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

[PlayUltimate]

I'm curious how often Apple will upgrade its Macs when Apple switches to ARM, as well as how much of a change each iteration will bring?

I've gotten a new computer every 6 years or so, and every time there was a noticeable difference. However, the last time, and now, not so much of a change. Seems more evolutionary than revolutionary.

I suggest taking a look at speed tests on Everymac. There has been a significant lack of processor speed for a long time. My brother was looking to replace his 17” MacBook after a HD failure. I recommended against based on the speed test comps. We swapped in a new SSD and he was good to go

 

[Paul A Jackson]

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.

Except that Mojave won't support any Mac over six years old, and macOS now seems merely to exist to track iOS and to serve the proportion of iOS gadget users committed to Apple Macs also.

 

[Defthand]

Unless you want a gaming rig, a computer is just an appliance now.

You're right. A desktop PC is an appliance. For those of us who still want them, it's our tool for our occupations and hobbies. We realize not everyone needs the screen real estate, CPU/GPU power, UI efficiency, and workflow flexibility. I even hesitate to refer to them as personal computers anymore. They should change the acronym's meaning to professional computers.

I have no dislike of watches, smartphones, and tablets. I use two of these myself. However, I won't suffer fools who insists PC's are "irrelevant", or claim that phones and tablets are their equal. Aside from illustrators who use an iPad Pro as a digital tablet (There's that word again—Pro), the only persons who I've seen earn a living using a phone or tablet exclusively, use those devices for clerical tasks.

If everyone were limited to using iOS, originality and experimentation in many occupations would be compromised. The nature of most iOS apps is that they are a package of canned variables. The user is prevented from inventing or customizing. Instead, the user is limited to templates and filters. As a maker, I don't want my imagination limited by what an iOS app developer imagined for me.

When someone insists that a laptop is a suitable substitute for a desktop PC, I tell them to take their belief to its logical conclusion: A tablet can do most things that a laptop can do. And a smartphone can do most things that a tablet can do. And a watch will someday do every thing that most pedestrians want. Therefore, if you believe your own prognostications of what "progress" is, your laptop, tablet, and phone are already antiquated.

 

[Abazigal]

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.

Yes, he made the change. Did I say something that suggested otherwise?

Regardless, I am not sure how it is relevant. Steve is dead, Tim is in charge, and of course he would choose to run the company in a way that he is comfortable with, and which better serves Apple.

Considering that the Apple of today is way larger than the Apple of yesteryear, facing vastly different challenges. Steve did what was best for Apple back then, just as Tim is doing what is best for Apple now. I doubt Steve’s style of management would have sufficed today given Apple’s current scale, but I guess that is purely hypothetical (you know, like all those “Steve would never have done X statements?”)

But I digress.

 

[Bacillus]

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.

You’re creatively using the term “Pro” like Apple does. Not the specs, only the premium price.
“Pro’s” are the New Generation coffeeshop freelancers that reside in capucchino bars because they can’t afford an office, but need the fastest gear in order to react 10 milliseconds faster than their neighbour when applying for their next temporary contract.
That’s Tim’s demographic target for the current MBPro with flimsy keyboard.
They don’t use Final Cut Pro or anything alike

 

[villicodelirant]

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.

You need to be a lot more specific about that claim.

Are we talking interpreted or compiled, high level or low level, batch processing or interactive, tied to special features of the silicon or not?

I can't imagine a reason why a program well written in 2008 can't, in principle, use every resource available from a 2018 machine.

If the developers have been sufficiently smart about threading and stuck to high-level constructs, languages and libraries, the program can very well make use of any core you throw at it and the compiler does the rest (i.e. leveraging CPU features, etc).

There is a million programs originally written 20 years ago that still do all the crunching you expect from them with a minimum of maintenance. Off the top of my head: ffmpeg.

Of course you also have clunkers written with zero foresight that you have to redo from scratch every ten years.

That being said, why would anyone buy a Mac Mini if they were concerned with performance?

Exactly, they wouldn't. Precisely my point.
Nor, mind you, would they buy a 2013 Mac Pro.

They would buy Dell.

Which is fine for Apple, who is making a few millions in the time it takes me to type this, but apparently some members on this forum like to pretend otherwise.

 

[Nieval]

Yes, he made the change. Did I say something that suggested otherwise?

Regardless, I am not sure how it is relevant. Steve is dead, Tim is in charge, and of course he would choose to run the company in a way that he is comfortable with, and which better serves Apple.

Considering that the Apple of today is way larger than the Apple of yesteryear, facing vastly different challenges. Steve did what was best for Apple back then, just as Tim is doing what is best for Apple now. I doubt Steve’s style of management would have sufficed today given Apple’s current scale, but I guess that is purely hypothetical (you know, like all those “Steve would never have done X statements?”)

But I digress.

Yes, you digress my friend but if I may stick to the point intended.

Now may I ask if you acknowledge that since making that change the disastrous Mac Pro was released and the Mac line-up has for the most part stagnated, quality control has dropped and major mistakes like the new butterfly keyboards were made (to name a few examples)?

 

[ddtmm]

You can't blame Intel for Macs not having 8th generation Core chips which PCs have had for a long time, allowing smaller form factors than the 13" MBP to have 4-core processing power.

.... honestly how many employees would it take to put a new chip in an old chassis?

I couldn't agree more. And I just can't get over how much time and resources they are putting into advancing the state of emojis. Seriously? Emojis?

 

[gnipgnop]

You’re creatively pivoting the term “Pro” like Apple does. Not the specs, only the premium price.
“Pro’s” are the New Generation coffeeshop freelancers that reside in capucchino bars because they can’t afford an office, but need the fastest gear in order to react 10 milliseconds faster than their neighbour when applying for their next temporary contract.
That’s Tim’s demographic target for the current MBPro with flimsy keyboard.
They don’t use use Final Cut Pro or anything alike

LOL...Final Cut Pro. That software has been around forever and can easily be run on Apple's current laptops. If you need peak performance, you're not going to buy a laptop for that anyway. Buy the iMac Pro.

 

[guzhogi]

I suggest taking a look at speed tests on Everymac. There has been a significant lack of processor speed for a long time. My brother was looking to replace his 17” MacBook after a HD failure. I recommended against based on the speed test comps. We swapped in a new SSD and he was good to go

Yeah, I know. On my previous laptop, I swapped out the HDD to an SSD, and the speed increase was huge. Much bigger than the speed increase when I got my current laptop.

While my current MBP is fine, I'd like to get a modular Mac Pro if/when Apple makes them. If I do get one, might get a Wacom pen display, play around with drawing & photography. Might settle for an iMac and upgrade to a 12" iPad Pro. Since I work in a school, I hope Apple puts out new hardware in time for back to school, so I can get the free/discounted goodies included. However, I'm doubtful that this will happen.
[doublepost=1529332652][/doublepost]

I couldn't agree more. And I just can't get over how much time and resources they are putting into advancing the state of emojis. Seriously? Emojis?

I agree. I know that it's different employees working on emojis versus hardware R&D, but still. Apple could do a minor updates, or lower the prices of the current stuff. But hey, customers still buy the current stuff at the current prices so why change? <sarcasm>

 

[mmmmMac]

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'

Couldn't agree more. I just posted that after decades of supporting the Mac OS, I have seriously started looking at Windows 10

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'

This is turning Mac fans into Windows 10 fans. I can get many machines running Windows 10 in the sweet spot of i7 quad core 4-8GB of RAM and not have to buy a built in monitor that I don't need or want. Mac us really disappointing many of us who love the OS because of their refusal to make machines that allow for the user to get what they want.

 

[Nieval]

.

Could you please answer my simple "Yes or No" question which shouldn't take long to reply to?

I can see that you're online, and I decided to post again just in case your Talktap-whatever notification isn't working and you don't "accidentally" () overlook my comment.

Thank you very much.

 

[SBlue1]

She can’t afford an Apple computer then and justify the value proposition.

Who was talking about now and AR. And you can be damm sure they will be used extensively in 10 years - all architects I know already are using them, but as usual we are always ahead in the use. The benefit that was referred to was having a high resolution screen in front of your face rather than on your desk. I can totally see this happening.

She had a Mac for 10 years and got used to it. So you say Apple abbandoned us? Well this is what people here are telling you guys, Apple is abbandoning a huge part of its market!

Oh and your AR fantasy: What is the real world benefit of having a screen on your nose instead of having it at your desk when using Pages or Numbers? Cause office software is what is on 99% on all work machines.

 

[Paul A Jackson]

Follow the money. Prioritize on what makes you rich.

View attachment 766370

And sell off / spin off the lines that don't, but don't cripple them.

 

[groadyho]

My apologies. I re-read your post and the post you were replying to and it's clear I took your post as the exact opposite of what you were really saying.

No worries. Tough to always know. Ty. Have a great day!

 

[TWISTEDH34T]

I've been waiting for the announcement of a new MBP, seeing as I've had mine for nearly 8 years.
Last summer I decided to buy a Dell laptop, and it was awful. Yes it had great specs, yes it was half the price of a Macbook Pro, but Windows simply frustrated the heck out of me. It is very restrictive, and not very user friendly. Where as , in my experience, Mac OS (or OSX as I still call it) is restrictive but at least user friendly.

This is turning Mac fans into Windows 10 fans.

Nothing will turn me in to a Windows 10 fan. I'll look at creating Hackintosh machines before I make a professional switch to Windows 10. (In my experience Windows 10 is fine for gaming, and only that.)

 

[Abazigal]

Yes, you digress my friend but if I may stick to the point intended.

Now may I ask if you acknowledge that since making that change the disastrous Mac Pro was released and the Mac line-up has for the most part stagnated, quality control has dropped and major mistakes like the new butterfly keyboards were made?

I find I cannot answer that question with a simple yes / no reply, because as always, context matters.

My guess is that you are probably trying to link all these hardware issues to some broader narrative about Apple having unclear vision or a failing product strategy (with regards to the Mac in the very least), and that Tim Cook and this new organisational structure at Apple is somehow responsible for this mess.

I would argue that these Mac issues actually end up showing that Apple has a very clear vision based on design and the end user experience (which is to make technology more personal). Every change to the Mac is rooted in the industrial engineers having a certain idea of how they envision these products being used, however controversial they may be.

My theory is that the butterfly keyboard and touchbar play into Apple's vision of turning the Macbook's keyboard into a multi-touch piece of glass with tactile feedback (which interestingly enough, Apple does have a patent for). I guess we can debate about how successful Apple was with the first iteration of said attempt, but I see it more as a process, and moving forward, I see Apple continuing to iterate and double down on this design, rather than walk back on it.

So when you link all this back to Apple's grand vision (linked above), it makes sense. Yes, a certain portion of the Mac user base clearly don't agree with Apple's vision here, and I do feel that giving them what they want may well end up opening another can of worms.

So to your original question, I say "yes", but as always, context matters.
[doublepost=1529333331][/doublepost]

Could you please answer my simple "Yes or No" question which shouldn't take long to reply to?

I can see that you're online, and I decided to post again just in case your Talktap-whatever notification isn't working and you don't "accidentally" () overlook my comment.

Thank you very much.

I saw your response. I am also in the midst of finishing the setting of exam papers and taking a short break, so I might not always be able to respond to your response right away. But I appreciate the dialogue.

 

[ocnitsa]

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

Typing a g. Using the spacebar.

 

[polaris20]

But if you squint your eyes a little, and twist your brain a bit, you will find Apple’s ability to make something ‘exciting and innovative’ is right in front of your nose: iPhone X and iPad Pro are truely amazing. It’s not immediately obvious if you come from the mindset of a hardcore user of high-end machines from Apple’s past. User’s that rightfully built Apple’s innovation cred at the time and saw the company through tough times. Sadly, that era is over. Unless you want a gaming rig, a computer is just an appliance now.

Except that video editing, audio editing, and photo editing are still not ideal on an iPad. Trust me, I've tried. And while I do all of these things on an iPad, ultimately I come back to the laptop for heavy lifting. Especially recording multitrack audio, which is too high latency on iOS, for whatever reason.

 

[zen]

Oh my goodness, this is my story too. My first Mac was the second model 512K Mac, and then I was into PC's because of work, and 15 years ago came back to Apple. I used to be an Apple evangelist, and brought my entire extended family and so many friends to Apple.

Now I loathe what Apple's corporate persona has morphed into.

There are so many of us in this exact group that I'm starting to wonder if we should all get t-shirts!

 

[buckwheet]

Just to clarify something. When the 2016 MBP was originally announced, in response to the eye-waterinly high price and lack of upgradability, I decided to build my first Hackintosh laptop. Now admittedly, I chose wrong, going with an MSI machine (can't remember the model), rather than, for example, a Dell. But it was a reasonable form factor and had the same specs as the MBP, for a third of the price.
What a mistake. The day-to-day user experience was awful; horrific trackpad, clunky AC adapter, terrible battery life, and constant messing around with system-related problems (as I say, it wasn't the greatest choice for a Hackintosh). Within 3 months I sold it and barfed up the cash for a new MBP. And it was like a breath of fresh air. Concerns about specs and upgradability aside, I was suddenly back to the smooth, beautifully crafted user experience I'd grown accustomed to with my mid-2012 MBP.
But after only a few months, the problems started to appear. And now, my 2016 has about as much wear and tear after 17 months as my mid-2012 did after 4 years. That's really not okay, and honestly it's the main reason I'm so dissatisfied with my purchase. Well, that and being constrained to 512gb, which is a constant irritation when you work in music/audio...

 

[EdT]

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.

Adobe Creative Cloud, when editing video or other graphic intensive images. The local computers GPU still determines how fast and detailed you can edit video, and right now Apple is having a p*ssing contest with the company which provides the fastest cards. Due to Adobe Creative being an online program there really aren’t any differences in commands between Mac and Windows for Adobe, it all comes down to CPU, GPU, and internet speed. And Apple is intentionally ignoring one company completely (NVidea) and only offering older technology from Intel and hard drive manufacturers. I have a friend who is a graphic designer with his own small company and he is looking at his first Windows computer ever. Not first for his business but the first one that he has ever owned period. He is bitter about Apple’s decisions over the last 5 years and sees no sign of improvement in the next few. And if he switches OS’s he probably won’t switch back just because Apple releases a single updated computer in a year or two.

 

[Ethosik]

I think some people need to drop the "Steve Jobs" argument now. Things have changed since he was both in charge and alive. iPads were brand new at the time, desktop processors were still being upgraded very well every year. We have no idea how Steve would handle the current state of things. I am still using my 2010 6-core Mac Pro for rendering out Final Cut Pro X videos because my 2017 iMac is not much faster at all for it. The only reason I use my 2017 iMac to render is when I want HEVC videos. Equip my 2010 Mac Pro with a GTX 980 and Windows 10 and it plays games the same as my 2015 custom built PC does.

Processors these days are not a major improvement from generation to generation. My 2017 iMac had the best processor at the time for their thermal requirements when they updated it. Heck even the Mac mini is still great at things like a compiler for Xamarin development and some small work. The only thing I would agree with is maybe including NVIDIA cards in their lineup, but that would just bloat up the lineup more than it already is. I really do not care as much since I have two computers with NVIDIA cards and two Macs with AMD cards.

Things have also shifted from internal only to external. eGPUs anyone? We finally have a port that supports FAST....incredibly FAST IO. Enough to use an eGPU. Or maybe 2? 3? I would rather have a "meh" GPU internally with great battery life than an awesome internal GPU with horrible battery life. If I need the extra power when I am at the office working on content, I can use 3x eGPUs and get great performance while I am connected to a power outlet.

Its quite ridiculous how far people's argument goes. I understand the frustration, and there are some things that I wish they would include/change. But some people make it seem like it takes them 500 hours to compile a "Hello World" program on these new computers, or if they attempt to game on these computers (which they are not advertised as a fully gaming computer), people make it seem like you will only get 5 FPS at most. That is like me arguing that my GTX 1050 sucks because I cannot game very well at 4K. There are better options out there for my desired gaming needs.

Apple is a public business. Apple would be doomed if Steve "abandoned" the iOS market because that is where all the money comes from. Can we please drop this argument? Steve is gone. Things are not exactly the same today as they were when he was in charge. We have no clue how he would react. He probably would be doing the same thing IMO. As a business you devote as much resources to your most profitable department. And it shows. Macs appear to only have 10% of Apple's attention, and the revenue breakdown shows the same stats.

We will soon get to the same level of platform maturity and saturation with phones and tablets soon. How much better can these new phones get? Since the 6s, there really haven't been that much new killer phone features. Its not just Apple either, Samsung phones are the same way.

 

[Nieval]

So to your original question, I say "yes", but as always, context matters.

Man, I've worked in obstetrics and trying to knock sense & logic into your head is more difficult than managing a primigravida. If you're not trolling then answer this genuinely:

If you acknowledge that (1) Tim Cook took a massive decision to shift away from a successful business model structure* & (2) since said shifting Apple has repeatedly undertaken decisions that have - hmmm, how can I politely put this without upsetting the delicate Apple apologist in you - hiccupped, then as CEO Tim Cook's leadership bears some (not all) responsibility. Furthermore, is it so "hate"ful and does it make me a "madman" for questioning and criticizing his role as CEO?


All I really want from you is to answer the above question, please use the below to educate yourself for future discussions, again it's free so you're welcome:
*A business model structure implemented by the founder of the company that not only conceived Apple, but returned to lead Apple from the verge of bankruptcy to the world's biggest company 2 weeks before he resigned [most valuable company by market capitalisation].

Oh, let's not forget that he was also instrumental in Pixar's success and revolutionized multiple non-related industries along the way.

I find this notion/argument that Steve Jobs approach would not have been successful today ludicrous and revolutionist history because Apple was quite literally the biggest company on the face of the planet, and as far as I'm concerned he had to navigate harder obstacles - I mean Tim Cook's Apple Watch vs Steve Jobs iPhone as just one of many examples.

It's all hypotheticals simply because we'll never be able to resurrect him from the dead, go back in time, put him in Tim Cook's position and then forward time to the present and compare outcomes - but if anything assumptions based on previous experiences favour SJ>TC.

 

[LordVic]

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.

it's a valid complaint because Apple USED to sell them, then redesigned them, kept the name, but didn't keep the class of computer it was.

5 years ago, the MacBook Pro was intended as a workstation class laptop.

Today's it's intended as a slightly faster Ultrabook.

Those who were on the old, looking for new, because they are falling behind their related business competition, have nothing in the Apple lineup aside from the iMac Pro currently that is modern and up to date. And, as powerful as the iMac Pro is, you can get equal to greater performance for cheaper out of PC's, if you're willing to sacrifice the All-in-one. And with Apples recent history of updates, I'd be seriously concerned about the iMac Pro as if recent history repeats itself, likely wont be updated for 2-3 years either, while everyone else updates.

what it comes down to. Say you're a CAD designer and you're competing for a project. it takes you a week to put together the project because you'reon the 2017 MacBook Pro, but you're competing against someone on the most recent XPS with the 8xxx CPUs and it only takes him 4 days to finish.

this is the reason why there needs updates.

I'm not calling for a complete chassis redesign every year. But Apple should be performing yearly (at minimum) hardware internal refreshes on ALL their computers