7 ms·

MacBooks are outdated, underpowered and overpriced

49 points by vincent_s 11y ago

konart 11y ago
>underpowered I still don't get this. Underpowered compared to what? The lastest CPU model? Well, that's to be expected every 6 mounths or so. But from a user's point of view? No so much to be honest. I can see how latest CPU might give some advantages to those who are dependent on computations, but other than this... no. RAM is the the only thing I've updated in the last 2 year (need all these VMs, IDEs, browser etc). Never saw CPU usage going >80%
- brudgers 11y ago
  In terms of raw computational power, e.g. MFLOPS, there is a plausible case regarding GPU's. The article mentions this in passing as more of a "shiny new" gripe than a "GPU's are the future of computing". Since more people are more motivated by "shiny new" than are limited by the GPU throughput, I'm not surprised at the author's approach or convinced that from a business standpoint GPU performance is critical for Mac marketing. My only point is that there tends to be a technical difference in regard to GPU computational power at similar price points. I'm not saying that this is necessarily important.
- joshuata 11y ago
  I agree. I use a 13" 2013 rmBP with the base processor and 8 gb of RAM. There have been several times where I was running 2 external monitors (1080p), watching HD video, running 2-4 virtualbox vms, running a big compile job, and surfing the web with 10+ tabs open. Even under that load the computer felt responsive, and that is all I really care about.
TheAndruu 11y ago
No touchscreen is a sign of age.
- coldtea 11y ago
  Touchscreens are a BS feature for laptops. Our hands where not made to be used a pointers held at those angles. Nobody uses their Wintel laptops that way either, even when they have the feature. Now if you're talking about detachable screens, that could be the case. But there are tablets for that, that are even more convenient and specialized to long term use in that way.
  - joshstrange 11y ago
    Agreed, I watch these stupid MS commercials where they are using the touchscreen on the laptop and it's SOOO gimmicky. No one really does that. I completely agree on the detachable screen though, of course at that point get an iPad Pro (for certain workloads)....
    - TheAndruu 11y ago
      I have a touchscreen Toshiba Radius and by far use the touchscreen more than I ever expected to. In fact, it's rare that I use the trackpad any more. I'm writing this comment on my 8-month-old MacBookPro11,5 with 16 gigs of ram and 1TB SSD drive. I've had 3 brand new MacBook Pros from 2011, 2013, and 2015. The lack of continued innovation on this platform is really starting to show its age.
      - joshstrange 11y ago
        Interesting, I really don't see myself reaching up 6-8 inches to touch the screen when I can do it faster (and with less finger smudges) from the trackpad but maybe I'm wrong, I love my iPad but I still just don't feel like I would like it on a laptop.
        fernandosoteras 11y ago
        I am a developer, I use the touchscreen sparcely. I use mainly for zooming in and out pdf documents. IMHO tochscreen are a valuable adition to the set of interfaces , to be used for determined gestures in some apps. Also , if you are into mobile dev , you can test the touch functionality on the device emulator.
64bitbrain 11y ago
I have a 16Gig 512 SSD Macbook pro and its faster than ever, since I have upgraded. As far as touchscreen on laptops is concerned; Steve Jobs mentioned that its not ergonomically correct. And I agree, I don't know how much long I can lift my fingers and touch the screen everytime I have to navigate. Apple has added lot of gestures on its track pad which is awesome.
- sccxy 11y ago
  I would say using laptops for long period of time is also pain in the ass. That's why many people use external monitor, keyboard and mouse. My wife uses her touchscreen laptop for web browsing at the couch. Using laptop at your lap is quite bad, but touch screen makes it a lot of better.
  - joshguthrie 11y ago
    I've been using laptops exclusively for the last six years, I move around too much to go back to a Desktop computer.
Finnucane 11y ago
This isn't new. Apple's Mac update cycle has been slow for some years now. I'm a long-time Apple user, but when I went laptop shopping a couple of years ago I ended up ordering something else instead, because I could get a lot more for less money.
joshstrange 11y ago
I don't need a ton more "innovation" (touchscreen on a laptop is a gimmick IMHO) in my macbook and it's plenty fast for what I do (run 2 external + laptop screen, 1-2 IDEs, chat, email, chrome, firefox, sequel pro, etc) but I think I'll go to the 15" next for the real graphics card and the ability to run 3 external monitors. All that said it pains me that Apple has not made any real improvements in quite some time. I was thinking about this the other day, I normally update every 2 years and I passed that mark 4 months ago but I really don't feel like I'm being held back in any way... Also they cap the RAM to 16GB (which I have) and since I can't add/replace it I don't really want to buy again unless the RAM can go up to 24/32.
- restalis 11y ago
  From my prospective pretty much all their promoted "strengths" were gimmicks. Of all things, only MacBook Air's weight can be undoubtedly counted as something valuable considering that it's a portable device.
- NobleSir 11y ago
  I agree if it's touchscreen on laptop with no other form factor then it might be a gimmick. However, the ability to use a pen on my lenovo and later surface had a huge impact on the way I did math throughout grad school. Essentially, it gave me unlimited scratch paper which was automatically stored, tagable and organizable.
coldtea 11y ago
>Apple’s computers need to go on a diet Yeah, not really. They are still among the thinnest/lightest on the market (and doubly so if one counts thinness AND durability, due to the unibody construction). Of course Apple WILL make them thinner/lighter in future revisions, but I for one, and many others, wish they didn't -- and instead just used the space for moar battery and such. >But six years is a very long time. The current Air is behind its competitors in every category. It’s more expensive than an entry-level Asus Zenbook UX305CA or Dell XPS 13, yet behind in looks, size, weight, keyboard quality, and display resolution. And then it lists the MAIN category that counts in a notebook: battery life as a pro for the Air. Not to mention that it being behind in "looks" and "keyboard quality" is BS. For display resolution it's true -- it should have been Retinized or dropped by now. >The Pro is almost as disappointing. It has a competitive display, and the massive battery Apple stuffs inside both the 13-inch and 15-inch models gives the Pro an edge in battery life. But both systems are larger and heavier than competitors. The 13-inch Pro feels like a brick next to a Dell XPS 13. The XPS weight less and is smaller (less bevel), but quite bulkier in height. Moreover, worse touchpad (no multi-touch/pressure either), no magsafe, plasticky and cheap looking (complete with "intel inside" sticker, as if we care), no thunderbolt (for video/audio/graphics pros or quick storage and other expansions), etc. But most importantly, one was released just last month, the other is an older model, and all signs say that the MacBook/Pro line is pending update (it's slightly past the usual update cycle, the inventory is low in retail channels, which usually signals an update, and Intel is having new processors out).
- erroneousfunk 11y ago
  Agree with you about the construction. A little over two years ago, I bought a Sony Vaio laptop for about $800. It was powerful enough, but I used it for about 5 months and had to go out and buy something else. It was heavy, the hinges started getting loose and creaking/showing wear. You had to really bang on the keyboard while typing, the entire thing was HEAVY, the trackpad would randomly freak out, and it was basically unusable without a mouse. I went out and bought a $900 11" Macbook Air a few months later, and it was an absolute pleasure to use in comparison. Now, I rarely use the Sony laptop -- the keys have started falling off (I gave up reattaching the 'z' key), the screen is "floppy," and I dread trying to right-click on things with the trackpad, but it's now a dedicated dev environment for my job, on days that I work from home. In comparison, my Macbook Air has gotten far more abuse. I toss it around, carry it in my purse, I've lost it under couch cushions -- it has a dent on the bottom from who-knows-where, but it still feels as nice to use as it did on Day 1. The only time I've run into performance problems is when I'm running Eclipse + Tomcat + heavy MySQL load + some random Python scripts chugging away + ten billion tabs in Chrome. The baseline model 11" air is a little sluggish then :-p But really, I'd rather upgrade to a more expensive model, or pause execution on some things, or clean up my processes, and/or just offload processing to an EC2 instance than ever have to buy another crappy-feeling plastic laptop. It just makes an unbelievable amount of difference in day-to-day use that I don't think people give enough consideration to.
andronikea 11y ago
I can totally agree on this. About a month ago, I was buying a new ultrabook, and MacBook Air was an obvious choice. Obvious, until I saw it's price. It's way too overpriced for what it offers. The battery life is fine, but other than that, nothing. I mean, c'mon, 4gb of RAM and an Intel Core i5 processor is sufficient for a modern day laptop? MacBook Pro is not better in any aspect, as well. Finally, I ended up with a Dell Latitude (E7250) with 16gb of RAM and a lot better i7 processor, for about twice less money. And guess what, the battery also holds roughly 9 hours, but RAM processing power difference is huge, especially in my line of work. I could even install a Hackintosh on my machine and get all of the OSX goodness for half the price.
- endemic 11y ago
  Half as much for the Latitude? I checked the Apple/Dell stores, and while the MBA i7 upgrade has a slower clock speed and is limited to 8GB RAM, it's also less expensive ($1750 vs. ~$2000; http://imgur.com/a/ELQm6 http://imgur.com/a/ELQm6).
ommunist 11y ago
Still best in resale value and, believe it or not, they just work. And to sell outdated hardware for extra price is very good for Apple's business, isn't it? APPL stock to sell, anyone?
akeck 11y ago
My 2004 Corolla is outdated, underpowered, and was "overpriced". It has 250,000 miles, and we use it every day without worrying about breakdowns. Likewise, I use my 2009 MacBook Pro every day without worrying about breakdowns [1]. Quality comes with a steep up-front price that pays you back with a long tail of value. [1] The native Apple hardware has failed exactly once in the MacBook's lifetime (SATA cable)
- joshstrange 11y ago
  This I've got to agree with, they are EXTREMELY reliable machines in my experience, I've never had an issue with one other than my DVD drive on my first macbook but I never used that really anyways, it honestly could have been broken from the factory and I just noticed it after about a year (still in AppleCare). I watched my friends buy a new PC every 1-2 years because theirs were literally falling apart but continue to buy $500-$600 crap laptops.
- restalis 11y ago
  They may happen to be reliable because you just take better care of pricey things (but that's not to say that it isn't their merit to turn you into a careful person).
  - akeck 11y ago
    True, except I've dropped the MacBook about ten times over its lifetime. I've been more careful with it lately. ;-)
- codemod 11y ago
  I agree.. My original 2007 iPhone still runs.. my old Macbook ran superbly for 7 years before I replaced it.
- pbhowmic 11y ago
  I can second that. One thing about every PC of say a comparable price to a MacBook Pro out there I notice is shoddy workmanship, the cut-corners approach they take. Say you went for a $1500 price point. For that, a PC will get you a bigger screen, more memory, more storage but w/o fail, poor quality in every instance. Take battery life, my biggest issue with any Windows laptop. My 2012 MacBook Pro's battery is still going strong. My 2014 Zbook's battery life is less than that of my Macbook. Earlier I had a Dell whose battery fizzled out in 6 months. Ditto the replacement battery. Then there is the Magsafe adapter. The Zbook's adapter's insulation frayed and I discarded it as unsafe. I honestly still see my Macbook in operation for at leats 2 years, I may replace the hard drive with a solidstate to improve performance but that is it.
kup0 11y ago
As an Apple fan (but not a loyalist), I tend to agree. Over time, the lust for their products is starting to wane... The lack of GPU power for the price is ludicrous. I love the OS and the design of the hardware, but it's such a trade off for graphics power. The CPUs don't seem to be all that bad, but probably could be better as well for the price. They are too focused on thinness/lightness. I'd rather have a slightly thicker iMac or Macbook and higher-end parts. Integrated GPUs (while much better than they used to be) have really overtaken Apple's lineup and it's disappointing, not to mention the inability to easily upgrade anything (not just an Apple problem, though)
- gherkin0 11y ago
  > They are too focused on thinness/lightness. I'd rather have a slightly thicker iMac or Macbook and higher-end parts. And more USB ports. I would like more than two, especially in the 15".
sccxy 11y ago
Also 2000 EUR iMacs are shipping with 5400rpm HDD. I use 2013 MacBook Air and want to upgrade to MacBook Pro, but at the moment I can't justify buying new Mac. All new Macs are outdated at the moment.
Doctor_Fegg 11y ago
It seems a little pointless posting this just two months before WWDC, the event Apple used for its major laptop launches in 2012 and 2013.
dctoedt 11y ago
For more than three years I've been using my mid-2012 Macbook Air 11" (8GB RAM, 512GB SSD upgrade, my first Mac ever, with external monitor) as my only machine. Never had a problem. The size is perfect for an airline seat-back tray. The keyboard and trackpad Just Work. I very much prefer the Mac OS after decades of Windows experience. These days I grumble when I have to do tech support for my wife on her Windows 10 state-of-the-art ultrabook.
- jaytaylor 11y ago
  I have a similar MBA I've been using for years and I love it. They are also quite easy to repair- I've broken the keyboard and damaged the power board but replaced both myself relatively easily! The retina macbook pros on the other hand are literally glued together and aren't user serviceable.
endemic 11y ago
I tend to dismiss these sorts of overtly negative articles out of hand. While it's true that Apple could probably follow Intel's roadmap more closely, it's been years since they have promoted their platform using "speeds and feeds." Windows OEMs have no choice but to differentiate that way. As a user, I care less about having the most recent hardware (which will be outdated in 6 months anyway); my focus is on purchasing something reliable, and as many others have mentioned, these days most laptops are "fast enough."
- matt_wulfeck 11y ago
  Indeed I think specs are one of the most poor ways to differentiate yourself right now in the laptop space. The way to differentiate yourself is to get your users to stop thinking about their laptops at all. Make it work the right way. Make using it intuitive and easy. Make it reliable and secure. The less people notice it the happier they will be.
Recurecur 11y ago
This article came out a couple of months before WWDC - which is widely expected to include the announcement of new Macbooks, and likely also a Mac Pro update. The 5K iMac is recent, a good value, and includes cutting-edge hardware from the time it was introduced. I expect Apple will continue to invest in new Mac development, as Macs are both profitable and important halo products.

49 points by vincent_s 11y ago

>underpowered I still don't get this. Underpowered compared to what? The lastest CPU model? Well, that's to be expected every 6 mounths or so. But from a user's point of view? No so much to be honest. I can see how latest CPU might give some advantages to those who are dependent on computations, but other than this... no. RAM is the the only thing I've updated in the last 2 year (need all these VMs, IDEs, browser etc). Never saw CPU usage going >80%

brudgers 11y ago
In terms of raw computational power, e.g. MFLOPS, there is a plausible case regarding GPU's. The article mentions this in passing as more of a "shiny new" gripe than a "GPU's are the future of computing". Since more people are more motivated by "shiny new" than are limited by the GPU throughput, I'm not surprised at the author's approach or convinced that from a business standpoint GPU performance is critical for Mac marketing. My only point is that there tends to be a technical difference in regard to GPU computational power at similar price points. I'm not saying that this is necessarily important.
joshuata 11y ago
I agree. I use a 13" 2013 rmBP with the base processor and 8 gb of RAM. There have been several times where I was running 2 external monitors (1080p), watching HD video, running 2-4 virtualbox vms, running a big compile job, and surfing the web with 10+ tabs open. Even under that load the computer felt responsive, and that is all I really care about.

TheAndruu 11y ago

No touchscreen is a sign of age.

coldtea 11y ago
Touchscreens are a BS feature for laptops. Our hands where not made to be used a pointers held at those angles. Nobody uses their Wintel laptops that way either, even when they have the feature. Now if you're talking about detachable screens, that could be the case. But there are tablets for that, that are even more convenient and specialized to long term use in that way.
- joshstrange 11y ago
  Agreed, I watch these stupid MS commercials where they are using the touchscreen on the laptop and it's SOOO gimmicky. No one really does that. I completely agree on the detachable screen though, of course at that point get an iPad Pro (for certain workloads)....
  - TheAndruu 11y ago
    I have a touchscreen Toshiba Radius and by far use the touchscreen more than I ever expected to. In fact, it's rare that I use the trackpad any more. I'm writing this comment on my 8-month-old MacBookPro11,5 with 16 gigs of ram and 1TB SSD drive. I've had 3 brand new MacBook Pros from 2011, 2013, and 2015. The lack of continued innovation on this platform is really starting to show its age.
    - joshstrange 11y ago
      Interesting, I really don't see myself reaching up 6-8 inches to touch the screen when I can do it faster (and with less finger smudges) from the trackpad but maybe I'm wrong, I love my iPad but I still just don't feel like I would like it on a laptop.
      - fernandosoteras 11y ago
        I am a developer, I use the touchscreen sparcely. I use mainly for zooming in and out pdf documents. IMHO tochscreen are a valuable adition to the set of interfaces , to be used for determined gestures in some apps. Also , if you are into mobile dev , you can test the touch functionality on the device emulator.

64bitbrain 11y ago

I have a 16Gig 512 SSD Macbook pro and its faster than ever, since I have upgraded. As far as touchscreen on laptops is concerned; Steve Jobs mentioned that its not ergonomically correct. And I agree, I don't know how much long I can lift my fingers and touch the screen everytime I have to navigate. Apple has added lot of gestures on its track pad which is awesome.

sccxy 11y ago
I would say using laptops for long period of time is also pain in the ass. That's why many people use external monitor, keyboard and mouse. My wife uses her touchscreen laptop for web browsing at the couch. Using laptop at your lap is quite bad, but touch screen makes it a lot of better.
- joshguthrie 11y ago
  I've been using laptops exclusively for the last six years, I move around too much to go back to a Desktop computer.

Finnucane 11y ago

This isn't new. Apple's Mac update cycle has been slow for some years now. I'm a long-time Apple user, but when I went laptop shopping a couple of years ago I ended up ordering something else instead, because I could get a lot more for less money.

joshstrange 11y ago

I don't need a ton more "innovation" (touchscreen on a laptop is a gimmick IMHO) in my macbook and it's plenty fast for what I do (run 2 external + laptop screen, 1-2 IDEs, chat, email, chrome, firefox, sequel pro, etc) but I think I'll go to the 15" next for the real graphics card and the ability to run 3 external monitors. All that said it pains me that Apple has not made any real improvements in quite some time. I was thinking about this the other day, I normally update every 2 years and I passed that mark 4 months ago but I really don't feel like I'm being held back in any way... Also they cap the RAM to 16GB (which I have) and since I can't add/replace it I don't really want to buy again unless the RAM can go up to 24/32.

restalis 11y ago
From my prospective pretty much all their promoted "strengths" were gimmicks. Of all things, only MacBook Air's weight can be undoubtedly counted as something valuable considering that it's a portable device.
NobleSir 11y ago
I agree if it's touchscreen on laptop with no other form factor then it might be a gimmick. However, the ability to use a pen on my lenovo and later surface had a huge impact on the way I did math throughout grad school. Essentially, it gave me unlimited scratch paper which was automatically stored, tagable and organizable.

coldtea 11y ago

>Apple’s computers need to go on a diet Yeah, not really. They are still among the thinnest/lightest on the market (and doubly so if one counts thinness AND durability, due to the unibody construction). Of course Apple WILL make them thinner/lighter in future revisions, but I for one, and many others, wish they didn't -- and instead just used the space for moar battery and such. >But six years is a very long time. The current Air is behind its competitors in every category. It’s more expensive than an entry-level Asus Zenbook UX305CA or Dell XPS 13, yet behind in looks, size, weight, keyboard quality, and display resolution. And then it lists the MAIN category that counts in a notebook: battery life as a pro for the Air. Not to mention that it being behind in "looks" and "keyboard quality" is BS. For display resolution it's true -- it should have been Retinized or dropped by now. >The Pro is almost as disappointing. It has a competitive display, and the massive battery Apple stuffs inside both the 13-inch and 15-inch models gives the Pro an edge in battery life. But both systems are larger and heavier than competitors. The 13-inch Pro feels like a brick next to a Dell XPS 13. The XPS weight less and is smaller (less bevel), but quite bulkier in height. Moreover, worse touchpad (no multi-touch/pressure either), no magsafe, plasticky and cheap looking (complete with "intel inside" sticker, as if we care), no thunderbolt (for video/audio/graphics pros or quick storage and other expansions), etc. But most importantly, one was released just last month, the other is an older model, and all signs say that the MacBook/Pro line is pending update (it's slightly past the usual update cycle, the inventory is low in retail channels, which usually signals an update, and Intel is having new processors out).

erroneousfunk 11y ago
Agree with you about the construction. A little over two years ago, I bought a Sony Vaio laptop for about $800. It was powerful enough, but I used it for about 5 months and had to go out and buy something else. It was heavy, the hinges started getting loose and creaking/showing wear. You had to really bang on the keyboard while typing, the entire thing was HEAVY, the trackpad would randomly freak out, and it was basically unusable without a mouse. I went out and bought a $900 11" Macbook Air a few months later, and it was an absolute pleasure to use in comparison. Now, I rarely use the Sony laptop -- the keys have started falling off (I gave up reattaching the 'z' key), the screen is "floppy," and I dread trying to right-click on things with the trackpad, but it's now a dedicated dev environment for my job, on days that I work from home. In comparison, my Macbook Air has gotten far more abuse. I toss it around, carry it in my purse, I've lost it under couch cushions -- it has a dent on the bottom from who-knows-where, but it still feels as nice to use as it did on Day 1. The only time I've run into performance problems is when I'm running Eclipse + Tomcat + heavy MySQL load + some random Python scripts chugging away + ten billion tabs in Chrome. The baseline model 11" air is a little sluggish then :-p But really, I'd rather upgrade to a more expensive model, or pause execution on some things, or clean up my processes, and/or just offload processing to an EC2 instance than ever have to buy another crappy-feeling plastic laptop. It just makes an unbelievable amount of difference in day-to-day use that I don't think people give enough consideration to.

andronikea 11y ago

I can totally agree on this. About a month ago, I was buying a new ultrabook, and MacBook Air was an obvious choice. Obvious, until I saw it's price. It's way too overpriced for what it offers. The battery life is fine, but other than that, nothing. I mean, c'mon, 4gb of RAM and an Intel Core i5 processor is sufficient for a modern day laptop? MacBook Pro is not better in any aspect, as well. Finally, I ended up with a Dell Latitude (E7250) with 16gb of RAM and a lot better i7 processor, for about twice less money. And guess what, the battery also holds roughly 9 hours, but RAM processing power difference is huge, especially in my line of work. I could even install a Hackintosh on my machine and get all of the OSX goodness for half the price.

endemic 11y ago
Half as much for the Latitude? I checked the Apple/Dell stores, and while the MBA i7 upgrade has a slower clock speed and is limited to 8GB RAM, it's also less expensive ($1750 vs. ~$2000; http://imgur.com/a/ELQm6 http://imgur.com/a/ELQm6).

ommunist 11y ago

Still best in resale value and, believe it or not, they just work. And to sell outdated hardware for extra price is very good for Apple's business, isn't it? APPL stock to sell, anyone?

akeck 11y ago

My 2004 Corolla is outdated, underpowered, and was "overpriced". It has 250,000 miles, and we use it every day without worrying about breakdowns. Likewise, I use my 2009 MacBook Pro every day without worrying about breakdowns [1]. Quality comes with a steep up-front price that pays you back with a long tail of value. [1] The native Apple hardware has failed exactly once in the MacBook's lifetime (SATA cable)

joshstrange 11y ago
This I've got to agree with, they are EXTREMELY reliable machines in my experience, I've never had an issue with one other than my DVD drive on my first macbook but I never used that really anyways, it honestly could have been broken from the factory and I just noticed it after about a year (still in AppleCare). I watched my friends buy a new PC every 1-2 years because theirs were literally falling apart but continue to buy $500-$600 crap laptops.
restalis 11y ago
They may happen to be reliable because you just take better care of pricey things (but that's not to say that it isn't their merit to turn you into a careful person).
- akeck 11y ago
  True, except I've dropped the MacBook about ten times over its lifetime. I've been more careful with it lately. ;-)
codemod 11y ago
I agree.. My original 2007 iPhone still runs.. my old Macbook ran superbly for 7 years before I replaced it.
pbhowmic 11y ago
I can second that. One thing about every PC of say a comparable price to a MacBook Pro out there I notice is shoddy workmanship, the cut-corners approach they take. Say you went for a $1500 price point. For that, a PC will get you a bigger screen, more memory, more storage but w/o fail, poor quality in every instance. Take battery life, my biggest issue with any Windows laptop. My 2012 MacBook Pro's battery is still going strong. My 2014 Zbook's battery life is less than that of my Macbook. Earlier I had a Dell whose battery fizzled out in 6 months. Ditto the replacement battery. Then there is the Magsafe adapter. The Zbook's adapter's insulation frayed and I discarded it as unsafe. I honestly still see my Macbook in operation for at leats 2 years, I may replace the hard drive with a solidstate to improve performance but that is it.

kup0 11y ago

As an Apple fan (but not a loyalist), I tend to agree. Over time, the lust for their products is starting to wane... The lack of GPU power for the price is ludicrous. I love the OS and the design of the hardware, but it's such a trade off for graphics power. The CPUs don't seem to be all that bad, but probably could be better as well for the price. They are too focused on thinness/lightness. I'd rather have a slightly thicker iMac or Macbook and higher-end parts. Integrated GPUs (while much better than they used to be) have really overtaken Apple's lineup and it's disappointing, not to mention the inability to easily upgrade anything (not just an Apple problem, though)

gherkin0 11y ago
> They are too focused on thinness/lightness. I'd rather have a slightly thicker iMac or Macbook and higher-end parts. And more USB ports. I would like more than two, especially in the 15".

sccxy 11y ago

Also 2000 EUR iMacs are shipping with 5400rpm HDD. I use 2013 MacBook Air and want to upgrade to MacBook Pro, but at the moment I can't justify buying new Mac. All new Macs are outdated at the moment.

Doctor_Fegg 11y ago

It seems a little pointless posting this just two months before WWDC, the event Apple used for its major laptop launches in 2012 and 2013.

dctoedt 11y ago

For more than three years I've been using my mid-2012 Macbook Air 11" (8GB RAM, 512GB SSD upgrade, my first Mac ever, with external monitor) as my only machine. Never had a problem. The size is perfect for an airline seat-back tray. The keyboard and trackpad Just Work. I very much prefer the Mac OS after decades of Windows experience. These days I grumble when I have to do tech support for my wife on her Windows 10 state-of-the-art ultrabook.

jaytaylor 11y ago
I have a similar MBA I've been using for years and I love it. They are also quite easy to repair- I've broken the keyboard and damaged the power board but replaced both myself relatively easily! The retina macbook pros on the other hand are literally glued together and aren't user serviceable.

endemic 11y ago

I tend to dismiss these sorts of overtly negative articles out of hand. While it's true that Apple could probably follow Intel's roadmap more closely, it's been years since they have promoted their platform using "speeds and feeds." Windows OEMs have no choice but to differentiate that way. As a user, I care less about having the most recent hardware (which will be outdated in 6 months anyway); my focus is on purchasing something reliable, and as many others have mentioned, these days most laptops are "fast enough."

matt_wulfeck 11y ago
Indeed I think specs are one of the most poor ways to differentiate yourself right now in the laptop space. The way to differentiate yourself is to get your users to stop thinking about their laptops at all. Make it work the right way. Make using it intuitive and easy. Make it reliable and secure. The less people notice it the happier they will be.

Recurecur 11y ago

This article came out a couple of months before WWDC - which is widely expected to include the announcement of new Macbooks, and likely also a Mac Pro update. The 5K iMac is recent, a good value, and includes cutting-edge hardware from the time it was introduced. I expect Apple will continue to invest in new Mac development, as Macs are both profitable and important halo products.