Interesting stuff, although your statement "they even went to the trouble of" is perhaps casting unnecessary aspersions. What we can say is that the SSD performance on the new laptops is pretty good: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6005/apples-new-ssd-its-fast
We don't know if Apple's proprietary solution is better than mSATA. The fact it's different is a negative for some customers, neutral to others (such as me).
What is wrong with this picture? The fact that all my Macs (seriously, all of them) and some of my old PCs are still in use, since I've passed them to other people. Ditto my PSP, GBA and DS. Ha ha, I've defeated the evil built-in obsolescence, thwarting Apple's vice-president of premature-techno-rot. My iPhone 3GS is now my car's music player. I still have both my old iPods. My iPad 1 is now my four-year old nephew's favourite gadget. For all the alleged obsolescence, some of these middle-class trinkets sure are built to last. Still waiting for any of them to self-destruct.
I'm pleased you enjoy your 2007 MBP - I owned an MBP15 and it was a fantastic machine for me - I'm looking at the machine right now, since it's now my wife's computer. But more megapixels on my camera and the rise of virtualisation meant I upgraded to a new machine, since I needed more CPU, more RAM and more storage. Progress? I don't know, but I wouldn't go back to my 3MP Canon D30 now I'm using 22MP and 16.1MP bodies and I wouldn't sacrifice the flexibility of virtual machines, so I needed the new machine.
A thoughtful riposte, right up to the ad hominem in the last paragraph.
It's 04:39 in the UK at the moment, so I may not be as cogent as usual. But I'll dive in any way.
On the specific, tiresome, point of batteries: I have not disposed of any Apple equipment because of an expired battery. Two laptops that I have owned have needed replacement batteries. In one case the batteries were replaced by Apple. In the other case the machine is now used by a friend who's happy to use it tethered on his desk. For my uses it really is a non-issue. I don't worry about it on my iPod - I've got a second and a third gen and both run happily.
On the issue of control, specifically the assertion that control is being wrested from us poor users. My Macs regularly run Mac OS versions back to Snow Leopard, Solaris 10, several Debian and Red Hat flavours, Windows, both in BootCamp and VM. I don't feel particularly disempowered there.
My MacPro has several slots in it, into which I could put a new video card. I haven't taken advantage of that opportunity yet, being happy with the video performance. I have put an SSD in. So my chosen desktop hasn't blocked me from upgrading it. If I'd chosen an iMac it wouldn't be so easy, but then I would have made the wrong choice so I would hardly blame a faceless corporation, unless I was stupid.
For my laptops, I occasionally plug in and external audio processor via USB. Ditto a Korg microUSB keyboard. When I need more storage, I connect either a firewire or USB external drive. For my purposes the internal hard drive of my laptops has always been big enough - the external storage is for archiving or backup. In general, by the time one parameter has been a limiting factor, all of the big three have been limiting - CPU, RAM and disk. I gave up the desire to upgrade a machine's individual components during the time I had my last PC.
My passive-aggression: during my computing career, starting from 1992, I've used, enjoyed, seen weaknesses in, and moved away from: DOS3.x, 5.x, 6.x, Novell DOS, Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98 (not ME), NT3.51, NT4.0, W2K, XP, (not Vista), Windows 7, OpenBSD, OS/2 Warp, desktop Linuxes from 95-onwards, Solaris (too many versions to recount) and Mac OS, from Tiger onwards, where I currently remain. Choice has not been a problem for me in the OS sphere.
In computers, through both pre-work and career, I've used and owned everything from Sinclair ZX80, 81, Sinclair Spectrum (all flavours), BBC Model B, BBC Master 128, Acorn Archimedes, Amiga 500, sundry Palms and Psions, Sun pizza boxes and a wide array of servers, Compaq laptops, Dan, Elonex, and HP PCs, Dell, Supermicro and HP servers, all Apple equipment from Mini to XServe. If I wanted to, I could choose from a few thousand PC vendors, each offering subtly different interpretations of the PC theme. At the moment, I choose not to, except for servers at work (typically HP, with a few oddities for FPGA and GPU processes).
The point of all this: choice really exists. And I really can exercise it. And I continue to exercise it. It may be galling to hear this, but I currently choose Apple products for many of my computing requirements for reasons I've gone into in this thread and others. But I also use a Kindle for reading, a PS3 for games and a 3DS for portable games (oooh, closed platforms as well).
The common theme for "people like me" is that we want technology that works, does it's job for us and does it with a bit of style or panache. We've weighed up the state of things, and chosen to use Apple products.
Astroturfing or justification: more charitably, one might call it "replying to comments that I regard are inaccurate or misrepresentative". There seems to be a unique disdain for Apple on Slashdot and other technical forums. And yet many of the IT professionals I've met and worked with over the years (in the education, science and now finance spheres) either use or would like to use Apple equipment.
Like I say, it's early in the morning (05:19 now) and I've rambled enough. Take it easy, enjoy your choices and let me enjoy mine without considering it an affront to all that you hold dear. Life, for me, really is to short to worry about replacing a battery for $130 or $100 - sorry.
You're right, I've never worked on a car, although I did help my brother build a Caterham, and I defer to your analysis. The car metaphor fails once again!
As the owner of a MacPro, I would disagree that Apple always makes things difficult. But again it's a target market issue - MacPro is an expandable machine, designed to take cards and drives and aimed at users who need that facility.
The iMac and Mini, for example were originally aimed at less hard-core users - the fact that businesses have based themselves on racks of Minis was not in Apple's mind when they chose the form factor or decided to make access difficult - they wanted useful machines that would look good in the living room, take as little space as possible, and excite a non-technical audience.
Your Sager machine has a very nice spec, but again we come down to criteria for choosing a machine. It ticks none of the boxes for me - I don't want a 17" machine since I have to regularly carry the machine on trains and planes and my MBP17 was too big for that; 4-5 hours in crippled mode is still not 7 hours; the thing is just as ugly as the Alienware, to my eyes; I have no interest in swapping out hardware or upgrading or what have you.
The Mac hardware is nice and the price to me is right, otherwise I wouldn't buy it. I resisted the first-gen MBA since the balance of performance and price was wrong. 2nd-gen was spot-on. I've not gone for the 768GB SSD option or the 2.7Ghz processor on my MBPT since they're marginal upgrades and the price doesn't match their value. I've got multiple TB of RAID storage at my desk and my carry-around requirements have been met by the 250GB of my MBA. I will get a new device to act as the MBPR's TimeMachine volume, since I've now got the option of USB3.
Horses for courses, as some people say. I wouldn't touch one of these gaming machines, but then I don't play games on my computers (PS3 and 3DS for that particular need) whereas maybe you and the ancestor poster do. First and foremost, in the current world, I'm a Mac user and the MBPR is the right tool for my purposes. Your "over-priced" is my "correct price for the blend of attributes it brings to me". Vive la difference, etc.
On price grounds? On "I'll leave it behind grounds"? On "it's so big grounds"?
Intrigued and confused that you'd choose to deny yourself access to a fantastic machine for what I see as non-issues.
Price? 30 dollars or thereabouts. Not free then, but in the greater scheme of things not really all that much.
Leave it behind? I've never forgotten my USB-Ethernet dongle for the MBA when I've gone anywhere. In the same way I always remember the power supply and my house keys. Now, it's simple for me, since I just leave the dongle in my tool box which I take with me on site visits. Maybe you have a more hectic schedule where you don't know whether you're going to need to plug in.
Size? Pocketable or easily goes in the case with the computer.
So what is it that particularly offends you about the dongle? When I saw that a FW800 dongle was going to be available it was actually a selling feature to me, since I had missed it on the MBA. But I was happy with the size and weight of the MBA, and that was only possible because the case didn't have the funny-sized sockets. Compromise, pragmatism etc. - makes the world a smoother, more enjoyable place. I've enjoyed owning the MacBook Air and my wife will get the benefit of it now when I pass it to her after the MBPR arrives.
Have you taken a look at the form factor of the MBPR and taken the time to consider which off-the-shelf SSD would fit in there?
Apple couldn't care less about the Slashdot crowd and our tiny but vocal group of whiners. "We" are not market leaders or trend-setters - that ship sailed many years ago, sometime around 1995 I would think, and I think the technology world's a better place as a result.
Your "deal-breaker" is a feature for many "normal" users. Simple, good-looking stuff that works. And the knowledge that if it fails, the nice people will fix it for them. Normal people don't want to ever get their hands dirty with the insides of a computer, or a car, or with the plumbing of their house. A tiny number of us are interested in that sort of thing - but I scratch that itch with things like a Raspberry Pi (pre-ordered today, yay!) and other trinkets, rather than my main work machines. Others restore classic cars, or do up their houses. But again, the numbers involved are tiny, and it doesn't make Volkswagen produce cars with easily-changeable engines, or persuade builders to externalise all the wiring to make it easy for people to swap it in the future.
We tech-savvy people shouldn't be "pissed off" at Microsoft, Apple, HP or whoever - we just choose a different product as you're proposing to here (have fun with your Linux laptop, I've been there and done that, but as far as I'm concerned Linux is for my servers and maybe a VM on my Mac for testing).
But we shouldn't think for one minute that manufacturers are aiming this sort of product (MBPs, desktop PCs, iPods, etc.) at us - we're a tiny fraction of a percent of the buyers. They don't need to be careful. I just happen to think that Apple are making the right decisions at the moment and I'm happy with the price/performance/design balance. I've made use of their warranty and post-warranty facilities and I've been happy with that too.
You don't need the resolution, so no-one else does?
One use case for my current 13" MacBookAir: looking at GoPro videos "in the field", maybe converting them into editable format to do a bit of light editing. Limiting factors: speed of cpu and ability to see the unzoomed video in FCPX.
Ah, here's a laptop with more power, a screen that does allow full size HD alongside an interface to work on it and retains most of the portability. I'd say that was a win for me. But here in the uniquely-skewed world of Slashdot all you hear is "wah! overkill-this, fanbois-that, too expensive, not advanced enough, no user serviceable parts (seriously? does anyone outside of Slashdot-land _want_ to service their own computer?)"
And yes, when I get back to base, the heavy-lifting is done on a 24" and a 27" monitor and a fully-loaded MacPro, but I sure as hell can't take that with me on the mountains, or even the cabin, can I?
M14x has a 14" display, not 15". Its battery lasts around 4 hours in standardised tests, not 7 hours.
Yes it's cheaper, but you're not comparing like with like. Also, at the risk of facing derision from the tough (blinkered?) Slashdot crowd, just look at the thing http://www.notebookreview.com/shared/picture.asp?f=61197. When I'm choosing where to spend my disposable income, two of the factors are how the thing looks and feels, as you suggest. Not the most important factors, but definitely on the list.
I've ordered a 2.6GHz Retina machine, with 16GB RAM, plus the Ethernet dongle and the MagSafe2 adapter. Other than one very old Compaq laptop at a previous employer, I have never felt the urge to upgrade RAM or storage in one of my machines so I couldn't care less about the lack of upgradeability. The battery can be replaced by Apple if that's an issue (I've taken advantage of that with one previous machine). It will be used, like all of my machines for: coding (Vim/Netbeans), system management (Solaris, Linux, MacOS, Windows servers, Cisco and HP network equipment), photography and film (LightRoom, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro X). It replaces a MacBook Air which has served me well, travelling around the world with me, tucked into a Tenba Roadie II Universal case. The MacBook Air shuffles over to my wife, to replace her 1st gen MBP15 which I'll donate to whichever friend or family member needs it most at the moment.
Yep, I'm in a happy Apple bubble. I like the simplicity, style, look, feel and quality of Macs. I love the functionality of OSX. And I certainly don't fit into the moronic image that other replies have alluded to (Starbucks, hipster etc.). I'm a systems and networks guy for a hedge fund, working from home, and the Mac hardware has been the right hardware for me and my job for many years now. I may not get 730fps on Diablo III, but I do have reliable, sturdy, smart and well-designed computers that do the job for me.
Your mileage obviously varies, your criteria for computer selection differs from mine and I can respect that. But I do buy a Mac because of the hardware - that Retina screen is a hell of piece of kit and for photos/film it was enough to get me to order on day one. Similarly, the MacBook Air had exactly the right mix of performance and portability.
For sound quality, I use Etymotic Research ER-4P. Very clean sound, not overly bassy, good isolation. Comfort - not so good, but YMMV and they come with a selection of bud designs and sizes.
For comfort, please don't laugh, but I use some Beats by Dre Studio HD. The sound is in no way neutral, but there's plenty of detail and like I say the comfort is sky-high. They support my iPad/iPhone (although I don't think I've used that functionality yet). The cancelling is reasonably good, though the ER-4Ps isolation is more effective. Battery life is not so great and you can't use them at all when the batteries are dead.
I stand by my comment - "still" adds nothing to the sentence as used in the summary, which ends with "yet". There's no disagreement to state - it really is early days. "it's still early days, yet", "it's early days yet", "still, it's early days" and "it's still early days" all say the same thing, with varying economy. The third and fourth options say it most clearly, in my opinion, whereas the first seems clumsy.
As a service to your brethren, could you let us know the hit rates from Clam on your Mac?
1. In files only available to your Mac 2. In files shared between Mac and Windows (VM/Boot camp etc.) 3. Viruses that can affect your Mac 4. Viruses that you are just a carrier for.
I played Braid on my Mac, but I believe it was available to download for the Xbox first. I've downloaded some third-party stuff on my 3DS (via the eshop, rather than homebrew) which may not have come from the cities mentioned. But as you can see from my list of favourite games, I'm not exactly a cutting-edge game fan:)
All the points were saying why a console is better for me. 2, 3 and 6 are saying I don't want a desktop computer (either Mac or PC), with keyboard, mouse etc., in my living room.
Point 3 was a little facetious or snobbish, depending on your viewpoint. Either way, there aren't any of the accoutrements of a desktop computer in my living room and this is important to us.
Point 7 reflects my perception of the PC games market as being dominated by FPSes. Maybe that's misguided.
Point 8 further reflects the argument that I see my desktop computer as a separate tool to my console and I have no desire to compromise the performance of the computer to make it play games well. Experiences with friends' "gaming rigs" suggests that it can be difficult to make them run well as general purpose computers.
But your reply to point 8 is valid as a response to all my points, and also to almost everything else anyone says about this issue. This just isn't a terribly important argument, which I acknowledged when I said that the original poster's mileage varied from mine. vim vs emacs, mac vs pc, pc vs consoles - religious battles of no consequence whatsoever. Just edit text, use your chosen computer(s) and play your games in whatever way makes you happy.
Possibly a little snobbish:), but then again there's not been a piece of Windows software that I've needed in the last few years except the management consoles for our trading platform (Orc) and Excel/Visual Studio to write custom code for our traders to query Bloomberg in innovative ways.
1. Mario, Zelda, GT5 2. No PC in my living room, thanks 3. No PC in my house, in fact (by the old-school Windows/Linux definition of "PC"). 4. No upgrades once I've bought a games device. 5. As few patches as possible (although my PS3 and 3DS both break that rule) 6. Biggest screen in the house is (just) our living-room television. It cost substantially less than the next biggest (a 27" Cinema Display) but is just fine for games. Games in the house, work in the home office. Separation of work and home life maintained. Games with my wife (oh, be quiet), work alone. 7. I'm not interested in FPS games (see 1 above). 8. My computers (all Macs) are for work or media. They're optimised for that purpose (many cores, resilient storage [some fast, some slow, all redundant and available], mucho-RAM, video cards that support Aperture/Final Cut Pro X) and run my software very nicely (Xcode, NetBeans, iTerm, vim, ssh, Aperture/FCP/Lightroom, Cisco AnyConnect). My console runs its software really well (GT5 mainly, plus LBP2), out of the box. No conflicts between the two, ever. No rebooting or tweaking the video settings to make things work, just pick up the controller and play, or grab the keyboard and work.
So that's eight ways a console is better for me and absolutely makes sense for me. I'm "locked-in" to the extent that I can use/buy any software I want for my Mac (even Windows software should I be insane), but I have to play the games that some publisher produces for my console of choice. I have "missed' precisely zero PC games. So where's the lock-in?
[ duplicate reply due to fat fingers and brain fade ]
Nice idea. But 30 minutes! Ha. 3 hours was a typical scheduled duration for inter-departmental meetings. They didn't have a problem keeping to that timescale, but the idea of brief meetings was anathema to the layers of management above mine (I was three layers down from the vice-chancellor, i.e. the boss). They'd taken the time to dictate the agenda and detailed notes to their PAs, and dammit they were going to make sure we all enjoyed their prose and oration at length.
I've been back to the Uni a few times to catch up with erstwhile colleagues and mentioned that one of the reasons I had to go was the appalling bureaucracy in general and the quantity and duration of meetings in particular. Some of the gassiest of the gas bags cooed sympathetically and said "I know, it's terrible, but what can you do?" Tempting though it was to hit them with the "why didn't you just STFU"-stick, I bit my tongue.
Nice idea. But 30 minutes! Ha. 3 hours was a typical scheduled duration for inter-departmental meetings. They didn't have a problem keeping to that timescale, but the idea of brief meetings was anathema to the layers of management above mine (I was three layers down from the pro-vice-chancellors, i.e. the day-to-day bosses). They'd taken the time to dictate the agenda and detailed notes to their PAs, and dammit they were going to make sure we all enjoyed their prose and oration at length.
I've been back to the Uni a few times to catch up with erstwhile colleagues and mentioned that one of the reasons I had to go was the appalling bureaucracy in general and the quantity and duration of meetings in particular. Some of the gassiest of the gas bags cooed sympathetically and said "I know, it's terrible, but what can you do?" Tempting though it was to hit them with the "why didn't you just STFU then"-stick, I bit my tongue.
After 13 years as a systems guy/programmer, I ended up as manager of 12 similar people. The University had gone through a restructuring and a few resignations and I thought it would be the right thing to do, since I was recognised as the most capable in the team (no false modesty here!).
Four years later, I left the University to go back to being a systems/guy programmer, working for a small Swiss proprietary fund (my current employer). Reasons:
1. Meetings. Endless. Bloody. Meetings. I'd been to fortnightly team meetings as a programmer. As a manager there was at least one sort of meeting with someone in the University every other day. Protestations that email or other collaborative software would save everyone time, mileage and money were met with indifference - other managers seemed to enjoy the stupid things.
2. Stress and Responsibility - two sides of the same coin. When you're in charge of a group, the buck stops with you. This can wear you down after a while. It certainly did with me. Whilst I was immensely proud of the team and what we accomplished, occasionally things do go wrong and for some reason the customers never remember the good times.
3. Health issues. My underlying, but previously unobtrusive OCD was exacerbated by 1 and 2 above. I grew afraid (shaking, uncontrollable fear) of meetings, eventually getting to the stage where I would leave them mid-way, or invent excuses not to go in the first place, or just not turn up. Whilst my managers were sympathetic, I became unhappy with the way I was doing my job, which of course reinforced the "bad thoughts"-side of my OCD. I was off sick from work repeatedly, sometimes for days at a time. I received professional help and medication for the OCD and got back on a somewhat even keel, but realised that I would never be happy in my job. When the opportunity to get back to programming and systems work arose, I took it enthusiastically.
Now obviously your mileage may vary and my comment may be utterly useless. I guess the point is that a good programmer may not be a good manager. A person who enjoys working directly on problems may not enjoy giving the problems to others to solve. And a person with any sort of mental issues may find them more exposed when working as a manager!
An excellent list, Justin. I think I've always favoured "reasonable-term". Certainly my heart sank when our esteemed legislators here in the UK were persuaded to extend some copyright to 70 years. .
Slashdot Mirror
FWIW quoting Picasso and thereby possibly allowing a more nuanced interpretation of the word "steal".
Interesting stuff, although your statement "they even went to the trouble of" is perhaps casting unnecessary aspersions. What we can say is that the SSD performance on the new laptops is pretty good: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6005/apples-new-ssd-its-fast
We don't know if Apple's proprietary solution is better than mSATA. The fact it's different is a negative for some customers, neutral to others (such as me).
What is wrong with this picture? The fact that all my Macs (seriously, all of them) and some of my old PCs are still in use, since I've passed them to other people. Ditto my PSP, GBA and DS. Ha ha, I've defeated the evil built-in obsolescence, thwarting Apple's vice-president of premature-techno-rot. My iPhone 3GS is now my car's music player. I still have both my old iPods. My iPad 1 is now my four-year old nephew's favourite gadget. For all the alleged obsolescence, some of these middle-class trinkets sure are built to last. Still waiting for any of them to self-destruct.
I'm pleased you enjoy your 2007 MBP - I owned an MBP15 and it was a fantastic machine for me - I'm looking at the machine right now, since it's now my wife's computer. But more megapixels on my camera and the rise of virtualisation meant I upgraded to a new machine, since I needed more CPU, more RAM and more storage. Progress? I don't know, but I wouldn't go back to my 3MP Canon D30 now I'm using 22MP and 16.1MP bodies and I wouldn't sacrifice the flexibility of virtual machines, so I needed the new machine.
A thoughtful riposte, right up to the ad hominem in the last paragraph.
It's 04:39 in the UK at the moment, so I may not be as cogent as usual. But I'll dive in any way.
On the specific, tiresome, point of batteries: I have not disposed of any Apple equipment because of an expired battery. Two laptops that I have owned have needed replacement batteries. In one case the batteries were replaced by Apple. In the other case the machine is now used by a friend who's happy to use it tethered on his desk. For my uses it really is a non-issue. I don't worry about it on my iPod - I've got a second and a third gen and both run happily.
On the issue of control, specifically the assertion that control is being wrested from us poor users. My Macs regularly run Mac OS versions back to Snow Leopard, Solaris 10, several Debian and Red Hat flavours, Windows, both in BootCamp and VM. I don't feel particularly disempowered there.
My MacPro has several slots in it, into which I could put a new video card. I haven't taken advantage of that opportunity yet, being happy with the video performance. I have put an SSD in. So my chosen desktop hasn't blocked me from upgrading it. If I'd chosen an iMac it wouldn't be so easy, but then I would have made the wrong choice so I would hardly blame a faceless corporation, unless I was stupid.
For my laptops, I occasionally plug in and external audio processor via USB. Ditto a Korg microUSB keyboard. When I need more storage, I connect either a firewire or USB external drive. For my purposes the internal hard drive of my laptops has always been big enough - the external storage is for archiving or backup. In general, by the time one parameter has been a limiting factor, all of the big three have been limiting - CPU, RAM and disk. I gave up the desire to upgrade a machine's individual components during the time I had my last PC.
My passive-aggression: during my computing career, starting from 1992, I've used, enjoyed, seen weaknesses in, and moved away from: DOS3.x, 5.x, 6.x, Novell DOS, Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98 (not ME), NT3.51, NT4.0, W2K, XP, (not Vista), Windows 7, OpenBSD, OS/2 Warp, desktop Linuxes from 95-onwards, Solaris (too many versions to recount) and Mac OS, from Tiger onwards, where I currently remain. Choice has not been a problem for me in the OS sphere.
In computers, through both pre-work and career, I've used and owned everything from Sinclair ZX80, 81, Sinclair Spectrum (all flavours), BBC Model B, BBC Master 128, Acorn Archimedes, Amiga 500, sundry Palms and Psions, Sun pizza boxes and a wide array of servers, Compaq laptops, Dan, Elonex, and HP PCs, Dell, Supermicro and HP servers, all Apple equipment from Mini to XServe. If I wanted to, I could choose from a few thousand PC vendors, each offering subtly different interpretations of the PC theme. At the moment, I choose not to, except for servers at work (typically HP, with a few oddities for FPGA and GPU processes).
The point of all this: choice really exists. And I really can exercise it. And I continue to exercise it. It may be galling to hear this, but I currently choose Apple products for many of my computing requirements for reasons I've gone into in this thread and others. But I also use a Kindle for reading, a PS3 for games and a 3DS for portable games (oooh, closed platforms as well).
The common theme for "people like me" is that we want technology that works, does it's job for us and does it with a bit of style or panache. We've weighed up the state of things, and chosen to use Apple products.
Astroturfing or justification: more charitably, one might call it "replying to comments that I regard are inaccurate or misrepresentative". There seems to be a unique disdain for Apple on Slashdot and other technical forums. And yet many of the IT professionals I've met and worked with over the years (in the education, science and now finance spheres) either use or would like to use Apple equipment.
Like I say, it's early in the morning (05:19 now) and I've rambled enough. Take it easy, enjoy your choices and let me enjoy mine without considering it an affront to all that you hold dear. Life, for me, really is to short to worry about replacing a battery for $130 or $100 - sorry.
You're right, I've never worked on a car, although I did help my brother build a Caterham, and I defer to your analysis. The car metaphor fails once again!
As the owner of a MacPro, I would disagree that Apple always makes things difficult. But again it's a target market issue - MacPro is an expandable machine, designed to take cards and drives and aimed at users who need that facility.
The iMac and Mini, for example were originally aimed at less hard-core users - the fact that businesses have based themselves on racks of Minis was not in Apple's mind when they chose the form factor or decided to make access difficult - they wanted useful machines that would look good in the living room, take as little space as possible, and excite a non-technical audience.
The bitten biter bites the bitten biter's biter.
Your Sager machine has a very nice spec, but again we come down to criteria for choosing a machine. It ticks none of the boxes for me - I don't want a 17" machine since I have to regularly carry the machine on trains and planes and my MBP17 was too big for that; 4-5 hours in crippled mode is still not 7 hours; the thing is just as ugly as the Alienware, to my eyes; I have no interest in swapping out hardware or upgrading or what have you.
The Mac hardware is nice and the price to me is right, otherwise I wouldn't buy it. I resisted the first-gen MBA since the balance of performance and price was wrong. 2nd-gen was spot-on. I've not gone for the 768GB SSD option or the 2.7Ghz processor on my MBPT since they're marginal upgrades and the price doesn't match their value. I've got multiple TB of RAID storage at my desk and my carry-around requirements have been met by the 250GB of my MBA. I will get a new device to act as the MBPR's TimeMachine volume, since I've now got the option of USB3.
Horses for courses, as some people say. I wouldn't touch one of these gaming machines, but then I don't play games on my computers (PS3 and 3DS for that particular need) whereas maybe you and the ancestor poster do. First and foremost, in the current world, I'm a Mac user and the MBPR is the right tool for my purposes. Your "over-priced" is my "correct price for the blend of attributes it brings to me". Vive la difference, etc.
On price grounds? On "I'll leave it behind grounds"? On "it's so big grounds"?
Intrigued and confused that you'd choose to deny yourself access to a fantastic machine for what I see as non-issues.
Price? 30 dollars or thereabouts. Not free then, but in the greater scheme of things not really all that much.
Leave it behind? I've never forgotten my USB-Ethernet dongle for the MBA when I've gone anywhere. In the same way I always remember the power supply and my house keys. Now, it's simple for me, since I just leave the dongle in my tool box which I take with me on site visits. Maybe you have a more hectic schedule where you don't know whether you're going to need to plug in.
Size? Pocketable or easily goes in the case with the computer.
So what is it that particularly offends you about the dongle? When I saw that a FW800 dongle was going to be available it was actually a selling feature to me, since I had missed it on the MBA. But I was happy with the size and weight of the MBA, and that was only possible because the case didn't have the funny-sized sockets. Compromise, pragmatism etc. - makes the world a smoother, more enjoyable place. I've enjoyed owning the MacBook Air and my wife will get the benefit of it now when I pass it to her after the MBPR arrives.
Have you taken a look at the form factor of the MBPR and taken the time to consider which off-the-shelf SSD would fit in there?
Apple couldn't care less about the Slashdot crowd and our tiny but vocal group of whiners. "We" are not market leaders or trend-setters - that ship sailed many years ago, sometime around 1995 I would think, and I think the technology world's a better place as a result.
Your "deal-breaker" is a feature for many "normal" users. Simple, good-looking stuff that works. And the knowledge that if it fails, the nice people will fix it for them. Normal people don't want to ever get their hands dirty with the insides of a computer, or a car, or with the plumbing of their house. A tiny number of us are interested in that sort of thing - but I scratch that itch with things like a Raspberry Pi (pre-ordered today, yay!) and other trinkets, rather than my main work machines. Others restore classic cars, or do up their houses. But again, the numbers involved are tiny, and it doesn't make Volkswagen produce cars with easily-changeable engines, or persuade builders to externalise all the wiring to make it easy for people to swap it in the future.
We tech-savvy people shouldn't be "pissed off" at Microsoft, Apple, HP or whoever - we just choose a different product as you're proposing to here (have fun with your Linux laptop, I've been there and done that, but as far as I'm concerned Linux is for my servers and maybe a VM on my Mac for testing).
But we shouldn't think for one minute that manufacturers are aiming this sort of product (MBPs, desktop PCs, iPods, etc.) at us - we're a tiny fraction of a percent of the buyers. They don't need to be careful. I just happen to think that Apple are making the right decisions at the moment and I'm happy with the price/performance/design balance. I've made use of their warranty and post-warranty facilities and I've been happy with that too.
You don't need the resolution, so no-one else does?
One use case for my current 13" MacBookAir: looking at GoPro videos "in the field", maybe converting them into editable format to do a bit of light editing. Limiting factors: speed of cpu and ability to see the unzoomed video in FCPX.
Ah, here's a laptop with more power, a screen that does allow full size HD alongside an interface to work on it and retains most of the portability. I'd say that was a win for me. But here in the uniquely-skewed world of Slashdot all you hear is "wah! overkill-this, fanbois-that, too expensive, not advanced enough, no user serviceable parts (seriously? does anyone outside of Slashdot-land _want_ to service their own computer?)"
And yes, when I get back to base, the heavy-lifting is done on a 24" and a 27" monitor and a fully-loaded MacPro, but I sure as hell can't take that with me on the mountains, or even the cabin, can I?
All right, I'll bite.
M14x has a 14" display, not 15".
Its battery lasts around 4 hours in standardised tests, not 7 hours.
Yes it's cheaper, but you're not comparing like with like. Also, at the risk of facing derision from the tough (blinkered?) Slashdot crowd, just look at the thing http://www.notebookreview.com/shared/picture.asp?f=61197. When I'm choosing where to spend my disposable income, two of the factors are how the thing looks and feels, as you suggest. Not the most important factors, but definitely on the list.
I've ordered a 2.6GHz Retina machine, with 16GB RAM, plus the Ethernet dongle and the MagSafe2 adapter. Other than one very old Compaq laptop at a previous employer, I have never felt the urge to upgrade RAM or storage in one of my machines so I couldn't care less about the lack of upgradeability. The battery can be replaced by Apple if that's an issue (I've taken advantage of that with one previous machine). It will be used, like all of my machines for: coding (Vim/Netbeans), system management (Solaris, Linux, MacOS, Windows servers, Cisco and HP network equipment), photography and film (LightRoom, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro X). It replaces a MacBook Air which has served me well, travelling around the world with me, tucked into a Tenba Roadie II Universal case. The MacBook Air shuffles over to my wife, to replace her 1st gen MBP15 which I'll donate to whichever friend or family member needs it most at the moment.
Yep, I'm in a happy Apple bubble. I like the simplicity, style, look, feel and quality of Macs. I love the functionality of OSX. And I certainly don't fit into the moronic image that other replies have alluded to (Starbucks, hipster etc.). I'm a systems and networks guy for a hedge fund, working from home, and the Mac hardware has been the right hardware for me and my job for many years now. I may not get 730fps on Diablo III, but I do have reliable, sturdy, smart and well-designed computers that do the job for me.
Your mileage obviously varies, your criteria for computer selection differs from mine and I can respect that. But I do buy a Mac because of the hardware - that Retina screen is a hell of piece of kit and for photos/film it was enough to get me to order on day one. Similarly, the MacBook Air had exactly the right mix of performance and portability.
For sound quality, I use Etymotic Research ER-4P. Very clean sound, not overly bassy, good isolation. Comfort - not so good, but YMMV and they come with a selection of bud designs and sizes.
For comfort, please don't laugh, but I use some Beats by Dre Studio HD. The sound is in no way neutral, but there's plenty of detail and like I say the comfort is sky-high. They support my iPad/iPhone (although I don't think I've used that functionality yet). The cancelling is reasonably good, though the ER-4Ps isolation is more effective. Battery life is not so great and you can't use them at all when the batteries are dead.
I stand by my comment - "still" adds nothing to the sentence as used in the summary, which ends with "yet". There's no disagreement to state - it really is early days. "it's still early days, yet", "it's early days yet", "still, it's early days" and "it's still early days" all say the same thing, with varying economy. The third and fourth options say it most clearly, in my opinion, whereas the first seems clumsy.
"It's early days yet" is a common expression in English, as spoken here in the UK. The "still" is redundant, either side of the Atlantic.
As a service to your brethren, could you let us know the hit rates from Clam on your Mac?
1. In files only available to your Mac
2. In files shared between Mac and Windows (VM/Boot camp etc.)
3. Viruses that can affect your Mac
4. Viruses that you are just a carrier for.
I played Braid on my Mac, but I believe it was available to download for the Xbox first. I've downloaded some third-party stuff on my 3DS (via the eshop, rather than homebrew) which may not have come from the cities mentioned. But as you can see from my list of favourite games, I'm not exactly a cutting-edge game fan :)
All the points were saying why a console is better for me. 2, 3 and 6 are saying I don't want a desktop computer (either Mac or PC), with keyboard, mouse etc., in my living room.
Point 3 was a little facetious or snobbish, depending on your viewpoint. Either way, there aren't any of the accoutrements of a desktop computer in my living room and this is important to us.
Point 7 reflects my perception of the PC games market as being dominated by FPSes. Maybe that's misguided.
Point 8 further reflects the argument that I see my desktop computer as a separate tool to my console and I have no desire to compromise the performance of the computer to make it play games well. Experiences with friends' "gaming rigs" suggests that it can be difficult to make them run well as general purpose computers.
But your reply to point 8 is valid as a response to all my points, and also to almost everything else anyone says about this issue. This just isn't a terribly important argument, which I acknowledged when I said that the original poster's mileage varied from mine. vim vs emacs, mac vs pc, pc vs consoles - religious battles of no consequence whatsoever. Just edit text, use your chosen computer(s) and play your games in whatever way makes you happy.
Possibly a little snobbish:), but then again there's not been a piece of Windows software that I've needed in the last few years except the management consoles for our trading platform (Orc) and Excel/Visual Studio to write custom code for our traders to query Bloomberg in innovative ways.
1. Mario, Zelda, GT5
2. No PC in my living room, thanks
3. No PC in my house, in fact (by the old-school Windows/Linux definition of "PC").
4. No upgrades once I've bought a games device.
5. As few patches as possible (although my PS3 and 3DS both break that rule)
6. Biggest screen in the house is (just) our living-room television. It cost substantially less than the next biggest (a 27" Cinema Display) but is just fine for games. Games in the house, work in the home office. Separation of work and home life maintained. Games with my wife (oh, be quiet), work alone.
7. I'm not interested in FPS games (see 1 above).
8. My computers (all Macs) are for work or media. They're optimised for that purpose (many cores, resilient storage [some fast, some slow, all redundant and available], mucho-RAM, video cards that support Aperture/Final Cut Pro X) and run my software very nicely (Xcode, NetBeans, iTerm, vim, ssh, Aperture/FCP/Lightroom, Cisco AnyConnect). My console runs its software really well (GT5 mainly, plus LBP2), out of the box. No conflicts between the two, ever. No rebooting or tweaking the video settings to make things work, just pick up the controller and play, or grab the keyboard and work.
So that's eight ways a console is better for me and absolutely makes sense for me. I'm "locked-in" to the extent that I can use/buy any software I want for my Mac (even Windows software should I be insane), but I have to play the games that some publisher produces for my console of choice. I have "missed' precisely zero PC games. So where's the lock-in?
YMobviouslyV.
Your post was possibly the post important message an AC has ever shared with this website. Thanks.
Dumb question: why don't they all use micro?
[ duplicate reply due to fat fingers and brain fade ]
Nice idea. But 30 minutes! Ha. 3 hours was a typical scheduled duration for inter-departmental meetings. They didn't have a problem keeping to that timescale, but the idea of brief meetings was anathema to the layers of management above mine (I was three layers down from the vice-chancellor, i.e. the boss). They'd taken the time to dictate the agenda and detailed notes to their PAs, and dammit they were going to make sure we all enjoyed their prose and oration at length.
I've been back to the Uni a few times to catch up with erstwhile colleagues and mentioned that one of the reasons I had to go was the appalling bureaucracy in general and the quantity and duration of meetings in particular. Some of the gassiest of the gas bags cooed sympathetically and said "I know, it's terrible, but what can you do?" Tempting though it was to hit them with the "why didn't you just STFU"-stick, I bit my tongue.
Nice idea. But 30 minutes! Ha. 3 hours was a typical scheduled duration for inter-departmental meetings. They didn't have a problem keeping to that timescale, but the idea of brief meetings was anathema to the layers of management above mine (I was three layers down from the pro-vice-chancellors, i.e. the day-to-day bosses). They'd taken the time to dictate the agenda and detailed notes to their PAs, and dammit they were going to make sure we all enjoyed their prose and oration at length.
I've been back to the Uni a few times to catch up with erstwhile colleagues and mentioned that one of the reasons I had to go was the appalling bureaucracy in general and the quantity and duration of meetings in particular. Some of the gassiest of the gas bags cooed sympathetically and said "I know, it's terrible, but what can you do?" Tempting though it was to hit them with the "why didn't you just STFU then"-stick, I bit my tongue.
After 13 years as a systems guy/programmer, I ended up as manager of 12 similar people. The University had gone through a restructuring and a few resignations and I thought it would be the right thing to do, since I was recognised as the most capable in the team (no false modesty here!).
Four years later, I left the University to go back to being a systems/guy programmer, working for a small Swiss proprietary fund (my current employer). Reasons:
1. Meetings. Endless. Bloody. Meetings. I'd been to fortnightly team meetings as a programmer. As a manager there was at least one sort of meeting with someone in the University every other day. Protestations that email or other collaborative software would save everyone time, mileage and money were met with indifference - other managers seemed to enjoy the stupid things.
2. Stress and Responsibility - two sides of the same coin. When you're in charge of a group, the buck stops with you. This can wear you down after a while. It certainly did with me. Whilst I was immensely proud of the team and what we accomplished, occasionally things do go wrong and for some reason the customers never remember the good times.
3. Health issues. My underlying, but previously unobtrusive OCD was exacerbated by 1 and 2 above. I grew afraid (shaking, uncontrollable fear) of meetings, eventually getting to the stage where I would leave them mid-way, or invent excuses not to go in the first place, or just not turn up. Whilst my managers were sympathetic, I became unhappy with the way I was doing my job, which of course reinforced the "bad thoughts"-side of my OCD. I was off sick from work repeatedly, sometimes for days at a time. I received professional help and medication for the OCD and got back on a somewhat even keel, but realised that I would never be happy in my job. When the opportunity to get back to programming and systems work arose, I took it enthusiastically.
Now obviously your mileage may vary and my comment may be utterly useless. I guess the point is that a good programmer may not be a good manager. A person who enjoys working directly on problems may not enjoy giving the problems to others to solve. And a person with any sort of mental issues may find them more exposed when working as a manager!
0-9 is right. Please stop putting Daily Mail stories on the front page. They're tantamount to fiction.
An excellent list, Justin. I think I've always favoured "reasonable-term". Certainly my heart sank when our esteemed legislators here in the UK were persuaded to extend some copyright to 70 years.
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