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Apple still relies on the MacBook, and specifically MacOS (of which the MacBook is the flagship product line), as a development platform for all of its other de

Apple still relies on the MacBook, and specifically MacOS (of which the MacBook is the flagship product line), as a development platform for all of its other devices... Within Apple's current platform strategy, Apple does not have any alternative for the MacBook. So, it's currently not possible for the MacBook to go the way of the iPod...

wlesieutre 8y ago
Sure it can, they still sell an iPod Touch model from 3 years ago. Heck, if all they sold was a Macbook Pro from 2015, quite a few developers would be happier about it.
- scarface74 8y ago
  They did up until a month ago....
Alex3917 8y ago
> Within Apple's current platform strategy, Apple does not have any alternative for the MacBook. They can open source or license OS X. Not within their current strategy, but that has to be one of their backup plans. That said, slower sales doesn’t mean less users, because replacement times are just getting longer. I’m using a late 2016 MBP, and Apple isn’t expected to have a meaningfully better one until late 2022 or so. Even the iPhones have really only changed cosmetically since the 6S came out three years ago. This year’s model will be the first one since then that will actually be noticeably faster.
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  > Even the iPhones have really only changed cosmetically since the 6S came out three years ago. This year’s model will be the first one since then that will actually be noticeably faster. According to this link, the currently shipping iPhone is roughly 1.75x as fast as the 6S (Geekbench score of ~4200 vs. 2400): https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks
  - Alex3917 8y ago
    The limiting factor of phone performance though is mainly modem quality though, and to a less extent RAM. A 1.75x increase in some CPU/GPU-bound benchmark is nice, but it's not going to make your web pages render that much faster in practice. Whereas the performance is going to increase dramatically once we get access to the new 600MHz spectrum, 4x4 MIMO, etc.
    - pertymcpert 8y ago
      Except all the cases where it isn't limited by the modem. For example, web pages, heavy web apps on wifi, you know, native apps, games.
    - tbrock 8y ago
      That’s crazy out of touch. The modem is definitely not the limiting factor. I get better LTE bandwidth than I do on my home fiber. Latency is an issue, sure but not as much as CPU here.
    - toasterlovin 8y ago
      I see Qualcomm’s PR campaign is working.

wlesieutre 8y ago

Sure it can, they still sell an iPod Touch model from 3 years ago. Heck, if all they sold was a Macbook Pro from 2015, quite a few developers would be happier about it.

scarface74 8y ago
They did up until a month ago....

Alex3917 8y ago

> Within Apple's current platform strategy, Apple does not have any alternative for the MacBook. They can open source or license OS X. Not within their current strategy, but that has to be one of their backup plans. That said, slower sales doesn’t mean less users, because replacement times are just getting longer. I’m using a late 2016 MBP, and Apple isn’t expected to have a meaningfully better one until late 2022 or so. Even the iPhones have really only changed cosmetically since the 6S came out three years ago. This year’s model will be the first one since then that will actually be noticeably faster.

toasterlovin 8y ago
> Even the iPhones have really only changed cosmetically since the 6S came out three years ago. This year’s model will be the first one since then that will actually be noticeably faster. According to this link, the currently shipping iPhone is roughly 1.75x as fast as the 6S (Geekbench score of ~4200 vs. 2400): https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks
- Alex3917 8y ago
  The limiting factor of phone performance though is mainly modem quality though, and to a less extent RAM. A 1.75x increase in some CPU/GPU-bound benchmark is nice, but it's not going to make your web pages render that much faster in practice. Whereas the performance is going to increase dramatically once we get access to the new 600MHz spectrum, 4x4 MIMO, etc.
  - pertymcpert 8y ago
    Except all the cases where it isn't limited by the modem. For example, web pages, heavy web apps on wifi, you know, native apps, games.
  - tbrock 8y ago
    That’s crazy out of touch. The modem is definitely not the limiting factor. I get better LTE bandwidth than I do on my home fiber. Latency is an issue, sure but not as much as CPU here.
  - toasterlovin 8y ago
    I see Qualcomm’s PR campaign is working.