4 ms·

Retire Ive, I've had enough with thin. There is no point in going further with this guy. I want a laptop with a mechanical keyboard.

MrScruff 9y ago
I like thin. When I pick up my gf's previous gen MBP it feels heavy and bulky. I imagine that's also what the majority of the market feels, hence Apple's design choices.
amiga-workbench 9y ago
I don't think there is any sense in shrinking laptops any further, it's just compromising repairability, thermal management capacity, battery capacity and input device haptic feedback. I miss socketed CPUs on laptops, I've upgraded the CPU in many of my old ThinkPads over the years to get some more life out of them. Of course, disposable computing is more profitable...
- ctdonath 9y ago
  The only reason to stop shrinking laptops is that the physical UI can only get so small before UX suffers - and that includes making it thick enough to hold onto. Leverage that limit by continuing to shrink components so we can fill the remaining space with more battery. They physical overhead (size, weight, cost) of socketed CPU/RAM/etc just isn't worth imposing on 99.99% of users who will never make use of that capability. This is exacerbated by the increased synergy of the components: a major part of Apple's success comes from managing the interconnectedness of all things, all carefully balanced for exact purposes - not generalized for 3rd-party parts swapping (for which failures get blamed on Apple, not the cheap POS part you thought might work). You want a lightweight high-quality device with long battery life? You're not going to get it with CPU sockets and access panels. By now, most users have learned that computers ARE disposable: come end-of-life, vanishingly few will want to futz around with upgrading parts at cost of time spent, only to extend the life of a machine straining into obsolescence. We all dearly want to hang onto those old familiar machines, but fact is by the time a product hits that point you don't want something running the best of 5-year-old+ tech, you want the next generation with better everything. I keep coming back to a rule of thumb: for something used heavily, daily, is it worth $X/day? An iPhone X over 3 years is $1/day. A robust MacBook used for work is certainly worth $3/day. Come practical end-of-life, it has more than paid for itself. ...and that's why Apple has made it so easy to switch up to a new machine, and abandoned notions of component upgrades. If coffee costs more during that time than the hardware in question, get a new one and sell/donate the old (making the switch even cheaper).
  - amiga-workbench 9y ago
    System modularity allows me to be self reliant when it comes to my hardware conking out a day outside the warranty period. I simply will not be beholden to a third party for servicing. I will get the component next day delivered to me, or I will pull something out of my parts bin. I'm grateful for the fact that if my motherboard kicks the bucket I can just unplug my SSD and read it in another computer, my data isn't lost. This rat race of planned obsolescence and software bloat lighting a fire under consumers asses is getting very old. A piece of hardware is obsolete when I decide it is, not the manufacturer.
caycep 9y ago
Its not really Ive, it's the hardware engineer in charge of making sure the final specs are bug free and thoroughly tested....

MrScruff 9y ago

I like thin. When I pick up my gf's previous gen MBP it feels heavy and bulky. I imagine that's also what the majority of the market feels, hence Apple's design choices.

amiga-workbench 9y ago

I don't think there is any sense in shrinking laptops any further, it's just compromising repairability, thermal management capacity, battery capacity and input device haptic feedback. I miss socketed CPUs on laptops, I've upgraded the CPU in many of my old ThinkPads over the years to get some more life out of them. Of course, disposable computing is more profitable...

ctdonath 9y ago
The only reason to stop shrinking laptops is that the physical UI can only get so small before UX suffers - and that includes making it thick enough to hold onto. Leverage that limit by continuing to shrink components so we can fill the remaining space with more battery. They physical overhead (size, weight, cost) of socketed CPU/RAM/etc just isn't worth imposing on 99.99% of users who will never make use of that capability. This is exacerbated by the increased synergy of the components: a major part of Apple's success comes from managing the interconnectedness of all things, all carefully balanced for exact purposes - not generalized for 3rd-party parts swapping (for which failures get blamed on Apple, not the cheap POS part you thought might work). You want a lightweight high-quality device with long battery life? You're not going to get it with CPU sockets and access panels. By now, most users have learned that computers ARE disposable: come end-of-life, vanishingly few will want to futz around with upgrading parts at cost of time spent, only to extend the life of a machine straining into obsolescence. We all dearly want to hang onto those old familiar machines, but fact is by the time a product hits that point you don't want something running the best of 5-year-old+ tech, you want the next generation with better everything. I keep coming back to a rule of thumb: for something used heavily, daily, is it worth $X/day? An iPhone X over 3 years is $1/day. A robust MacBook used for work is certainly worth $3/day. Come practical end-of-life, it has more than paid for itself. ...and that's why Apple has made it so easy to switch up to a new machine, and abandoned notions of component upgrades. If coffee costs more during that time than the hardware in question, get a new one and sell/donate the old (making the switch even cheaper).
- amiga-workbench 9y ago
  System modularity allows me to be self reliant when it comes to my hardware conking out a day outside the warranty period. I simply will not be beholden to a third party for servicing. I will get the component next day delivered to me, or I will pull something out of my parts bin. I'm grateful for the fact that if my motherboard kicks the bucket I can just unplug my SSD and read it in another computer, my data isn't lost. This rat race of planned obsolescence and software bloat lighting a fire under consumers asses is getting very old. A piece of hardware is obsolete when I decide it is, not the manufacturer.

caycep 9y ago

Its not really Ive, it's the hardware engineer in charge of making sure the final specs are bug free and thoroughly tested....