4 ms·

Wait, how and why did Apple suddenly become cost-effective?

by yewenjie 5y ago

gtm1260 5y ago
Since M1 pretty much.
ohgodplsno 5y ago
codyb 5y ago
Apple’s been fairly cost competitive for a while now. That’s an old trope, lots of their new stuff is similarly priced or in some cases cheaper than their competitors. Given the longevity and resale value, they make great machines.
londons_explore 5y ago
Apples stuff has been cost competitive since the M1 came out... Although it's partly because there isn't much else in the same performance envelope, so there isn't much to compare to.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  uh, performance/power-consumption/volume combined, perhaps. But there are plenty of systems that can easily beat the apple M1 systems on a purely performance basis, both before they came out, and since. Especially true if you're working on CPUs not GPUs.
ggreg84 5y ago
When the M1 was released... a year ago... You could buy a 900$ laptop with a better CPU than any laptop out there. 20 hours battery life (almost 3x any other laptop out there). Silent (no fans). With a great screen, a great keyboard, lightweight, well built, etc. Basically a machine that was more than 2x cheaper of competing laptops at 2500 $ or more, yet had more than 2x of everything.
- newaccount74 5y ago
  ... if you can live with machines that just come with the bare minimum RAM and SSD. If you get the Macs with the same amount of storage that the PCs come with, the $900 laptop quickly becomes a $2000 laptop. I wish I could get back all the time I've wasted helping relatives deal with their Photos libraries and backups just because they got the entry level machine with skimpy storage...
  - ghostly_s 5y ago
    How long did it take you to check the 'Optimize Storage' box?
    - newaccount74 5y ago
      That's a somewhat recent addition, and it does help somewhat with the Photo library problem. It sucks if you don't have a fast internet connection, though. It also sucks if there's ever a problem with the photo library, because then you don't have a backup anymore. Maybe 240GB are enough for light usage if you store photos in the cloud. I can only say that in my experience 1TB is the bare minimum if I don't want to spend half my time copying files around.
      - r00fus 5y ago
        Optimize Storage has been there since like macOS 10.13 (2017). You're commenting about M1 machines released 2020.
        newaccount74 5y ago
        Yeah, as I said, a somewhat recent addition. The problem with skimpy storage on base model Macs has been an issue for decades, and it has gotten worse since you can no longer upgrade with aftermarket parts. "Optimize Storage" is a bandaid that helps make your Mac with too little storage usable. But it's not a great solution. You'll be looking at spinners a lot. It's just not a nice experience when every video you want to look at takes a few minutes to load.
brimble 5y ago
They have been off-and-on. They had a few notable price cuts back in the twenty-teens that made them damned competitive. At times they've been a rip-off but most of the "LOL look how expensive Apple is" stuff achieves such large gaps by comparing them to significantly worse hardware and calling it "equivalent". Plus theirs is the only consumer phone and computer hardware with a healthy used market, so you don't take as big a hit on recoverable value as soon as you "drive it off the lot".
avidphantasm 5y ago
Apple has consistently been cost-competitive since at least the Intel era, if you compare to mid- and high-end PC hardware. Apple never has made entry-level systems. Also, comparing to home-built doesn’t really count because most IT departments won’t support custom PCs.

Wait, how and why did Apple suddenly become cost-effective?

gtm1260 5y ago

Since M1 pretty much.

ohgodplsno 5y ago

codyb 5y ago

Apple’s been fairly cost competitive for a while now. That’s an old trope, lots of their new stuff is similarly priced or in some cases cheaper than their competitors. Given the longevity and resale value, they make great machines.

londons_explore 5y ago

Apples stuff has been cost competitive since the M1 came out... Although it's partly because there isn't much else in the same performance envelope, so there isn't much to compare to.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
uh, performance/power-consumption/volume combined, perhaps. But there are plenty of systems that can easily beat the apple M1 systems on a purely performance basis, both before they came out, and since. Especially true if you're working on CPUs not GPUs.

ggreg84 5y ago

When the M1 was released... a year ago... You could buy a 900$ laptop with a better CPU than any laptop out there. 20 hours battery life (almost 3x any other laptop out there). Silent (no fans). With a great screen, a great keyboard, lightweight, well built, etc. Basically a machine that was more than 2x cheaper of competing laptops at 2500 $ or more, yet had more than 2x of everything.

newaccount74 5y ago
... if you can live with machines that just come with the bare minimum RAM and SSD. If you get the Macs with the same amount of storage that the PCs come with, the $900 laptop quickly becomes a $2000 laptop. I wish I could get back all the time I've wasted helping relatives deal with their Photos libraries and backups just because they got the entry level machine with skimpy storage...
- ghostly_s 5y ago
  How long did it take you to check the 'Optimize Storage' box?
  - newaccount74 5y ago
    That's a somewhat recent addition, and it does help somewhat with the Photo library problem. It sucks if you don't have a fast internet connection, though. It also sucks if there's ever a problem with the photo library, because then you don't have a backup anymore. Maybe 240GB are enough for light usage if you store photos in the cloud. I can only say that in my experience 1TB is the bare minimum if I don't want to spend half my time copying files around.
    - r00fus 5y ago
      Optimize Storage has been there since like macOS 10.13 (2017). You're commenting about M1 machines released 2020.
      - newaccount74 5y ago
        Yeah, as I said, a somewhat recent addition. The problem with skimpy storage on base model Macs has been an issue for decades, and it has gotten worse since you can no longer upgrade with aftermarket parts. "Optimize Storage" is a bandaid that helps make your Mac with too little storage usable. But it's not a great solution. You'll be looking at spinners a lot. It's just not a nice experience when every video you want to look at takes a few minutes to load.

brimble 5y ago

They have been off-and-on. They had a few notable price cuts back in the twenty-teens that made them damned competitive. At times they've been a rip-off but most of the "LOL look how expensive Apple is" stuff achieves such large gaps by comparing them to significantly worse hardware and calling it "equivalent". Plus theirs is the only consumer phone and computer hardware with a healthy used market, so you don't take as big a hit on recoverable value as soon as you "drive it off the lot".

avidphantasm 5y ago

Apple has consistently been cost-competitive since at least the Intel era, if you compare to mid- and high-end PC hardware. Apple never has made entry-level systems. Also, comparing to home-built doesn’t really count because most IT departments won’t support custom PCs.