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by KingJulian 1538 days ago
The issue is form over function. But then, each person has a different view of what is an acceptable tradeoff for reduction in weight and/or volume of the laptop. Louis Rossman doesn't mind a beefy laptop if it means that he can get a decent battery life, keyboard with good travel (similar to the ThinkPads of yesteryear), and repairability. For a lot of people, the last point isn't all that important. This can lead to a whole bunch of issues like their keyboard failures, thermal throttling, and many others.
2 comments
netizen-936824 1538 days ago
People also don't know how their machines should operate if they've always bought into the shitty ecosystem where sacrifices are made and computation is throttled because "aesthetics"

Not to mention the e-waste, that's probably the biggest issue

Apple is terrible if you care about ecosystems

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etempleton 1538 days ago
Depends. Apple products are often not upgradable, but they are reliable. My 2015 Macbook Pro was my daily driver for 7 years and I just now replaced it with a Macbook Air that I will probably use for 7 more years. I only replaced it because it was outdated in terms of processor speed. Most laptops aren't all that upgradable to begin with, so I think the tradeoff makes sense for laptop computers and devices.

For desktop computers I don't think that same equation makes sense. If you need desktop power you have specific requirements and probably have specific peripherals that you use. You will want to always have the fastest hardware and so you want as much flexibility as possible. Apple doesn't provide this so the only people who tend to use Apple desktops are creative professionals where MacOS has some advantages and Apple hardware is always correctly calibrated out of the box.

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KingJulian 1537 days ago
> Depends. Apple products are often not upgradable, but they are reliable. My 2015 Macbook Pro was my daily driver for 7 years and I just now replaced it with a Macbook Air that I will probably use for 7 more years. I only replaced it because it was outdated in terms of processor speed. Most laptops aren't all that upgradable to begin with, so I think the tradeoff makes sense for laptop computers and devices.

True. My late-2011 13" MacBook Pro is still running strong, albeit for the poor battery life. 5 years back, I upgraded the RAM to 16 GB, and swapped out the HDD and the DVD drive for SSDs. It gets the job done even today. All it needs is a battery replacement.

> For desktop computers I don't think that same equation makes sense. If you need desktop power you have specific requirements and probably have specific peripherals that you use. You will want to always have the fastest hardware and so you want as much flexibility as possible. Apple doesn't provide this so the only people who tend to use Apple desktops are creative professionals where MacOS has some advantages and Apple hardware is always correctly calibrated out of the box.

Exactly. They know that they cater to a very specific group of people.

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netizen-936824 1538 days ago
They might not be as upgradeable as desktops, but generally they are slightly more repairable than apple devices. Reparability is the major driver behind ewaste
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etempleton 1538 days ago
It is certainly a tradeoff. For devices and laptops I am willing and happy to live within Apple's walled garden. For a desktop I typically have specific requirements and just build my own even though I could probably get something similar cheaper from a vendor.
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