MacOS is the new Windows

[beyondcompute]

I'm typing this on my late 2010 MacBook Air. Recently I was starting having problems with it (you know when you type your password and the system does not recognize your key presses, etc.). And I thought, “Oh, ok, I have to accept that we live in a world of planned obsolesce (how else faster-than-a-gigahertz multi-gigabyte-RAM machine could become slow? If it is capable of real-time response to user's actions, it should respond in real-time) and I have to upgrade to get my job done”.

So I switched to this new aesthetically marvelous wonder: an early 2015 13 inch MacBook Pro. In 5 days I'm using it the machine restarted two (or three?) times "because of problems" though it has much less software installed than my old rock-stable-in-comparison MacBook Air. And now I'm installing an OS update which already restarted my system twice. First it restarted the system, than it said, “Ooops, I cannot verify the update”, fiddled with it for several more minutes, restarted-downloaded-restarted... Why didn't in verify update before restarting in the first place?

Thank you, Apple. But could you please stop shooting things with zirconium particles (seriously, “ordinary” polishing works fine for me) and return to your heritage of making a hassle-free unified experiences? (And also please give us back an iPhone that could fit in a pocket because the certain Asian markets are not the only things out there. When you broke the continuity of your design between the iPhone 5S and the 6 it was as if Porsche suddenly stopped making cars in its tradition and started copying BMW or whatever. But that's up to you, actually). And I'm waiting till my “Magic” mouse reconnects to my new shiny “Pro” machine (it gets disconnected several times a day though it is 20 cm apart and battery is near 100%) and getting back to work. Have a nice day!

[Yetanfou]

Meanwhile, the Thinkpad T42p from 2004 which I type this message on still works without a hitch. OK, it has been upgraded with an SSD (through a PATA-SATA converter) and the battery only lasts for 2 hours instead of 6 but that's basically it. The 1.8GHz Pentium M does just fine with Debian, the only 'slow' moments are when visiting some Javascript-infested site which insists on doing senseless things to a perfectly functional browser.

As an added advantage, software developed on this older system really flies on more modern hardware. Or it can fly, if not hindered by the OS gobbling up all extra cycles for its own nefarious purposes (the solution to that problem lies in using something like what powers this machine...)

Just get out of the habit of regularly upgrading perfectly functional hardware just because the manufacturer wants to increase their cash flow. Use your mind for what it is meant for: conscious thought. Use it to look through the group think, think different!

[digi_owl]

    the only 'slow' moments are when visiting some Javascript-infested site
    which insists on doing senseless things to a perfectly functional browser.

If you happen to be using Firefox, look into the Noscript extension.

[dc3]

There may just be something wrong with your specific hardware and/or install of Mac. A company like Apple who sources so much hardware straight from manufacturers in China is bound to have some issues here and there. I've had a number of recent MacBook Pros and they've been fine... never seen a sudden restart. I'm even using the Developer Preview of El Capitan. Try exchanging it.

[beyondcompute]

Well maybe. I actually had some more problems with it since unboxing (didn't mention them because they seem random while the described ones somehow already make an impression of being systematic). Gonna check the machine with the service center.

[vostrocity]

Right, Yosemite has made my system about as unstable as iOS 7/8 on iPhone. Both are prone to random restarts and lags and other issues. Finder lags for multiple seconds doing simple file operations even when CPU use is low. There are UI bugs all over the place.

[sirmiller]

We recently replaced all (~300) our 2012 MPBs with 2015 MBPs.

We didn't have a single complaint so far. And we have a lot of power users.

Maybe you just attract bad luck.

[xaqfox]

Maybe your support system to report complaints is so soul-sucking and fruitless that nobody bothers, anymore.

[Spoom]

I have a Macbook Air running Linux Mint. It runs pretty much perfectly on the machine with rEFInd[1] and lets you dual boot to OS X when you want to. Maybe give that a try; I didn't like OS X either but the hardware is fine!

1. http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html - Note that this project is unfortunately still hosted on SourceForge, so be very careful not to accidentally download a virus with it.

[0942v8653]

If you're using Debian Jessie (what I'm running right now) or later, don't use rEFInd; EFI install goes beautifully. If you want to dual boot OS X you can just make a boot option that runs

    exit

and call it OS X or whatever. I'm using debian and i3 and I couldn't be happier with my setup (okay, I could, but it's a lot better than OS X!). I don't know how well GRUB EFI works with Mint but I used their live CD for the install and it seems to boot pretty smoothly.

[sarmazio]

What about power consumption? I used to run Ubuntu on my MBP2010, but was forced to return to MacOSX, since power consumption was ridiculously high.

While completely idle (booted, logged in, no apps running), measured at wall socket (with a kill-a-watt): - Ubuntu fresh install: 25W; - Ubuntu with Nvidia disabled and all possible "powertop" tuning applied: 15W; - MacOSX: 8W.

Playing 1080p video (either youtube/html5 or from a local h264 mkv file) is also the same - MacOSX draws 1/3...1/2 of power that Ubuntu does.

EDIT: typos

[vans]

What are you waiting for installing a linux on it ? Buy good hardware and throw away that shity os. Anyway, if you buy something because it's beautiful, you're doomed :)

[w342]

I still use Debian on eeepc 1000H, which is over six years old, I suppose. I love everything about it, except that it is too underpowered now to even watch youtube in 720p. It's mic and camera gave in, some buttons are missing, it can not handle much anymore. I thought about getting old 13" MBP and installing Debian, but systemd is too bothersome. I'm not sure about hard and soft anymore..

[anthk]

Watch 720p videos under smtube.

[vardump]

> an early 2015 13 inch MacBook Pro. In 5 days I'm using it the machine restarted two (or three?) times "because of problems"

Also using early 2015 13" MacBook Pro (16 GB RAM). 3 months old, rock solid so far.

Bluetooth is a bit weird, though. Can't always connect to headphones or mice, but a reboot fixes that. Wifi works a lot better than 2012 model I have experience with.

[sjs382]

Using the same. Rock solid for me, too.

[csomar]

I'm using my MBP 2014 for over a year now. There have been minor (really minor) bugs, but nothing to make uncomfortable. I don't like the Finder and I think it's bad for productivity. But that's it. I have no other complaints.

[em3rgent0rdr]

I love installing arch linux on macs, cause it makes them super snappy. The MacBook1,1 and MacBook2,1 (which I use as my main labtop) can run with entirely free firmware called "libreboot".

[chris-at]

> And also please give us back an iPhone that could fit in a pocket because the certain Asian markets are not the only things out there.

+1

I'd get a 5S if someone could put the camera of the 6 in there :)

[alexmreis]

I had to buy a new machine 6 months after buying the 2012 Macbook Pro. That thing overheats like hell's breaking loose, and Apple simply doesn't admit to it, so I'm left with a paperweight that kinda works, but if you try to do anything more intensive than browsing the web on it, it gets unusable.

So much for a 3 grand machine.

Despite Apple making pretty things, that's not really making me buy their stuff again

[tweetjay]

Porsche already started to copy BMW when they copied the X5 and brought a really ugly and way to underpowered Cayenne into the market in 2002...

[bopf]

your post really does not want me to ever upgrade my MacBook Pro from 2012. What I really love about this machine is that a) you almost never need to reboot it (I do it out of habit once per week) b) it has never slowed down All the folks that work with me and use Windows have to re-boot at least daily and using a windows machine from 2012 is outright impossible. If what you say is not a fluke, meaning you got unlucky and got handed a bad machine, then I will keep my 2012 until it falls apart :). Some of the comments fortunately hint to the fact that you just got unlucky.. which sucks obviously..

[kisna72]

I have a HP laptop that I bought in 2009. I upgraded it with SSD in 2011. Ever since, I have never had to restart the computer because of problems. My work desktop never gets restarted because of problems either. The only time I restart is when I get windows updates. Either I got lucky, or the people you know got unlucky with their computers.

[dexcs]

Someone needs to start a new hardware / software manufacturer with focus on productivity because all the others are sucking at producing the next big fancy and buggy computer while watching their stocks...

[misterdata]

I have almost the same hardware as you and experience none of the problems. Also I hear that the latest iOS/OS X betas actually make things smoother for many people rather than slower.

[Terretta]

We give all our devs brand new MBPs. Zero issues like you're describing. Actually zero issues of any kind.

We also give devs matched dpi 4K retina displays as second screens. No issues with 60hz 4K either.

[shams93]

Lol the same kind of old fashioned corporate hubris that once led to the Ford Edsel lol

[w00tnes]

And while they're at it, fix the goshdarn iTunes WiFi syncing issues...

[WorldWideWayne]

Apple's OS is nowhere near as robust as Windows though or as widely used...

The problem with Apple's UX (which has rarely ever been "a hassle-free unified experience") is that it does not include a lot of features. The reason nobody in corporate/IT care about Macs is that OS X simply doesn't do what they want while Windows does.

Instead of giving you a laundry list of examples, here are a couple of examples which I think epitomize Apple's UX: They just gave OS X the ability to resize application windows by any edge or corner like 3 - 4 years ago. Seriously. That's how well Apple has taken care of their users over the years. In an earlier era, they stuck by that single button mouse for a decade.

[rawTruthHurts]

Well, remember when they were advertising their right-clicking mouse; it was like they invented the wheel... circa 2000.