AAPL - Apple Inc.

[rkbabang]

I'm not very impressed with the Mac lineup as it stands now. These new devices are fine for many people, but for developers or video editors or anyone that needs a real computer these are not going to cut it? Does "Pro" mean anything to Apple? A 17" MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM max?  These should have been MacBook Air upgrades and they should have upgraded the Pro line with slightly larger and heavier computers with real specs for people who actually need to use real computers.  Not upgrading the Mac Pro in years is further evidence that Apple is completely abandoning the professional users and focusing completely on the consumer market.

[DooDiligence]

I'm not very impressed with the Mac lineup as it stands now. These new devices are fine for many people, but for developers or video editors or anyone that needs a real computer these are not going to cut it? Does "Pro" mean anything to Apple? A 17" MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM max?  These should have been MacBook Air upgrades and they should have upgraded the Pro line with slightly larger and heavier computers with real specs for people who actually need to use real computers.  Not upgrading the Mac Pro in years is further evidence that Apple is completely abandoning the professional users and focusing completely on the consumer market.

 

I don't do video editing & would give a knee jerk "agree" as it seems this type of professional user should definitely be served by better hardware (and it does seem to be a market that's in Apples wheelhouse.)

 

Speaking for myself as someone who doesn't need to use a real computer; mine provides excellent service in a very slim profile (I travel a lot & enjoy doing so in a minimalist fashion) & I expect my Mac will continue to serve me for a few more years.

 

That said; wouldn't easily accessible add on options (processor, RAM, etc.) address this & would different chassis configs be needed to accommodate heat (I guess the fact they're not offering this is kinda your point...)

 

What progress are they making into enterprise with the IBM & SAP partnerships?

[rkbabang]

I'm not very impressed with the Mac lineup as it stands now. These new devices are fine for many people, but for developers or video editors or anyone that needs a real computer these are not going to cut it? Does "Pro" mean anything to Apple? A 17" MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM max?  These should have been MacBook Air upgrades and they should have upgraded the Pro line with slightly larger and heavier computers with real specs for people who actually need to use real computers.  Not upgrading the Mac Pro in years is further evidence that Apple is completely abandoning the professional users and focusing completely on the consumer market.

 

I don't do video editing & would give a knee jerk "agree" as it seems this type of professional user should definitely be served by better hardware (and it does seem to be a market that's in Apples wheelhouse.)

 

Speaking for myself as someone who doesn't need to use a real computer; mine provides excellent service in a very slim profile (I travel a lot & enjoy doing so in a minimalist fashion) & I expect my Mac will continue to serve me for a few more years.

 

That said; wouldn't easily accessible add on options (processor, RAM, etc.) address this & would different chassis configs be needed to accommodate heat (I guess the fact they're not offering this is kinda your point...)

 

What progress are they making into enterprise with the IBM & SAP partnerships?

 

I'm sure these are great business or personal laptops.  It's just disappointing that they don't even have a high performance laptop at all.  Another seemingly little thing that most business users or consumers won't notice, but developers will, is the removal of the Esc key.  Anyone that writes code with VI or Emacs uses that key constantly.  Apple must know this they develop quite a bit of software themselves.  It is like they are writing off developers completely.  Granted that laptops are never as high powered as desktops, but 16GB of RAM does not cut it anymore.  64GB max would be reasonable, 128GB-512GB optimal.  I'm most disappointed in them not updating the MacPro at all though.  They have no high performance desktop or laptops now.  I personally know a small business owner (software development) who is thinking of converting his entire operation back to linux, these MacBook Pro updates and lack of Mac Pro update were the final straws for him.  Which is shocking to me as he has been the most dedicated Apple fanatic I know for at least the last 10 years.  I'm sure he isn't alone.

 

[DooDiligence]

I'm not very impressed with the Mac lineup as it stands now. These new devices are fine for many people, but for developers or video editors or anyone that needs a real computer these are not going to cut it? Does "Pro" mean anything to Apple? A 17" MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM max?  These should have been MacBook Air upgrades and they should have upgraded the Pro line with slightly larger and heavier computers with real specs for people who actually need to use real computers.  Not upgrading the Mac Pro in years is further evidence that Apple is completely abandoning the professional users and focusing completely on the consumer market.

 

I don't do video editing & would give a knee jerk "agree" as it seems this type of professional user should definitely be served by better hardware (and it does seem to be a market that's in Apples wheelhouse.)

 

Speaking for myself as someone who doesn't need to use a real computer; mine provides excellent service in a very slim profile (I travel a lot & enjoy doing so in a minimalist fashion) & I expect my Mac will continue to serve me for a few more years.

 

That said; wouldn't easily accessible add on options (processor, RAM, etc.) address this & would different chassis configs be needed to accommodate heat (I guess the fact they're not offering this is kinda your point...)

 

What progress are they making into enterprise with the IBM & SAP partnerships?

 

I'm sure these are great business or personal laptops.  It's just disappointing that they don't even have a high performance laptop at all.  Another seemingly little thing that most business users or consumers won't notice, but developers will, is the removal of the Esc key.  Anyone that writes code with VI or Emacs uses that key constantly.  Apple must know this they develop quite a bit of software themselves.  It is like they are writing off developers completely.  Granted that laptops are never as high powered as desktops, but 16GB of RAM does not cut it anymore.  64GB max would be reasonable, 128GB-512GB optimal.  I'm most disappointed in them not updating the MacPro at all though.  They have no high performance desktop or laptops now.  I personally know a small business owner (software development) who is thinking of converting his entire operation back to linux, these MacBook Pro updates and lack of Mac Pro update were the final straws for him.  Which is shocking to me as he has been the most dedicated Apple fanatic I know for at least the last 10 years.  I'm sure he isn't alone.

 

No escape key? Holy cow; I'm not a developer but I use the escape key for cryin out loud!

 

All your points are mos def valid (I just haven't been thinking about them as my focus has been elsewhere & perhaps a bit superficial...)

 

Have you & others sent messages to Apple hardware feedback?

[DCG]

The Escape key is part of the new Touch Bar.

 

 

http://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/18808-18293-161026-Hands-l.jpg

 

 

Removing the SD Card slot, HDMI, and USB3 seem like a bigger deal to me. You'll need dongles to connect anything - including your iPhone.

 

http://bgr.com/2016/10/27/macbook-pro-2016-ports/

 

 

http://bgr.com/2016/10/27/macbook-pro-2016-thunderbolt-3-dongles/

 

 

[rkbabang]

The Escape key is part of the new Touch Bar.

 

It is going to be difficult to hit that "key" while touch typing quickly.  It isn't really a key that you can feel it is just an area on a touchpad.  That will be annoying, especially if you have to take your eyes off the screen to look at it every time.

[mbharadwaj]

Apple executives elaborate on the process behind the design choices of the new macbook pro

 

https://www.cnet.com/special-reports/does-the-mac-still-matter/

[Jurgis]

The Escape key is part of the new Touch Bar.

 

It is going to be difficult to hit that "key" while touch typing quickly.  It isn't really a key that you can feel it is just an area on a touchpad.  That will be annoying, especially if you have to take your eyes off the screen to look at it every time.

 

IMO they should have squeezed "Esc" into the top row somehow. Or even put physical key left of the touch bar. But what do I know, I'm not a Mac user.  8)

[rkbabang]

IMO they should have squeezed "Esc" into the top row somehow. Or even put physical key left of the touch bar. But what do I know, I'm not a Mac user.  8)

 

I agree, the F keys really are pretty useless, but the Esc key is used quite a bit by some people.  It isn't an issue for me personally though, because I tend to use C-[ rather than Esc, I have short fingers and can't reach Esc without moving my hand off the home row.  And I only use a Mac at home, so I don't do much coding on it anyway.

 

I just read this and unfortunately it has little I can argue with:

Admit it: Microsoft is now a braver, more innovative company than Apple

 

I know Apple is "The iPhone Company", but it is amazing to me how they are just letting the Mac wither and die.  You'd think the biggest company on Earth could spare some resources to put out some decent high end laptops, desktops, and innovative large surface products. Especially because they already have the huge advantage of having the best OS.  Really the only problem with those Microsoft devices is that they run Windows.  If Microsoft ever got the balls to make an aggressive move like what Apple did with OS-X: ditching Windows entirely and creating a new OS starting fresh with Linux (Apple used BSD), it would kill off the Mac for good I think.  That would require a pretty big cultural shift at Microsoft, but Windows is a shrinking part of its revenue, and their office apps could be re-targeted for its new OS.  It would certainly be doable.  That would remove the only thing left that is better on the Mac, the OS itself.

 

[johnpane]

IMO they should have squeezed "Esc" into the top row somehow. Or even put physical key left of the touch bar. But what do I know, I'm not a Mac user.  8)

 

Precisely! Why do you think the virtual escape key on the touch bar is not directly above the tilde? Is that leftmost part of the touchbar inactive? They why the heck didn't they put an escape key there? I know --- Jony's aesthetics.

 

[rkbabang]

Why Tim Cook is Steve Ballmer and Why He Still Has His Job at Apple

 

What happens to a company when a visionary CEO is gone? Most often innovation dies and the company coasts for years on momentum and its brand. apple-equals-microsoftRarely does it regain its former glory. Here's why ...

[DooDiligence]

Why Tim Cook is Steve Ballmer and Why He Still Has His Job at Apple

 

What happens to a company when a visionary CEO is gone? Most often innovation dies and the company coasts for years on momentum and its brand. apple-equals-microsoftRarely does it regain its former glory. Here's why ...

 

++

 

I still enjoy my MacBook & don't see myself changing from iOS any time soon (however; you do have me thinking about locking in my gains on Apple...)

[DCG]

I think one difference is that Apple still has Johnny Ive.

[DooDiligence]

I think one difference is that Apple still has Johnny Ive.

 

All I know about him or anyone else in executive management is what I derive from the experience I have with using Apple products.i

 

What can Ive do?

 

I'm accustomed to long upgrade cycles (relatively) & definitely appreciate the care taken in getting things right but as some here have said; you can't expect professionals to pay top dollar for obsolete hardware just to get the OS.

 

What are they doing at that chip fab they bought?

 

Why can't they offer a more high performance product with more upgrade options?

 

Where the hells the any key??? (I mean the escape key...)

[SlowAppreciation]

Where the hells the any key??? (I mean the escape key...)

 

[johnny]

Strongly recommend this article:

 

https://milen.me/writings/mac-platform-decline/

 

Not much here to disagree with.

[DCG]

I think one difference is that Apple still has Johnny Ive.

 

All I know about him or anyone else in executive management is what I derive from the experience I have with using Apple products.i

 

What can Ive do?

 

He has been their Cheif Design Officer for the last 20 years. Ive has been nearly as important to Apple's success over the last 15 or so years as Jobs. I honestly don't think Apple would be anywhere near where it is today if Jobs didn't have Ive on his team.

[johnny]

I think pinting to the fact that Apple still has Ive as evidence that it will be Just Fine is sort of like pointing to decapitated corpse that still has an intact heart and making a similar prediction.

 

While Ive was perhaps necessary for the tremendous success of Apple, he was not sufficient. He had something just as important as himself during that period of tremendous growth and product innovation: a boss. Not just a boss in name, not just somebody who nominally sat on the top of the org chart (as Tim Cook does now), but somebody who had far more social power and prestige within the organization, and somebody whose judgments on matters of design and product philosophy he respected perhaps more than his own.

 

That no longer exists. That one person who could walk into Ive's office, stare at something he's lovingly worked on for weeks and months, mutter "this is shit", and immediately redirect his energies to something more productive is gone. And the result is probably what we're seeing now. A lot of interesting, novel and exciting things happening, a lot of things that hint at big ideas about the future, but in the meantime a total abdication of the present.

 

It is hard to imagine how the $20,000 Watch would have happened under Steve Jobs, who I think we all agree had a bit of an intuition for exactly how far one could stretch price points for technology products. It is very easy to imagine how it happened without Jobs: Ive wanted to make a gold watch and nobody had the power to tell him that was a stupid idea.

 

It is hard to imagine how the Mac Pro could go 3 years without an update, missing 2 full CPU generations, under Jobs. While he has a reputation for not being quite the meganerd Bill Gates was, he at least ran in the circles where the embarrassment of that would be made apparent to him. On the other hand, Ive seems to hang out with museum curators so I doubt he's cruising blogs using terms like "gigaflops" and getting steamed about the insult.

[DooDiligence]

Strongly recommend this article:

 

https://milen.me/writings/mac-platform-decline/

 

Not much here to disagree with.

 

On the face of it; I agree that it seems like a snub that they'll regret but I think their focus on enterprise depends on cloud apps where performace of the client is not an issue with end users who are in the majority.

 

Mobile access using iOS devices is preferrable with agnostic accessibility so as to not alienate the other religeons & maybe get some converts.

 

At one point the author asked:

 

"Here's the most important question: If professionals don't make Apple enough money to be worth targeting, why should they invest resources to support them and create products for them?"

 

My answer (and apparently Cook's answer too) is because Apple makes developers money (true or not?)

 

Personally; I believe Apple should maybe create an arm which would specifically target power users directly to offer custom solutions (an added benefit to keeping them on the hardware/OS would be the possible insights & ideas gained by tighter relations with the guys who "design some of the presses which help print the money.")

 

Consumer facing efforts would continue as usual offering "good enough" hardware with "best in class" OS & pros would click a discreet link to get what they need/lust for!

[DooDiligence]

https://ped30.com/2016/10/30/apple-macbook-nine-questions/

 

Hmmmmmm

 

Contemplating selling my shares...

[DCG]

https://ped30.com/2016/10/30/apple-macbook-nine-questions/

 

Hmmmmmm

 

Contemplating selling my shares...

 

 

Regarding this: "At the iPhone event in September, Apple told the world that headphone jacks were dead because wireless headphones are superior — so why is there a headphone jack on the Mac?"

• 
  [/color]Most people still used wired speakers with their computer. Bluetooth speakers in your house doesn't really have the same benefit as bluetooth headphones/earphones.-I don't get why they're releasing products that require additional dongles though.

[DooDiligence]

https://ped30.com/2016/10/30/apple-macbook-nine-questions/

 

Hmmmmmm

 

Contemplating selling my shares...

 

 

Regarding this: "At the iPhone event in September, Apple told the world that headphone jacks were dead because wireless headphones are superior — so why is there a headphone jack on the Mac?"

• 
  [/color]Most people still used wired speakers with their computer. Bluetooth speakers in your house doesn't really have the same benefit as bluetooth headphones/earphones.-I don't get why they're releasing products that require additional dongles though.

 

I don't have a problem with that (I've been listening through a Bose SoundLink Mini for a couple of years now & bought a pair of Bose SoundSport BT headphones last time home (no more messy cords.))

 

I thought the other issues raised were valid...

[rkbabang]

I think one difference is that Apple still has Johnny Ive.

 

All I know about him or anyone else in executive management is what I derive from the experience I have with using Apple products.i

 

What can Ive do?

 

He has been their Cheid Design Officer for the last 20 years. Ive has been nearly as important to Apple's success over the last 15 or so years as Jobs. I honestly don't think Apple would be anywhere near where it is today if Jobs didn't have Ive on his team.

 

I agree, but no one is saying these MacBook Pros don't look great.  Ives is still firing on all cylinders, but just like great hardware isn't enough without great design, great design isn't enough without great hardware.

 

[rkbabang]

Strongly recommend this article:

 

https://milen.me/writings/mac-platform-decline/

 

Not much here to disagree with.

 

Excellent article.  Apple is engaging in some serious short term only thinking about its Mac product line.  This quote says it all:  "if you lose the professionals, you’ll lose a significant chunk of innovation and content that keeps consumers in the Apple ecosystem. Those professionals are content creators and if they use Macs at work, they're more likely to use Macs at home and create for Apple platforms. Professionals are influencers and affect the computing choices of their immediate family & friends."

 

[johnny]

I think it is also worth noting the conspicuous absence of Netflix from the new TV app demo. It's obviously impossible to know exactly what's going on there, but it isn't a good sign. The obvious concern is that Apple's constant flirtation with producing meaningful amounts of content internally (or buying a content company) has dissuaded Netflix from helping them try to make a play to lock up the TV market.

 

So that means the two highest quality streaming services, Netflix -and- Amazon, are not fully participating in their ecosystem. I'd call that another disaster, since the strategic value of the TV box is way larger than its rounding-error revenue numbers suggest. But maybe I'm too loose with that word.