5 ms·

Their computers were never quite "bleeding edge", but there was a few years where they hit a really great sweet spot: 1. Top quality industrial design and comp

Their computers were never quite "bleeding edge", but there was a few years where they hit a really great sweet spot: 1. Top quality industrial design and components (trackpads, screens, etc.). 2. Reasonably competitive specs (never as cheap as building an equivalent PC from parts, but close enough that you didn't feel totally ripped off) 3. An OS that provided Unix compatibility with a nice GUI that Just Worked. Now, in all three areas, they've either fallen back, or their competitors have caught up. 1. The design and build quality of the best ultrabooks matches that of the Mac, and individual components like screens are often better. Meanwhile, Apple refuse to introduce real touch-screens on their laptop, presumably due to internal pressure from the iPad division, so they settle on the touchbar as a compromise. Or they want better sound, but can't make it work internally, so they just add fake speaker grilles instead. 2. The specs have stagnated, while the prices have increased dramatically. 3. The OS has gradually been locked down, and its Unix roots eroded. Meanwhile, Desktop Linux has improved, and Microsoft has added Linux compatibility to Windows.

scott_karana 10y ago
HiDPI laptops? The thinness? Early use of UEFI, and PCIe and NVMe SSDs? The first use of the Core 2 processors in anything was the MBP, which had been PowerPC before. Plus all their interconnecticity protocols. Seems reasonably bleeding edge to me. Completely fair to hold them to it.
- icantdrive55 10y ago
  "The thinness" I just don't get this one. If they are engineered to last longer, and it happened to be thinner, lighter--fine. Personally, I wish Apple laid off the form. Put that brain power into making rugged products, long battery life, and ease of future repairability. When I buy anything, I care about function, especially a electronic device. I bought my first Mac becuse it allowed me to use Microsoft office, which doesn't work anymore. I could care less about how it looked. Actually, the fact that I couldn't see a screw on the device scared me. I just thought that are so well engineered, I won't need to fix it--wrong. I honestly don't understand form over function in electronic devices. But then again, I don't understand most people's mind set when buying consumer products. I looking into buying a new car. These car companies have put so much thought in gadgets, I honestly can't find a new car I feel comfortable buying. I'm back to looking for low mileage vechicles from the 90's. I'm even considering a classic vechicle.

scott_karana 10y ago

HiDPI laptops? The thinness? Early use of UEFI, and PCIe and NVMe SSDs? The first use of the Core 2 processors in anything was the MBP, which had been PowerPC before. Plus all their interconnecticity protocols. Seems reasonably bleeding edge to me. Completely fair to hold them to it.

icantdrive55 10y ago
"The thinness" I just don't get this one. If they are engineered to last longer, and it happened to be thinner, lighter--fine. Personally, I wish Apple laid off the form. Put that brain power into making rugged products, long battery life, and ease of future repairability. When I buy anything, I care about function, especially a electronic device. I bought my first Mac becuse it allowed me to use Microsoft office, which doesn't work anymore. I could care less about how it looked. Actually, the fact that I couldn't see a screw on the device scared me. I just thought that are so well engineered, I won't need to fix it--wrong. I honestly don't understand form over function in electronic devices. But then again, I don't understand most people's mind set when buying consumer products. I looking into buying a new car. These car companies have put so much thought in gadgets, I honestly can't find a new car I feel comfortable buying. I'm back to looking for low mileage vechicles from the 90's. I'm even considering a classic vechicle.