Macs are never going to capture the mass market, no matter how good they are, due to their price point. The price of admission starts at £1k (MBAir) - that's simply too much for the majority of people and a significant barrier to entry.
I agree completely. That's why I wrote Apple won't do budget devices, other OEMs will, but they need an OS.
A decent Windows ultrabook can easily be had on sale around the £500-600 mark; £700-800 gets you into the realm of beefier specs and gaming laptops with discrete Nvidia graphics, usually with the ability to upgrade both RAM and SSDs.
Yes. But ARM is taking over. Apple is already beating x86 with their 1st gen product. That shocked me. You can look at my old posts. I've expected that Apple will have a good CPU for start, but nothing to compete with x86, and that it will take them a lot of time to switch to completely new architecture. I was completely wrong.
With those 500-600 devices, besides noise and battery life, you're ok today. But what happens when other OEMs get a great ARM CPU that can compete with AS, but Windows isn't ready for it?
This is where Apple's market weakness lies; they offer nothing in the midrange. It's where most savvy sales occur. Nobody wants a £300 piece of junk but £1k+ for 8Gb RAM and a 256Gb SSD is too much for many (with the £1300 MBPro completely out of the question).
I won't argue with that, because we are on the same page completely.
Only one problem atm. Apple never was affordable, and they never will be. But in the high range, if one doesn't really need Windows and x86 now, why would anyone purchase Dell XPS 13 over MBA for example?
MBA crushes it in every possible way.
Now imagine a 500$ laptop with some Qualcomm chip that does the same. Would you purchase something like Dell XPS or X1 carbon with x86?
Apple will continue to own the premium sector and make tons of money for investors. But they will always struggle to move the needle on Mac market share both to corporates and consumers at prices that are simply financially inaccessible to most.
Once again, I agree. But I would like to add that Apple doesn't care about marketshare. At all. They care about profits, and they probably make more profits on macs than Dell does with their XPS lineup.
Linux will NEVER become popular with the general public. It's hell to use as an everyday OS; the average person would be baffled even trying to set up a printer and it has near-zero support for mainstream programs (MS Office, Adobe suite etc).
That's funny. I've removed my moms Windows install since it always had some issues. I've installed Ubuntu, and shes using it like a champ. No issues, nothing to complain about. And believe me, she's not a tech person at all. So explain it to me why Linux is so frightening for average person?
As far as printers go, indeed, Linux has issues there.
But if MS fails with Windows on ARM, OEMs won't have a choice besides Linux. Drivers for printers will be there in a instant. And I do agree on apps part as well. But then again, if OEMs don't have a choice and are forced to use linux, there won't be a choice for Adobe and similar companies as well.
I feel like we are not on the same page (I don't mean just you, but most people here).
I'm not saying windows is doomed, linux is taking over.
I'm just saying there is a great chance of that happening if MS doesn't move fast. If you asked me about this a few months ago, I would say Linux is great, but it will never gain desktop marketshare. Well, funny enough, I've changed my mind thanks to AS.
Now consider this. If Dell/Lenovo/HP have a great ARM CPU on their hands, and they want it in their devices to compete with Apple, but they can't because they don't have an OS... What will they do? Wait a few more years for MS to finally finish some product and hope that it doesn't fail like others?
Or they will just choose random linux distro and try to do something themselves?
If I was a CEO of any OEM today, I would be very worried and feeling helpless.
