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Join Date: May 2004
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2016-11-22, 16:17

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Apple's entire product line is one of overpriced computer hardware with a quality UI slapped on it, designed to work together.

You can literally get a 'good enough alternative' to every single Apple product for a fraction of the price.
Well, yes. Exactly.

That's not only true for 2016 Apple, by the way.

But then, why on earth are you an admin of an Apple-focused board if you hold such a simplistic view on the matter? It's not like you couldn't have applied this argument in 2006. Or 1996.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Yeah, they probably should. Something with a high quality panel in it, and some ports to make up for all the useful crap they've neutered out of their laptop line.
No, they probably shouldn't, because aside from looking nicer, the only way they can differentiate that, and it's quite a stretchy one, is to build in a dock. Which brings with it the typical AIO flaws — do you throw away your monitor every time you need different ports on your dock? Thunderbolt 4? USB 4.7? HDMI 3.1b? But wait, didn't that monitor work fine and would've lasted a decade?

Monitors are a commodity product. Get a goddamn $99 24-inch 1080p display or two and three and you're settled. Or $299 4K if need be.

Yes, a Retina desktop display. For three hundred bucks. You think Apple wants to compete in such a cutthroat bullshit market? What do they bring to the table?

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
For printers/scanners, probably something in the 3D world. Laser/inkjet printers have gotten about as far as they're going to, and it's very easy to take a PDF from any computer/printer combination and have that document print out elsewhere.
See, now we're getting somewhere more interesting — make Apple pioneer some product categories. Part of why AirPort existed in the first place is that Apple wanted to bring Wi-Fi to the masses. They did. Now it's boring.

3D printing and scanning are sort of there, but sucky to use. Apple may have something to offer there.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
In the 3D space it's an entirely different story. It's hard to find software/hardware that works well together and will produce consistent results between setups. That would be the perfect space for them to branch out into.
Absolutely.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
The main difference being, MS doesn't have to make quality machines, because they allow other hardware manufacturers to run their OS.
But MS does make quality machines now, because they're now in the position where their 90s-era license-the-OS model is beginning to fail.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Since Apple isn't likely to be going back down that road any time soon,
I think concepts like Apple giving certain segments of the Mac to select partners is quite plausible. Are they going to make servers again? Probably not. So let Lenovo make them, or HPE. Or someone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Apple has to give a shit about the quality of their hardware.
Yes!

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
In two+ years the Mac Pro has seen crap for updates, but no price drops either. Since 2013, the price and CPU's have been the exact same in the MacPro line. That's just insulting to consumers.
Indeed it is. The Mac Pro and Mac mini story is increasingly pathetic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Their vision has been crap the last five years. Their software has gotten constantly neutered and dumbed down almost across the entire gamut they offer. (I can't think of a single Apple software program that's improved in the last three years, can you?)
Photos, Maps, Messages.

Oh, I know what's about to come. "But Photos sucks because I wish we had Aperture instead", "But Maps sucks because I once got better POI information on Google Maps instead", and "But Messages sucks because the new iMessage features in iOS 10 just annoy me and I'll ignore that I'm clearly not the target audience and instead point out that the macOS version of Messages lacks some of the new features". All valid. And yet, for many people, all three have gotten tremendously more useful year after year.

Heck, I'll throw in Handoff.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Their computer hardware has languished, ignored but not even discounted.
They've just brought a major new feature to their computer hardware, alongside an extensive API that's thought out so well it comes with its own human interface guidelines, as well as updates on day one to plenty of their first-party apps from Safari over Final Cut Pro X to Xcode and even Terminal.

But it's languished. Sure.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Apple is also losing headway in the mobile world as well.
No?

Quote:
Originally Posted by alcimedes View Post
Where are they succeeding right now? Where are they leading? Where are they generating excitement in the computer world today?
Leading? Let's see.

They have, by a long shot, the fastest mobile single-threaded CPUs. They're extending their lead year after year.

They continue to have the best $1,000 laptop money can buy, and the best $2,500 one.

They have the most sensible integration of mobile and desktop operating systems. Each to their own soul, yet interacting with each other.

Their accessibility stack is killer, and is perhaps one of the strongest signs Cook is more than a bean-counter.

Their smartwatch is still early-adopters-only, if you ask me, but undoubtedly dominates the market.
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