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I am sure others will disagree with this, but why are some users so happy to opine on how great Apple’s products are and how they are the best in the world, when realistically they are restrictive, locked down and excessively priced?
Case in point, the new 17″ MacBook Pro with a unibody construction and integrated battery. That’s right, the battery is non-removable which means that those of us who may wish to use our laptop sans battery, but plugged into the mains, will be out of luck. Not a huge deal, some of you may say, since the battery life is supposedly much greater than other laptops in the field. But tell me this, how mobile is an aluminium 17†laptop really going to be in the first place? Most 17†laptops, my own included, are used as desktop replacements and not as portable computers that you can bring with you to school, college, work etc.
In addition, I feel that an inevitable backlash will occur by consumers if Apple rest on their laurels, like they’ve done with the iPhone, and release another device that may look good, but performance and features are mediocre.
I already posted some of my thoughts in the other thread, and I will admit that I am a fan of Apples products.
Price wise I was very happy to buy my Mac for several hundred £’s less than the same specced computer from other PC manufacturers or self built (server components + start of product life cycle + HE discount). That said I’m quite happy to pay a bit more for a machine which runs OS X without hacks, and the bonus of being able to talk to just one company if anything goes wrong is also rather nice.
Though I never buy RAM or hard drives from Apple, those are marked up by a lot.
Being locked down and restrictive has never really affected me, or at-least not that I’ve noticed. And the eco-system where most of the hardware and software is Apple (branded) means that things (for the most part) work very well together which is what I want (I’ll use my Linux machines if I want to recompile my kernel).
With that said one thing which has been annoying is the poor selection of available graphics cards and their age, it was improved somewhat when AMD released the 3870 but still annoying.
With some of Apples other laptops the mains charger could not supply enough power to run the machine at maximum capacity, this may also be the case with the new 17in model. Though I guess the more likely reason is that removing the mechanism to allow for the removal of the battery is what allowed it to be so thin or for the battery to be so large. It doesn’t look too hard to replace though.
Mobility wise, it’s not going to be particularly mobile I’d classify it as a desktop replacement machine.
As for the iPhone, it looks like it’s coming up for a refresh. Apples been busy buying a lot of flash memory recently.
I do like Apples products but they certainly aren’t without fault… mouse which stops scrolling after a few months, poorly designed Bluetooth aerial, graphics card which kills itself after a year and various bugs and annoyances have all affected me.
I am glad that you have had a good experience, in general, with Apple, but for a user who would not have the luxury of being able to use more than one computer, it is a sad state of affairs, in my opinion.
Gaming is definitely not a priority to Apple, as evidenced by your remarks on Apple’s products’ graphics capabilities, though thankfully this is becoming better; I still wouldn’t go out of my way, regardless of price, to buy an Apple computer, be it desktop or laptop, to play games on.
The iPhone refresh will be an interesting state of affairs come June/July, the reported time-frame for this proposed new iPhone, however, I don’t see Apple doing much to increase the functionality of their handset, as they seem happy to subjugate their users and expect them to appreciate the subpar handset features of iPhone; a 2 Megapixel camera, limited Bluetooth functionality, no MMS capabilities etc.
I for one wish that Apple took more time to establish their products as less closed and more open, but then again, they wouldn’t be the Apple people know and love if they did this.
[quote1235137614=Rsaeire]
I don’t see Apple doing much to increase the functionality of their handset, as they seem happy to subjugate their users and expect them to appreciate the subpar handset features of iPhone; a 2 Megapixel camera, limited Bluetooth functionality, no MMS capabilities etc.
[/quote1235137614]
A 2 megapixel camera and no MMS capability were the killer blows that stopped me from having an iPhone. The iPhone looks gorgeous and the user interface works well, but I still decided to stick with Nokia with a 5 megapixel camera (with flash) and MMS.Having said that, I love iPods. We have three – one in my partner’s car and one in mine and one in the dining room permanently connected to an iPod HiFi. I converted all our CDs to Apple Lossless format and the sound quality is great, especially in my partner’s car which has a Dynaudio sound system. The best thing about the iPods in the cars is the safety aspect of being able to control everything from the steering wheel and not having to fiddle with CDs.
[quote1235137472=Rsaeire]I am glad that you have had a good experience, in general, with Apple, but for a user who would not have the luxury of being able to use more than one computer, it is a sad state of affairs, in my opinion.[/quote1235137472]
I should have stated that a bit better, Linux and Windows (and other OS’s) run fine on my Mac (either natively or virtualised) exactly the same as they do on any other PC (and just as open or closed). I do use other Linux/Windows machines as well though.[quote1235137472=Rsaeire]Gaming is definitely not a priority to Apple, as evidenced by your remarks on Apple’s products’ graphics capabilities, though thankfully this is becoming better; I still wouldn’t go out of my way, regardless of price, to buy an Apple computer, be it desktop or laptop, to play games on.[/quote1235137472]
Yeah I don’t play games much anymore (I do have a Wii connected to my Mac though), and not many run on OS X anyway, my main concern is regarding Snow Leopard and OpenCL (not OpenGL) support. Cards which work with OS X are limited, on the upside I could put any graphics card in my Mac and use it with Windows to play games, cross-fire works as well (not in Apples laptop type machines though). Though this would be a bit silly as it would be better to just buy/build a gaming computer.[quote1235137472=Rsaeire]The iPhone refresh will be an interesting state of affairs come June/July, the reported time-frame for this proposed new iPhone, however, I don’t see Apple doing much to increase the functionality of their handset, as they seem happy to subjugate their users and expect them to appreciate the subpar handset features of iPhone; a 2 Megapixel camera, limited Bluetooth functionality, no MMS capabilities etc.[/quote1235137472]
I know what you mean, I own an original iPhone. However I bought it knowing what it could and couldn’t do. I bought it primarily for it’s interface and because it works well with MobileME (yeah I know tied in…), the large array of applications which appeared later are a nice bonus along with the tight integration with OS X and the data stored on my computer (other phones work well as well). I use a separate camera for photos, use WiFi rather than Bluetooth on the phone and have never sent an MMS.As for the new one, there are some very interesting rumours regarding multi-core processing power (ARM) and using the phones GPU as a GPGPU, so as to take advantage of some of the new features of OS 10.6 running on the phone. Yeah geeky things normal people don’t care about…
EDIT: Damn you Apple where is cut and paste and those push notifications you promised to have working months ago…
[quote1235137472=Rsaeire]I for one wish that Apple took more time to establish their products as less closed and more open, but then again, they wouldn’t be the Apple people know and love if they did this.[/quote1235137472]
Agreed, though I have to wonder what opening up their products would really achieve.I like that Apple’s resurgence has upped the gadget stakes leading to increased innovation and engagement in how we should interface with products. Perhaps this is a natural step anyway but there is definitely an association with Apple and quality design.
I also think it is important that they have provided such strong competition to MS in more recent years. It is important that Microsoft have some real challenge out there that will eat into their market share if ignored.
I agree with the first post though in that I have always been put off by things such as fixed batteries and proprietary formats (ie on iTunes in the past).
But if consumers all felt this way then they surely wouldn’t be buying into Apple in the way that they do? So I came to the conclusion that although these thing put me off – they are just not an issue to Joe Consumer.
I can imagine there are many iPod users who wouldn’t know how to change the battery even if it were possible ;)!
This is the thing, Apple, however expensive their products may be, have people like Joe Consumer lapping their products up again and again, as if they’re the best thing since sliced bread. Honestly, as revolutionary as the iPod was, there were better products that came out a few years afterwards that surpassed the iPod in design, format compatibility and battery life. This in itself just goes to show that people in general like to have what other people have. I for one cannot stand this “oh my God, product X is so cool, everyone has one, I’ve got to get one too†mentality. I mean honestly, do people not have an independent thought left?
Before someone starts saying “Apple basher†etc, etc, I’ve always intended on buying an Apple computer, be it desktop or laptop, but they don’t appeal to me as much as I game on my PC and also watch a wide array of movie content, such as HD-DVD and Blu-ray, which OSX doesn’t support due to copyright compatibility issues, so Windows is the more viable option for me. Boot Camp could be an option, but why then pay that much for an Apple computer only to spend even more money on a copy of Windows too?
The new iPhone will be very interesting for the sheer fact that the rumours currently being circulated make it out to be some type of ultimate handset. Knowing Apple and how they operate, it will most likely have some key functions that users are looking for, but leave out more functions than it has left in.
main reason I ditched (rather sold) my iPod Touch 8Gb 1st Gen to my boss was the fact I didn’t like being restricted to using Apple’s own iTunes software which is a big memory hog.
[quote1235151394=BluebirdNC10]
main reason I ditched (rather sold) my iPod Touch 8Gb 1st Gen to my boss was the fact I didn’t like being restricted to using Apple’s own iTunes software which is a big memory hog.
[/quote1235151394]
Did you try any other media managers?
You do loose some functionality (can still install/remove apps directly though) but there are managers out there which are lighter than iTunes such as foobar.When I needed to replace my ancient Dell PC, I bought an iMac for one reason – Windows Vista isn’t allowed in my home. I know some people think it’s great – everyone I know who has it has had nightmares with it. Had WinXP still been an option, I might not have switched to Apple. My iMac was far less expensive than similarly configured Win PCs.
I love my iMac, and am really glad to have it. I don’t kneel at the altar of Apple, any more than I hate Microsoft just for being Microsoft. There are good and bad aspects to each. I have no regrets about my iMac, and if they had a Mac netbook, I likely would have considered it, except for what I expect the price would be.
iPhones were introduced to this state three weeks ago. I have no interest. I have a cell phone, and don’t need another one. It has a camera I’ve never used. I bought a used Touch from a friend, and I’m glad I did. All the convenience, none of the expense of data plans. My Palm is just about dead, and since the Palm OS is now dead, the Touch is a great replacement.
Well, being a Mac User myself i totally disagree with Apples Product Philosophy.
Mac OS X is simply the best Operation System when it comes to daily “home-usage” but locking this Masterpiece to overpriced (but standard consumer) Hardware is just ridiculous!
Therefore i totally agree with people doing the following (and only the following) things:
1. Get compatible Hardware
1. PURCHASE a Retail Mac OS X Copy (Do not pirate it!)
2. Modify your Bootloader (do not alter Mac OS X)
3. Install Mac on standard PC Components (just as Apple does it…)
4. Enjoy one of the best Operating System on normally priced Hardware.Shame that this is not legal in the US of A while in the EU its legal.
[quote1235383926=BluebirdNC10]
main reason I ditched (rather sold) my iPod Touch 8Gb 1st Gen to my boss was the fact I didn’t like being restricted to using Apple’s own iTunes software which is a big memory hog.
[/quote1235383926]
I agree that iTunes is resource hungry, so I have a fairly old (about 6 years old) desktop PC running XP Pro with 2 GB RAM and 120 GB HDD that I just use for iTunes to rip CDs and download podcasts.
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