The problem with Apple is that they have solved certain use cases and form factors - and once solved, there is less and less money to be made on fine tuning and iterating on those designs.
For example:
Apple solved the laptop computer with the aluminum, unibody macbook (air ?) with chiclet keys and glass screen/trackpad. That's it. It's over. The laptop computer is solved - and all anyone wanted was a retina macbook air. That's it - that's all we wanted. The same old macbook air with magsafe, multiple USB ports and a graphics port. With retina.
Another example is the Mac Pro (tower) - this is a long-standing form factor in computing that is now solved. There is no doing this better than Apple did it with the last versions (2009 and later) of the mac pro tower. All anybody wanted was a Mac Pro tower with sata3 and usb3 and newer gfx connections. That's it - it was solved.
But we didn't get any of those things, did we ?
Minor iterations of existing designs are not enough for Apple - they have to do new things for economic reasons.
Honestly, as someone who has no interest in an ipad or an iphone or an iwatch and has always worried that focus on those items would cannibalize Mac and OSX ... looking back I wish they had focused even more on the iDevices and just left the Mac products alone - albeit with the little iterations of processor/ram/usb3/sata3/etc.
You're going to need a lot more evidence to support the extraordinary claim that Apple "solved" any of these in a final way. Especially considering every MacBook Pro review I read picks out specific, non-iterative features of competing products that the author wishes Apple considered.
I have all Macs, and I'd be pretty pissed at the universe if the best laptops feasible in this reality were just my current hardware when you take the limit as versions of USB and Thunderbolt tend towards infinity.
"You're going to need a lot more evidence to support the extraordinary claim that Apple "solved" any of these in a final way. Especially considering every MacBook Pro review I read picks out specific, non-iterative features of competing products that the author wishes Apple considered."
I think you're referring to touchscreen/convertible/etc. ?
I don't think those are laptops. They're interesting and exciting and maybe they are even better than laptops. But they are not laptops.
"I have all Macs, and I'd be pretty pissed at the universe if the best laptops feasible in this reality were just my current hardware when you take the limit as versions of USB and Thunderbolt tend towards infinity."
Why ?
I'm happy with hammers just the way they are. Sure, I'd like a superlight, super strong hammer made of unobtanium, but the form factor doesn't need to change.
For example:
Apple solved the laptop computer with the aluminum, unibody macbook (air ?) with chiclet keys and glass screen/trackpad. That's it. It's over. The laptop computer is solved - and all anyone wanted was a retina macbook air. That's it - that's all we wanted. The same old macbook air with magsafe, multiple USB ports and a graphics port. With retina.
Another example is the Mac Pro (tower) - this is a long-standing form factor in computing that is now solved. There is no doing this better than Apple did it with the last versions (2009 and later) of the mac pro tower. All anybody wanted was a Mac Pro tower with sata3 and usb3 and newer gfx connections. That's it - it was solved.
But we didn't get any of those things, did we ?
Minor iterations of existing designs are not enough for Apple - they have to do new things for economic reasons.
Honestly, as someone who has no interest in an ipad or an iphone or an iwatch and has always worried that focus on those items would cannibalize Mac and OSX ... looking back I wish they had focused even more on the iDevices and just left the Mac products alone - albeit with the little iterations of processor/ram/usb3/sata3/etc.
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