"...the sad state of MacIntosh Hardware..."

[Kino]

https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2018/06/14/on-the-sad-state-of-macintosh-hardware/

Will Apple continue to be a viable computer platform in the future?

 

[Bob Carnie]

I have 5 Mac computers here and not one of them have let me down.. Ok I lie one is PC to run the imocan

 

[removed account4]

been using an apple since 1986, i don't think i will change anytime soon

 

[faberryman]

I have a late 2011 Mac Mini I with an 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 16GB of RAM. Its HDD failed a couple of years ago and I replaced it with an SSD. Even though the processor was discontinued seven years ago, it still runs LR/PS CC just fine, but then I use it to edit images not run benchmarks. I also have a Windows 7 laptop of the same vintage which runs LR/PS CC fine as well. It No need to replace either of them. Unless you're doing video, you really don't need the latest processor. Any of the current MACs will run circles around my computers, and will run LR/PS for the foreseeable future. The cited article is about computer GAS.

 

[Kino]

My concerns are more with what is stated in the article link: Apple OS is rapidly obsoleting pro-grade workstations with no replacement in sight. Even MacRumor's Buyer's Guide is NOT enthusiastically recommending purchase of any new Mac Pro grade workstation.

The 12 Core Pro we run at work is safe for now, but...

AND, how long will it be before you are forced to upgrade your hardware due to security concerns and software version advancement, no matter how satisfied you are now?

When will an Adobe CC upgrade break your system?

 

[faberryman]

When will an Adobe CC upgrade break your system?

No idea. I deal with it when in happens. The current minimum configuration for CC is a 2Ghz Intel Core 2 (which processor was discontinued in 2011) and 2GBs of RAM, though 8GB is recommended. All of Apples current computer will run LR/PS for the foreseeable future.

 

[Eric Rose]

The only reason I have Mac's is for FCPX. I find PC hardware to be more reliable, upgradeable and future proof than the Macs. Plus the PC stuff is far cheaper. Looking at the changes that Apple has made to the MacBook Pro line over the last several years makes me wonder if they really want to attract power users. For me I liken Mac's to the way Leica has gone. From leading edge, must have work horse to fashionista feature wanting jewellery aimed at collectors or well heeled buyers rather than workers.

They seem to be bound and determined to make the desktop OS more and more like their iOS. If I wanted a large iPhone I would buy an iPad. I don't give a rats behind about emojis and all the other useless candy they are cluttering up the desktop OS with.

My next adventure will be to run Hackintosh on a PC for FCPX.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I work as a Tech Monkey at a university film department. We started out with Intel Core Duo towers with Final Cut Pro 12 years ago. We're now using Imacs and Adobe Premier. Apple has neglected creative professional as well as IT professionals. Final Cut is pretty much a "Prosumer" product. Aperture and Logic is no longer supported.

As most companies, they have to go where the money is. Professional products are very small while mobile devices like Iphone, Ipad, and IWatch are profit centers. I hate Windows and I'm not smart enough for Linux.

 

[Eric Rose]

I've used Linux since it was in Alpha. Great OS, just not enough programs for it to be useful for anything other than a server. I agree that FCPX is wanting but I do videos for non-profits and that's what most of them use. If and when I get a big project that requires more I will go with Avid on a PC. I hate Premiere.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I've been using Macs since 2003. I am not sure if I am going to continue. Of course that would be a big pain, but they just aren't what they used to be. They have dumbed down everything so much that they have become, well, dumb.

I think the real problem is Apple as a company fostered a culture of exceptionalism because their products were exceptional. They still think that, but the aren't making them that way anymore. In other words, they have their heads up their own @sses.

I have a MacMini and stopped updating it with El Capitan.

I might end up with a Hackintosh like Eric stated above.

 

[winger]

As most companies, they have to go where the money is. Professional products are very small while mobile devices like Iphone, Ipad, and IWatch are profit centers. I hate Windows and I'm not smart enough for Linux.

This is pretty much me, too. I bought my first Mac (a MacBook Pro) in 2006 and it still works. Can't update it at all, but it still limps along (the young'un uses it to play Disney's web games). My main computer is a 2009 build iMac and it's likely to get replaced with a new iMac soon (it works well, but I won't be able to play the Myst package that's coming out in the fall). In the time I've been using the iMac, my husband (die-hard Windows user) has gone through 2 desktops, two laptops, and is on his third Surface Pro - most of the older ones no longer work and they're younger than my iMac. I'm kinda worried about the future and whether they'll continue to have what will work for me, but I'll do what I need to. They likely make more $ off phones and watches than off iMacs and money has more to do with it now that Jobs is gone.

 

[sepiareverb]

Started with Apple in 1983...

I just replaced a 2005 iMac in my studio because Safari was no longer able to run several of the vendor websites I use for ordering. Photoshop CS6 and Epson Scan still work fine. A 2006 MacBook Pro 17” running Sierra was our music computer piped into the stereo system here till the last update of iTunes, when that started getting buggy. That machine was on the road a lot till about 2012 when my teenage son took it over for a few months while he saved for an Air. Then it became the music computer.

I’ve not had issues with any of the machines I’ve used that I was able to administer, (machines at the college I taught at that were overly controlled by IT were terrible) other than user error - dropped a MBP off a table, and kicked it trying to save it. Getting 12 years of near daily use out of a laptop seems pretty good to me. I now use a new iMac in the studi for PS/InDesign/Phocus and an SSD 2016 MBP for the same while on the road.

Still have a PowerBook Duo 210 that boots up and runs Sim City fine. Circa 1993?

 

[winger]

And now that I've read the whole blog post, I'm not agreeing with them or worried. Apple has been doing updates to the "real" computers about every other year for awhile now. It's definitely a smaller market as tablets (including the iPad pro) can do a lot of the stuff that many users used to need a computer for.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

One good thing about macintosh is you can use them longer than Windows computers. At the university, we recycle them. Old windows computers end up as ewaste. You can buy a pallet full for Dells for a song.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

One good thing about macintosh is you can use them longer than Windows computers. At the university, we recycle them. They make great print servers and poor grad students love them. Old windows computers end up as ewaste. You can buy a pallet full for Dells for a song.

 

[dxqcanada]

My "first" computer was an Apple II clone. From there I went to MS DOS PC's, and continued with that until four years ago when I got a MacBook.
I like the MacOS. I have gone through three MacBook Pro's ... two of them because of GPU failure. I have had many years of non-Apple laptops and only once have I had hardware failure like the MacBooks.
I still like them for their "style" ... but now I have a Dell XPS 13, cause the MacBook 12" just cost too much.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

One good thing about macintosh is you can use them longer than Windows computers. At the university, we recycle them. Old windows computers end up as ewaste.

I've used Linux since it was in Alpha. Great OS, just not enough programs for it to be useful for anything other than a server. I agree that FCPX is wanting but I do videos for non-profits and that's what most of them use. If and when I get a big project that requires more I will go with Avid on a PC. I hate Premiere.

 

[Sirius Glass]

been using an apple since 1986, i don't think i will change anytime soon

I got my first Mac in 1984, the Big Mac. I have found the hardware very reliable and rarely breaks. When it does have a problem it is easily fixed.

One good thing about macintosh is you can use them longer than Windows computers. At the university, we recycle them. Old windows computers end up as ewaste. You can buy a pallet full for Dells for a song.

I usually use a Mac for 12 to 15 years and then only replace it because I can. It took the Big Mac and added a daughter board with a 68040 4Megs of memory and a numerical processor. I used it until 2005 as a slow data server between several machines. You cannot do that with a circa 1984 PC. Do not try any of these things at home with a PC.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

One good thing about macintosh is you can use them longer than Windows computers.

Really?
The old 'clunker' HP 'puter that looks after our cable/WIFI router here was brought into service in October 2001, running the "all singing, all dancing" Windows XP OS.
The machine has never been serviced, rarely turned off and is seen as the more reliable of 8 PCs (and one Mac). The Mac has persistent difficulties identifying and locking on to the router beacon.

Some of my finishing typesetting training (1989?) was undertaken in early and quite capable networked Macintosh puters, specifically the 2cx "tallboy" running QuarkXPress.
Later semi-transluscent, candy-coloured iMacs were an absolute disaster, one catching fire but the common infuriating thread was the round mouse supplied with these computers.

 

[4season]

What a silly article, but I get it: The author wants a new toy, and he wants it to be hardware, and Apple has failed him by not giving him an excuse to go shopping.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Really?
The old 'clunker' HP 'puter that looks after our cable/WIFI router here was brought into service in October 2001, running the "all singing, all dancing" Windows XP OS.
The machine has never been serviced, rarely turned off and is seen as the more reliable of 8 PCs (and one Mac). The Mac has persistent difficulties identifying and locking on to the router beacon.

Some of my finishing typesetting training (1989?) was undertaken in early and quite capable networked Macintosh puters, specifically the 2cx "tallboy" running QuarkXPress.
Later semi-transluscent, candy-coloured iMacs were an absolute disaster, one catching fire but the common infuriating thread was the round mouse supplied with these computers.

Wow, I remember those days. Remember Kroy letters and doing layouts with blue line boards and wax machines? Where I work, we have very strict cybersecurity policies that obsoleted old Windows computers. To be perfectly honest, computers are a real money pit. In our Mac lab, we have 21 Imacs that have to be replaced every 3 years. And now, we have to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud for software. It's an average cost of $30K per year for our lab not counting the personal cost to maintain the machines. Our curriculum requires student learn current skills which means running the latest software. The Art Studio lab which has printers that have to be replaced every 3 years also. It costs a King's ransom to buy the inks.

 

[Eric Rose]

I had a funny experience at the "Genius Bar" recently. I was in getting them to check one of my MacBook Pro's as it locked up after the latest OS update. They are getting to know me down there as I am a regular visitor what with all the OS issues, GPU issues etc. I have had with my Mac's. Anyway we got talking and he found out I had over 40 years in the IT business. His eyes got really wide and he blurted out, "well it's really unusual for IT people to use Macs". I had to laugh.

 

[Chan Tran]

I found PC is both less expensive and more expensive. With Mac there are no real cheap ones nor real expensive ones.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I found PC is both less expensive and more expensive. With Mac there are no real cheap ones nor real expensive ones.

From my experience, Windows are cheaper to buy but more expensive to maintain with all the updates and patches, Mac OS isn't perfect, but requires much less work to maintain. In our department, they tried to get rid of Macs for the IT folks because they cost too much. I pushed back telling them that I can't support arts faculty with their Macs if I don't have one. Management could dictate what computers staffers use, but faculty have free reign in what they want to buy and use. Our tech team has 3 platforms to support, Windows, Mac and now IOS.

 

[ReginaldSMith]

Uh, before jumping ship to PCs, just be sure you realize that Windows 10 is by far one of the stupidest, brain-dead softwares ever foisted upon the public. Sure, "PCs" are great, cheap, expandable, powerful....but, Windows is an absolutely hideous use of a PC. Linux? A brilliant OS with no software applications of any importance.
I have come to the conclusion that Windows is not as much an operating system as it is spyware, adware, and trackingware. You'll see.