Anyone else disappointed with Mac offerings?

lamboman · 12 Mar 2015 at 15:16

You're comparing a pile of parts to a ready-built AIO system. Really, that signifies the difference; you don't fall under the demographic Apple is targeting. Apple desktops are aimed at people who want a system that they take home, plug in, and use. Everybody else really has covered it well. There just isn't a place for such a machine in their line-up.

I'm in the same position - I want a bigger monitor that is less reflective, a more powerful graphics card and a machine that doesn't require me to throw away perfectly good equipment and spend £1300 just to upgrade it. Hence why I'm going Hackintosh soon - it's a far more reliable experience than it used to be. Again, it's a case of my needs not really fitting within Apple's line-up for their desktops.

bloodiedathame said:
I used to really like Macs. Have owned 2008 and 2010 MBP, wife has a 2010 Air and they've been great machines and still going strong. But I will probably never buy a Mac again going by their current trend (from 2011 onwards).

Current trend? Aside from no longer allowing memory and hard drive upgrades, little has changed. Both of these things aren't exactly a big deal (it's not difficult to buy appropriately for your future requirements) and memory upgrades aren't particularly expensive. They're offering 256GB for a decent price in most of their machines now.

Bonjour · 12 Mar 2015 at 16:58

Upgraded the RAM... replaced the HDD...

That's why it lasted so long, and unfortunately Apple have systematically removed this upgradability from all of their Mac range.

Bluecube · 12 Mar 2015 at 18:31

Slightly OT. I've been using a Hackintosh for years now and never had any issues with it. If you're not find the Mac range to your liking (and as has been pointed out above, there are many reasons not to like it) then there's nothing wrong with a good Hackintosh.

JackRegan · 12 Mar 2015 at 21:42

bloodiedathame said:
I used to really like Macs. Have owned 2008 and 2010 MBP, wife has a 2010 Air and they've been great machines and still going strong. But I will probably never buy a Mac again going by their current trend (from 2011 onwards).

I am starting to think the exact same.

I was going to replace my current 13" MBP with the 13" rMBP but for the price it I feel it should really have a QC CPU so held off. The 15" has a great spec but is a little too big to carry round.

I had then intended to buy the new 12" MacBook but after looking at it in more detail think it's may not be for me. Due to it only having one one USB-C port I wouldn't be able to charge, attach my phone and an external display to it as I do now when I get home.

Plus spec wise it's lower than the Air?

Graphics HD5300 / HD6000
Camera 480p / 720p
Ports USB-C / Thunderbolt 2, USB 3 x 2

Even the illuminated apple logo on the front has gone!

bloodiedathame · 12 Mar 2015 at 21:46

Bluecube said:
nothing wrong with a good Hackintosh.

I think the Apple License Agreement may disagree with you (from what I've heard).

Bonjour · 12 Mar 2015 at 21:50

Unfortuntely Apple lost their soul with Steve Jobs, who was a true visionary and wasn't only about the $$$.

bloodiedathame · 12 Mar 2015 at 21:51

lamboman said:
Current trend? Aside from no longer allowing memory and hard drive upgrades, little has changed. Both of these things aren't exactly a big deal (it's not difficult to buy appropriately for your future requirements) and memory upgrades aren't particularly expensive. They're offering 256GB for a decent price in most of their machines now.

Yes, current trend of not catering for upgrades, battery replacements, replacing useful ports with an expensive architecture that I just won't buy into, ever (Thunderbolt), or removing ports altogether (USB on the new MBP), replacing the expandable tower Mac Pro with an underpowered, unexpandable piece of trash. Let's not mention OSX and iOS backward steps.

It's obvious what Apple are doing, and I don't like it, agree with it and I won't buy into it.

Noxia · 13 Mar 2015 at 08:48

Edit: Got OP mixed up with poster above thus not relevant.

ic1male · 13 Mar 2015 at 09:52

What the heck is USB-C anyway? Is it the successor to USB3? Surely if the new laptop only has one of them, you're going to need a hub or is it like Firewire where you can chain multiple things together?

TheLegendOfMart · 13 Mar 2015 at 09:56

That's the point, one plug so they can sell you an $80 adapter that lets you charge it while using other usb devices.

ic1male · 13 Mar 2015 at 10:00

So that's the end of Magsafe as well. Jeez, they really are money grabbing <censored>.

Somnambulist · 13 Mar 2015 at 13:21

On the flipside, MagSafe was proprietory and you didn't have many options bar the official Apple ones. This MacBook will be able to be charged by 3rd party accessories/power packs etc (i.e. more like an iOS device).

ic1male · 13 Mar 2015 at 13:22

Somnambulist said:
On the flipside, MagSafe was proprietory and you didn't have many options bar the officla Apple ones. This MacBook will be able to be charged by 3rd party accessories/power packs etc (i.e. more like an iOS device).

True. One should be applauding them for adopting non-prop interfaces but a stingy single one is just nonsense.

Bluecube · 13 Mar 2015 at 19:20

bloodiedathame said:
I think the Apple License Agreement may disagree with you (from what I've heard).

Last I heard you could only install OSX on Apple branded hardware. I've stuck a Apple logo on the side of my Hackintosh. Sorted.

philip2009 · 14 Mar 2015 at 00:33

TheLegendOfMart said:
I've been dabbling with a Hackintosh on and off for years, I've been using the latest one as my main computer for past few months.

I really want to make the switch to actual hardware but their range of computers is terrible.

The only decent Macs are the iMacs but to get top end hardware you are talking over £2000. 21.5" are too small.

I agree with you. I bought an 8-core Mac Pro 2008 under a student discount back when the exchange rate was good. Great machine, shame Apple are not serious about computers anymore(hence dropping "Computer" from their company name). I'm putting my Mac Pro up for sale next week and mostly switching to Windows/commodity hardware(offers welcome - message me).

Bonjour · 14 Mar 2015 at 01:18

Apple won me over with the first (easily) user-upgradable Mac Mini, which was superb value. To the extent where I've been fully invested in the Apple ecosystem; desktop, laptop, tablet and phone.

They've completely lost me with this new MacBook.

MichaelAwkward · 14 Mar 2015 at 07:32

Mac's used to be cool. Now they're just another consumer object. Peak was the 1st generation MacBook Pro and plastic MacBooks IMHO.

TheLegendOfMart · 15 Mar 2015 at 15:02

I may just wait for Mini refresh, I know they were only just updated but maybe they will skip Broadwell and do a Skylake refresh near the end of this year, the iGPU should be noticeably faster.

shiver · 15 Mar 2015 at 15:18

I think their next logical upgrade would be the new specs of the 13" rMBP in a Mac mini.

What would be awesome is if they used the same chips that are in the base spec 15" rMBP. Quad-Core CPU and Iris Pro. Probably difficult for the thermal design in the Mac mini case though

Combat Fighter · 16 Mar 2015 at 12:51

Bluecube said:
Slightly OT. I've been using a Hackintosh for years now and never had any issues with it. If you're not find the Mac range to your liking (and as has been pointed out above, there are many reasons not to like it) then there's nothing wrong with a good Hackintosh.

Same here, my hackintosh has been working fine for years and years. Can't remember the last time I saw the curtain of death.

Solid machine, although I only use it for streaming on my plasma tv.