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My Next Mac Mini

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Re: My Next Mac Mini

#291

Post by bootload »

mattnewton wrote: post #216
fowlerpower wrote: post #157

Someone here needs to explain it to me because I just don't understand. We have the largest computer company in the world, a shit load of people work there, supposedly smart people. Yet they can't put together a refresh of many of their desktop machines. Why the fuck not? What do all those people getting paid all that money do all day? I can only imagine the conversations, "it takes years it has to be super innovativ…

As an apple alumnus, I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" There is an internal course called "what makes apple apple" that you can take, but it's not necessary to pick up one of the key pieces of culture: the importance of saying No to most things. Apple has built their reputation on high quality. To continue to deliver takes immense effort, even for incremental programs, and often almost if the tal…

"I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" "

The problem with this ^focused^ (linear) thinking is the real value of apple in the past has been from ^diffuse^ (intuitive, unconscious wondering connections, slightly riskier) thinking. I know this is simplistic but the successful apple will be using both modes.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#292

Post by nextos »

ScottBurson wrote: post #260
mattnewton wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an apple alumnus, I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" There is an internal course called "what makes apple apple" that you can take, but it's not necessary to pick up one of the key pieces of culture: the importance of saying No to most things. Apple has built their reputation on high quality. To continue to deliver takes immense effort, even for incremental programs, and often almost if the tal…

Total laser focus on one thing seems like a great mantra for building a company (or turning around a failing one). But for sustaining a company that's already successful, I'm not so sure. If you really believe there's a Next Big Thing that you can bet the company on and win, like the iPhone, then maybe it makes sense to let other product lines languish. But, now that most of the world's population carry a computer in…

I agree. Is the Mac Mini so special it can't be updated by a small team periodically? Nope. It is in fact a quite mainstream machine, nothing too special about it.

The uniqueness in the Mac Mini lies in Mac OS. No laser sharp focus is needed for incremental hardware updates.

The Mac Pro has unique hardware, but between major redesigns it does not need any incredibly hard work. Just incremental improvements.

I find it absurd too that a company with so much cash in the bank cannot keep a few people performing incremental improvements on their product lines. The Mac Pro for example, is hopelessly outdated now.

I think they underestimate the compound effect of an ecosystem. Several little products, even if they don't bring in insane revenues such as iOS, can help attracting key users which are those that drive innovation. It also contributes to the overall experience of regular folks. For example, by discontinuing screens or routers, things are not as seamless as they once were.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#293

Post by bgarbiak »

raphinou wrote: post #15

Honest question : any good reasons to go with Windows rather than Linux?

Performance. For example: hardware acceleration of movie decoding is (was?) a bit of hit or miss with Linux, while it usually "just works" on Windows. Win is also faster that Mac OS in this regard: mainly due to certain APIs being not available for 3rd party software. The movie might be smooth in QuickTime, but VLC or Kodi will stutter.

At least that was a case few years ago, when I was checking how to play a full HD mkv file on my Mac Mini.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#294

Post by mattnewton »

bootload wrote: post #291
mattnewton wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an apple alumnus, I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" There is an internal course called "what makes apple apple" that you can take, but it's not necessary to pick up one of the key pieces of culture: the importance of saying No to most things. Apple has built their reputation on high quality. To continue to deliver takes immense effort, even for incremental programs, and often almost if the tal…

"I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" " The problem with this ^focused^ (linear) thinking is the real value of apple in the past has been from ^diffuse^ (intuitive, unconscious wondering connections, slightly riskier) thinking. I know this is simplistic but the successful apple will be using both modes.

I don't think that was meant by laser focus. I think it meant to really hone in on a few things that will have large impact, at the expense of linear improvements.

Apple is in love with the big, sexy revolutionary unveiling and that thrill and opportunity is what they are laser focused on. If it doesn't get them to that point, they say No to it.

That thing might require linear or divergent thinking to make work. But it's all this fixation on that end goal, that flash of excitement and freshness that they, their shareholders, the press and the majority of their users are all hooked on.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#296

Post by bgarbiak »

dragonshed wrote: post #242
bitL wrote: post #200

Get a NUC5i5/NUC6i5 instead, that works with OS X like a charm. Kaby Lake won't work till Apple releases something with it. I have a quad boot on 5i5, Linux/W7/W10/OSX, a perfect little development machine.

It's interesting to me how few people consider this an option. I got a 6i5 and other than wifi, macOS runs great on it.

Not having a wifi is, I assume, kind of a deal breaker for most of the people.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#297

Post by jamesfmilne »

mattnewton wrote: post #216
fowlerpower wrote: post #157

Someone here needs to explain it to me because I just don't understand. We have the largest computer company in the world, a shit load of people work there, supposedly smart people. Yet they can't put together a refresh of many of their desktop machines. Why the fuck not? What do all those people getting paid all that money do all day? I can only imagine the conversations, "it takes years it has to be super innovativ…

As an apple alumnus, I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" There is an internal course called "what makes apple apple" that you can take, but it's not necessary to pick up one of the key pieces of culture: the importance of saying No to most things. Apple has built their reputation on high quality. To continue to deliver takes immense effort, even for incremental programs, and often almost if the tal…

So we forego any updates on the Mac Pro for 3 years so that Apple can dominate the smartwatch market?

/me shakes head in dismay

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#298

Post by massysett »

benologist wrote: post #170
tacostakohashi wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess they've painted themselves into a bit of a corner with the way they do their pricing, and product announcements with a lot of hype. If they were to do the kind of update you suggest, there would be a lot of bad press stating the obvious ("It's just the same as before, but faster and more RAM. No new alloys or anything!"), and it would drive down prices for inventory of the old model.

Apple has stated they think the iPad Pro is the next computer for everyone. I would bet Apple is quite far along making tools for the iPad Pro that let you create apps for the iPad Pro and iPhone. They released a first foray into this kind of tool last year with their Swift Playgrounds, a language they designed to replace old things, using all-new APIs like Metal. The computers we like all stem from what we call Appl…

This makes a lot of sense when you wonder why they aren't putting a touch screen on the Macs. Microsoft took a desktop OS and bolted a touch screen onto it. Apple will take a tablet OS and bolt a keyboard onto it.

[edit] Makes even more sense when you consider who has what apps. Microsoft had a huge lead in Windows apps, so of course you want to bolt your touchscreen onto that. Apple has the huge lead in iOS apps, so better to bolt a keyboard onto that than a touch screen onto the Mac.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#299

Post by desireco42 »

krzyk wrote: post #214
fowlerpower wrote: post #157

Someone here needs to explain it to me because I just don't understand. We have the largest computer company in the world, a shit load of people work there, supposedly smart people. Yet they can't put together a refresh of many of their desktop machines. Why the fuck not? What do all those people getting paid all that money do all day? I can only imagine the conversations, "it takes years it has to be super innovativ…

Largest? You mean employing the most people or having the largest area? As for the employees, Apple has about 115 thousands, IBM has about 379 thousands, Samsung has 319 thousands, HP has 289 thousands (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_informatio... ). You probably meant the most valuable (stock number * stock price).

Per product, they probably have most employees, both overall and if you count R&D

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#300

Post by MaysonL »

mattnewton wrote: post #216
fowlerpower wrote: post #157

Someone here needs to explain it to me because I just don't understand. We have the largest computer company in the world, a shit load of people work there, supposedly smart people. Yet they can't put together a refresh of many of their desktop machines. Why the fuck not? What do all those people getting paid all that money do all day? I can only imagine the conversations, "it takes years it has to be super innovativ…

As an apple alumnus, I believe it has to do with a culture of "laser focus" There is an internal course called "what makes apple apple" that you can take, but it's not necessary to pick up one of the key pieces of culture: the importance of saying No to most things. Apple has built their reputation on high quality. To continue to deliver takes immense effort, even for incremental programs, and often almost if the tal…

So why isn't there somebody with total laser focus on the Mac Mini? The Mac Pro? iOS for the iPad? Seems to me that these are some of the functions that the supposedly functional Apple organizational structure is neglecting.
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