3 ms·

I suspect the opposite. It is possible that Apple has decided that 640 KB is enough for everyone — that performance level of a tablet is what most common people

I suspect the opposite. It is possible that Apple has decided that 640 KB is enough for everyone — that performance level of a tablet is what most common people need from a computer. Which is not entirely untrue, as a decent PC from 10 years ago is still suitable for most common tasks today if you are not into gaming, or virtual machines building other virtual machines. Most people don't really use all their cores and gigabytes. Also, consumers got used to smartphone limitations, so computer can now be presented as overall “bigger and better” mobile device with better keyboard, bigger drive, infinite battery, etc. If they wanted raw performance in general code, they would stay with what they already had. The switch means that their goal was different. I guess we'll see hordes of fans defending that decision quite soon.

alwillis 6y ago
I suspect the opposite. It is possible that Apple has decided that 640 KB is enough for everyone — that performance level of a tablet is what most common people need from a computer. Perhaps you haven't been paying attention but this is Apple's third processor transition: 68K to PowerPC to Intel to ARM. Each time was to push the envelope of performance and to have a roadmap that wouldn't limit them in the future. When the first PowerPC-based Macs shipped, they were so fast compared to what was available at the time, they couldn't be exported to North Korea, China or Iran; they were classified as a type of weapon [1]. The fact the PowerMac G4 was too fast to export at the time was even part of Apple's advertising in the 90s [2]. It's always been part of Apple's DNA to stay on the leading edge, especially with performance. Apple's strategy has never been to settle for good enough. If that were the case, they wouldn't have spent the last 10+ years designing their own processors and ASICs. Dell, HP, Acer, etc. just put commodity parts in a case and ship lowest-commodity hardware. It shouldn't be a surprise that the M1 MacBook Air blows these guys out of the water. Anyone paying attention saw this coming a mile away. I have a quad-core 3.4 GHz Intel iMac and it's pretty clear the MacBook Pro with the M1 is going to be noticeably faster for some, if not all, of the common things I do as a web developer. We know the M2 and the M3 are in development; I suspect 2021 will really be the year of shock and awe when the desktops start shipping. [1]: https://www.wired.com/2002/01/thats-a-whole-lot-of-power-mac/ https://www.wired.com/2002/01/thats-a-whole-lot-of-power-mac... [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb7EhYy-2RE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb7EhYy-2RE

alwillis 6y ago

I suspect the opposite. It is possible that Apple has decided that 640 KB is enough for everyone — that performance level of a tablet is what most common people need from a computer. Perhaps you haven't been paying attention but this is Apple's third processor transition: 68K to PowerPC to Intel to ARM. Each time was to push the envelope of performance and to have a roadmap that wouldn't limit them in the future. When the first PowerPC-based Macs shipped, they were so fast compared to what was available at the time, they couldn't be exported to North Korea, China or Iran; they were classified as a type of weapon [1]. The fact the PowerMac G4 was too fast to export at the time was even part of Apple's advertising in the 90s [2]. It's always been part of Apple's DNA to stay on the leading edge, especially with performance. Apple's strategy has never been to settle for good enough. If that were the case, they wouldn't have spent the last 10+ years designing their own processors and ASICs. Dell, HP, Acer, etc. just put commodity parts in a case and ship lowest-commodity hardware. It shouldn't be a surprise that the M1 MacBook Air blows these guys out of the water. Anyone paying attention saw this coming a mile away. I have a quad-core 3.4 GHz Intel iMac and it's pretty clear the MacBook Pro with the M1 is going to be noticeably faster for some, if not all, of the common things I do as a web developer. We know the M2 and the M3 are in development; I suspect 2021 will really be the year of shock and awe when the desktops start shipping. [1]: https://www.wired.com/2002/01/thats-a-whole-lot-of-power-mac/ https://www.wired.com/2002/01/thats-a-whole-lot-of-power-mac... [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb7EhYy-2RE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb7EhYy-2RE