Is Apple neglecting Macs?

[skaertus]

You are comparing an OS that came out one year after its predecessor with one that is coming out three years after its. It only makes sense that the latter is going to have more features.

Of course I would expect more features in Windows 8 compared to Windows 7 than in Mountain Lion compared to Lion. However, I also said that the features introduced with Lion were not that great either.

OS X Snow Leopard was released in 2009, a few months later than Windows 7. If you look at the features introduced in the last three years, in both Lion and Mountain Lion, they are not groundbreaking. You got Mission Control, new touch gestures, full-screen apps, a better Preview... all these are fine, but most of the rest are rip-offs of the iOS.

Windows 8, in comparison, is a much bigger improvement over Windows 7.

 

[Krazy Bill]

OS X Snow Leopard was released in 2009, a few months later than Windows 7. If you look at the features introduced in the last three years, in both Lion and Mountain Lion, they are not groundbreaking.

That's why I still use SL as my main OS. It's fast at every thing it does and is very stable. Every *important* app I use is still being updated for it. Right now I'm running 4 Spaces each with half a dozen windows and I can fly through each one without lifting a hand from the keyboard or taking dramamine for the motion sickness. But unlike a Win machine... when my MBP dies I'll never be able to do this again.

It does seem that consumers have spoken. Fair enough. No regrets. I'll just move on.

or you can have the best of both worlds; get a macbook pro and put windows on it. that way you get your build quality.

This is really not a solution. You're at the mercy of Apple for all the drivers. And the mac trackpad driver (which Apple updates whenever it feels like it) will never come close to those you're going to find in the new Win8 machines coming out. The Windows 8 Consumer preview really sucks on a mac because of this.

 

[skaertus]

It does seem that consumers have spoken. Fair enough. No regrets. I'll just move on.

Yes, it seems like Facebook and Twitter integration are the stuff that really matters. All that talk about incorporating the ZFS file system, which Apple promised back in 2009, are gone and forgotten forever now.

 

[guzhogi]

Tablets are the future my friend.

I'd like to see Apple power its new Oregon datacenter using only iPads.

 

[Irock619]

I'd like to see Apple power its new Oregon datacenter using only iPads.

I didn't know the technology used in large corporation data centers is available to consumers

 

[G51989]

I didn't know the technology used in large corporation data centers is available to consumers

Sure it is, the majority of things you see inside a typical data center is available to a consumer, it'll just cost a * bit * more than an iPad.

 

[KnightWRX]

Sure it is, the majority of things you see inside a typical data center is available to a consumer, it'll just cost a * bit * more than an iPad.

Heck, I have a Sun UltraSparc II+ machine burried here in a closet. Stopped using it when I upgraded to a triple-core AMD machine with 16 GB of RAM for my home server.

It's available to consumers, but consumers wouldn't know what to do with the stuff, nor have the money or electric capacity to run most of it. I really doubt I want a XP-level storage array in my basement, not to mention all the fiber interconnects required to hook it up to a SAN to eventually present LUNs to my ... hum... MacBook Air through a USB-to-FC adapter... or something.

 

[G51989]

Heck, I have a Sun UltraSparc II+ machine burried here in a closet. Stopped using it when I upgraded to a triple-core AMD machine with 16 GB of RAM for my home server.

Well, I thought I was weird for having an HP ZX6000 Dual Itanium workstation, which I picked up from the college I graduated from, think I paid like 2300 bucks for it. That was my home server for quite some time. Point taken in what other than just getting it setup up as a server, I didn't know what to do with it. Now it just collects dust in my storage room, I'd probably part with it for 300 or 400 bucks, tho I doubt anyone would know what to do with it. Silly Itanium.

For my own home network, its just a bunch of cheap o refurbish Dell Blade servers in a rack I bought off some guy on cragislist, got about 34ish TB of space atm, gotta keep those raw blu ray rips somewhere.

Also got a couple of cheapo dell towers stuffed full of hard drives, because I'm cheap I'm not really doing this right way

It's available to consumers, but consumers wouldn't know what to do with the stuff, nor have the money or electric capacity to run most of it.

Indeed, I'd call my network pretty huge for a home network, and I'd hate to think how much power all of it uses. None of the machines ever get turned off.

I really doubt I want a XP-level storage array in my basement, not to mention all the fiber interconnects required to hook it up to a SAN to eventually present LUNs to my ... hum... MacBook Air through a USB-to-FC adapter... or something.

Hahahaha, the question is, why WOULDN"T you want an massive storage array in your basement?

 

[Irock619]

Sure it is, the majority of things you see inside a typical data center is available to a consumer, it'll just cost a * bit * more than an iPad.

I know. I don't know how the person who I quoted can relate data centers with the phasing out of apple personal computers.

 

[chown33]

I'd like to see Apple power its new Oregon datacenter using only iPads.

So would I. Seriously. But only for the freak-show factor.

 

[Thegolem]

1. The last time Apple redesigned a Mac line was in late-2010,

is that really such a long time? They need a couple of years plus between new Macs to work on them otherwise they'd be too like the last one.

 

[Renzatic]

is that really such a long time? They need a couple of years plus between new Macs to work on them otherwise they'd be too like the last one.

Eh, for someone who just wants a spec upgrade, I doubt they care that the most recent model looks exactly like the model two years ago. So long as it's faster, that's all that matters.

This is especially true for the Mac Pro people. They don't necessarily care what the Pro looks like. It could be housed in a banged up cardboard box with "APPEL KOMPOOTUR 4 PROFESINAL" written in the side with a thick magic marker, and it wouldn't bother them at all so long as it does its job, and does it well.

 

[Thegolem]

Eh, for someone who just wants a spec upgrade, I doubt they care that the most recent model looks exactly like the model two years ago. So long as it's faster, that's all that matters.

This is especially true for the Mac Pro people. They don't necessarily care what the Pro looks like. It could be housed in a banged up cardboard box with "APPEL KOMPOOTUR 4 PROFESINAL" written in the side with a thick magic marker, and it wouldn't bother them at all so long as it does its job, and does it well.

Well if that's their mindset then why on earth on they Apple customers? I thought the only reason people pay so much more for Macs is because of the design superiority.

 

[Renzatic]

Depends on who you're talking about. Some people buy Apples because they're nice looking. Some people buy them for the build quality. Professionals buy them for OSX and Mac specific programs like Final Cut.

 

[skaertus]

Eh, for someone who just wants a spec upgrade, I doubt they care that the most recent model looks exactly like the model two years ago. So long as it's faster, that's all that matters.

This is especially true for the Mac Pro people. They don't necessarily care what the Pro looks like. It could be housed in a banged up cardboard box with "APPEL KOMPOOTUR 4 PROFESINAL" written in the side with a thick magic marker, and it wouldn't bother them at all so long as it does its job, and does it well.

I would dare to say that the only thing that matter in a tower desktop such as the Mac Pro is the specs. Design is definitely not important, and you could change the display and the keyboard at any time.

However, laptop are a completely different story. Design matters for usability and ergonomics, it's not just the beauty of it. The size, the weight, the display, the battery life, the keyboard - these are all things that matter on a laptop, and people want to see it improve over the last generation. So, a redesign in laptops is much more important than in a Mac Pro.

 

[miniConvert]

This thread is a little lost on me.

I'm trying to remember the time when Apple had these amazing bang-on-spec Macs that were always fresh designs and new ideas?

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but as far as I'm aware Apple has never crammed the very highest end components into its notebook lineup. It has tweaked and perfected things like the keyboard, trackpad, and magsafe adapter over many years. Case designs very rarely change.

And yet, actually, we have a major revision of the MacBook lineup taking place right now with the switch to retina displays and SSD storage. This transition will take time, because right now the cost of components is high and Apple knows the market can't take the pricing. It's frustrated. So it's keeping the current generation of MacBooks on-stream and forging ahead with 'the future' with the gamble that ultimately prices will fall and the entire MacBook line will be able to transition.

Apple's Macs have always been about providing an optimal balance of performance and features in a package that performs the functions it was designed for well. Raw specs matter very little in this school of thought; it's far more important that all of the components selected work well and reliably together. Apple also takes the time to engineer its Macs with great precision - it doesn't just drop in off-the-shelf components, its products, notebooks especially, are a careful balance of power consumption, heat dissipation and performance, all soldered on to a custom-developed board that fits within its stunning enclosures.

There's one Mac that Apple could be said to be neglecting and that's the Mac Pro. Here, I do have sympathy, being an ex-Mac Pro owner myself. When replacing our 2006 model server in the office I plumped instead for two Mac Mini's (production and clone) and a Thunderbolt RAID. For price vs performance as a glorified file server it was a no-brainer. If Apple wanted to it could design a 'workstation of the future'. It clearly doesn't want to, and this, I agree, is a little sad.

 

[skaertus]

This thread is a little lost on me.

I'm trying to remember the time when Apple had these amazing bang-on-spec Macs that were always fresh designs and new ideas?

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but as far as I'm aware Apple has never crammed the very highest end components into its notebook lineup. It has tweaked and perfected things like the keyboard, trackpad, and magsafe adapter over many years. Case designs very rarely change.

I agree that Apple has never put the highest-end components in its machines. Case designs do have a somewhat extended lifetime. But the current revision of the MBP is a little late, after 4 years of the last redesign. In addition, I haven't seen any tweaking into the keyboard, trackpad and MagSafe adapter in the last 4 years the unibody MBP remained in production. The laptop itself is still identical to the very first unibody MBP released in 2008, only with beefier specs.

And yet, actually, we have a major revision of the MacBook lineup taking place right now with the switch to retina displays and SSD storage. This transition will take time, because right now the cost of components is high and Apple knows the market can't take the pricing. It's frustrated. So it's keeping the current generation of MacBooks on-stream and forging ahead with 'the future' with the gamble that ultimately prices will fall and the entire MacBook line will be able to transition.

Yes, we do have a major revision of the MBP going on, with retina displays and SSD. And the new products are coming in slowly and with much higher prices. The components are probably more expensive, of course.

However, Apple has crammed retina displays into iPhones and iPads and sold them for the very same price of the previous generation (which had its price dropped). The products came earlier than the MBP with a retina display and were immediately available (no slow transition). If the retina display is more expensive on a Mac, then it should also be more expensive in an iPhone or an Ipad. But I just don't see Apple taking the same approach in the MBP line.

Apple's Macs have always been about providing an optimal balance of performance and features in a package that performs the functions it was designed for well. Raw specs matter very little in this school of thought; it's far more important that all of the components selected work well and reliably together. Apple also takes the time to engineer its Macs with great precision - it doesn't just drop in off-the-shelf components, its products, notebooks especially, are a careful balance of power consumption, heat dissipation and performance, all soldered on to a custom-developed board that fits within its stunning enclosures.

Apple's products are well designed. But a well-designed 4-year-old consumer electronic is, well, dated. The unibody MBPs were amazing laptops back in 2008; now, in 2012, they feel totally outdated to the point I would never consider buying one, as well designed as they may be. The Apple alternative is the rMBP, a über-expensive laptop. Instead of offering yesterday's technology with a discount, Apple is offering today's technology with a premium. Why doesn't it do the same thing with iPhones and iPads, then?

There's one Mac that Apple could be said to be neglecting and that's the Mac Pro. Here, I do have sympathy, being an ex-Mac Pro owner myself. When replacing our 2006 model server in the office I plumped instead for two Mac Mini's (production and clone) and a Thunderbolt RAID. For price vs performance as a glorified file server it was a no-brainer. If Apple wanted to it could design a 'workstation of the future'. It clearly doesn't want to, and this, I agree, is a little sad.

No, it's neglecting all Macs. I in search of a new laptop, and I am very, very frustrated at Apple. The Mac line seems abandoned, at best. I see that the only Mac laptop that is up to the challenge right now is the 15" rMBP, and it's more expensive than everything else. It came up as the saviour of the Mac line, but at a high cost.

The cMBPs, beautiful as they are, are a joke right now. And the MBA is a lesser laptop than its premium Windows counterparts. I can't even think of buying one of these.

 

[miniConvert]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on all of that. I've bought new MBPs, Mac Minis and iMacs in the last 12 months, several in fact, and wouldn't hesitate before buying more. In my eye, no manufacturer offers a more compelling range of computers than Apple at this moment in time. Apple is not suddenly doing something wrong.

I'd probably go with Retina MBPs over the standard ones if I were in the market again now, though ideally I'd wait for the next revision because the current (first) generation are pushing the limits of what's practical at the moment.

Btw, regarding 'retina' screens and cost - I don't see loads of high-res large panel monitors available on the market today, where as pretty much every mobile phone manufacturer is using high-res panels now. Smaller panels are easier and cheaper to produce, and they're being produced in massive volume. The yields on 15" 'Retina' panels are probably not great, and they're probably significantly more difficult to produce along with lower volumes being ordered, hence the added cost. Patience. There's a lot more to tech than 'I want it now'.

 

[skaertus]

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on all of that. I've bought new MBPs, Mac Minis and iMacs in the last 12 months, several in fact, and wouldn't hesitate before buying more. In my eye, no manufacturer offers a more compelling range of computers than Apple at this moment in time. Apple is not suddenly doing something wrong.

Well, I agree to disagree with you then.

I currently have a 13" white MacBook and, although I recognize it is a great well-balanced machine, it is dated. And I feel that all the other Apple machines are somewhat dated too. They are still good and beautiful, but today's technology could offer much more than what it is offering right now. I don't feel compelled to buy an expensive machine that comes with a low resolution display and a HDD. I wouldn't think twice in buying a Windows machine instead.

BTW, I understand that the range of computers Apple offers is better than the range of computers of any other manufacturer. However, there are individual models spread over the range of these manufacturers that, in my opinion, are better or more suitable than Apple's offerings. All in all, the only Apple model which currently appeals to me is the rMBP. I would pass all the others.

I'd probably go with Retina MBPs over the standard ones if I were in the market again now, though ideally I'd wait for the next revision because the current (first) generation are pushing the limits of what's practical at the moment.

Perhaps I'll do just that.

Btw, regarding 'retina' screens and cost - I don't see loads of high-res large panel monitors available on the market today, where as pretty much every mobile phone manufacturer is using high-res panels now. Smaller panels are easier and cheaper to produce, and they're being produced in massive volume. The yields on 15" 'Retina' panels are probably not great, and they're probably significantly more difficult to produce along with lower volumes being ordered, hence the added cost. Patience. There's a lot more to tech than 'I want it now'.

I understand that there's a lot more to tech than "i want it now". But I think there's much more in this delay of retina-like displays than just technical problems. There is a really lot of accomodation here.

Let me tell why I'm saying that. In fact, I bought my first computer in 1993, some 19 years ago. It was a PC, not a Mac, and it run MS-DOS and Windows 3.1. There were other times. It came with an Intel 80386 DX processor running at 33 MHz, 4 MB of RAM, a 120 MB HD, and a 2 MB video card. It also came with a 14" monitor capable of displaying images in 1024x768 resolution.

If I go to any computer store in 2012, I can buy any laptop with a dual-core processor running at a clock speed which is almost 100x faster than my first computer, and it also has several other enhancements. 4 GB RAM, which is 1000x more than I first had. And 128 GB SSD, which is not only 1000x more storage than I had, but also several times faster. Well, technology evolved, and prices kept coming down. What about the display? This very same laptop will probably come with a 1366x768 display, which is very much the same resolution I got back in 1993, but in a 16:9 widescreen format. Everything seems to have evolved, except for displays. What have these companies been doing for the last 19 years? OK, LCDs became popular, and now IPS displays are gaining ground. But not much beyond that, I guess.

I also have to say that I've been waiting for these retina displays since I bought my MacBook in 2008. The text is really awful at 1280x800 due to the text rendering technology used by Apple. I knew from the beginning that the only way the text could be improved while keeping the same text rendering tech would be by means of improving dramatically the screen resolution. I don't feel the same need while using Windows; due to ClearType rendering technology, I can use a non-retina screen resolution on it. So, it's not an "I want it now" thing. It's an "I've been patiently waiting for this for more than 4 years and just because Apple created the necessity of it at the very beginning". Apple is not doing me any favor in releasing those Macs with a retina screen; it's just fixing a problem of all MacBooks.

 

[zioxide]

Mobile devices are the future. The mac selection right now is adequate, but why would Apple waste more resources on something that's already past it's peak?

5-10 years and the personal computer as we have known it since the 1990s will be gone.


Too many people in this thread whining about specs and the fact that their mac doesn't have that latest .005 ghz improvement. It doesn't really matter when all you do is browse facebook anyways.

 

[skaertus]

Mobile devices are the future. The mac selection right now is adequate, but why would Apple waste more resources on something that's already past it's peak?

Well, people have been buying Macs for years, and they have paid an expensive price for it. They do have a selection of software which is been developed.

If Apple slows down the development of these machines and turn to mobile devices instead because they're the pimp of the month, then Apple is not a reliable company and is stabbing its Mac users in the back.

Apple may just don't care about it it. But then I'll think twice before buying any of these iOS devices, because Apple may invent something better in the future and the iOS devices may become the new Macs...

5-10 years and the personal computer as we have known it since the 1990s will be gone.

Why? Just because Apple revamped the tablet, which was a device long forgotten, in the form of the iPad?

I don't think so. People has to do real work. The iPad, useful as it may be, is a very limited device compared to a real computer.

Too many people in this thread whining about specs and the fact that their mac doesn't have that latest .005 ghz improvement. It doesn't really matter when all you do is browse facebook anyways.

Not just specs. There's also the design, features and ergonomic of the Macs. I guess too many people are browsing Facebook and becoming "Web consumers" these days. I want a real computer to work on it, type large chunks of text. I don't browse Facebook, which I think is a waste of time.

 

[zioxide]

Well, people have been buying Macs for years, and they have paid an expensive price for it. They do have a selection of software which is been developed.

If Apple slows down the development of these machines and turn to mobile devices instead because they're the pimp of the month, then Apple is not a reliable company and is stabbing its Mac users in the back.

Apple may just don't care about it it. But then I'll think twice before buying any of these iOS devices, because Apple may invent something better in the future and the iOS devices may become the new Macs...

This is how technology works. It progresses, and this progression is exponential. Did people with VHS players complain when DVD players were released and say they were stabbing the VHS owners in the back? It's the same type of complaining we saw when Apple removed the floppy drives on the iMacs, and then removed the optical drives on the new Macbooks.

People always say the same thing when new technologies emerge. "It's just a fad", "It won't catch on", etc.

It's not a question of "Apple MAY invent something better in the future", it's just a question of when.

Personally, I'm glad Apple is one of the companies that isn't afraid to innovate and make changes. Many people just don't like change, but if they were the ones running everything, we'd still be using type writers.

Why? Just because Apple revamped the tablet, which was a device long forgotten, in the form of the iPad?

I don't think so. People has to do real work. The iPad, useful as it may be, is a very limited device compared to a real computer.

The iPad didn't even exist 5 years ago. Look at how far the technology has come in the past 5 years, and then imagine what it will look like in 5 more years time.

Not just specs. There's also the design, features and ergonomic of the Macs. I guess too many people are browsing Facebook and becoming "Web consumers" these days. I want a real computer to work on it, type large chunks of text. I don't browse Facebook, which I think is a waste of time.

Any current computer is more than adequate for typing large chunks of text. The only group of people who have legitimate gripes that Apple doesn't update their computer line as frequently as other companies with the latest and greatest are the video/audio/photo/graphic design pros. These people are the minority though, and for the vast majority of people, the current macs are more than adequate for what they do. Besides, aren't new ones coming next week??

 

[skaertus]

This is how technology works. It progresses, and this progression is exponential. Did people with VHS players complain when DVD players were released and say they were stabbing the VHS owners in the back? It's the same type of complaining we saw when Apple removed the floppy drives on the iMacs, and then removed the optical drives on the new Macbooks.

No, it's not the same thing.

The DVD did the same things the VHS used to do, but better. So, it replaced the VHS.

Dropping floppy and optical disk drives is a different kind of evolution. These products became unnecessary because people found other, more efficient and faster, ways of storing data. So, floppy disks and optical disk drives were dropped.

The iPad, however, is not a replacement for a computer. The computer is a full-featured machine, and the iPad is not. It's not better, it's not more efficient. It's not even technologically more advanced. It's just more hype. It's not natural evolution. All things that can be done with a computer cannot be done with an iPad. You can't compare this to the VHS/DVD thing. It's just not the same.

People always say the same thing when new technologies emerge. "It's just a fad", "It won't catch on", etc.

It's not a question of "Apple MAY invent something better in the future", it's just a question of when.

Personally, I'm glad Apple is one of the companies that isn't afraid to innovate and make changes. Many people just don't like change, but if they were the ones running everything, we'd still be using type writers.

C'mon, it's not that. I am in favor of evolution. But this isn't evolution. It's involution. You have a full-featured computer, which supports mutitasking and multi-threading, and has a keyboard where you can type fast. You suddenly replace it with a tablet which doesn't support multitasking and which has a screen where you struggle to type on.

I'm in favor of iPads, yes I am. I own one and, while I don't see much use to it, I think it's a neat piece of hardware. However, I'm not in favor of iPads replacing laptops. Not because I fear innovation. But just because I think the iPad is not up to the task: it has less horsepower, can do less things, has less apps available, is more difficult to type on and does not support multi-tasking. I can'to do half the things I do on a laptop with an iPad. The iPad is a very poor substitute to my laptop.

The iPad didn't even exist 5 years ago. Look at how far the technology has come in the past 5 years, and then imagine what it will look like in 5 more years time.

Any current computer is more than adequate for typing large chunks of text. The only group of people who have legitimate gripes that Apple doesn't update their computer line as frequently as other companies with the latest and greatest are the video/audio/photo/graphic design pros. These people are the minority though, and for the vast majority of people, the current macs are more than adequate for what they do. Besides, aren't new ones coming next week??

I guess we have to disagree on that. For writing large chunks of text, I want a computer which is very fast and able to run several apps at once, side-by-side. I want a high screen resolution because I need to look at the screen all the time. I want a good battery life so I can stay unplugged for hours and hours. There is a huge gap between an "adequate" and a "premium" experience on this.

Sorry. I don't feel the need of an iPad. I do have one and I haven't used it for more than a month. It's not the evolution of consumer electronics, it's just a beautiful product that Apple invented and is trying to cram it down everybody's throat, because it's very convenient to it (it is a way to gain market share in a much faster way than selling Macs). And everybody is swallowing it, enchanted by "Apple's magic".

 

[G51989]

This is how technology works. It progresses, and this progression is exponential. Did people with VHS players complain when DVD players were released and say they were stabbing the VHS owners in the back? It's the same type of complaining we saw when Apple removed the floppy drives on the iMacs, and then removed the optical drives on the new Macbooks.

Not quite the same thing took, it took a decade for DVD to totally replace VHS, its not like you went out one day, and you couldn't suddenly buy VHS tapes, Hell you can STILL find VHS tapes if you know where to look.

People always say the same thing when new technologies emerge. "It's just a fad", "It won't catch on", etc.

Despite my love of Macs, they never have caught on, they are indeed a niche computer fad imo.

It's not a question of "Apple MAY invent something better in the future", it's just a question of when.

I can't think of a single thing apple has ever ' invented ', every single product they they make, it just a shiney version of something that already existed.

Personally, I'm glad Apple is one of the companies that isn't afraid to innovate and make changes. Many people just don't like change, but if they were the ones running everything, we'd still be using type writers.

This makes no sense, esp with the Apple Case, Computers existed long before Apple existed, and Apple had little to do with the evolution of the IBM based PC.

The iPad didn't even exist 5 years ago. Look at how far the technology has come in the past 5 years, and then imagine what it will look like in 5 more years time.

Bill Gates says hi from 2002.

Thats funny....lots of those look like an iPad....some even have an detachable keyboard......someones been copying Apple! Wait....this 2002 again.

Any current computer is more than adequate for typing large chunks of text. The only group of people who have legitimate gripes that Apple doesn't update their computer line as frequently as other companies with the latest and greatest are the video/audio/photo/graphic design pros. These people are the minority though, and for the vast majority of people, the current macs are more than adequate for what they do. Besides, aren't new ones coming next week??

Lets see.

Enterprise
Big Business
Gamers
R&D Research
Simulation companies
engineers
Video/Audio Guys
Programmers/game makers
Movie Editing, Sorry, you aint gonna edit an iMAX film on a iPad
I could go on and on and on.

But yes, tons of people care about price point and specs and flexiablity.

At the moment, if someone wants to spend say, 1000 bucks on a good home PC, I'd reccomended a mid range Dell XPS Tower, I can' think of one reason to buy a Mac over it.

My iMac was a good deal imo when I bought it....but buying one right now is stupid, as your paying top dollar for outdated hardware.

 

[skaertus]

I can't think of a single thing apple has ever ' invented ', every single product they they make, it just a shiney version of something that already existed.

That's it. Apple is not inventing the future. It's just putting pre-existing products in a neat package and selling them to people.

People keep buying this stuff that tablets are the future and not anybody needs a PC right now. This talk is very convenient to Apple, since almost every tablet sold out there is an iPad. However, it is simply not true.

Lets see.

Enterprise
Big Business
Gamers
R&D Research
Simulation companies
engineers
Video/Audio Guys
Programmers/game makers
Movie Editing, Sorry, you aint gonna edit an iMAX film on a iPad
I could go on and on and on.

But yes, tons of people care about price point and specs and flexiablity.

At the moment, if someone wants to spend say, 1000 bucks on a good home PC, I'd reccomended a mid range Dell XPS Tower, I can' think of one reason to buy a Mac over it.

My iMac was a good deal imo when I bought it....but buying one right now is stupid, as your paying top dollar for outdated hardware.

Absolutely true.