5 ms·

Unless and until there's a fundamental philosophy change at Apple, I don't see them being successful in the enterprise market. I'm in education, and we're a fai

Unless and until there's a fundamental philosophy change at Apple, I don't see them being successful in the enterprise market. I'm in education, and we're a fairly flexible-yet-enterprise-y place, and we've constantly been burnt by Apple's lack of exposed forward planning (even when we spend literally millions of dollars with them annually). I'll believe Apple is seriously interested in the enterprise market when there's a docking port on the MacBook. Either that, or they'll hoodwink everyone into doing what we were told before: buy a laptop and a desktop for people, and sync between the two.

catch23 16y ago
So enterprise means a macbook docking port?
- boredguy8 16y ago
  I don't know how you'd get that from what I wrote. I don't know how to respond without repeating myself, as nothing in your post indicates where I lost you. Fundamentally the problem is a "lack of exposed forward planning". I'll believe they're interested when they have a docking station as an effective means of switching between desktop use and laptop use and stop suggesting that people spend 60%-70% more in hardware alone per person by purchasing both a laptop and desktop. Either that, or they'll manage to get their philosophy so engrained that immediate cost is trumped by some other value proposition.
ceejayoz 16y ago
You can buy a docking port for your Macbook. http://www.bookendzdocks.com/Docking_Stations-Docking_Station_for_13_MacBook_White.html http://www.bookendzdocks.com/Docking_Stations-Docking_Statio...
- boredguy8 16y ago
  Thanks for sharing the link. I'm familiar with all the major 3rd party options. That's not the same as plopping an HP into a docking brick, and no one I know that's used both thinks it's remotely comparable. Just getting the ports lined up correctly each time led one of our techs to abandon the whole effort.
- MrFoof 16y ago
  There are also Henge Docks: http://hengedocks.com/ http://hengedocks.com/
philwelch 16y ago
Cinema Display, keyboard, mouse. That's three plugs into the side of the MacBook (MagSafe, DisplayPort, USB). Not a challenging task. If a Cinema Display is too much money, then a combination of extra AC adapter, third party display, keyboard and mouse takes exactly as much work. I don't understand who even buys docks. There's no challenge involved in setting up a MacBook for desktop use without one. EDIT: Heh, actually looking at the Henge docks now...those are real pretty. I can understand docks as a cable management or aesthetic tool, but not as a necessity.
- potatolicious 16y ago
  > "then a combination of extra AC adapter, third party display, keyboard and mouse takes exactly as much work." And is completely contrary to the Apple way of doing things. Macs "just work" - plug in an external monitor and it automatically selects the right color profile and sets your resolution. It also remembers the difference between your home and office monitors - it's vastly superior to Windows in this way, where one has to constantly remind Windows what the native resolution should be. Not challenging, but annoying as hell. So is un/plugging in a bunch of wires whenever you leave or return to your desk. A dock is one of those things that is right up Apple's philosophical alley: something that takes away several annoying-yet-not-difficult tasks and instead makes it just disappear.
  - danudey 16y ago
    A dock is another ungainly, awkward piece of technology that would serve only to replace standard ports with one proprietary port that you use to get access to standard ports. Most users don't dock. Most users I know that own docs don't dock. Actually, I don't think I know anyone who's ever used a dock, except when their laptop didn't have enough ports on it because they had to make room for the dock connector. If you look at Apple's offerings, there's very little that one would need a dock for most of the time. Bluetooth mouse, bluetooth keyboard, wifi networking. For the average iMac installation, the only cable you need is the power cable. Likewise with my Macbook Pro, the only cables I ever plug in are power and ethernet, and the latter only when I need to do large file transfers. Docks don't work, people don't use them, and it's just an awkward workaround to a problem that should be solved elegantly.

catch23 16y ago

So enterprise means a macbook docking port?

boredguy8 16y ago
I don't know how you'd get that from what I wrote. I don't know how to respond without repeating myself, as nothing in your post indicates where I lost you. Fundamentally the problem is a "lack of exposed forward planning". I'll believe they're interested when they have a docking station as an effective means of switching between desktop use and laptop use and stop suggesting that people spend 60%-70% more in hardware alone per person by purchasing both a laptop and desktop. Either that, or they'll manage to get their philosophy so engrained that immediate cost is trumped by some other value proposition.

ceejayoz 16y ago

You can buy a docking port for your Macbook. http://www.bookendzdocks.com/Docking_Stations-Docking_Station_for_13_MacBook_White.html http://www.bookendzdocks.com/Docking_Stations-Docking_Statio...

boredguy8 16y ago
Thanks for sharing the link. I'm familiar with all the major 3rd party options. That's not the same as plopping an HP into a docking brick, and no one I know that's used both thinks it's remotely comparable. Just getting the ports lined up correctly each time led one of our techs to abandon the whole effort.
MrFoof 16y ago
There are also Henge Docks: http://hengedocks.com/ http://hengedocks.com/

philwelch 16y ago

Cinema Display, keyboard, mouse. That's three plugs into the side of the MacBook (MagSafe, DisplayPort, USB). Not a challenging task. If a Cinema Display is too much money, then a combination of extra AC adapter, third party display, keyboard and mouse takes exactly as much work. I don't understand who even buys docks. There's no challenge involved in setting up a MacBook for desktop use without one. EDIT: Heh, actually looking at the Henge docks now...those are real pretty. I can understand docks as a cable management or aesthetic tool, but not as a necessity.

potatolicious 16y ago
> "then a combination of extra AC adapter, third party display, keyboard and mouse takes exactly as much work." And is completely contrary to the Apple way of doing things. Macs "just work" - plug in an external monitor and it automatically selects the right color profile and sets your resolution. It also remembers the difference between your home and office monitors - it's vastly superior to Windows in this way, where one has to constantly remind Windows what the native resolution should be. Not challenging, but annoying as hell. So is un/plugging in a bunch of wires whenever you leave or return to your desk. A dock is one of those things that is right up Apple's philosophical alley: something that takes away several annoying-yet-not-difficult tasks and instead makes it just disappear.
- danudey 16y ago
  A dock is another ungainly, awkward piece of technology that would serve only to replace standard ports with one proprietary port that you use to get access to standard ports. Most users don't dock. Most users I know that own docs don't dock. Actually, I don't think I know anyone who's ever used a dock, except when their laptop didn't have enough ports on it because they had to make room for the dock connector. If you look at Apple's offerings, there's very little that one would need a dock for most of the time. Bluetooth mouse, bluetooth keyboard, wifi networking. For the average iMac installation, the only cable you need is the power cable. Likewise with my Macbook Pro, the only cables I ever plug in are power and ethernet, and the latter only when I need to do large file transfers. Docks don't work, people don't use them, and it's just an awkward workaround to a problem that should be solved elegantly.