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How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

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Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#291

Post by dkonofalski »

Something that really bothers me about the sentiment expressed in this article is that computer manufacturers are looking to fit people's specific use cases. I see it all the time, especially on tech sites, where people want to complain that Apple (or whatever tech company is being questioned) has abandoned them because of X, Y, or Z since they no longer offer some kind of functionality that was useful to a person. People seem to have this idea that Apple needs to continue to offer certain features because they did offer them in the past and people created workflows around those features. In reality, Apple is going to keep the features that people buy their products for.

Just look at the number of people in these comments complaining that Apple axed the 17" MBP. While I agree that there may be a use case and a segment of the population that could make use of a 17" laptop, they obviously didn't sell enough of them to make it worthwhile. The response to this is usually "well, they just lost me as a customer completely now" as if that's supposed to sway Apple into saying "You're right! We should keep building and sourcing components for a computer that less and less people are using". I'm sure Apple loses some money and some customers from the lack of a 17" laptop, but that obviously doesn't outweigh the number of people that are willing to switch to another one of their computers.

Vote with your wallets. Look at what the computers can do and buy them if they work for you. If not, go somewhere else and buy a competing product. If enough people do that, companies like Apple will notice. If not enough people do it, then you're in a small demographic that it doesn't make sense to cater for. Yes, they may lose a long time "loyalist", but it doesn't really make sense for people to be loyal to a specific product. You can be loyal to a company that continues to make products that you find value in, but to base your livelihood and your loyalty on a product seems misguided.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#292

Post by dkonofalski »

beat wrote: post #147
muninn_ wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're living in a transitory period as we move from a world of wires and connectors to a wireless world. This is the pain we have to endure as technology is pushed forward. If it were up to the luddites and their obsession with compatibility, a laptop would have a dvd drive, firewire, usb-a, usb-c, thunderbolt, hdmi, dvi, vga, sd, microsd,vga, and display port all in one laptop chassis. Having one single port, that c…

This Luddite has rather a lot of money invested in a professional grade audio interface. Replacing it with modern connectivity would be upwards of a thousand dollars. Ouch. And it works perfectly. Why am I throwing away hardware that I like and trust for the relentless march to the future? Any recording interface more substantial than a headphone jack is wired. It's going to remain that way for a while. Audio is a qu…

Why would you throw away hardware that works? Your current computer still works with it, right? And if that stops working and you need to get another computer, there are adapters that will make it work with the new hardware that don't require you to spend thousands. I don't see the issue here. If the hardware is more important to you, buy the adapters needed. If the computer is more important, buy the new hardware to go with it. The new computers don't suddenly cause your perfectly good hardware to be unusable.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#293

Post by jdietrich »

72deluxe wrote: post #182
beat wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. One of the big selling points of Macs was that they weren't running Microsoft Virus Studio, and didn't turn into a filthy pit of malware when handed to someone without a degree in computer security. Chromebooks are probably more secure than Macs.

Do they all still have abysmal screen resolutions? All the ones I keep seeing have resolutions from the 1990s.

Several Chromebooks have FHD IPS displays; the HP Chromebook 13 is available with a 3,200 x 1,800 display.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#294

Post by dkonofalski »

beat wrote: post #271
bluejekyll wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to upgrade. Don't upgrade... but if you do, there are adapters for you that will allow you to continue using your old gear.

It's not just hardware. Apple has officially abandoned Firewire protocol maintenance. We're okay at the moment, but how many more MacOS upgrades will we have where Firewire still works? And I'm not an outlier case. There are a lot of audio professionals and semi-pros that depend on old Firewire interfaces. These were Apple's market for selling high-end laptops! This is basically just disregard for your oldest and fra…

They clearly are not Apple's most profitable customers if they're abandoning the tech. If they were Apple's most profitable customers, you'd see Firewire on everything.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#295

Post by rz2k »

_ph_ wrote: post #24

More than a single event, it is the string of events which create the disappointment. While Apple is indeed bound by Intels schedule for CPU upgrades, this would not prevent Apple from regular other components in their devices. A computer like the Mini should get yearly updates - and there is no good reason to solder in the memory. While it kept the very same design, it went from a quad-core i7 to a dual-core, with f…

I suppose the era of PowerPCs was a little different, with Apple far ahead of PCs for a while, then well behind. Apple could have released Skylake 13" class laptops a long time ago. Possibly they thought there would be suitable Kaby Lake processors with Iris by now.

These MacBook Pros are expensive, but they really are not more expensive than similar machine with matching specs. Given that, here's what I think would have worked a lot better:

Release these MacBook Pros 3-6 months ago, but each model a couple hundred dollars more expensive. In the box for free include an adapter with power pass through, HDMI and a USB-A 3.1, another with mini DisplayPort, and one USB-C to Lighting cable. Make the power cable fully capable for 3.1 data transfer, rather than a potential source of confusion. Sell adapters in the store for close to cost. They should also have released the iPhone 8 and future iOS devices with USB-C rather than Lighting. And to complete the line, maybe a premium-priced dock, that doesn't crowd out other hardware innovators, but proves the market viable.

Presumably the cost of the OS is built into the computers, why not some of the add-ons that facilitate the transition to USB-C? USB-C is superior, but the transition with short-sighted nickle-and-diming seems like it is needlessly aggravating people.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#296

Post by hellofunk »

delegate wrote: post #57

Hardware is not the only problem Apple has right now vis-a-vis developers. Apple's flagship IDE, XCode, is also lagging behind, at least when talking about C++ development, but even Swift doesn't get too much love it seems. Having used it since at least version 5, XCode 8 has been a frustrating experience for me starting from day one, when it defaulted to Swift version 3.0 and so broke all of the existing Swift proje…

I do all my c++ in emacs and compile or export a static library, which I then use in Xcode projects. Works well for me. Plus the c++ projects remain isolated and portable, self-contained. I have iOS apps that are 90% c++ written in emacs.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#297

Post by dkonofalski »

cookiecaper wrote: post #289
dkonofalski wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with you on a few points, I think it gets drowned out by the ring of anti-fanboyism too. The build quality on MacBooks is well-known in the industry and, if you go to a Microsoft Store (or own one), it's readily visible that the build quality isn't on par. Don't get me wrong, it's really good, but it's not MacBook good. This isn't the greatest example because I don't own one, but look at this shot ( htt…

>As for the specs, I don't know where you got that the point of the MBP is to be leap years ahead on specs and I'm pretty sure this is a straw man that you set up just to argue against it. The post I replied to says: "- Bump the specs. The whole point of the Pro is it is leap years ahead of everyone on processor, HD, and RAM."

Apologies. Just carry that over to their post then. That has never been the point of the Pro.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#298

Post by hellofunk »

jungturk wrote: post #115
bsenftner wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

XCode is the #1 reason I was never able to fully commit to a Mac. Hell, I was a Mac beta tester back in '83! (At age 17.) I've owned one, and used them as my main email machine for decades, but I never could wrap my head around the IDE poverty that is XCode. Even when I wrote Mac software, I did not use XCode, or whatever they called it back then. These days, I still have a Mac for email and it is my main system for…

I'm confused why the presence of Xcode would prevent one from using a Mac with whatever IDE they preferred. Atom, IntelliJ, VSCode, Sublime, VIM, etc... all work just fine on Macs.

You are correct. You don't need Xcode for all the code you write for Apple's platforms. You need it to build and link to Apple libraries or the App Store, but you can edit code elsewhere.

Re: How Apple Alienated Mac Loyalists

#300

Post by dingaling »

aninhumer wrote: post #117
ohyoutravel wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like the touchscreen on my Surface Pro and don't find it gimmicky. It's very useful, especially to scroll while reading an article, or to use it in "tablet mode," or just to hit buttons on command prompts. I don't use it for everything, but it is good at making small efficiency improvements in my overall life with my computer. Not accusing you of anything, but I suspect if Apple released a laptop with a touc…

>It's very useful, especially to scroll while reading an article I don't understand why someone using a laptop would want to scroll by lifting their arm up to the screen, rather than just moving two fingers on the touchpad where their hand is already resting.

> rather than just moving two fingers on the touchpad where their hand is already resting.

My hands tend to rest on the mouse or table when reading. It's actually quicker and less conscious to 'flick' the screen when reading than to break focus to find a trackpad and scroll that way.

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