This article, in my opinion, didn't raise above the level of a petty rant. For a more nuanced look at Apple's Mac pipeline (which also predicted that WWDC wouldn't have hardware announcements), there's this from MacRumors:
If you buy a laptop based only on raw specs, you are in a different market than the vast majority of laptop users.
Most people want their laptop to be reasonably fast, get solid battery life, and have a nice display and ergonomics. Also important is power saving technology (sleep, hibernate, etc.) and storage size/speed.
Most commodity laptops that are competing in the raw specs wars have major deficiencies in one or more of the above areas.
If you are a Windows user, you have taken on the task of dealing with a broken, polluted driver ecosystem and lots of malware, as well as an OS that shows you ads on the desktop.
If you are a Linux user you take on the task of making sure your bleeding edge hardware works with linux. This is no small task and in many cases it's over a year after release that linux support for new technology becomes anything approaching reliable.
A Macbook, on the other hand, just works, and works extremely well. It is a reliable work horse that does its job without complaining. The hardware and ergonomics fade into the background and you just focus on your work.
I suppose if you are a gamer there is a case to be made for running Windows on bleeding edge hardware, but such gamers are a very small percentage of laptop users.
> If you buy a laptop based only on raw specs, you are in a different market than the vast majority of laptop users.
Yeah, I think they call those people developers.
> A Macbook, on the other hand, just works, and works extremely well. It is a reliable work horse that does its job without complaining. The hardware and ergonomics fade into the background and you just focus on your work.
Except MacBooks max out at 8GB of memory. At this point 16GB doesn't cut it anymore for my development, so MacBook Pros and iMacs are out too. I have entertained the idea of getting a Mac Pro, except they are even more woefully out of date at this point.
> If you are a Windows user, you have taken on the task of dealing with a broken, polluted driver ecosystem and lots of malware, as well as an OS that shows you ads on the desktop.
I've had more problems with hardware not working on OS X than Windows.
I've never had a problem with malware in 20 years of using Windows. The only virus I ever got was the NY Boot Virus and that came on a floppy disk.
People on HN keep talking about how "Windows is adware"...I don't see it. At all! I have been running Windows 10 on my entertainment machines since it has been released and on my workstations for the past 6 months. What exactly are you talking about?
> A Macbook, on the other hand, just works, and works extremely well.
My Surface Pro (first version) and my Dell Venue Pro 8 both just work and extremely well. My desktop workstation just works too and it's extremely fast compared to my Mid-2012 Mac Pro that I paid twice as much for. (Although even running Windows on my Mac Pro is faster than OS X.) Also, my Surface Pro battery is lasting longer than my Early 2008 Macbook Pro battery did (although at least I could replace the latter) and my Surface Pro never shocked me in the winter time like my MBP (which froze a few times after such an occurrence).
I've also had plenty of PC laptops that have outlasted, outperformed and "just worked" better than my Mac laptops. So, your viewpoint sounds way off to me and I am suspicious as to whether you've actually used Windows for any length of time.
However, when people spend a lot of money, they want to feel that they're getting a good deal, and they want to feel that they it will be useful for long enough to get their "money's worth".
It's these two mostly psychological factors that are coming into play here.
The real question is where the hell are the new Mac Pro towers? There are people outside of Mom and Dad that require something more than a laptop integrated into a monitor.
It's crazy that they undertook such a radical redesign effort and then appeared to drop it. I'm typing this reply on one right now. I do love the machine, but the fact that there still isn't an official source for SSD upgrades is baffling. Apple has a helpful page on how to swap the SSD, but won't sell you one at any price. You can get OEM parts that "fell off a truck" on eBay, or you can get expensive OWC parts that lack TRIM support.
It seemed like the video cards would be upgradeable too, but nope. And no Crossfire support in macOS is really sad. Under Windows, these are actually fairly capable gaming machines.
You mean that little trash can looking thing? The Cheesegrater is dead. Long live the Mac Pro. I sympathize. I dreamed of owning a Mac Pro tower but, alas, it will never be.
same here. Mine is 2012 and if they don't offer something decent this fall, I will just add in an SSD to replace the HDD. That ought to hold the perf for a while longer.
I don't just want new MacBooks. I want new MacBooks that I can fix myself, and have someone other than Apple to fix it. I'm hanging on to my 2012 Pro model as best I can, and see no reason to spend the money on a product that isn't really mine.
If the primary reason someone's next laptop is going to be an Apple one is that they're developing for iOS (or OS X for that matter), that reinforces the article's point rather than counters it.
kind of wild there was no mention in the article of the new macbook, which IMO is an objectively better overall machine than either the air or the pro.
Objectively better in what respect? It's thinner and lighter, yes, but it's also slower, has extremely limited connectivity to external devices (only one USB-C port and no Thunderbolt), and has a nontraditional low-travel keyboard design that would be most politely described as "polarizing".
Better for some use cases, yes-- it's a great machine if you need something small and light for travel and don't need to do particularly intensive computing on the road. But it (intentionally) makes enough compromises that you can't make a blanket statement that it's "objectively better" for everyone.
To meet the "objectively better overall" bar, they're going to need a LOT more horsepower. I love the form factor but they're almost unusable for any kind of real work, and after an entire year they got a tiny speed bump that just takes some of the edge off the performance problems.
My 2013 MBP is still working great, and I'm in no hurry for new ones to come out. I use mine mostly for my photography (RAW editing, catalog management, etc.) and it handles the 36 megapixel images from my camera just fine - I drag sliders and the changes show up in real time. I keep all of my RAW files on an external HD, so if I really needed things faster my first step would be to buy a faster one (SSD).
I also occasionally use it for development, and I don't have any problems there, either.
The most true statement in the article is that my next laptop may not be an Apple, but that has a lot more to do with Apple's crappy software quality lately, and the fact the photo software I use also works on Windows.
I just wonder if we're seeing Apple try to slowly move away from being a "devices" company and identify itself in terms of "general computing", so including software and services.
So yeah, everyone has this super-strong connotation of "Apple = awesome devices", and they still wait in anticipation for new, beautiful hardware. But it sure seems like Apple is trying to drive a different identity.
I'll truly believe this is happening when iMessage hits Android, which I didn't hear any mention of, despite the rumors.
If you look at just how painful the Skylake launch was on Windows and Linux, I figure they're waiting on hardware/drivers that actually work as intended.
Macbook air is somewhat in apple terms an old technology(it's the best value for money imo). So there is a great chance that we won't see a refresh for macbook air. Pro 13 gets thinner and lighter taking over the air.
I stopped holding my breath after hearing that the function keys in a "Pro" laptop might be replaced by a touch sensitive strip like Lenovo tried on the X1 Carbon.
They'll hold off on hardware announcements until they can ship them with macOS 12 already on them. Why would they announce new hardware that you'd have to do a full OS upgrade on in a few months?
The truth is they had plenty to announce, so it's not too surprising that they didn't include hardware. I imagine there will be an update later, perhaps at the usual Back to Mac event.
That expectation might have something to do with the fact that apple almost always announces new hardware at their WWDC keynote. For both google and apple's developer conferences, the developer conference part of it happens in the sessions after the keynote, and the keynote is mostly just a press event.
Lol. Yesterday's event was a software event, a jam packed incredibly long one at that. It was so packed they didn't even have time to talk about all the changes to the app store, which is why Apple disclosed that info ahead of time. Not sure when you would expect them to all also announce new hardware.
Just download iOS10 and open the new Breathe app, and Breathe. New Macbooks, iPhones, Macbook Pros, and Apple Watches will all come in time in future events.
It was also incredibly boring as a software event. Extended discussion of emoji, but nothing about Apple's brand-new copy-on-write file system. At a "developers" conference!
[+] [-] morley|9 years ago|reply
http://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/08/new-macbook-air-pro-june...
[+] [-] Naritai|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grandalf|9 years ago|reply
Most people want their laptop to be reasonably fast, get solid battery life, and have a nice display and ergonomics. Also important is power saving technology (sleep, hibernate, etc.) and storage size/speed.
Most commodity laptops that are competing in the raw specs wars have major deficiencies in one or more of the above areas.
If you are a Windows user, you have taken on the task of dealing with a broken, polluted driver ecosystem and lots of malware, as well as an OS that shows you ads on the desktop.
If you are a Linux user you take on the task of making sure your bleeding edge hardware works with linux. This is no small task and in many cases it's over a year after release that linux support for new technology becomes anything approaching reliable.
A Macbook, on the other hand, just works, and works extremely well. It is a reliable work horse that does its job without complaining. The hardware and ergonomics fade into the background and you just focus on your work.
I suppose if you are a gamer there is a case to be made for running Windows on bleeding edge hardware, but such gamers are a very small percentage of laptop users.
[+] [-] trurl|9 years ago|reply
Yeah, I think they call those people developers.
> A Macbook, on the other hand, just works, and works extremely well. It is a reliable work horse that does its job without complaining. The hardware and ergonomics fade into the background and you just focus on your work.
Except MacBooks max out at 8GB of memory. At this point 16GB doesn't cut it anymore for my development, so MacBook Pros and iMacs are out too. I have entertained the idea of getting a Mac Pro, except they are even more woefully out of date at this point.
[+] [-] WayneBro|9 years ago|reply
I've had more problems with hardware not working on OS X than Windows.
I've never had a problem with malware in 20 years of using Windows. The only virus I ever got was the NY Boot Virus and that came on a floppy disk.
People on HN keep talking about how "Windows is adware"...I don't see it. At all! I have been running Windows 10 on my entertainment machines since it has been released and on my workstations for the past 6 months. What exactly are you talking about?
> A Macbook, on the other hand, just works, and works extremely well.
My Surface Pro (first version) and my Dell Venue Pro 8 both just work and extremely well. My desktop workstation just works too and it's extremely fast compared to my Mid-2012 Mac Pro that I paid twice as much for. (Although even running Windows on my Mac Pro is faster than OS X.) Also, my Surface Pro battery is lasting longer than my Early 2008 Macbook Pro battery did (although at least I could replace the latter) and my Surface Pro never shocked me in the winter time like my MBP (which froze a few times after such an occurrence).
I've also had plenty of PC laptops that have outlasted, outperformed and "just worked" better than my Mac laptops. So, your viewpoint sounds way off to me and I am suspicious as to whether you've actually used Windows for any length of time.
[+] [-] bryanlarsen|9 years ago|reply
However, when people spend a lot of money, they want to feel that they're getting a good deal, and they want to feel that they it will be useful for long enough to get their "money's worth".
It's these two mostly psychological factors that are coming into play here.
[+] [-] wwweston|9 years ago|reply
This argument works reasonably well for the "MacBook" side of the equation, but it doesn't fare so finely on the "Pro" side.
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] overcast|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nsxwolf|9 years ago|reply
It seemed like the video cards would be upgradeable too, but nope. And no Crossfire support in macOS is really sad. Under Windows, these are actually fairly capable gaming machines.
[+] [-] Overtonwindow|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonknee|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brightball|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbhowmic|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Overtonwindow|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] masukomi|9 years ago|reply
not if you're an attendee of WWDC or anyone else developing for iOS or macOS....
I agree with @morley... it's just a lame rant.
[+] [-] wwweston|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryantuck|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JonathonW|9 years ago|reply
Better for some use cases, yes-- it's a great machine if you need something small and light for travel and don't need to do particularly intensive computing on the road. But it (intentionally) makes enough compromises that you can't make a blanket statement that it's "objectively better" for everyone.
[+] [-] nsxwolf|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rhinoceraptor|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jlarocco|9 years ago|reply
My 2013 MBP is still working great, and I'm in no hurry for new ones to come out. I use mine mostly for my photography (RAW editing, catalog management, etc.) and it handles the 36 megapixel images from my camera just fine - I drag sliders and the changes show up in real time. I keep all of my RAW files on an external HD, so if I really needed things faster my first step would be to buy a faster one (SSD).
I also occasionally use it for development, and I don't have any problems there, either.
The most true statement in the article is that my next laptop may not be an Apple, but that has a lot more to do with Apple's crappy software quality lately, and the fact the photo software I use also works on Windows.
[+] [-] mr_tristan|9 years ago|reply
So yeah, everyone has this super-strong connotation of "Apple = awesome devices", and they still wait in anticipation for new, beautiful hardware. But it sure seems like Apple is trying to drive a different identity.
I'll truly believe this is happening when iMessage hits Android, which I didn't hear any mention of, despite the rumors.
[+] [-] creshal|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] inputjoker|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mieses|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cmaggard|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MBCook|9 years ago|reply
The truth is they had plenty to announce, so it's not too surprising that they didn't include hardware. I imagine there will be an update later, perhaps at the usual Back to Mac event.
[+] [-] Artemis2|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danpalmer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notatoad|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Longhanks|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] heavymark|9 years ago|reply
Just download iOS10 and open the new Breathe app, and Breathe. New Macbooks, iPhones, Macbook Pros, and Apple Watches will all come in time in future events.
[+] [-] rayiner|9 years ago|reply