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komone

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 12, 2013
62
155
Please, Apple, where are we on desktop?

I have a great home platform with a TimeCapsule router/backup, 2 iPads, 2 iPhones, a MBP and 2 mac Minis. That's a fair investment for a household, I'd say?

Why minis? Well, we *would* have likely gone iMac instead of minis if the screen choice was like 24, but opted for minis as iMac 21 was too small, 27 too big (ergonomics of local environment).

So here we are with minis which need updating, BUT...

Somewhat confused as to what the next step is for these minis/our desktop computers. I certainly hoped for clarity to appear last month, but it didn't. Given the lack of delivery on desktop last month, is it maybe sensible to just max out entirely on the best possible existing mini (3.2K to do that for the two) to buy time until you make a decision?

Given:
1) Will you unexpectedly update the mini next Spring and make such a purchase crazy in hindsight?
2) Will you ditch desktop next Spring and "brick" such a purchase with OS updates inside 3 years?

Darn, you know, this whole situation makes me nervous enough to consider moving everything onto a Windows/Android platform - painful though that would be.

Please help with at least some guidance or assessment of what is best to do.

Thanks.
 

krazirob

macrumors regular
Oct 8, 2016
104
66
Baltimore
Not sure this is the place to vent if you want Apple to hear it!!....LOL.......But I hear ya as a fellow MAC user!
 

macmee

Suspended
Dec 13, 2008
835
1,110
Canada
there is no upgrade strategy for desktop users

there is no new mac mini

there is no new mac pro

there is sort of a new imac but it's a year old, also imacs are plagued with image retention problems

you have no option but the macbook, which is over priced and under powered
 

komone

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 12, 2013
62
155
Not sure this is the place to vent if you want Apple to hear it!!....LOL.......But I hear ya as a fellow MAC user!
Ya, well I guess I tried that route first, and this may be just be a fanboy (of 20+ years standing) getting real nervous.

Maybe the answer really is just "more emoji" and I am out of touch with popular demand. Or maybe those actual real USD burning a hole in my pocket are more real than the decreasing value delivery we've seen since the influence of SJ has faded from view.

I surely hope to be proven wrong.
 

maccompaq

macrumors 65816
Mar 6, 2007
1,169
24
If they don't update within a year, I will likely switch to PC. Apple is too focused on iOS products.
I have run Windows since Windows 3 and also Mac OS since Apple II. Windows XP Professional was my favorite and Mac OS Snow Leopard is my favorite.

My recent experience with Windows 7: while trying to run some programs, the computer locked up, and the end result was that the Hard Drive got corrupted and everything was lost. I reformatted and installed Windows 7 and then updated to Windows 10. That worked OK for a short time until the day that Windows 10 was updating. The Hard Drive continued to run as the update seemed to be happening. This continued for hours. When nothing seemed to be happening, I shut the computer down. The next day it would not boot so I removed that HD and put it into another computer that I had built. The HD did not show up so I put it into a computer I had built and installed Mac OS El Capitan. Disk utility did not show the HD. I have done many checks and have concluded that the HD is dead. Thanks Microsoft! That does it for me with Windows.

Mac OS has always been my main platform, and Windows was just for experimenting. I have built 7 computers and installed Mac OS on every one of them and Windows XP Professional on 5, Windows 7 on 1 and Windows 8.1 on 1. At this moment, only 2 of my computers have Windows, but they hardly get booted into Windows, only Mac OS. My 3 most recent computers have 16 GB RAM and Core i7 processors with GTX 970 video cards.

I have a new MacBook Pro Retina, 2 Mac Minis, iPad Air, 3 iPhones and an Airport Extreme. They all work very well.

My wife has 2 Dell laptops: one came with Windows XP Home and is a Core2Duo with a dedicated video card and the other is 3 months old and came with Windows 10 and has a Core i3 processor. She also has a Dell desktop with a Core i3 processor with Windows 8.1. The only reason she runs Windows is that Word Perfect is only available for Windows. She has her share of problems with Windows, but I am always there to fix them for her. Both Core i3 computers have 8 GB RAM.

I am only giving my experience so show that I am not a random inexperienced guy trashing Windows, but showing what problems exist. My Mac OS experience has been very satisfying.
 
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Sam_S

macrumors 6502
Nov 20, 2016
258
314
Everywhere
Maybe hold off until next year. I am sure there will be an update soon! Well I am certainly hoping, I need to upgrade my 2012 iMac 21.5. However if there was no announcements from Apple, or there are little rumours about a new model I will upgrade the RAM and maybe throw a new SSD in. It is becoming frustrating. I wanted to upgrade my MacBook Pro but I cannot stand those new keyboards, lack of I/O, and no magsafe, nor justify the ridiculous asking price in NZ, prices have increased anywhere from $500 to $1000 ($350-$700USD).
 

phrehdd

macrumors 601
Oct 25, 2008
4,289
1,292
I have run Windows since Windows 3 and also Mac OS since Apple II. Windows XP Professional was my favorite and Mac OS Snow Leopard is my favorite.

My recent experience with Windows 7: while trying to run some programs, the computer locked up, and the end result was that the Hard Drive got corrupted and everything was lost. I reformatted and installed Windows 7 and then updated to Windows 10. That worked OK for a short time until the day that Windows 10 was updating. The Hard Drive continued to run as the update seemed to be happening. This continued for hours. When nothing seemed to be happening, I shut the computer down. The next day it would not boot so I removed that HD and put it into another computer that I had built. The HD did not show up so I put it into a computer I had built and installed Mac OS El Capitan. Disk utility did not show the HD. I have done many checks and have concluded that the HD is dead. Thanks Microsoft! That does it for me with Windows.

Mac OS has always been my main platform, and Windows was just for experimenting. I have built 7 computers and installed Mac OS on every one of them and Windows XP Professional on 5, Windows 7 on 1 and Windows 8.1 on 1. At this moment, only 2 of my computers have Windows, but they hardly get booted into Windows, only Mac OS. My 3 most recent computers have 16 GB RAM and Core i7 processors with GTX 970 video cards.

I have a new MacBook Pro Retina, 2 Mac Minis, iPad Air, 3 iPhones and an Airport Extreme. They all work very well.

My wife has 2 Dell laptops: one came with Windows XP Home and is a Core2Duo with a dedicated video card and the other is 3 months old and came with Windows 10 and has a Core i3 processor. She also has a Dell desktop with a Core i3 processor with Windows 8.1. The only reason she runs Windows is that Word Perfect is only available for Windows. She has her share of problems with Windows, but I am always there to fix them for her. Both Core i3 computers have 8 GB RAM.

I am only giving my experience so show that I am not a random inexperienced guy trashing Windows, but showing what problems exist. My Mac OS experience has been very satisfying.

You have quite a history and some of it is not far from my own on the Windows side. I don't have any computers running Windows (any version) native. Rather, I use a virtual of Win 7 these days. That might not be a bad idea for your wife and her word processor to run XP or stripped down Win 7 in a virtual on a Mac or Hackintosh. About 3 months ago, I dealt with a friend's friend who had 5 machines all running XP. There was zero interest in updating the machines OS-wise and a couple were in pretty bad shape. Ultimately, after 2 different virus scans and a couple of other matter taken care of we re-installed XP on those two machines, and added a firewall appliance into the mix and touched upon best practices when using XP and the Internet. XP continues to have quite the following and a shame Win 7 wasn't a true "upgrade" that kept the flavour of XP.
 

NY Guitarist

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2011
1,585
1,581
I'm in the camp that believes Apple's roadmap is focused on consumer gadgets rather than computers, as that's where the vast majority of their profits come from.

Even the latest Macbook Pro is less 'Pro' and more locked-down that ever, following in the path of disposable iOS gadgets. Time will tell, but I have little confidence that Apple will release a new Mini and while the Mac Pro may see a superficial refresh the iMac will eventually be elevated to the last and only Macintosh desktop, probably sooner than later.

I really hope I'm wrong but I think there are sad days ahead for Apple's loyal desktop computer enthusiasts.
 
Last edited:

62tele

macrumors 6502a
Apr 11, 2010
739
674
there is sort of a new imac but it's a year old, also imacs are plagued with image retention problems

Personally I think this is overblown and won't stop me from buying an 21.5" model when it's refreshed. Hell, I'm thinking of getting one now before the refresh. I can't honestly believe that Kaby Lake will be that much better than the Broadwell in the current model. The only advantage to holding out may be faster SSD storage with eNVM and the potential for touch ID.
 

Sam_S

macrumors 6502
Nov 20, 2016
258
314
Everywhere
I'm in the camp that believes Apple's roadmap is focused on consumer gadgets rather than computers, as that's where the vast majority of their profits come from.

Even the latest Macbook Pro is less 'Pro' and more locked-down that ever, following in the path of disposable iOS gadgets. Time will tell, but I have little confidence that Apple will release a new Mini and while the Mac Pro may see a superficial refresh the iMac will eventually be elevated to the last and only Macintosh desktop, probably sooner than later.

I really hope I'm wrong but I think there are sad days ahead for Apple's loyal desktop computer enthusiasts.

I really hope you are wrong!! I love using MacOS, but I feel that you could be right. The OS in recent years has become very similar to iOS and they have made useful features either difficult to use or long winded. It just doesn't feel as crisp as it once did. Again I think this supports the idea that they will focus on selling the iPad Pro as a Mac replacement.
 
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Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
Use what you have until they no longer meet your needs. Then buy a new computer that does meet your needs if that is no longer an Apple computer you buy something else, no need for a strategy, it's hardly rocket science.
 

Sam_S

macrumors 6502
Nov 20, 2016
258
314
Everywhere
Use what you have until they no longer meet your needs. Then buy a new computer that does meet your needs if that is no longer an Apple computer you buy something else, no need for a strategy, it's hardly rocket science.

It is hard to change especially when you have invested so much money and time in the eco-system. If it was easy I would jump ship tomorrow but I am keen to wait it out another year before I do that. Unless some drastic happens that makes me leave sooner.
 

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
It is hard to change especially when you have invested so much money and time in the eco-system. If it was easy I would jump ship tomorrow but I am keen to wait it out another year before I do that. Unless some drastic happens that makes me leave sooner.

It's not hard to change there are very few apps that aren't cross platform anymore, and all your work can be imported into any new app anyway it's just not the issue it was a decade ago....

Sure wait a year why not if your current gear does the job, that my point. The mini and the pro need updating everything else is up to date processor etc wise and even microsofts new studio line stuff won't be out until next year sometime Apple aren't actually behind anyone else.
 

62tele

macrumors 6502a
Apr 11, 2010
739
674
Use what you have until they no longer meet your needs. Then buy a new computer that does meet your needs if that is no longer an Apple computer you buy something else, no need for a strategy, it's hardly rocket science.
It is hard to change especially when you have invested so much money and time in the eco-system. If it was easy I would jump ship tomorrow but I am keen to wait it out another year before I do that. Unless some drastic happens that makes me leave sooner.


Exactly! I prefer macOS by a long shot. I will wait for a new iMac. If they hadn't raised the prices so drastically on the new MBP I might have opted for a laptop.
I want a full feature DAW software and I already have Logic.. It would cost me $600 to switch to ProTools which I'm not going to do. (I don't really care for the other programs).
One day, if Apple doesn't continue to invest in the Mac lineup, I may just opt to go with an iPad but I doubt I will ever use a Windows product. At that point, Garageband may have enough features for my recording.
 

NY Guitarist

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2011
1,585
1,581
Use what you have until they no longer meet your needs. Then buy a new computer that does meet your needs if that is no longer an Apple computer you buy something else, no need for a strategy, it's hardly rocket science.

For individuals it might not be too problematic, but for some businesses it is incredibly difficult and disruptive to be forced to switch. Entire workflow strategies need to be re-developed, and hardware that might be replaced in stages now has to be replaced all at once, creating substantial financial implications.
 
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