[GeekyBear]

Dell has just announced an 8 Gig of RAM version of their XPS laptop and the PR surrounding the launch is pretty funny.

> "Apple's MacBook Neo is a capable machine, and its arrival confirms that there's real appetite for premium quality at accessible prices," said Dell.

Who could have known that people wanted quality AND affordability?

[gyomu]

> Who could have known that people wanted quality AND affordability?

If you have spent any time in those gigantic corporations, you know that there is effectively no one there who can actually speak sense and effect change.

No one can say "our laptops are too crappy and too expensive, let's fix it" and actually make it happen.

The people in the marketing department who wrote "Apple's MacBook Neo is a capable machine, and its arrival confirms that there's real appetite for premium quality at accessible prices" probably don't give much of a shit about Dell and its products, other than the fact that they get a paycheck from the company every 2 weeks; many of them probably have MacBooks at home, and many of them won't even be at Dell 18 months from now as they chase the next step in their career.

It's kind of shocking to many people too that even the C-suite execs don't have the power to change much there either. Remember that email from Bill Gates where he suddenly realized that the Windows install experience was shit and asked his underlings to fix it? Of course, nothing got better, and Windows is still a giant turd many years later.

What is a real miracle is that a company the size of Apple has managed to still give a shit after all these years and insane growth. There's plenty of missteps in Cupertino for sure, but compared to the competition it's night and day. Who knows how much longer it'll last.

[alsetmusic]

> probably don't give much of a shit about Dell and its products, other than the fact that they get a paycheck from the company every 2 weeks; many of them probably have MacBooks at home

I worked at an Apple Store before I got the opportunity to move into the corporate world. I was doing sales and I was super enthusiastic about the products (~2005).

I remember this couple thinking about buying their first Mac. The lady was skeptical and asked if I had a Mac at home. I was so surprised by the question that I blurted out, "Of course!" It was like asking if I breathed oxygen.

They both laughed and she seemed to trust me after that. She saw that I wasn't a used car salesman and they bought whatever it was that we were discussing, probably an iMac.

I always chuckle to myself at how preposterous the question seemed to me at the time. But yeah, a lot of people just show up for the paycheck and have absolutely no buy-in about what their company makes.

[yks]

> won't even be at Dell 18 months from now as they chase the next step in their career

* as they get laid off

[nxobject]

> Who could have known that people wanted quality AND affordability?

Did the old 11" MacBook Air not teach the Wintel brands anything?

[drnick1]

It is shocking that the XPS14 now starts at $2,000.

[mmcnl]

Made me buy a MacBook Air instead. Waited for a long time because I was not a fan of macOS, but Apple is quite cheap in all segments nowadays. A well-specced MacBook Pro these days is cheaper than a ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The MacBook Air at ~$1000 price point with 16GB/512GB is also incredibly hard to beat in price, and even if you pay the premium for a Windows competitor (crazy sentence) you actually get a less than premium experience: worse build quality, worse display, worse battery life.

[philistine]

Apple's chip count in their laptops is insanely low compared to the competition. They're reaping the rewards of their continued investment in simplicity. People are appalled that they don't use standard M.2 storage; Apple's thing is bespoke and incompatible. Evil Apple's trying to prevent us folks from upgrading our laptops!!

Nope. They use standard chips without a dedicated controller, because it's all controlled directly on the M-series chip, saving them a bunch of money. Which that, with the Macbook Neo, they absolutely pass the savings down to you.

[jwagenet]

If you use wintel, unless you need bleeding edge, buy 3 year old Dell Precision refurb on eBay for a third of that.

[burnte]

> Who could have known that people wanted quality AND affordability?

Truly a shocking outcome!