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Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

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Re: Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

#21

How many people actually need the perf of an M1 or M2-based laptop? I see a lot of excited stuff about running ML models on Apple silicon, but not much about how it benefits ordinary tech users running compile workloads or whatever, and nothing at all about people running standard applications. The hardware is great, I'm just not convinced that the price/performance delivers a big enough market.

I got my wife to upgrade to an M1. I still have a haswell i7 and responsiveness of on a different scale. But to be fair, I had to use a ROG zen machine while my Lenovo was in repair and it felt close in responsiveness.

Re: Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

#22

How many people actually need the perf of an M1 or M2-based laptop? I see a lot of excited stuff about running ML models on Apple silicon, but not much about how it benefits ordinary tech users running compile workloads or whatever, and nothing at all about people running standard applications. The hardware is great, I'm just not convinced that the price/performance delivers a big enough market.

When I went from my Intel MBP (was the prior gen) to my first M1 MBA it cut my java test suite times in 1/2. I dug in thinking something was broken, but nope, it was that much faster.

As another poster said, I bought a M1 Max, 64gb when they came out and it still feels new speed wise. Unless something breaks, this computer should last a really long time.

Re: Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

#23
post #14

I'd be interested in a Mac once Linux is viable on it. OSX feels outright hostile to power users at this point.

I've used a Mac in my previous job and it was OK experience. The M1's hardware is truly great (I bought one for myself as well, since I didn't have a laptop at the time) and I like the portability. There are a lot of smaller features that I really like, but the overall experience for development is just not there. I use mostly my desktop setup for dev work. I can attach different machines to my monitor or use picture in picture or side by side (49" ultrawide). Last year I was back on Linux for a few months to see if that was going to be "the year of the Linux desktop" for me. I've done this every year for a few months for the past decade. However, unfortunately yet again I've went back to Windows 10. The same nagging issues with things just randomly stopping working on Linux keep showing up after time. Ten years of the same thing. Windows (with WSL) despite all of its flaws and bullshit seems to be the best OS for development. I find that very sad to be honest.

Re: Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

#26
post #10

What is most surprising here is that Apple's share growth is worse than other PC makers. It seemed like Apple was going to continue to gain market share in PCs with Apple Silicon effortlessly. But this didn't happen in Q1. I'm going to speculate why: * People are going back to buying cheaper laptops due to the economy, inflation, and exchange rates. Apple suffers in this environment because they're generally less fle…

Why do you think 15" Air would the best selling Mac?

Because the 15" Windows laptop screen size is the most popular, by far.

It makes a lot of sense. 13" is a tad bit too small for students and office workers. 15" is more comfortable for productivity.

I assume that laptop buyers will focus on productivity. Otherwise, they'd just use their iPads/tablets for media consumption.

Re: Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

#27

What is most surprising here is that Apple's share growth is worse than other PC makers. It seemed like Apple was going to continue to gain market share in PCs with Apple Silicon effortlessly. But this didn't happen in Q1. I'm going to speculate why: * People are going back to buying cheaper laptops due to the economy, inflation, and exchange rates. Apple suffers in this environment because they're generally less fle…

> M2's performance increases did not knock it out of the park. I can't understand where people got their idea that M2 had to absolutely be an OMG moment. That's literally what Apple has been doing since forever: release a major upgrade, iterate on it for a few years, repeat. > Ideally, we should be on M3 right now. M1 was released in November 2020, less than three years ago . How the hell are we supposed to be on M3…

> I can't understand where people got their idea that M2 had to absolutely be an OMG moment. That's literally what Apple has been doing since forever: release a major upgrade, iterate on it for a few years, repeat.

Maybe not so much that people were expected to get their socks knocked off once again but mostly that M1 Max/Pro are more than enough for years to come for the majority of the people that got them.

Heck, I have a M1Air and a M1Max16. I can't even max it out with my current usage. Hard to justify the slight bump for the M2 given the cost in the EU. Even if M3 would double the performance and battery life would still be a hard sell.

Re: Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

#28

How many people actually need the perf of an M1 or M2-based laptop? I see a lot of excited stuff about running ML models on Apple silicon, but not much about how it benefits ordinary tech users running compile workloads or whatever, and nothing at all about people running standard applications. The hardware is great, I'm just not convinced that the price/performance delivers a big enough market.

Perhaps non-tech corporations without the means to implement CI/CD would appreciate end-device performance gains?

Regardless, other laptop vendors have mostly caught up in performance anyway. Mobility might have a better case to be made.

Re: Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

#29

How many people actually need the perf of an M1 or M2-based laptop? I see a lot of excited stuff about running ML models on Apple silicon, but not much about how it benefits ordinary tech users running compile workloads or whatever, and nothing at all about people running standard applications. The hardware is great, I'm just not convinced that the price/performance delivers a big enough market.

It was pointed out to me about a decade ago that is actually the “normies” who need higher-performance computers than seasoned professionals.

Folks who know how computers work tend to subliminally optimize it, knowing when go quit apps, how to manage windows, patience with processes that logically take extra time, etc.

It’s the neophytes and dilettantes that run all their apps at the same time, have dozens of windows with hundreds of tabs open all the time, and are prone to freaking out when their system “beachballs”.

I coaxed my CEO — a business guy who happens to be in tech - into getting the M2 Air, watched a lot of his frustrations melt away. Between all the performance and battery life, it was a slam dunk. Meanwhile, I was running “compile workloads” on a wimpier 8gb M1 Air and sailing!

Re: Apple’s plunge in PC shipments is steepest among major computer makers

#30
post #14

I'd be interested in a Mac once Linux is viable on it. OSX feels outright hostile to power users at this point.

s/power users/OS tinkerers. Not everybody who tinkers with their OS is a power user, and there are power users that (more or less) only care about how well Excel runs.

I also think “feels hostile” is the right expression. Apple isn’t hostile to OS tinkerers, but has different priorities, and doesn’t cater for them as much as they would want.

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