[mrtranscendence]

I somewhat disagree?

To be honest, the current UI look-and-feel hasn't bothered me at all. I can't recall ever being confused by it (with one exception: iPad multitasking). Perhaps I've simply internalized it to such a degree that I accept it, warts and all, without thinking about it critically. But it's difficult for me to be too upset by a UI that really has "just worked" for me.

As long as my customized keyboard shortcuts still work, I'll be happy, I guess.

I also haven't experienced the software stability issues that you point out, though I have no doubt this is because I rarely do things like transfer data from one device to another (though when I have done so it's worked well enough). YMM(and does)V.

> I'll see your M1 and raise you a trash-can Mac Pro, and the fact that anything other than a Mac Pro can't be upgraded.

The trash can Mac Pro was a mistake, though at least it's one they eventually remedied. Their recent lineup has been almost universally praised, except for cost and (as you point out) upgradeability. I'm not too bent out of shape about upgradeability because I've never tried to upgrade a laptop, but I see the annoyance.

[ninkendo]

> I can't recall ever being confused by it (with one exception: iPad multitasking).

Oh god, don’t get me started. Not a single thing in any field of technology puts me straight into confused-grandma-mode as quickly and thoroughly as accidentally going into multitasking mode on the iPad. Oh god how do I close the floating safari window I accidentally opened? Why does swiping it off the screen do nothing? Oh god now there’s a weird paddle thing on the right side, and now it’s… gone? Is that window just there running forever now? Or I drag it to the left and now… oh god now it’s in split view. How do I go back? I move the vertical bar all the way to the side and now I have two safari windows, but I can only see them for a brief period when I cmd-tab… somebody please help me oh god.

Granted, it’s a little better each release, and used to be so much worse, but it’s still ungodly awful and impossible for me to figure out. I wish I could just disable it outright.

[lisper]

I think this is a topic about which people can reasonably disagree :-)

I'll just add that my complaint about inability to upgrade does not just apply to laptops. It's the whole product line (other than the Pro) including the Mini and the iMac. If I have an iMac and I need more RAM, I have to throw out a perfectly good SSD, processor, and display. There is just no excuse for that. I have a NUC that is essentially a hardware equivalent of a (pre-M1) Mini. The NUC is both smaller than a Mini and upgradable so I know it's possible.

[edmundsauto]

You are correct to say there is no excuse for the lack of upgradability, but not for the reasons you believe.

There is no excuse because “excuses” are not germane to making trade offs. Apple chose to not make devices easily upgradable because it enabled them to be amazing in other dimensions (sturdiness, manufacturing efficiency, design, aesthetics, plus most users don’t give a flying fuck about upgrading)

Why would you need an excuse for defining your own products your way?

[lisper]

But this is exactly my point. Apple is optimizing the wrong things (for me) because it's trying to build Cool New Things rather than things that are actually useful. My NUC looks perfectly fine, and it sits under my desk so no one ever sees it anyway. It is superior to a Mac Mini in every conceivable way. It's smaller and it costs less for the same tech specs. The only thing that a NUC doesn't do that a Mini does is run MacOS legally.

[edmundsauto]

> It is superior to a Mac Mini in every conceivable way

Based on the dimensions you feel are important and are visible to you. That is only one perspective on the elephant.

If you built that machine, and you made decisions that were not necessary tradeoffs AND these decisions went against your values, you would need an excuse. Apple is not you, and they do not need any excuses - they have a different set of values and built to those values.

Those values are what the market, aka other people, care about.

[tokamak-teapot]

But you don’t have to throw those things away. Just sell it, for a decent percent of what you bought it for - because they have good resale value - and buy one with more RAM.

[lisper]

Then I have to transfer all my data. That's time consuming even when it goes well, and not once has that process ever gone flawlessly for me. Something always gets lost. Passwords. License keys. Settings. It has been a colossal PITA every single time.