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Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

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191–200 of 269 posts

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#191
post #64
post #10

Makes sense with Apple's current terrible product line setup. Both the retina MacBook and 2016 MacBook Pro are much more niche than their last generation. Also much more confusing as the MacBook Air successor is $500 more than the 13" Air was (The non-touchbar MacBook Pro is the spiritual successor to the air.) The true 13" Pro for 2016 is also $500 more than the last gen. The 12" MacBook is there...but it is a super…

"If you want to write fast software, use a slow computer" - Dominic Tarr The 12" Macbook is the best computer I've ever owned. Switched to it from a 2014 Macbook Pro, and found it very easy to adjust. The only time it struggles a little bit is when I run Windows in VMware, on occasion. The biggest benefit of the Macbook 12" is that if software runs well on your computer, you know it's guaranteed to run extra buttery-…

> The biggest benefit of the Macbook 12" is that if software runs well on your computer, you know it's guaranteed to run extra buttery-smooth on other computers, which all have beefier CPUs and GPUs.

Except for all the other computers that don’t in the $150 price range. Use one of those for development.

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#192
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realized aside from glass vs plastic (which is huge), most trackpad hardware is actually decent. It's the drivers that suck. The next Windows 10 update ("creator's edition") has a better "precision trackpad" driver that will finally do what Apple's trackpads have done for a decade and fixes all the precision, tracking, resting your palm, etc. issues that have long plagued Windows laptops. Just make sure you get a g…

I'll believe it when I see it.

I say that as someone who bought and returned four (very, very expensive) laptops after ditching my MBP in search of a good trackpad.

Just keep away from elantech, stick to synaptics or alps.

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#193
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What was she actually against in the new MBP?" Newish MBP user chiming in. Peripheral access and costs. - no DVD/CD player - no Ethernet - no SD card slot - no RCA out What I see is good new machines with the above peripheral access removed. The advantages are no mechanical moving parts, technically better KB, access to faster SDD, software upgradable for quite a while. The hidden advantage is the new Macs are less…

However, two out of four things mentioned have been removed from new models since the first retina came out in mid 2012 (DVD/RJ45) simply because they are nearly as thick as the entire device. RCA out hasn't ever been in a MacBook to my knowledge. The only port that made absolutely no sense to remove was the SD card slot (even if I personally never use mine).

"RCA out hasn't ever been in a MacBook to my knowledge."

You're right, got confused with 3.5mm jack. Removed the 3.5mm jack. What about the current USB confusion? ...and yes mid 2012. Since when is a thiner laptop ever really been a TOP priority for programmers? I would have though it would be power: processor, battery life, HD, then weight, etc.

For manufacturers shaving off millimetres/grams off each machine translates to savings. For users thiner may be lighter, a trade off with being tactile. Wonder what Braun would tackle this?

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#194
What is even more baffling is how they can possibly employee 80,000 people. With that many people you think it would be possible to actually update their products regularly, and make the updates compelling.

Apple is floating on the surface, and bloating like a dead whale. They have no vision what so ever, and if they do, it's process engineered out of the company. Their previously outstanding product engineering is even falling down. Unless Mr. Cook is able to find or trust a visionary the company will continue to downward spiral.

There is a fine line between a vision and a hallucination, and Apple is hallucinating right now.

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#195

What is even more baffling is how they can possibly employee 80,000 people. With that many people you think it would be possible to actually update their products regularly, and make the updates compelling. Apple is floating on the surface, and bloating like a dead whale. They have no vision what so ever, and if they do, it's process engineered out of the company. Their previously outstanding product engineering is e…

Majority of 80,000 come from Apple retail stores.

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#196
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet no one but Apple can seem to make a decent track pad (even for windows). It's a show stopper for me whenever I think of moving back to a PC.

The surface book trackpad is indistinguishable outside some of the gestures. Those could probably be custom configured if I cared enough to find an app to do so.

I'm not sure who's down voting this, but feel free to provide, you know, ACTUAL feedback. I own one, I can attest to it. I currently own two macbooks as well and am extremely familiar with their trackpads.

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#197
post #53

Both Dell and Lenovo's websites are awful. They try so hard to segment the market that they make it almost impossible to shop their products. I want to buy but I can't figure out what they are selling.

"They try so hard to segment the market that they make it almost impossible to shop their products. I want to buy but I can't figure out what they are selling." Bravo! This is it. So many manufacturers of so many things screw this up so bad. I call it 'Sony-itis'. They have massive segmentation, within that, so many variations, it's crazy. I think it's an issue of culture: unless the change comes from the top, it wil…

Yes. The whole "Are you looking for a business computer or a consumer computer" initial decision point is one of the most offensive aspects of the Dell site.

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#198

Back when I worked at Apple the dirty secret was that the cheapest models, despite all the marketing of the MacBook Pro, made up the majority of sales. Back then it was the white plastic MacBook but now it's the 11" MacBook Air that occupies that slot. That model and its crappy TN screen is vastly inferior and more expensive than similarly-sized ultrabooks. The only redeeming feature it has is MacOS. Instead of repla…

What Ultrabooks do you think are better bang for the buck?

My Asus UX305 has a very similar design to the 13" Air but a Core M CPU, no fans, and a great 1080p matte IPS display. The track pad is excellent as well.

It cost me $600.

That all being said, I switched from MacOS to Ubuntu a couple years ago because I was finding the increasingly frequent notifications and general ugliness/usability of newer MacOS versions were becoming very Windows XP-esque.

I might very well be the only person who prefers Unity to MacOS.

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite a few years ago I saw someone at college using a white plastic laptop and man I thought that looked sharp. I glanced at the top of it and saw it was a Mac. At the time I didn't own a Mac and I didn't follow their product lines, but that was a hell of a good looking laptop, I thought. That was actually the first time I'd ever seen a Macbook, I don't come from a very well-off or tech-forward area. Everyone at the…

I still have my old white Macbook. It has never discolored for me and it's still running pretty fast.

I donated white 2007 to the local Lego robotics team and it's still winning.

Re: Mac sales declined nearly 10% last year as Lenovo, Dell and others gained ground

#200
post #84
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you want to write fast software, use a slow computer" - Dominic Tarr The 12" Macbook is the best computer I've ever owned. Switched to it from a 2014 Macbook Pro, and found it very easy to adjust. The only time it struggles a little bit is when I run Windows in VMware, on occasion. The biggest benefit of the Macbook 12" is that if software runs well on your computer, you know it's guaranteed to run extra buttery-…

"If you want to write yesterday's software, use a laptop" - me / paraphrase of Alan Kay I think? I get why people are still blacksmiths making door handles and I think that's great. But I'd rather be in a giant machine shop making aircraft carriers.

And then when you try to deploy that carrier, find out that it's too big for the slipway?
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