Apple's Product Lineup. WTAF is going on?

[AlphaGamer46]

Hi.

 

I had a look at Apple's Mac page on their website and it made me realise that their lineup is not simple, like it was before the new 2015 MacBook. One product for consumers, one for professionals. It worked. Here's my opinion on it all.

 

Laptops

So, there's the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air and the new 2015 MacBook. Who does the new MacBook cater for? Nobody who actually wants good price for performance. If you want a thin Mac that has a Core i5 or even an i7, you'll buy a MacBook Air. You don't need adapters and the thing is very thin. If you want a powerful machine, you've got the choice between the mid-2012 MacBook Pro which is still very powerful or the MacBook Pro Retina which is amazingly specced. The MacBook is really only good if someone wants to spend their money on something that is so underpowered. Just buy a Dell netbook from like 2008. You'll get it much cheaper.

 

Desktops

What is the Mac Mini? Apparently, it's a starter Mac for the new Mac user. Sure, that was okay when the Mac Mini wasn't a MacBook Air inside and you could actually do stuff on it. Now, you'll find that you buy a Mac Mini and then it is very underpowered. You can't return it, so what do you do? Try and sell it, losing a lot of money and perhaps buy an iMac. That would have been much more sensible from the beginning. Their price to performance is very good, you can't really complain. If someone wants an All-in-One system, go for the iMac. It even acts as a good pro machine, but then what's the Mac Pro existing for? This machine is very elegant but it is held back with the fact that is ridiculously expensive. No person in their right mind is going to buy a Mac Pro.

 

iPad

This is stupid. You've got the low-end iPad, the iPad mini. You've got the higher-end iPad for those wanting a big screen, the iPad Air. Then you've got the iPad Pro. Who does this seem good to? Designers? No, it doesn't have a full suite of Photoshop, making it a stupid choice for actual designers. It is ridiculously big, meaning it's uncomfortable for a lot of people as well. You'll go for something like a Microsoft Surface. This is super ridiculous now, Apple are trying to pull the 'This is the only laptop you need' despite the fact that it does not run OS X or Windows.

 

iPhone

This is a lot more normal and doesn't get me annoyed. I quite like this because Apple are catering to everyone, especially those who bought an iPhone because it wasn't above 5 inches. The iPhone SE is good for certain people who wanted the smaller iPhone but Apple also cater to the modern user who wants a bigger screen. The iPhone line is all that's good at Apple right now.

 

Overall

I think that with Apple moving into the future, they need a simple lineup. They need a product for the pro user and one for the consumer. I say get rid of the 2015 MacBook, the Mac mini and the iPad Pro. Apple's lineup will become a lot cleaner when they do that.

 

Let me know what you think or if you think my opinions are absolutely absurd. I'm always open to other opinions.

 

Thanks, Alpha.

[mikat]

32 or 64 GB needs to be the standard on the most recent phones, 16 GB just doesn't cut it.

[maremp]

9 minutes ago, AlphaGamer46 said:

Who does the new MacBook cater for? Nobody who actually wants good price for performance.

Are you having a laff?

No one buys an apple device because price to performance reasons.

 

I have bought my mbp because of it's build quality and especially the software, no other OS comes close to OS X for developers, especially web dev related technologies and tools (node, rails, atom editor, etc.). There are also a lot of small utilities that make life easier, the two I use the most are spotlight (I actually use alfred, but since yosemite, spotlight improved a lot) and integrated dictionary lookup. I did not buy it do heavy computing tasks or play games. 

[JPotze]

as an apple user myself i think the lineup is fine. in the laptop department you can clearly see that you can make a good choice in products..

 

you either are a power user (more ram and speed) or a mobile user (MacBooks and macbook airs) its not that difficult.

in the all-in-one department you make the choice of screen size. the hardware inside is all capable of the stuff you want to do. 

And for the power users there is a mac pro. also not that difficult. who needs that speed knows what to choose. (and for corporate use, you always go for the best anyway)

 

and on the subject of corporate use. Apple is the bomb about that. there is such a good way to manage hundreds of units in a single click. out-of-the-box corporate configuration and so on. if you want to cut in IT-managers overhead, apple is my choice.

[spellmanuk]

i agree completely man, theve gone from not enough choice to to much and just confusing people, the other issue i have is with there computers they commit daylight robbery with some upgrades some i can understand like the lap on the macbooks which is soldered to the mainboard but things like the 27inch imac which has user serviceable ram in it where they are trying to charge £480 to upgrade from 8GB of ddr3 ro 16gb of drr3 where as you chould buy 32GB ram from kingston for that imac yourself for £125 no not only are tey confusing there users they are robbing them aswell

[LAwLz]

17 minutes ago, maremp said:

no other OS comes close to OS X for developers, especially web dev related technologies and tools (node, rails, atom editor, etc.)

I like how you say no other OS comes close, and then only lists things that are available both on Windows and GNU/Linux.

But please enlighten me. In what way is OS X so superior to the alternatives when it comes to software development that the other OSes are left in the dust?

 

 

17 minutes ago, JPotze said:

(and for corporate use, you always go for the best anyway)

Trust me, you don't. A lot of the times, companies will go for the cheapest and bare minimum to get the job done.

 

19 minutes ago, JPotze said:

and on the subject of corporate use. Apple is the bomb about that. there is such a good way to manage hundreds of units in a single click. out-of-the-box corporate configuration and so on. if you want to cut in IT-managers overhead, apple is my choice.

In my experience "out-of-the-box, one size fits all" solutions are usually not as good as managing things yourself. I haven't used Open Directory so maybe I am wrong on that, but a lot of times companies need more custom tailored things to suit their needs than OOTB solutions can handle.

[ShadowCaptain]

Nothing wrong with the mac mini, its performance is fine, people who buy a mac mini just want it for browsing and editing their iPhone photos and its great at that

 

Hopefully the air and none retina macbook will be phased out soon or at least heavily reduced in price since the air is still good if they can make it the budget option

 

So that you have the Macbook 12", 13" retina, and 15" retina - that makes the most sense

 

iphone is great at the moment and the SE is a neat option

The iPads make perfect sense:

Mini = small tablet for light use

iPad Air = regular iPad

iPad Pro = better iPad - can edit dual 4k camera streams etc, better cameras and processors

iPad Pro Large  = for someone who doenst need the portability / increased functionality 

if anything there is too much choice, but none of the choices are paricularly bad, and im sure there is a plan going forwards

[JPotze]

6 minutes ago, peej said:

not only are tey confusing there users they are robbing them aswell

its not a robbery. you make the choice yourself. you don't have to pay that much if you don't want to.

 

i have an expression in dutch which is hard to translate. there is a difference between a lot of money and expensive.

[flowalex]

8 minutes ago, JPotze said:

Snip

I think it depends on the environment for the enterprise use, I was talking to a friend that worked in my university's IT department and they said that they really hated having to update the mac computers because it meant they had to bring them all back to the office and reconfigure the domain where as the windows the who update didn't affect them.

 

I am not trying to bash Apple I think certain products of theirs are good, like the macbook  pro as well as the mac pro.  My main problem is the repair ability that they have.  I personally take my laptop apart once a year to clean out all of the dust that has accumulated inside it.  Also a more important thing for pricing is not just performance, but cost over the lifespan.  My current laptop I have had for about 5 years and I paid 600 USD for it, meaning that I only spent 120 USD per year.  Am I going to buy a 2000 USD windows laptop no and the anwser is the same for a mac laptop, I am not even going to buy a 1000 USD laptop unless it will last me with no performance issues for it to cost about 100 USD per year.  

20 minutes ago, maremp said:

Snip

As for operating systems that is preference based. I use all of those same development tools on my linux running laptop and it has no issues with any of it.  Also personally I am a lot less productive on a OSX based system just because I am not used to the keyboard shortcuts that they use (I almost never use my mouse if I don't have to) 

[spellmanuk]

1 minute ago, JPotze said:

its not a robbery. you make the choice yourself. you don't have to pay that much if you don't want to.

 

i have an expression in dutch which is hard to translate. there is a difference between a lot of money and expensive.

£480 for 32gb of ram is robbery no argument about it

[JPotze]

1 minute ago, peej said:

£480 for 32gb of ram is robbery no argument about it

you forget that i said that it is your choice to purchase it. You can do it yourself. 

[JPotze]

2 minutes ago, flowalex said:

My current laptop I have had for about 5 years and I paid 600 USD for it, meaning that I only spent 120 USD per year.

you forget to calculate the resale value of the laptop. MacBooks or apple gear in general can hold the resale price longer than an windows laptop.

 

I bought a macbook pro for 1200 euro's. used it for 4 years and sold it for 900. that is less then 100 euro's a year. i bought a new one for 1000 and used that for 2 years. sold it for 850. bought a macbook air voor 999 and sold it for 900 in a year. it is also around 100 a year.

[flowalex]

Just now, JPotze said:

Snip

I have never resold a computer, I drive my computers to the ground, I had a netbook that I only got rid of it because the SSD died and it wasn't cost effective to get a new one (got the netbook for free and had it for 7 years), my current laptop after I get a new one if it is still working I will use it to run simple game servers for myself so I don't have to run my desktop.  We just last year got rid of a desktop that still used IDE as the main connector and we still have a desktop that runs vista that we only keep it because of previous tax returns on it, it sits on the ground off most of the time.  I also gut system that we are getting rid of for the working parts like hard drives and disk drives (yes I still use DVD's and CD's) before getting rid of them

[spellmanuk]

36 minutes ago, JPotze said:

you forget that i said that it is your choice to purchase it. You can do it yourself. 

yeah i know like i said in my original post you can buy it got £168 from kingston but thats only if you have the 27inch imac and you knew you could do this as many people will not know this also if you have a 21 inch imac or any other mac the ram is soldered to the motherboard to reduce the cost of parts and make it overall slimmer so if you want 32GB in your 21inch imac you have to fork out the £480 

[BOOM BOX]

39 minutes ago, JPotze said:

you forget to calculate the resale value of the laptop. MacBooks or apple gear in general can hold the resale price longer than an windows laptop.

 

I bought a macbook pro for 1200 euro's. used it for 4 years and sold it for 900. that is less then 100 euro's a year. i bought a new one for 1000 and used that for 2 years. sold it for 850. bought a macbook air voor 999 and sold it for 900 in a year. it is also around 100 a year.

This actually pisses me off a little bit to read this. I get it that you're trying to stay up to date with your tech but really? Why do people like you care so much about the re-sale ability of a computer and not the reliability of it. Yeah sure Windows/GNU Linux based PCs don't have very good re-sale value but as flowalex has stated in his defense, he runs his PCs to the ground as do a LOT of people which is where PC/GNU Linux based PC excel at; longevity and reliability.

[JPotze]

2 minutes ago, BOOM BOX said:

longevity and reliability.

i disagree. yes, personally i like to have very new and up-to-date hardware. that is why i buy a new iPhone every year and like to have a speedy iPad. But a laptop like my macbook pro worked great for 4 years straight. And with a new OS overtime it still feels fast and reliable. My girlfriends laptop also 4 years old is not that fast after i installed windows 8.1 on it. I drink my coffee faster than that piece of plastic boots. 

[BuckGup]

My 2 cents. Only things worth buying from Apple. There router, macbook pro 15inch to 17inch, iphone (flagship one), and the Mac Pro. Everything else the price to performance or usability is just stupid. Really who uses an Ipad. Only people I see using it are old people, kids, and disabled people.

[handymanshandle]

2 hours ago, AlphaGamer46 said:

Hi.

 

I had a look at Apple's Mac page on their website and it made me realise that their lineup is not simple, like it was before the new 2015 MacBook. One product for consumers, one for professionals. It worked. Here's my opinion on it all.

 

Laptops

So, there's the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air and the new 2015 MacBook. Who does the new MacBook cater for? Nobody who actually wants good price for performance. If you want a thin Mac that has a Core i5 or even an i7, you'll buy a MacBook Air. You don't need adapters and the thing is very thin. If you want a powerful machine, you've got the choice between the mid-2012 MacBook Pro which is still very powerful or the MacBook Pro Retina which is amazingly specced. The MacBook is really only good if someone wants to spend their money on something that is so underpowered. Just buy a Dell netbook from like 2008. You'll get it much cheaper.

 

Desktops

What is the Mac Mini? Apparently, it's a starter Mac for the new Mac user. Sure, that was okay when the Mac Mini wasn't a MacBook Air inside and you could actually do stuff on it. Now, you'll find that you buy a Mac Mini and then it is very underpowered. You can't return it, so what do you do? Try and sell it, losing a lot of money and perhaps buy an iMac. That would have been much more sensible from the beginning. Their price to performance is very good, you can't really complain. If someone wants an All-in-One system, go for the iMac. It even acts as a good pro machine, but then what's the Mac Pro existing for? This machine is very elegant but it is held back with the fact that is ridiculously expensive. No person in their right mind is going to buy a Mac Pro.

 

iPad

This is stupid. You've got the low-end iPad, the iPad mini. You've got the higher-end iPad for those wanting a big screen, the iPad Air. Then you've got the iPad Pro. Who does this seem good to? Designers? No, it doesn't have a full suite of Photoshop, making it a stupid choice for actual designers. It is ridiculously big, meaning it's uncomfortable for a lot of people as well. You'll go for something like a Microsoft Surface. This is super ridiculous now, Apple are trying to pull the 'This is the only laptop you need' despite the fact that it does not run OS X or Windows.

 

iPhone

This is a lot more normal and doesn't get me annoyed. I quite like this because Apple are catering to everyone, especially those who bought an iPhone because it wasn't above 5 inches. The iPhone SE is good for certain people who wanted the smaller iPhone but Apple also cater to the modern user who wants a bigger screen. The iPhone line is all that's good at Apple right now.

 

 

Laptops:
Honestly I hope they don't drop the MacBook Air. I was fine with the MacBook being dead but then they brought back but not to its former glory. There is nearly no reason to buy a MacBook of today besides the wow factor, even though there are and is thinner laptops on the market and coming out that have better I/O and perhaps even specs...

Desktops: 
It has been a shame that in recent years they've been making the Mac Mini worse than its previous iterations and recently removed upgradability. So that's another shame because the Mac Mini was such an interesting Mac and I thought Apple would've kept it at a nice point...

The Mac Pro is obviously for true professional applications, when more power is needed.

Three desktops would be fine if they wouldn't have gimped one.

 

iPad:
I think Apple will remove the iPad Air in due time because they didn't update it this year.

The iPad Mini and the two iPad Pros are fine, though it is odd that they didn't give the 9.7" iPad Pro an actual name. Like the iPad Pro Mini or something like, or perhaps just allow all three of their damn tablets to use the Apple pencil, why does something so basic have to be reserved for something so unnecessary.

 

iPhone:
I still wouldn't buy it, at least right now. I think it has a lot to do with iOS of right now. As long as Google keeps up with the Material Design (or makes it even better) and doesn't revert to some of its other UI and UX languages from pre Jellybean it's all good, iOS I think will be inferior on the UI side for a while yet. Though a lot of people think that iPhones are spec for spec superior to Android phones and to an extent that can be true. The A9 SoC is quite fast, I mean the Exynos 7420 (and Snapdragon 810) trade blows one winning some things and losing others. iOS does make good use of only having 1 or 2GB of ram, but still that's not an excuse to not put in 3GB or so of RAM in. 

 

[KWelz]

This thread is the perfect example of people who are unable to comprehend any need except their own.   

 

Each of the devices has a place.   In fact the Mac pro is the only system I feel is out of place right now.  And that is just because it needs a processor update.

[AyeJayKay]

Apple's product line up is actually pretty nice. In regards to some of their wonky product refreshes on their computers, blame the delays from Intel.

[Zenedge]

laptops

i personally have a macbook pro, and i would take that over any windows laptop.

build quality is superb, windows is installed whenever i need it

i do however agree, that apple products are expensive, but that's really their market, it is for the rich people, people who have money to burn.

 

desktops

okay, this is kinda like a mixed bag, i do not like the desktops, because a windows desktop would be so much better, but there are some people who use macs for the tasks that they do.

 

ipad

awesome product, solid build quality, optimized apps, this is how tabs should be made

 

iphone

expensive af, but at the same time, beautiful

[kaiju_wars]

I have the 2014 Mac Mini, the one with the 2.6 GHz core i5 and 8GB of RAM.  It runs fine.  The only underpowered part is the intigrated graphics.  But cmon, what other computers are in the same price range with intigrated graphics... A lot.

 

As for the 2015 MacBook, I can tell you this.  It's thinner and lighter than the air, and it has the power of an iPad for one reason, to cater to the people who want the portability and battery life of a tablet, but hate tablets.

You could argue the air is that, but this is even lighter than the air.

Thats all it really is though.  Obviously the new MacBook isn't for you, he'll it isn't for me.  But there are people out there who want it.

[Kobathor]

6 hours ago, mikat said:

32 or 64 GB needs to be the standard on the most recent phones, 16 GB just doesn't cut it.

They offer the 16GB versions of phones so that they can charge $100 USD more for the 32GB version, then $100 USD more for the 64GB version, then $100 USD more for 128GB. Apple knows 16GB is not enough for most people.

[Kobathor]

36 minutes ago, Mantayd17 said:

While I agree with the base idea... there's no such thing as 16/32/64/128. There's no 32 anymore in iPhones.

There was last generation. Oops. Now it's 16GB, then $100 more for 64GB, then $100 more for 128GB. You get the point.

[Orangeator]

7 hours ago, mikat said:

32 or 64 GB needs to be the standard on the most recent phones, 16 GB just doesn't cut it.

Hence why I got the G4... It has 32GB of on board storage, and a micro SD card slot that supports up to a 2tb card. Those don't even exist yet. But when they do my phone will support them.