3 ms·
Other than UI and other surface differences, the fundamental distinction between a Mac and an iDevice is... what it is. A Mac is a real computer. I can run any
by api 7mo ago
Other than UI and other surface differences, the fundamental distinction between a Mac and an iDevice is... what it is.
A Mac is a real computer. I can run any code I want on it. I have root.
An iDevice is like a game console. I can only run App Store apps (without jumping through a lot of hoops). I do not have root (without again jumping through many hoops or ugly hacks).
If Apple wanted to unify the platform they have two choices. The first is to abandon the "real computer" market entirely. The second is to make iDevices real computers by unlocking them.
I suspect they'd rather keep two platforms.
Under the hood they both share a lot of code, so it's not two totally distinct platforms. It's more like two sets of defaults and two "skins."
- bottlepalm 7mo agoMacBook Neo has in a way unified the platforms. The only difference is essentially what OS is booted up with the chip.
- jsheard 7mo agoThat was already the case with the M-series chips, which are shared between Macs and higher-end iPads. The Neo just extends it to the A-series as well.
- bottlepalm 7mo agoYep I know, and now using a last gen A chip, I feel they are really rubbing our faces in it. Like Apple is saying, "Nice iPhone 17 Pro w/ A19 w/ vapor cooling chip you have there; you know you run a full general purpose OS on it, but we're not gonna let you, nanananana :p"
- medhir 7mo agoNo exactly, Apple is playing in our faces, all while people continue to defend the “differences” of device categories and the subsequent justification of shipping iPhones and iPads with locked bootloaders.
- bottlepalm 7mo agoUnless you work for Apple or hold significant stock then I don’t see the logic in defending this choice to hamstring the iPhone. But even as an investor, I think Apple could bring a lot of people/money to the Mac ecosystem by getting them in with an iPhone lapdock.
- fragmede 7mo agoThe belief that people only hold opposing opinions to yours because they have money on the line is such conspiracy theory nonsense. Some random teenage in middle America couldn't just really like Apple products? It's gotta be some grand conspiracy against you?
- api 7mo agoThat’s the difference though. Put macOS on a phone chip and it’s now a “real computer,” just a smaller one. The M chips are mostly just roided out A chips: higher clocks, better cooling, more P cores, big GPU, and I think deeper pipelines and more cache. The ALU and many other sections are, I think, identical. Thermal throttling is actually a non trivial limit on phones. Put a heat sink and a fan on an A chip and sustained compute is faster. The OS and its restrictiveness determines the class of device not the hardware.
- macintux 7mo agoI think the friction of using a keyboard/pointing device with a touchscreen, or fingers with a desktop interface, is too high to unify them. I know it's been done, I'm unconvinced it's been done well.