Is Apple becoming rotten?

The iPhone 7 is fine, they made one contentious decision which got a lot of vocal outcry but ultimately won't harm them and was already catching on in competing Android phones. People were mad that there wasn't a substantial redesign, but the design is great in the first place. This storm would have probably blown over, if it was the biggest controversy Apple caused this year. But nope, they went bigger...

The MacBook Pro is a massive misstep with a lot more substance to the widespread backlash. Beyond the extensively detailed flaws with the product itself, perhaps the greater issue is that it's completely undermined Apple's highly valuable reputation for crafting a seamless and accessible ecosystem. You need adaptors now for any legacy USB connector and SD cards (you can't even connect your iPhone with the cable that comes in the box anymore), they've killed off one of the greatest innovations Apple ever introduced to the laptop market in Magsafe, they've even created a complete incompatibility between iPhone compatible Lightning headphones, offering literally no means of using them with the MBP while keeping the 3.5mm jack because it supposedly has professional applications, despite the fact that any professional equipment will probably go through some sort of USB interface (and the fact that they've murdered far more essential pro tools in the function bar and SD card slot).

The MacBook Pro has taken Apple's reputation as the all-encompassing ecosystem that "just works" and buried it under a mountain of dongles and confusion. Their greatest strength has always been the lack of fragmentation that defines Android and Windows, and that perception has now been flawed, and flawed is not good enough for Apple. It will be very interesting to see how they proceed from here.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 3

unprinted

Style over substance, style over substance.

I laughed (quietly) when someone's Apple laptop wouldn't connect to wifi somewhere so they tried to use the wired network.. only to go 'Oh, no ethernet port'. It'd have made their laptop a few mm thicker, but that would have ruined the look. (Even if a larger battery = longer battery life.)

You either accept that Apple know better than you what you want ('Shiny!!!') or but elsewhere.

Reply 4

alexschmalex

It honestly sounds like you're moaning just to moan. SD card adapters can be found for like £10 on Amazon, and if you're going to spend £1k on any laptop, an extra £10 is literally a drop in the pond, let alone a £2k machine. And please, what adaptors are you looking at that will cost you hundreds of pounds and/or weigh down your bag? It's a bit of a reach don't you think?

It's inconvenient for the moment yes but in a year or two, prices will have come down (maybe not in the UK, we'll see) and USB-C will be widespread enough that it's not a big deal. Buy one if you want to, but if you don't that's cool too, nobody is forcing you to live and die by Apple. I have a Mac but I've never thought iPhones were worth the cash, I've survived just fine with :smile:

Reply 5

Original post by alexschmalex

It honestly sounds like you're moaning just to moan. SD card adapters can be found for like £10 on Amazon, and if you're going to spend £1k on any laptop, an extra £10 is literally a drop in the pond, let alone a £2k machine. And please, what adaptors are you looking at that will cost you hundreds of pounds and/or weigh down your bag? It's a bit of a reach don't you think?

Sticking with the missing SD card slot as this example, it's not having to spend an extra tenner that's the issue. As somebody who shoots a large quantity of RAW photos on a weekly basis and imports them to my Mac for editing, an adaptor is just a massive pain in the ass. Transfer speeds are slower than inbuilt readers (which is a genuine issue when you're dumping multiple GB of files per import), it's another potential point of failure, and it's disruptive to workflows. This is a sentiment that's ringing out widely across photography and videography circles, two industries that have historically heavily favoured Apple systems. It's not just that it's an omission, it's an unnecessary omission and Apple's attempts at justifying the removal (that in-camera wifi is getting better) shows a worrying disregard for one of their core consumer bases.

Reply 6

parsn1p

2

They always were rotten in my opinion. :redface:

Reply 7

3121

Have you seem those USBs that go into any open port and fry the entire motherboard?

The iOS design is elegant and is a key selling feature, there is no sign people want it changed, if you made the argument of iPads being gigantic iPhones I would agree with you as I type from this massive iPad Pro which has amazing hardware that is limited with the software of a mobile, I think apple needs to add more capabilities for the iPad iOS.

Apple told everyone they removed the headphone jack because it's outdated and takes up too much internal space, with Bluetooth who really needs the jack? Just get a Bluetooth adapter (as cheap as £3) and ta-da your headphones are half-wireless

I must agree with you that the innovation died with Steve Jobs, I too have been a long time apple fan and once upon a time their products were undoubtably the best now you look at them and think.. is it worth it. I do think apple should've allowed users to choose like 3 free adapters when purchasing a MacBook or included the essential ones in the box

Reply 8

Loopy91

16

I think android as an operating system is better overall than iOS anyway due to the versatility, and the freedom you get with itm

Tbh, as a person who has switched from iOS iPhone 5 to the Samsung S7 Edge, relatively speaking I do not see what is wrong with iPhone 7. Bluetooth headphones are like £14 from Amazon, most conventional headphones are around that price so just adapt with the times ygm. I do not see a big difference between iPhone 6 and 6s, but I've never heard anyone crying about that.

Reply 9

THE EPIC Panda

10

"Innovation" Lol. Apple haven't innovated in anything other then SOC's. They are mealy a recipe company that produces overpriced hardware for the uninformed. Steve Job's isn't this great figure in technology that people like to believe either. Steve Wozniak was the real innovator in technology for apple.They are more like a cult then a technology company now anyway. Churning out hardware revisions every year that change very little and cost loads. Yet people still buy this stuff and queue for days to get them early.

The new macbook 'pro' 13" comes only with a dual core. What were they thinking? How can it be a professional device with only a dual core? Then they stick Intel, basically 'HD' onboard, graphics on it. Again how is in anyway pro? Then you've got the 15" which at least has a quad core and some form of passable graphics processor. However it only has 16GB of RAM. Apple's reasoning behind this cooling or some rubbish, which would be okay but the razer blade pro has 32GB of RAM and deals with the extra heat. The ports issue is just stupid. What is the point in having an ultra book type device if you have to carry around a heap of adaptors? The might of well just replaced all the ports with FireWire mini.

Anyway, rant over. I can't wait for Microsoft to start to really hammer them with the new surface line. Maybe Apple will then finally realise that what they are doing isn't that great. But then again this is apple, so the odds of that happening is the same as the queen being found out to be four eagles in a dress or that leopards are actually greyhounds in suits.

Reply 10

parsn1p

2

Original post by THE EPIC Panda

"Innovation" Lol. Apple haven't innovated in anything other then SOC's. They are mealy a recipe company that produces overpriced hardware for the uninformed. Steve Job's isn't this great figure in technology that people like to believe either. Steve Wozniak was the real innovator in technology for apple.They are more like a cult then a technology company now anyway. Churning out hardware revisions every year that change very little and cost loads. Yet people still buy this stuff and queue for days to get them early.

The new macbook 'pro' 13" comes only with a dual core. What were they thinking? How can it be a professional device with only a dual core? Then they stick Intel, basically 'HD' onboard, graphics on it. Again how is in anyway pro? Then you've got the 15" which at least has a quad core and some form of passable graphics processor. However it only has 16GB of RAM. Apple's reasoning behind this cooling or some rubbish, which would be okay but the razer blade pro has 32GB of RAM and deals with the extra heat. The ports issue is just stupid. What is the point in having an ultra book type device if you have to carry around a heap of adaptors? The might of well just replaced all the ports with FireWire mini.

Anyway, rant over. I can't wait for Microsoft to start to really hammer them with the new surface line. Maybe Apple will then finally realise that what they are doing isn't that great. But then again this is apple, so the odds of that happening is the same as the queen being found out to be four eagles in a dress or that leopards are actually greyhounds in suits.

I remember the days when just 2GB of RAM was considered almost out of the realms of affordability for most end users. :moon:

Reply 11

Han-Mingi

9

Yeah Apple does become rotten especially if you bite it and leave it, first an oxidation reaction occurs for it to turn brown and when you leave it long enough it'll turn rotten

Reply 12

username1075708

OP

15

Original post by alexschmalex

It honestly sounds like you're moaning just to moan. SD card adapters can be found for like £10 on Amazon, and if you're going to spend £1k on any laptop, an extra £10 is literally a drop in the pond, let alone a £2k machine. And please, what adaptors are you looking at that will cost you hundreds of pounds and/or weigh down your bag? It's a bit of a reach don't you think?

It's inconvenient for the moment yes but in a year or two, prices will have come down (maybe not in the UK, we'll see) and USB-C will be widespread enough that it's not a big deal. Buy one if you want to, but if you don't that's cool too, nobody is forcing you to live and die by Apple. I have a Mac but I've never thought iPhones were worth the cash, I've survived just fine with :smile:

I'm not having a "moan just to moan".

As a photographer, why should I need to purchase an adapter to connect my SD card when all previous MacBook Pro's have had SD card slots? An SD card slot would have easily fit on the new model.

It's in the product name - "Pro". These aren't for just using Safari and your email. These laptops are for pro use. Maybe USB-C is the future in a few years, but the SD card slot is now and there is no point in Apple removing it.

As a photographer, why should I have to buy a USB-C to standard USB adapter and lug around a long camera to USB cable, or why should I need to purchase an SD card reader that I'd also have to lug around?

Yes, technology changes but we're still in the present, not in the future just yet.

It's just odd too how the new iPhone 7 doesn't come with the new USB cable. So you'll have to buy an adapter or new cable for a new iPhone 7 to connect to a new MacBook Pro :/

I'm keeping my current MacBook Pro. Apple should have added the new USB ports but not removed the old slots, but phased them out on future models maybe. There is no need for 4 USB-C slots anyway. Why not have 2 USB-C slots for the future and 2 old standard ones?

Something I find crazy too is MagSafe has gone. So the charger uses a USB-C port. MagSafe - the magnetic charging port has gone. The whole point of it was so if someone tripped over the cable, the laptop wouldn't come crashing down. It would simply unclipand the laptop would be fine. Amazing feature they have done away with. Silly really.

Reply 13

Original post by 2scotty

I'm not having a "moan just to moan".

Not sure if I've been quoted because that was aimed at me, because I fully agree with you :yy:

Reply 14

username1075708

OP

15

It's because you said you shoot RAW (me too!) and replied to someone else about it too.

Thank you though! Glad I'm not the only one thinking this.

Macs are great for creatives and I think I'all always use one just because they seem (to me) more reliable, and they do have a nice design, but Apple needs to realise what the Pro user wants and needs. Not what the rich person simply using Pages or Safari wants. They should have a MacBook for that. Not a MacBook Pro...

Reply 15

Al-farhan

20

Couldn't have said it better. The fact that the magsafe is now gone has immensely put me off buying any new macs. I have been a mac user since 07 but it seems now I might just build a pc rig cheaper and more powerful.

Reply 16

Life_peer

Like five or seven years ago, hello?

Reply 17

Original post by Al-farhan

Couldn't have said it better. The fact that the magsafe is now gone has immensely put me off buying any new macs. I have been a mac user since 07 but it seems now I might just build a pc rig cheaper and more powerful.

I'm planning on building a miniITX Hackintosh when I get back from my next stint abroad with work and getting the best of both worlds.

Reply 18

AperfectBalance

Apple have always been rotten, and yet people still buy them because they are uninformed. even when apple continuously make stupid design choices and screw the customers over

Reply 19

unprinted