5 Reasons Why New Macs and iPhone are Lacking
Today at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference, many things were unveiled.
The new MacBook specs and MacBook Pro, slashed prices, the new iPhone 3G S, and of course, Apple's next installment of OS X, Snow Leopard. Despite the fanfare however, Apple's announcements were largely non-exciting.
Yeah it's true. I do use Macs. But it's true too I have several custom built PCs at home. The announcements shown off today however, reveal that Apple is indeed not a hardware company. It's a software company at heart, and monetizes those products through its hardware sales. One of the most obvious proofs of this is the company's iPhone. Just about the only good nugget of today's presentation was Apple's talk about Snow Leopard. Indeed the next-generation of OS X with its BSD underpinnings has great features going for it. In fact, installing Snow Leopard will free up 6 GB of space if you upgrade from Leopard.
But anyway, let's move on to my top 5 reasons why Apple's hardware is really still lacking and behind the curve.
1. Hardware Support
Everyone knows this one on Tom's Hardware, and even Mac users know it. The confinement of major hardware components is a huge adoption block for many PC users. Gamers, enthusiasts, have long since complained about Apple's lack of hardware support. Granted, this limited pool of major hardware support also lends the Mac platform its overall stability. However, I have to point out here that Apple has been touting game support for the longest time, and its hardware support for games is extremely appalling.
Even with the recent Nehalem-based Mac Pros that can take an ATI Radeon HD 4870, you can't CrossFire. Yes, the Mac Pro can take more than one HD 4870, but the Mac Pro doesn't have enough power connectors--only enough for one card.
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The Mac Pro is priced way out there for what it comes with, even by breaking the hardware down into individual components. The $2499 starting point for the Mac Pro should come with at least the HD 4870, not the paltry Nvidia GeForce GT 120. Apple doesn't have to have nearly as much hardware support as Windows, but it should have support for the upper end hardware and some limited support for mainstream options.
The Mac Pro: A powerhouse of a computer with the most ridiculous video options.
In today's keynote, Apple said "the majority of new Mac users pick a laptop over a desktop." Well... we'll refrain from using explicit words here, but when we spoke to a long time Apple enthusiast James S. about this, he said:
"I wonder if they've considered the possibility that their crap desktop line-up has some part in that..."
2. Price / Evolution Strategy
I have a Mac Book Pro that I bought about the time Apple moved over to Intel processors. Prior to that, I couldn't stand using Macs since they were so horrendously slow for what I wanted to do. But that all changed with Intel processors. But I am the one who wrote the big article on Apple prices last year. How can I possibly list "Price" as a bullet point in this list? Let me explain.
Apple tends not to reduce prices unless something revolutionary comes out, and even then, the company tries to maintain its price points. When Apple releases a new major product stepping, like the first Intel MacBook Pro, it's actually priced very fairly. At the time of the initial product line's release, the prices are fair. However, Apple doesn't lower its prices much or at all over time. Instead, it prefers to incrementally upgrade the hardware of the products over time. This is why Apple has the overpriced stigma--the prices don't change, only the hardware. Unfortunately, even these upgrades aren't nearly enticing enough for PC users that Apple wants to convert.
But Apple may be feeling the squeeze now. From PC makers? No. From Microsoft? Some. From the economy? Definitely. Apple's entire line of computers received price cuts today at WWDC. The MacBook Air for example took a big $700 cut. The MacBook Pros took only minor cuts, but all the notebook products received upgrades. What was left out? The Mac Pro.
While Apple did make price cuts today across the board for the most part, it's still not enough. Either cut prices more, or deliver better specs.
3. Odd Hardware Adoption
When the new unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros were unveiled, Mac users will up in arms over the disappearance of FireWire support. Well, they're back. Why Apple hasn't included HDMI in its notebook and desktops is an odd omission as well. In the unibody MacBook Pros, the exclusion of a mini-DVI port was a big bag of hurt for many people. DisplayPort, while a good step forward in terms of display carrier technology, isn't widespread at all.
But wait! I can buy the $99 dual-link adaptor! No thanks. This is one of a few reasons I'm not on the newer unibody MacBook Pros.
4. Small Steps Appear Big
Let's take the new iPhone 3G S. Nearly all of its features that people got excited about at WWDC, should have been on the previous phone anyway. In fact, may of the features were available on other phones long before today's announcement.
Cut and paste for example was held out for so long, that now when Apple unveils it at a big convention people go nuts over it. For me, it's more of a sigh of relief than something to clap about. Worst yet, the iPhone 3G S still won't support background applications like the Palm Pre. Background apps is a major feature, and sorely lacking on the iPhone platform.
5. Sometimes Removing Hardware Support
The FireWire port that was dropped back into the MacBook Pro was cheered. Why? Apple screwed FireWire users big time when it was removed. The new SD card reader slot on the notebooks are a welcome addition. But in all honesty, this was a toss in feature on every other PC notebook since man landed on the moon.
My current 15-inch non-unibody MacBook Pro has an ExpressCard reader--the newer 15-inch does not while the bigger 17-inch does. Appropriate to palm face now.
C'mon Apple, get caught up with the times hmm?
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CR0W M@GN3T I pretty much agree with all that's being said. Apple has some great software but they are making some mistakes that not enough people are calling them out for.Reply -
San Pedro It's funny that the Iphone is so popular in the states, and I think Europe too. While I think it's a pretty cool phone, most people here in Japan don't like them at all. They think they're slow on the net, and that they are missing features that many other phones have. . . Then again I think Japan is like the leading place for cell phone technology.Reply -
Spanky Deluxe I pretty much agree on all fronts. Especially the ridiculous pricing of the Mac Pro line. Well, not as much ridiculous pricing as giving the user far less than they should get. The price points aren't too bad for workstation machines but what you get for them is bad - unlike all previous Mac Pros. The GT120 isn't such a big deal for a workstation machine and is the same as most workstations from rival companies.Reply
In regards to the pricing, yes Apple products do cost more but then their resale value later on down the line is still very high - even with broken products, this can recoup some of those extra initial costs.
What you mention about the pricing is interesting compared with the fact that most users are now choosing laptops over their desktops. Interesting because in the January updates, the iMacs went up in cost and so did the Mac Pros. Maybe Apple is pushing for more users to buy laptops so that they can take those laptops out on the town and advertise the Apple logo. -
StupidRabbit Oh just let the iPhone users be happy, its like christmas to them.. they get an OS for free, along with the cut and paste function that i've had on my g1 android for some time. I can imagine they joy.. and how mac users go "Hm? Free? Blasphemy! I will pay for it!! Just say how much you want!! No upgrade must be free or under 200 dollars in our apple land!"Reply -
newbie_mcnoob I was very disappointed with the lack of video card upgrade options in Apple's Power Mac / Mac Pro towers, and it looks like things still have not changed. Psystar showed Apple how it's done.Reply -
frozenlead I agree on all points. Apple has shown itself at being stupendous on releasing features and hardware much later than every other manufacturer and still getting their fans to cheer about it. I don't understand it.Reply
But, probably what makes me mad about them most is #3. The lack of standard ports and hardware like HDMI and card readers is just plain stupid. Displayport is not a standard, and never will be. It reminds me back last year when a buddy walked into my dorm asking how he and his friends could watch movies on their CRT TV using their notebooks. I grabbed an s-video cable and a headphone/RCA cable and went to the room, where I found a load of Macs. After a quick look around, I told them Macs couldn't do it.
Oooh the look on their faces when their $2000 Macs couldn't output to a TV when a $700 Dell one of their friends had could. Priceless. -
bakaneko remember, apple is a religion. as much as they just release a new product with 1 less screw in it, the worshipers will still joy over it.Reply
i am now just laughing at those who got the MBA at such high price earlier. with a $700 cut and yet apple still making a profit, we can imagine how much premium people are paying for apple's products.