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

[pier]

I am hoping Apple will knock it out of the park this autumn and there will be a collective sigh of relief - including from me.

I've been saying that to myself for a couple of years now...

 

[Naaaaak]

This is one of the best threads this site has produced to date. People are speaking their minds. The number of posts is a measure of distress felt by the loyal, enthusiastic, and productivity-oriented contingent of the Apple fan base. The greater the number of posts, the greater the possibility that the Leviathan that is Apple might notice this outcry.

This thread won't help Apple. Apple can't see they've run the Mac line into the ground with stupid "thinovations" and touchbars and general mismanagement because profits hide mistakes. It takes a while for feedback from bad decisions to hit as long as the bottom line is still doing well.

This thread is cathartic admission from Mac users that things aren't all well and good in Mac-land, and perhaps alternatives are worth considering.

Don't give loyalty to Apple or any other corporation.

 

[Feenician]

Stating the truth.
...
Want me to lie? Want me to pretend that everything is fine?

It ain't fine, and the fact that there are 136,000 views and 2023 posts in this thread is your proof.

[parts of your reply intentionally removed above, not because I'm trying to change your words but because these are the parts I want to address]

The problem you're having here is differentiating between truth and opinion. It's your opinion that there's some critical problem. That, for instance, releasing updated MBPs a few months after you personally would like to see them are indicative of some endemic sickness. Indeed, some may share that opinion. It's my opinion that it's not. Neither opinion are objective truth or proof or anything and neither get more objective by plurality.

It always amazes me how many people can't distinguish between the two. Humans are supposed to reach that developmental phase around 3 or 4 years of age.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Apple could use any CPU they wanted.

Every other manufacturer does fine by Intel's lineup.

They find what they need to make ultrabooks and workstations and consumer portables.

They ship them on time; not too long after Intel refreshes the lineup.

Only Apple insists on designing using the restrictions you have mentioned above. Result = $5,000 laptops using ancient, objectively bad 7th generation chipsets when everyone else in industry is on the massively faster and more efficient 8th generation.

Intel publishes their release schedule and roadmap well in advance. So it's not like this was surprising to Apple.

And let's remember that Apple ships a tiny quantity of computers. So it's not like there is a supply constraint.

If Dell, Lenovo, and HP can get enough to satisfy their hundreds of millions of enterprise customers, Apple can get enough to satisfy all 12 consumers who are still loyal to the brand. (Since creative pros left a long time ago.)

Sure, Apple could use any CPU they wanted, but they don't. They don't use Celeron, Pentiums or even the Core i3 (since 2010). I suppose they could move to AMD. Many on these forums think they should, wish they would, but Apple has not and probably will not. However, unlike Dell, HP, Lenovo and a few dozen other PC OEMs, Apple chooses to use a fairly small subset of Intel's portfolio for their computers. The rest of the industry tends to shovels PCs out the door and sees what sells. Some of those PCs have been gems, however, most have just been the same old ****, different day.

Look where that has left the OEMs. In Q4 of last year (2017), the PC industry had a rise in shipments of *gasp* 0.7 percent for the first time in six years, but still declined by 0.1 percent overall for the year. Profit margins are still thin and OEMs decided they better start innovating or plan on going out of business. Even Dell made the difficult decision to go private, so that it could escape Wall Street's rather short-sighted view of what constitutes success. Almost no one will argue that the halcyon days of the PC are behind us.

For better or worse, Apple is the only Apple vendor and that philosophy seems to be working pretty well for them relative to the rest of the market.

Apple's self imposed restrictions on its designs are not arbitrary, they exist for a reason. If Apple created a beautiful tower called the "Mac", as I suggested in my previous post, who would really care? No one. Instead, most consumers and pundits would say, "It's just a tower PC, nothing special, why did they do that? My brother can build me a PC for half as much and twice as fast! What is Apple thinking...they have offcially run out of ideas, they're doomed!" The headline the next day would read, "Beleagured Apple releases new tower PC to a declining market, shares down in heavy trading!"

Me personally, I would buy a "Mac" in a heartbeat, but I am NOT in the majority. I built my own Windows PC, I just helped my son spec out all the kit for the PC he just built and I have upgraded all of the Macs that I own that can be upgraded. But 90% of consumers do not want to deal with that kind of headache. Just ask any Jiffy Lube or NTB in your local area. Apple figured this out long ago and adjusted its product mix accordingly.

By the way, I own one of those "$5,000.00" laptops, which actually costs a maximum of $4,199.00 USD maxed out, and includes the same "ancient, objectively bad" chipset that Dell, HP, Lenovo and a host of others laptops are being shipped and sold with right now, today. Which means that not quite "everyone" is on 8th-Generation yet, but I digress.

Intel's release schedule and roadmap are just that, a schedule and a roadmap, and for anyone who has followed Intel for more than two minutes knows, that aforementioned schedule and roadmap are subject to being chucked in the trash whenever Intel decides...and they have, multiple, multiple times. Really, we should be at 7nm or at least 10nm++ by now, but we are still waiting for the first official Cannon Lake CPUs to be launched. 14nm++, FTW.

While the delays may not be surprising to Apple, it still means that a product scheduled to ship in Q1 that needs an Intel CPU now slated to ship in Q4 after a press release that morning, it has a cascade effect from manufacturing to marketing. Why? Because Apple doesn't use a shovel. They are also very conservative in rolling out updates and then not being able to ship them. In the case of the Mac mini, its less being conservative, more nostalgia, bordering heavily on pure comedy gold.

Apple's small quantity of computers still has to draw from the same pool of Intel CPUs every other OEM is fighting to get their hands on, and when supplies are constrained, everyone is constrained, including Apple. That might be fine for Dell or HP to make customers wait, but it make Apple look 10x worse (see HomePod, AirPower, 2013 MacPro, iPhone 4 White, iPhone 6/6 Plus, et al).

Sarcasm aside - if Dell, HP and Lenovo did not get enough CPUS to satisfy their customers, then they should hang up their hats this very instant. That's pretty much their only job, since none of them need to worry about shipping 216.8 million iPhones and 43.7 iPads...yet, still, somehow, shipping 25.8 million Macs as Apple did in 2017 - which is more than 12, in case you were having trouble with the math.
[doublepost=1529610583][/doublepost]

Great and exhaustive post on the Intel chips. Every year it's the same thing, it takes months for Intel to release all the different SKUs for the new chips and longer to get into volume but the very second they make a press announcement on any of the SKUs or anyone ships any of them everyone here freaks out. The 2016 MBP thread was the embodiment of that. Intel were very late with the HQ chips Apple wanted but, because Dell et al were shipping some other variant it was obviously a clear sign that Apple had abandoned MBPs/Pros. Every damn time.

Yes, unfortunately, when Intel released the i5-8250U, i5-8350U, i7-8550U and i5-8650U, I actually though the 28w U- and 45w H-Series would not be far behind. I kept checking with the usual suspects (Anand, Tom's, WCCF, et al.) and then the 8700K/8700 was intro'd and still nothing about the rest of the line. I then read an article which stated plainly that Intel was doing a longer staggered rollout to make sure the yields from the 14nm++ nodes were high enough before they started volume production as Intel did not want another Broadwell situation.

I still think Intel should have waited until April to intro the 15w U-Series, but it was an easy win for PC OEMs who wanted a cheap 4-core to put in their 13" and 15" laptops so they could lower prices a few bucks before the Holiday buying season. Hopefully, anyone who thought they were getting a deal isn't using it for any heat lifting, as they may get a surprise when the whole thing goes kaboom.

Also, if I remember correctly, although Dell may not have preferred vendor status with Intel anymore, for years, you were guaranteed that the day Intel issued a press release about a new CPU shipping, damn if Dell didn't have a press release announcing a new computer with the new CPU ready to order. Of course, that didn't mean you got it in 2-3 business days, as they would often have shipping lead times of 4-6 weeks, but Dell would be happy to take your money that day until the supply chain got spun up and started getting the computers out the door.

As for the HQ chips, I don't remember them specifically being late (I'm sure they were), but I do remember being surprised that Apple chose not to use the Iris Pro 580 versions of the HQ's as Apple had with the Haswell/Iris Pro 5200. I knew that Intel had backed off on iGPU development after Crystalwell, which was doomed in the PC market as OEMs are only driven by one thing - price, price, price. I foolishly believed Apple would want to keep an iGPU variant of the 15" MacBook Pro around for customers to keep the price point at $1999.00. My bad, as this is now the same Apple that charges $20.00 more for a keyboard that is grey instead of silver. Won't make that mistake again.

 

[dirt_farmer]

Sure, Apple could use any CPU they wanted, but they don't. They don't use Celeron, Pentiums or even the Core i3 (since 2010). I suppose they could move to AMD. Many on these forums think they should, wish they would, but Apple has not and probably will not. However, unlike Dell, HP, Lenovo and a few dozen other PC OEMs, Apple chooses to use a fairly small subset of Intel's portfolio for their computers. The rest of the industry tends to shovels PCs out the door and sees what sells. Some of those PCs have been gems, however, most have just been the same old ****, different day.

Look where that has left the OEMs. In Q4 of last year (2017), the PC industry had a rise in shipments of *gasp* 0.7 percent for the first time in six years, but still declined by 0.1 percent overall for the year. Profit margins are still thin and OEMs decided they better start innovating or plan on going out of business. Even Dell made the difficult decision to go private, so that it could escape Wall Street's rather short-sighted view of what constitutes success. Almost no one will argue that the halcyon days of the PC are behind us.

For better or worse, Apple is the only Apple vendor and that philosophy seems to be working pretty well for them relative to the rest of the market.

Apple's self imposed restrictions on its designs are not arbitrary, they exist for a reason. If Apple created a beautiful tower called the "Mac", as I suggested in my previous post, who would really care? No one. Instead, most consumers and pundits would say, "It's just a tower PC, nothing special, why did they do that? My brother can build me a PC for half as much and twice as fast! What is Apple thinking...they have offcially run out of ideas, they're doomed!" The headline the next day would read, "Beleagured Apple releases new tower PC to a declining market, shares down in heavy trading!"

Me personally, I would buy a "Mac" in a heartbeat, but I am NOT in the majority. I built my own Windows PC, I just helped my son spec out all the kit for the PC he just built and I have upgraded all of the Macs that I own that can be upgraded. But 90% of consumers do not want to deal with that kind of headache. Just ask any Jiffy Lube or NTB in your local area. Apple figured this out long ago and adjusted its product mix accordingly.

By the way, I own one of those "$5,000.00" laptops, which actually costs a maximum of $4,199.00 USD maxed out, and includes the same "ancient, objectively bad" chipset that Dell, HP, Lenovo and a host of others laptops are being shipped and sold with right now, today. Which means that not quite "everyone" is on 8th-Generation yet, but I digress.

Intel's release schedule and roadmap are just that, a schedule and a roadmap, and for anyone who has followed Intel for more than two minutes knows, that aforementioned schedule and roadmap are subject to being chucked in the trash whenever Intel decides...and they have, multiple, multiple times. Really, we should be at 7nm or at least 10nm++ by now, but we are still waiting for the first official Cannon Lake CPUs to be launched. 14nm++, FTW.

While the delays may not be surprising to Apple, it still means that a product scheduled to ship in Q1 that needs an Intel CPU now slated to ship in Q4 after a press release that morning, it has a cascade effect from manufacturing to marketing. Why? Because Apple doesn't use a shovel. They are also very conservative in rolling out updates and then not being able to ship them. In the case of the Mac mini, its less being conservative, more nostalgia, bordering heavily on pure comedy gold.

Apple's small quantity of computers still has to draw from the same pool of Intel CPUs every other OEM is fighting to get their hands on, and when supplies are constrained, everyone is constrained, including Apple. That might be fine for Dell or HP to make customers wait, but it make Apple look 10x worse (see HomePod, AirPower, 2013 MacPro, iPhone 4 White, iPhone 6/6 Plus, et al).

Sarcasm aside - if Dell, HP and Lenovo did not get enough CPUS to satisfy their customers, then they should hang up their hats this very instant. That's pretty much their only job, since none of them need to worry about shipping 216.8 million iPhones and 43.7 iPads...yet, still, somehow, shipping 25.8 million Macs as Apple did in 2017 - which is more than 12, in case you were having trouble with the math.
[doublepost=1529610583][/doublepost]
Yes, unfortunately, when Intel released the i5-8250U, i5-8350U, i7-8550U and i5-8650U, I actually though the 28w U- and 45w H-Series would not be far behind. I kept checking with the usual suspects (Anand, Tom's, WCCF, et al.) and then the 8700K/8700 was intro'd and still nothing about the rest of the line. I then read an article which stated plainly that Intel was doing a longer staggered rollout to make sure the yields from the 14nm++ nodes were high enough before they started volume production as Intel did not want another Broadwell situation.

I still think Intel should have waited until April to intro the 15w U-Series, but it was an easy win for PC OEMs who wanted a cheap 4-core to put in their 13" and 15" laptops so they could lower prices a few bucks before the Holiday buying season. Hopefully, anyone who thought they were getting a deal isn't using it for any heat lifting, as they may get a surprise when the whole thing goes kaboom.

Also, if I remember correctly, although Dell may not have preferred vendor status with Intel anymore, for years, you were guaranteed that the day Intel issued a press release about a new CPU shipping, damn if Dell didn't have a press release announcing a new computer with the new CPU ready to order. Of course, that didn't mean you got it in 2-3 business days, as they would often have shipping lead times of 4-6 weeks, but Dell would be happy to take your money that day until the supply chain got spun up and started getting the computers out the door.

As for the HQ chips, I don't remember them specifically being late (I'm sure they were), but I do remember being surprised that Apple chose not to use the Iris Pro 580 versions of the HQ's as Apple had with the Haswell/Iris Pro 5200. I knew that Intel had backed off on iGPU development after Crystalwell, which was doomed in the PC market as OEMs are only driven by one thing - price, price, price. I foolishly believed Apple would want to keep an iGPU variant of the 15" MacBook Pro around for customers to keep the price point at $1999.00. My bad, as this is now the same Apple that charges $20.00 more for a keyboard that is grey instead of silver. Won't make that mistake again.

Every Tier-1 vendor has an 8th generation version of almost every model available now. Except Apple.

And regarding "how it's working out" for the other vendors, a reminder of their current strategic position:

They ship current-generation chips, Apple doesn't.

They ship mobile workstations, Apple doesn't.

They ship the smallest, lightest, most powerful ultrabooks, Apple doesn't.

They have the best battery life, Apple doesn't.

They ship 4k laptops, Apple doesn't.

They allow the memory amounts, upgradability, repairability, and serviceability that the marketplace demands, Apple doesn't.

They have laptop keyboards that are not subject to class action lawsuits because they are a disaster, Apple doesn't unless you count the antique MBA that they still sell.

They do not have a 2032-comment thread on their most popular enthusiast forum discussing how LITERALLY ALL OF THEIR COMPUTERS ARE DEPRECATED OVERPRICED ALSO-RANS WITH SERIOUS FLAWS AND GAPS, INDICATING THAT THE VENDOR SEEMS TO BE ABANDONING COMPUTER MAKING ALTOGETHER.

The one thing Apple DOES have over PC is single-digit percentage marketshare.

So I'm not sure where the argument is that Apple's product offering is really "working out".

Unless you count how much of the money from your wallet (as a customer) is redirected directly to investors as profit -- the natural outcome of skipping R&D, delaying upgrades, selling old products at full price, paring down the product line, and declining to service the most demanding customer segments such as professionals.

In which case, Apple products are amazing!

 

[bluecoast]

Huh? You can easily upgrade/replace the RAM on the non-pro iMac.

The storage, yeah that's more tricky, but if a disk dies on you it is replaceable.



Indeed. I call that Apple's anorexia.

It really makes no sense for pro products, but even for consumer products why sacrifice repairability to win a couple of mms at best?

Hey definitely, but I think that the RAM and SSD is non trivial to replace on the 21 inch iMac from the last few years, right? I think it’s way easier on the 27 inch version to the best of my knowledge.

 

[dirt_farmer]

[parts of your reply intentionally removed above, not because I'm trying to change your words but because these are the parts I want to address]

The problem you're having here is differentiating between truth and opinion. It's your opinion that there's some critical problem. That, for instance, releasing updated MBPs a few months after you personally would like to see them are indicative of some endemic sickness. Indeed, some may share that opinion. It's my opinion that it's not. Neither opinion are objective truth or proof or anything and neither get more objective by plurality.

It always amazes me how many people can't distinguish between the two. Humans are supposed to reach that developmental phase around 3 or 4 years of age.

I never claimed that this was anything more than my opinion.

That's what people post in forums: Opinion. Argument. Debate. Ideas. Counterargument. Philosophy. Hopes and dreams. Wishes and whimsy.

Unless you are a scientist posting peer-reviewed research, you are probably also posting opinion.

 

[Expattyke]

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

No statement made in the last decade can be more true.

I was thinking of upgrading my 2 year old MacBook Pro, no longer, there’s no good reason to.

 

[npmacuser5]

The new ones might have faster processors, but they are way less capable out of the box. After the initial investment, you need to spend more money on cables, external devices and adapters to match the standard capabilities of the previous generation of laptops.

Missing Apples vision.

The new ones might have faster processors, but they are way less capable out of the box. After the initial investment, you need to spend more money on cables, external devices and adapters to match the standard capabilities of the previous generation of laptops.

The vision, iCloud, network storage, network sharing, little need for all those ports. Like USB file sharing, why with AirDrop and fast networks. Need an external drive attach it to a router, all share including IOS. Apple has a history of moving the way we use Computers and systems. Have a good track record by the way. If is was not for Apple, we all would still be using floppy disks. The vision, the costs you mention are not needed. I like the vision, nothing physically attached to my MacBook. All internal network or cloud based devices. Works great.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Couldn't agree me.

Also frustrating is the pricing for the current lineup.

Not to start a war, but I actually just built a custom Linux machine because I needed to upgrade after holding out for years and couldn't justify the prices for the hardware Apple delivers. Debian isn't as pretty as macOS, but it's just as functional and works for my uses.

This. I've always had my eyes wide open about the higher cost of the Macs I buy; however, I felt the price difference was negligible because I find myself keeping machines much longer because they continue to perform. I am running with a 2008 MacPro, 2009 MacMini, and 2010 MacBook Pro. Bottom line, I am in need of something in the relative near future. The price point for the iMac has me running and leaving me with the probability of a laptop. I don't mind that we don't see incremental "upgrades" every 9-12 months on the line. Bumping me .1 ghZ or some crap like that doesn't make me all tingly. I have other financial priorities that exclude me from the upgrade annually camp. I want to buy a machine and use it. I don't want to settle for far less power on account of their markup. Regardless, some products are looking stale and it has been my opinion for a while that iOS has been a much higher priority at Apple.

 

[Count Blah]

I'm sorry your family has had a bad experience with Apple. Mine has been quite the opposite. I know what I am buying and I understand completely that it would cost a lot to repair once AppleCare is no longer valid.

My family has had a GREAT experience with Apple, because I have provided it for them. Now I am telling them to go elsewhere, because Apple does not want their business, unless they spend twice as much, up front(that includes applecare). And I can't support them like I used to. If it breaks, they are SCREWED. They are shocked that Apple has moved to such non-customer focused tactics, but their revulsion increases as I tell them all the other shenanigans Apple pulls with it's despised computer customers.

I also no longer use the headphone jack on my phone. No one is forcing me to make the choices I make, they are completely voluntary and you don't have to approve of them. There's plenty of alternatives out there and that's the beauty of competition.

I'm happy you no longer use the headphone jack. Didn't bother me if you did or didn't. But the gleeful hipster dolts who guffaw at the removal of the headphone jack, take the exact opposite approach, and revel in the pain of others.

 

[Nugget]

I tried just using the wired keyboard and my iMac keeps reconnecting the wireless. While you can disable bluetooth that kills the mouse, which does not work wired. So for all practical purposes it is true.

Remove the keyboard from your bluetooth devices list. If it's not paired, it won't connect.

 

[Luckygreek]

craigrusse11 couldn't have summed it any better, having been a Mac user since the days of SE's, and seen the road Apple has chosen is dishearting. $1000 iPhone's, $15,000 (maxed out) iMac Pros, seriously? I personally don't need an emoji that sticks its tongue out. It's apparent that Apple (Tim Cook) has chosen the path of iPhones instead of Mac's. Apple's TV ads were a thing of beauty, not so much anymore. Also removing charging port or potentially all ports (possibly) from iPhones. Not having the ability to connect to most peripherals aside from WIFI is insane, personally, I don't use an iPhone and perhaps I made the right decision. Will I continue to buy Mac's? Sadly yes, however only when I absolutely have to.

 

[Feenician]

The one thing Apple DOES have over PC is single-digit percentage marketshare.

And do you imagine Apple would swap that single-digit marketshare for 40 percent of the cheap crapbox market where you have ship it with a bunch of trials of difficult to remove crappy AV packages just to make a few dollars per unit? I have to tell you, they wouldn't.

 

[dirt_farmer]

And do you imagine Apple would swap that single-digit marketshare for 40 percent of the cheap crapbox market where you have ship it with a bunch of trials of difficult to remove crappy AV packages just to make a few dollars per unit? I have to tell you, they wouldn't.

No, not to make more money.

To stop living off the scraps from the big boys' table.

To finally become a major player in the world of computers, almost 40 years after they started trying?

EDIT or at the very least, they could just stop alienating and stepping on their tiny remaining base of die-hard enthusiasts?

It's not like they are still the plucky upstart that knows how to build a better mousetrap. That knows the right way to do things, even though they are ahead of their time.

The Apple of 2018 just makes demonstrably bad, out-of-date hardware, doesn't update it or do a good job of supporting it, sells it for way too much money, then laughs all the way to the bank.

The joke is on the long-time enthusiasts. To me, that is both sad and a little bit mean.

What ever happened to Think Different. Here's To The Crazy Ones.

That Apple is dead and this Apple is indefensible.

This thread is evidence.

EDIT2 I was not suggesting that Apple start bundling bloatware, just that they start shipping some non-farcical hardware. It was in response to another poster stating "Look where that has left the [other] OEMs". Answer = controlling the market, that's where

 

[workerbee52]

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'

 

[ocnitsa]

craigrusse11 couldn't have summed it any better, having been a Mac user since the days of SE's, and seen the road Apple has chosen is dishearting. $1000 iPhone's, $15,000 (maxed out) iMac Pros, seriously?

Maybe they are poised to switch to a rental system where we don't own machines, but just pay yearly subscriptions for upgrades.

 

[dirt_farmer]

[doublepost=1529622384][/doublepost]

craigrusse11 couldn't have summed it any better, having been a Mac user since the days of SE's, and seen the road Apple has chosen is dishearting. $1000 iPhone's, $15,000 (maxed out) iMac Pros, seriously? I personally don't need an emoji that sticks its tongue out. It's apparent that Apple (Tim Cook) has chosen the path of iPhones instead of Mac's. Apple's TV ads were a thing of beauty, not so much anymore. Also removing charging port or potentially all ports (possibly) from iPhones. Not having the ability to connect to most peripherals aside from WIFI is insane, personally, I don't use an iPhone and perhaps I made the right decision. Will I continue to buy Mac's? Sadly yes, however only when I absolutely have to.

This was Steve's Apple.

RIP.

 

[workerbee52]

The 2014 Mac Mini was not really an upgrade. It was a crippled version of the 2012 model. No available quad core and totally not upgradeable. The 2012 quad core Mac Mini was the last one worth purchasing.

 

[Abazigal]

What ever happened to Think Different. Here's To The Crazy Ones.

That Apple is dead and this Apple is indefensible.

This thread is evidence.

Well, people certainly feel Apple is crazy to me neglecting the Mac the way they are. So in a sense, they are thinking differently and continuing to innovate. Just not in a way the Mac enthusiasts appreciate, because they so happen to be on the losing end here.

 

[Feenician]

To stop living off the scraps from the big boys' table.

What percentage of PCs over $2000 do you think Apple sells? Why are you trapped in the mindset that winning unprofitable market share is winning?

These figures are a few years old now but I'd bet they haven't changed that much, though they will have changed. If you asked Apple and Dell who'd like to swap places, who do you think would say yes and who would say no?



"scraps from the big boys' table". lol.

 

[dirt_farmer]

What percentage of PCs over $2000 do you think Apple sells? Why are you trapped in the mindset that winning unprofitable market share is winning?

These figures are a few years old now but I'd bet they haven't changed that much, though they will have changed. If you asked Apple and Dell who'd like to swap places, who do you think would say yes and who would say no?

View attachment 767228

"scraps from the big boys' table". lol.

I care about the technology, not the profits. Accountants care about profits. Administrators care about profits. Tim Cook is an administrator and a very good one.

Visionaries, on the other hand, care about changing the world.

As I have said, I liked the visionary Apple -- not the accountant Apple.

PS I also believe that companies that get big because a visionary is running them, but then pivot to doing safe and high-margin things, eventually fade into irrelevance.

Sony is a great company to own shares in but not a company that's going to change the world again.

When they did the Walkman they literally altered the course of history and changed society forever.

Now they make nice TV's that you can get at Best Buy.

 

[InuNacho]

Missing Apples vision.


The vision, iCloud, network storage, network sharing, little need for all those ports. Like USB file sharing, why with AirDrop and fast networks. Need an external drive attach it to a router, all share including IOS. Apple has a history of moving the way we use Computers and systems. Have a good track record by the way. If is was not for Apple, we all would still be using floppy disks. The vision, the costs you mention are not needed. I like the vision, nothing physically attached to my MacBook. All internal network or cloud based devices. Works great.

In the real world "the cloud" and "network" are slow as hell and cost more than a cheap USB flash drive.

 

[Feenician]

I care about the technology, not the profits. Accountants care about profits. Administrators care about profits. Tim Cook is an administrator and a very good one.

Was it tough to move those goalposts? You've spent post after post talking about marketshare. What does marketshare have to do with being visionary? You have to have 40% marketshare to be visionary? Tim Cook is a very good administrator now? How come he never got the marketshare then? Honestly, I think you may have lost the thread here.

 

[dirt_farmer]

Was it tough to move those goalposts? You've spent post after post talking about marketshare. What does marketshare have to do with being visionary? You have to have 40% marketshare to be visionary? Tim Cook is a very good administrator now? How come he never got the marketshare then? Honestly, I think you may have lost the thread here.

What are you talking about?

Marketshare matters more to a technologist than it does to an Accountant.

A profit-obsessed bean counter can get his margins off a small marketshare and laugh all the way to the bank. (Witness Mr. Cook.)

A technologist wants EVERYONE to be changed by his or her vision for the future.

For that person, being trapped on the sidelines of the market means that they never get a chance to change the world.

Steve wanted to change the world, Tim just wants to profit from it.