need a laptop now).

What wouldn't the current laptops be capable of running? Is there something the i5 and i7 can't handle? What is it?
 
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Eh, i dont agree. Tons of folks buy iPhones who dont own macs. Having a mac isn't at all necessary or that useful when using an iPhone. Everything is stored and backed up in the cloud. And only a limited number of people even sync their own music to their phones over streaming.

True but @gertruded meant 'he' (and many) wouldn't and i fall in the same category. I only am sticking because of the ecosystem but will not be pulled down by one product. It doesn't mean end of apple but as a consumer i don't care how the company is performing. i care for what i can get best out of all the connected devices i got.
 
That’s not actually how Apple works.

My understanding is that Apple employs what is known as a functional organisational structure. This means that there isn’t a dedicated MacBook team or iMac team or iPhone team or Apple Watch team. There isn’t even an iOS or macOS team.
Those are some pretty big claims, unsubstantiated claims mind you.

Honestly, I've been ignoring your condescending posts this whole time, and I still can't figure out if you're an apple social media plant, a biased apple apologist aka Rene Ritchie, or the most magnificent troll I've ever encountered.

But for the sake of having a constructive debate, can you please provide evidence of your above-mentioned claim, I mean it's the least you can do when you dismiss someone's statement so matter-of-factly.

P.S. Not going to quiz you on where you get your insider knowledge about future Apple strategy roadmaps, or call you out for saying people posting here are 'raving like madmen' or insinuating that posters in this thread are hateful beings that hijack other conversations. Nor will I mention that you still haven't responded to that one guy who noted correctly how you dismissed a comment as not being factual by stating a non-factual reply.
 
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Name some software that has a wide performance gap?

Software doesn't have "performance gap".
Machines have.

You probably meant "name one use case where the difference shines".

Well, have you tried rendering a track in Ableton Live on a Mac Mini and in a 2018 $999 PC, recently?

We are talking literally half the time.

Have you tried training a classifier in R on a MacBook Pro and in a similarly priced workstation class notebook (Dell Precision or HP ZBook)?

Ditto.

What wouldn't the current laptops be capable of running? Is there something the i5 and i7 can't handle? What is it?

It's not a matter of capable, it's a matter of performance (and time saved) per dollar.

More MIPS = less time = more work done = more money.

The relation between MIPS and time isn't even linear (long waiting times can irreparably get you out of "the zone", so half as fast can mean 1/10th as productive).

Similarly, the relation between "work done" and "money" is also non-linear: if it takes you 2 days to produce a rendering in an industry where they do it in 4 hours, you are out of business.

Then again, that's why most so-called "professionals" are equipped with hardware from manufacturers other than Apple.
 
But in the meantime Apple starts to ruin not only the hardware but software too.
The current MBP line isn't pro with everything being soldered and glued, no ports, weak keyboard, oversized Touchpad, little RAM and no function keys.
In the software world Apple just sayed goodbye to open standards by deprecating OpenGL and never implementing Vulkan.

Maybe now it is time to start thinking about Linux and a nice Dell XPS/Precision. SD card slot, RJ45 port, slim, modern GPU, 32GB RAM - and OMG look at the price!!!
 
Software doesn't have "performance gap".
Machines have.

You probably meant "name one use case where the difference shines".

Well, have you tried rendering a track in Ableton Live on a Mac Mini and in a 2018 $999 PC, recently?

We are talking literally half the time.

Have you tried training a classifier in R on a MacBook Pro and in a similarly priced workstation class notebook (Dell Precision or HP ZBook)?

Ditto.

MacBook Pro's do NOT compete with workstation class notebooks... so of course they will be better. Poor Comparison. I work for a major university and I can literally walk around all day with my 2017 15" MacBook Pro in my backback... I wouldn't do that with a zbook!

I'll give you the Mac Mini though...
 
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Maybe now it is time to start thinking about Linux and a nice Dell XPS/Precision. SD card slot, RJ45 port, slim, modern GPU, 32GB RAM - and OMG look at the price!!!

You mean ThinkPad.

At least you are trading a Dieter Rams fanboy for another Dieter Rams fanboy (the late Richard Sapper).

Aside from that, the Linux bit is not exactly heretical.

GNOME is an environment in which a Mac guy wouldn't feel like a fish out of water.
Andy Hertzfeld and Susan Kare have done paid work for the GNOME foundation.

The bad part is that software support is really, really good if you are a scientist or programmer, really, really bad if you are a creative pro (but then there's Windows for that).
 
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MacBook Pro's do NOT compete with workstation class notebooks... so of course they will be better. Poor Comparison.

Well, the MacBook Pro is the one thing Apple has on sale that is marketed to "professionals" (and it is similarly priced to an entry level ZBook).
OP was asking for an example of the current Mac lineup being insufficient or uncompetitive, and I provided one.

I agree that the MacBook is, otherwise, a reasonably capable general purpose laptop for moderately computationally intensive tasks.
 
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In 1995, Steve Jobs Explained Exactly How Apple Will Fail

"I have my own theory about why the decline happens at companies like IBM or Microsoft.
The company does a great job, innovates and becomes a monopoly or close to it in some field, and then the quality of the product becomes less important.

The company starts valuing the great salesmen, because they're the ones who can move the needle on revenues, not the product engineers and designers. So the salespeople end up running the company."

Summarized more succinctly...

"Once you have a monopoly, new products don't help you, only better marketing. Soon, marketing people are running the company, and what made them great is gone..."
(Steve Jobs 1995)

Sounds like Apple is in excellent shape, not anywhere close to being a monopoly.
 
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Software doesn't have "performance gap".
Machines have.

You probably meant "name one use case where the difference shines".

Well, have you tried rendering a track in Ableton Live on a Mac Mini and in a 2018 $999 PC, recently?

We are talking literally half the time.

Have you tried training a classifier in R on a MacBook Pro and in a similarly priced workstation class notebook (Dell Precision or HP ZBook)?

Legacy software does have performance limitations versus a ground-up solution. That's just the nature of them having been originally developed for much older versions of operating systems. That being said, why would anyone buy a Mac Mini if they were concerned with performance? And why compare MacBook Pro to a workstation class laptop? That isn't even the same product category.
 
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Agree or disagree, Mac value holds up extremely well and lifespan are increasingly pushing the boundaries...Look at MacBook Air from 10 years ago still fetching over $100 dollars on eBay. People are keeping their devices longer and longer no need for product refreshes every year. IMO.


Thats always been true with Apple but thats largely irrelevant to the conversation. Simply put tech moves at a incredible speed and the idea that they are selling $1000 Mac Minis with ancient 2 core Intel chips is just ridiculous among a list of other things.
 
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(I don't wonder about Mac mini, personally...cause it's not a product I'm interested in. But, I don't see updates to it requiring a huge team for huge amounts of time, either.)

Many of us wish apple would do the basics, update motherboards and to latest chipsets. We don’t expect to redesign the entire thing like the Mac Pro, which it needs, but damn, Why no user upgradability and why so few updates? Shameful
 
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Those are some pretty big claims, unsubstantiated claims mind you.

Honestly, I've been ignoring your condescending posts this whole time, and I still can't figure out if you're an apple social media plant, a biased apple apologist aka Rene Ritchie, or the most magnificent troll I've ever encountered.

But for the sake of having a constructive debate, can you please provide evidence of your above-mentioned claim, I mean it's the least you can do when you dismiss someone's statement so matter-of-factly.

Ask and you shall receive.

Truth of the matter is that I am subscribed to aboveavalon, a writer who has done a stellar job of analysing Apple thus far. It’s a paid service (I pay $100 a year for a number of articles every week, and I find they have been invaluable in improving my broadening my understanding of Apple and what makes it work. I guess it gives me perspective, so to speak. Rather than being so myopically focused on the Mac as this thread as been.

Here are some articles to get you started. I basically draw my arguments from there.

https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2017/4/26/apple-isnt-a-tech-company
https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2017/10/18/apples-grand-vision
https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2017/4/12/the-mac-is-turning-into-apples-achilles-heel

Not saying you have to read them all at one go, but save them to pocket or reading list, and anytime you have a couple of minutes...

It will be worth it, I promise.

P.S. Not going to quiz you on where you get your insider knowledge about future Apple strategy roadmaps, or call you out for saying people posting here are 'raving like madmen' or insinuating that posters in this thread are hateful beings that hijack other conversations.

So which part of calling people out is untrue or unjustified? It is a fact that they are doing this in practically every thread, however unrelated to their complaints, and it’s frankly getting quite irritating and tiring. One of them even admitted they are deliberately doing this out of spite and anger somewhere in the watchOS thread.

Nor will I mention that you still haven't responded to that one guy who noted correctly how you dismissed a comment as not being factual by stating a non-factual reply.

Which one is that? I get so many responses at one go at times, I may overlook one or two now and then, especially since Tapatalk’s notification system seems to not be very reliable these days. I sometimes get them very late, all delivered at one go or not at all.
 
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Name some software that has a wide performance gap? I guarantee you that the "recommended" configuration on most creative software is not really that high compared to Apple's current desktop/laptop lineup. That's one of the things that is so bizarre about people complaining about the hardware...most of the software is WAY behind. There isn't much legacy software that has been built from the ground up lately. That's why it's legacy. The specs aren't that high so the cheap business world won't complain too much.


What you're seriously missing in a lot of your comments here is that for professional users who use their devices as a means to earn a living, Performance scalability is important as it directly correlates to how much work they can finish in shorter periods of time. This directly trasnlates to being more profitable.

yes, the current lineup meets most softwares minimum, or even recommended specs. However, these are "Floors" to performance levels. not ceilings. Just because you meet the minimum or recommended doesn't mean you get the absolute best performance out of the software.

Lots of software scales with performance. The faster the hardware, the faster that software finishes it's task. Right now, if you are purchasing an Apple computer, it might meet the minimum/recommended specs, But its not going to be the fastest possible hardware you can buy. And it's not even the cheapest for the performance.

your diatribe about "legacy" software is irrelevant. Many things that are "Legacy" from software will still benefit from greater performance.

Simply put, if you're an individual whose livlihood depends on how quick your computer finishes its task, Apple's currently falling behind even on their most up to date hardware (MacBook Pros) and severely behind on just about everything else (Mini, Air, MacBook, Pro). MacOS might be a requirement for a few people, but right now, if you don't need MacOS, there are far better options for performance in the PC world, and unlike 15 years ago, many of those are built just as high quality as Apple's lineup.
 
Ask and you shall receive.

Truth of the matter is that I am subscribed to aboveavalon, a writer who has done a stellar job of analysing Apple thus far.

I see, well then, I guess that writer has better knowledge of how Apple is run than this guy:

(Relevant part starts at 01:47)

By the way, going to ignore your other non-answers for now.
 
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I'm in total agreement. While I've been on a Mac for more than ten years, and I LOVE the software (iMovie, Logic X Pro mostly), it positively sickened me when I went to price out a build for a gaming PC for my son and I. 6 cores, 512GB NVM SSD, 32GB RAM, 1070Ti graphics, etc. Less than $2K, easily. I know that's long been the case, and you're buying into the ecosystem with Apple. But it's never been more painful to compare than it is now, IMHO.
 
I see, well then, I guess that writer has better knowledge of how Apple is run than this guy:

(Relevant part starts at 01:47)

Ah okay, I see where the confusion stems from now.

One of the things that Tim Cook did when he took over the reins was to reorganise Apple.

https://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/30/apples-reorganization-goes-deeper-than-just-whos-in-charge/

Instead of separating products into different teams, Tim Cook has now divided responsibility for completing products across three separate divisions, each headed by a long-time Apple executive. All three divisions will be required to work together in order to finish and ship anything, necessitating increased collaboration and perhaps consistency across the company.

There has been some shuffling in manpower and responsible then but for most part, the overarching philosophy remains largely unchanged. It also explains why Scott had to go, because nobody else could work with him.

Maybe Apple was run a certain way when Steve Jobs was CEO, but I can say for certainly that is no longer the case now.
 
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what are you on about? HP, Dell, Lenovo and others have already shipped laptops and desktops with 8th gen processors months ago.
You mentioned pc vendors that make 10% of Apple’s profit (≈ 50 billion net yearly) and I replied that no such vendor exists (Lenovo makes 135 million. HP 2.54 billion - partly via pc sales)
Bye.
 
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What you're seriously missing in a lot of your comments here is that for professional users who use their devices as a means to earn a living, Performance scalability is important as it directly correlates to how much work they can finish in shorter periods of time. This directly trasnlates to being more profitable.

yes, the current lineup meets most softwares minimum, or even recommended specs. However, these are "Floors" to performance levels. not ceilings. Just because you meet the minimum or recommended doesn't mean you get the absolute best performance out of the software.

I'm not seriously missing anything. Apple does have performance scalability in their product line. If you really need a heavy lifter for rendering/compiling where every second counts like you're talking about, you can buy the iMac Pro. I understand that some companies sell workstation class laptops, but that isn't what Apple sells. Treating the MacBook Pro like it's supposed to be workstation class doesn't make any sense, really. That's not a valid complaint.
 
I would be ok with an 18-24 month refresh cycle but 1300-1600 days is a joke. Too busy hiring Oprah and working on self driving cars I guess. Sadly, I still own all pre-2012 equipment. As is it were not bad enough what they did with the Mini in 2014 (soldered memory crap) they are pushing 4 years without a refresh. Hackintosh is looking like the only option these days.
 
Maybe Apple was run a certain way when Steve Jobs was CEO, but I can say for certainly that is no longer the case now.

Good, good. Now bear with me but I'm going to take you step-by-step to the promised land (and I won't charge you any money for it either).

So you're saying that Tim Cook purposely changed in a significant way, how Apple is run from a model curated by Steve Jobs that was proven over & over & over again to be successful?

And please don't sidetrack the question - I'm asking whether you acknowledge and accept that Tim Cook did, in fact, make said change.
 
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