ive been a Mac user since the early nineties when they were a pseudo counter culture that made fantastic computers..since then, theyve turned into a faceless, whoring, corporate machine, with vomit inducing elitism and product launches with more fervour than a Billy Graham healing and spiritual enlightenment arena tour, attended by delirous, brainwashed mugs who think nothing of queing in the gutter for a month to buy an over priced phone....its a fkn phone people!! these are the muppets who have bought into the dream, but never had a Mac back in the day because they were too busy spunking their lives away on World of Warcraft whilst trying to get Windows XP to work.... anyway..i digress.. Im on my second iMac in two years after owning various G4's, G5 and so on...the first one lasted a few weeks before the logic board failed...the second on, a top of the iMac range, iMac 27 has so far had the magic mouse mysteriously stop working, numerous kernel panics, wireless stopping working, iPhoto no longer available, dust behind the screen,OSX Lion not working with Logic Pro, not recognising Adobe CS5 (which still refuses to work properly) and now the optical drive has stopped working....fkn shit...if i wanted this aggro i wouldve bought a PC for £350.. The internet forums are full of these same issues, plus hundreds of others..its almost like theyve forgotten about the computer side of their business..now its an add on, and Macs....oh sorry, Apples or whatever theyre called now, seem little more than a fashion accessory and the 'core' of their business is phones, tablets and dominating the world with itunes and all the rest of it...becoming a big useless monolith like microsoft... And im sick and fkn tired of the 'i'....drop it ffs.... To be fair, they have been brilliant at accepting the computer back, and even called me back, and i didnt have to queue to get to an advisor...theyre going to collect, repair and return in addition to replacing the mouse..dont know if iPhoto will ever work again... Ive also got a feeling, theyve moved to using generic hardware...the OS is still the most advanced in the world, but imho the latest versions (Lion and Mountain Lion) are full of stupid bugs, and perform almost like Betas...certainly not the instant plug and play of the older versions... Until someone else can write an OS as good as the Mac then im now resigned to having to put up with it..Something i never thought i would ever said after 20 years of championing their products..well, computers at least. Shame that computers seem to almost be a sideline for them now..and i hate them pressing home the advantage with non cross platform products (not that id ever use anything made by microsoft....ive ripped out too much hair, and swore that i would never buy anything from them after i was reduced to throwing a piece of shit PC onto the patio and slamming a garden fork thru it)... Apple, sort your shit out.
maybe if all you want to do is surf the web and write letters, but i wouldnt call them over priced shite...for media use, id say that there is still nothing that can outperform them...this is why they are in every recording studio, publishing house and film editing suites the world over, and the software for all of these disciplines is industry standard, either developed exclusively for the Mac (Logic Pro, Final Cut etc), or developed primarily for the Mac (Adobe Creative Suite as one example)... i would however, say that the quality of the components and the stability of the OS is not as good as it used to be, and the integration with external devices is not as clean cut as it used to be...ie when using an Andriod device its not possible to run both Android File transfer and Samsung Kies on the same machine...a few years, every single device i had: external soundcards, cameras, audio processors, mics, almost any phone imaginable etc etc simply plugged in and worked..no need to piss about with drivers or having to employ 'work arounds'...It seems that this is becoming more of an issue...On my old Blackberry i could just plug it in, click into it and access all of its memory and features remotely, move files and folders around, delete items etc..with an Android phone ive had to download an app..no big deal, but as a Mac user Ive gotten spoiled.. i think Apple are concentrating too much on general consumer items and become complacent and take the loyalty of their users for granted..i ran a G4 for 12 years without a single hardware glitch and maybe 4 or 5 lockups...eventually i broke it for parts and mde almost £400..ive kept the pretty case to keep cables in.... Now i hear stories of logic boards failing, poor battery life, dead pixels on screens....they just dont seem to be as good these days. The res of the 27" screen is amazing, but dust particles behind the screen?? come on...
Apple are believing their own hype a little too much these days, yes if your a graphic designer etc they're the industry standard but I think even that can / will start to change as cloud derived software starts taking a foot hold (new PS for example) theyre lazy on styling (a little like Porsche), very stingy on component upgrades, just look at the iphone, hardly come along leaps and bounds has it? it's similar in the desktop systems as you've pointed out. my personal view, yes, Apple/Mac, whatever you might wanna call it is well past its best. It's riding on a reputation that's long gone IMO
View from the sort of inside on this (as I work in an Apple shop - although not one that they own - 2 days a week): No, I don't think it is fair or accurate to say that Macs are more shoddily made now than they were. We have a service department here and there isn't a massive amount of people coming in with broken machines, although there is a steady stream of people with a problem of one sort or another, but this is normal. It would be like a garage that never saw anyone for a service or replacing a part. Plenty of people come in with broken iPads or iPhones, but generally they have been subjected to "undue wear and tear" - like dropping them on the floor. When I was also in the Mac biz in the 90s, there was a real dip in quality in about '96 which saw God knows how many Macs come in for repairs. I'm typing this on a Macbook which is a bit over 4 years old and has never had an issue. In fact, none of my Macs in the past 20 years ever have had any problems. But Macs have got a lot more complicated. There is somewhere in the region of a million files on your Mac - just software that is required to make it work. And that offers more scope for things going wrong. I have asked people here and they don't think that there are any more bugs in Lion or Mountain Lion than there were in any other previous systems. I can't say that I've noticed any. You also have to bear in mind that people now expect their Mac (or PC) as a matter of course to do just anything at all. It is meant to write letters, do emails, drag and drop files, do cloud computing, get and post videos, manipulate photos and any number or any other things. And it has to be compatible with God knows how many file protocols and stuff. In fact, it has to operate flawlessly in a massively complicated, ever changing environment. I'm amazed there aren't more bugs, to be honest. However, a Mac can be like a bike. You can set them up to run better or worse. Here, for customers (about 40%) who are prepared to pay for our time, we install Macs with our custom set-up. It's like taking your bike to a tuner and have them work some magic on it. For these machines, we install all sorts of open source stuff and do it all in a certain way that has the machine working faster than it would otherwise, and having the files all placed coherently so that the user really doesn't have to bother about any of that stuff and can just use the machine. But it's a lot more complicated that just installing a few programmes. Having used our shop systems for the last few years, I couldn't imagine using a Mac any other way now. As for Apple: It may be a shame that computers are now a small part of their business, but I don't think it's their fault. They sell more than ever, just that the iPhone and other iOS devices have proven to be more popular. I have huge respect for Apple's products, which I think are sexily designed and work generally very well, but I dislike Apple intensely as a corporation. I won't go into the details, but they are shoddy with their suppliers and resellers, and I think are taking consumers for a ride. Any worse than other similar companies? I doubt it, but they are becoming more self obsessed as they become bigger. Funky is right about the conferences. Watching Tim Cook, you'd think you were looking at David Miscavige at a Scientologists' convention. In the latest video (go on, look at it for a laugh), having shown a short film of the new Apple Store in a historic building in Berlin, he says "Remember : only Apple can do this" as if no one else has ever opened a shop in a historic building. Incredible (and quite frightening, if you are a stock holder - I'm not). After Hubris comes Nemesis.
My £300 dell laptop has done 1 tour of Iraq and 3 in afghan and still works fine, but getting a bit slow now. god damn Microsoft shite. With apple you're paying for design, not technology IMHO. Cleaver design hiding old tech. I think the computers are over priced and pc's offer better value for money and are easier to upgrade.
My business relies on Apple 'pro' kit. The hardware may seem expensive compared to PCs but in fact they offer exceptional value because they so are well designed. They reduce technical and hardware issues and related down time to almost negligable levels. Moreover I'm more productive on OSX than windows and I value my sanity. Can you build a faster PC for less. Of course. Would it be worth the hassle of saving about a grand over a Mac Pro? Nope. There are people that put together pro PCs for my line of work and they are no cheaper than Mac Pros. They are faster on paper, but I'd have to run Windows on them which would make me slower, more annoyed and I'd die of stress sooner! My main Mac Pro is left on 24/7 and has been for several years (backups run in the night as do various OS background admin scripts). It gets rebooted once in a while and turned off if I'm away. The only serious hardware issues I've had is with 3rd part RAM and an ATI gfx card fan failure. But the machine is a rock. Shame I can't say the same for their prosumer and consumer kit (laptops and iMacs). My main beef with Apple is their neglect of the pro market. Its been... is it 3 years since a significant update? THAT pisses me off. But I'll be first in line for the new tube.
i think that Macs have always been technically superior to Windows in terms of user experience and technology. the latest versions of Windows have plagurised OSX heavily, but still doesnt have the streamlined interface of the very earliest versions of OSX.. Lion is well known for not working with properly with Logic Pro 9, the forums are rife with complaints and problems..Logic Pro 8 simply will not work on it, forcing users to upgrade to 9...typical Apple. Lion is a nightmare to get working with external hardware in Logic, and Pro Tools users have similar problems...in fact, some ppl i know went back to older versions of the OS because Lion was unworkable. From what i gather, the hastily released Mountain Lion is even worse, hence i havent bothered upgrading. My current machine was manufactured in late 2011 and has been the 2nd worst Mac ive owned...it seems Apple are requiring owners to do more of their own maintenance...the optical failure issue seems very common online, with many users resorting to shoving cloth covered credit cards into the superdrive slots in an effort to clean the lens....very garden shed.. Yes, the screen is lush, yes its silent in operation, its got a lovely one piece ally case and frameless glass, but also the lovely magic mouse packed up after a few months, the trackpad packed up after a few months, the wireless stopped working, i had to do a clean install of OSX and reinstall everything from time machine (although some data was lost)..this is Windows territory and i dont like it... My previous iMac lasted less than a year before i returned it..it was utterly rubbish..dead pixels, kernel panics, lock ups, crashes....not what ive come to expect..my previous G5 and G4's (i had several of those) were brilliant, pre intel machines....as i said, i kept the G4 quicksilver (alongside the G5 for a while) for 12 years and it was still working when i broke it for parts...i had to move to intel eventually... As regards durability, the old titanium laptops were incredible..a uni mate dropped his whilst riding his bike home...got back, no problems...dont know if they still have it, but apparently the older ones had a motion sensor that protected the HD (?).. Dont get me wrong, i think that for music production nothing comes close, and the software is professional level, not consumer rubbish..the OSX is bundled with tons of great apps for free etc..but, like i said, i cant even open iPhoto..it has a 'no entry' sign over the icon..and has for nearly a year despite numerous attempts to get it to work.... Nah, in my experience the hype has overtaken the quality and what with their corporate bullshit, i feel embarrassed to own one because people will think im a wannabee sandal wearing, vegan, polo necked twot riding to the ad agency on my vespa..fekk that. I hate the company and the novel ideas they bring out seem more and more like smug self aggrandisment...for me, they are to be tolerated, and again for me, i simply cannot tolerate any incarnation of the Windows platform..thats even worse and more convoluted... The 'Mac' brand (innovation, design, technology, creativity) has been consumed by the 'Apple' brand (fashion label, smug, posuer, superficial)... Get ur heads out of arses and split the company up or something...stop selling pretty crap...
my first mac was a IIcx if anyone remembers that. I've built loads of my own PC's but in the end always craved after a mac again. The reason was quite simple, I was always productive on a mac, for no other reason that the Mac's operating systems greatest strength, and indeed Apple's greatest strength is in making complex tasks appear stupidly childlike and simple. I agree that I'm no fan of Lion or mountain lion, and I was offended that windows users got the iCloud control panel for free whereas I had to fork out money in order to upgrade my rock solid Snow Leopard in order to have iCloud funtionality. I also get pissed off that if I format an iPhone for windows I can have a usb storage option but I can't seem to achieve this on the mac os, utter pain in the crack. Like redsail my machines are on 24/7 - however, i've noticed that Lion and especially Moutain Lion appreciate a reboot every month or so. I've also noticed that when an update comes along the combo update is always preferred as I feel that it gives the system a spring clean as well. At work we run windows workstations, at home I've got my 17 macbook pro, and my 27iMac and I have to say that touch wood, they've both been pretty bullet proof. Unfortunately my time capsule hasn't been so fortunate, having had two drive failures. But if Apple will insist on using crappy fujitsu poo what do you expect. However, i'm no glassy eyed fanboy, and I don't believe for one minute that "it just works" mantra. I had to hack Leopard to run on PC hardware, and in truth the 'experience' is seamless only when you've got other magical apple kit. I appreciate however that the price of slinky design is the sacrifice of expandability. Windows pc's just work - you can buy a box of bits, build it and install windows and it all just happens. That's the truth of it. As for the no viruses - what rubbish, again the fact is that hackers just can't be arsed to write viruses for macs as it's hardly going to bring down global commerce if a bloke in a roll neck sipping his cappuccino in a trendy coffee shop is inconvenienced by a popup of a nun noshing off a horse. And in respect to the phones, it drives me nuts that I can't get a call recorder app which will just background record like I had on my windows mobile five years ago. What I do like though is what Apple have forced computing to become- something much friendlier and more aesthetically pleasing than a beige box and nightmare with drivers and compatibility. I'm hoping that the crappily named Mavericks will be a breath of fresh air to all these whines, and yes I do hate this thing of trying to turn mac OS into desktop ipad OS - it's not working and pretty pointless. I think though we can't forget that Apple are hardware vendors first and foremost, when its time to upgrade the technology has moved on, and lets face it you'll probably buy a new mac - in truth although the cost isn't comparative, don't we do the same with windows boxes? - just at component level the cost isn't as huge but we probably throw in a new mainboard and a processor every now and again. That said, I've never owned a PC which I've sold over five years later and still got reasonable money for. Sure it depreciates 60 - 80%, but at least you're not taking it down the tip because you can't give it away. Funkyrimpler - try a clean install or a combo update install. My magic mouse sometimes drops its connection and yes, it's bloody annoying. In fact I can honestly say nothing nice about mountain lion or lion in that respect as it caused me a few odd functionality errors as well. failing that, just run it on windows with a third party cordless mouse and keyboard. I know several people who got rid of the mac OS altogether. When my stuff sharts itself, I march it straight to the apple store... point... fix! - you pay through the nose, make then fix it. Despite it all, I like my macs, and like some people I try to find a reason to buy other apple shit for no other reason that it's got shiny magpie written all over it. And my iphone does get on my tits for the simplest of things that it won't let me do for no other reason than Apple - lords of the lawe suit are too paranoid to do in case... they get sued! The only thing I'm not buying really is all this cloud crap - I like the premise, but in reality what does it give you other than anywhere accessibility? not alot from where I'm sitting. I'm glad that recently apple acknowledged that they still had a pro sector to think about - and also a pro-sumer sector as well. I suppose the real test will be what price and how reliable the mac pro. A shiny desktop black pedal bin is going to have to go a long way to beat the bar set by the current pro.
According to the chaps who got to use the Mac Bin at the Foundry (or what ever post facility it was) were very impressed - not far off their custom systems. I'm disapointed its only 1 CPU/12 cores, but I expect it to be 50-60% faster than my current 12 Core. I'm hoping there will be a Dual CPU/24 Core version at some point. Removing all internal expansion is a good idea IMO, especially if it means faster refresh cycles - and easier to upgrade, just swap the bin for a new one plug back all yout thunderbold peripherals. Actually I don't have any problems with Mountain Lion, though I did hold off upgrading for quite a bit (ran it on a 2nd MP for a few months to sound it out). But i HATE all the cloud crap and how they are making things which used to take 1 click now requiring several (No Save As... in some Apple apps, auto fill name details on web pages) and removal of features from great apps like Preview. I never use Launch Pad or any of the other iOS ported fluff. I agree it makes no sense on a desktop. If I was more code-savvy I'd try to pair down my OSX so it was leaner and more efficient, if that's even possible - Glidd hit me up man!! Mavericks. Pffft. Not impressed so far. Smacks of personalities within the company trying to stamp their mark. And the desktop image is utter shite. If they said it was faster and even more stable, which it won't be, I'd be more confident. Finder tabs? Already got them. Here are two apps I can't live without: Default Folder X and Path Finder.
I agree Redsail, my only question would be the graphic chip set, I would have preferred a Quadro. I would also have liked a cube style removable gpu (full or mini chip set). My Mountain lion has never let me down, but I do notice that sometimes it starts to get a bit laggy, but yes, I totally agree on all that cloud rubbish. The thing which I think struck me most on Mavericks was that each screen will have its own tool bar, which has been a long time overdue, but yes I've no problem with it being all solid state- but I'm sure music people would probably disagree. Oh and expose' bring it back and just mission con-crappy. Thanks for the heads up on Default folder, definitely looks interesting
And I'm sitting here with a big desktop PC and three monitors (it was four but one packed up), still on XP Pro 'stripped down' with loads of processes turned off so it is much faster because it isn't firing out to the internet every couple of seconds like most other peoples PCs...........8 processes at start-up and 30 processes running (I could cut that down to about 20 but can't be bothered). Four hard drives (but it looks like eleven). It can easily handle cad, graphics and animation stuff without any problems......... Never ever consdered a Mac and a laptop can't do what I want......... But it's a bugger transporting around to find a Wi-Fi connection.............if they can't bury me in the case, someone can keep rabbits in it. AL
Actually the coolest thing about the 'tube is its size. Its potentially a full-power portable system. I could have a main rig with my drobos etc at HQ and a light travel rig using the same CPU unit, without sacrificing any compute power. Neato. Sev: I'd use Default Folder even if it had just this one feature - alt-down arrow takes you to the location of the last saved document by any app. Sounds trival but its so awsome. Navigate through location history of recent saved files using the arrow keys. Would like to see Apple completely reinvent the filesystem, but not along iOS lines.
