Apple's chips are winners, but Windows fails help it most
When the first M1 Apple Silicon systems sprouted at the end of 2020, we loved the tech but not the walled garden it grew in. Apple had complete control over all its platforms and could set its own rules, but only to become more Apple-y. There was a whole world outside that area where Apple Silicon would never tread, even if Cupertino could iterate fast enough to keep up. Plus, Apple's appliance sensibility limited its expansion options, especially with performance dependent on its own silicon.More than five years on, that remains true. Yes, the architecture can iterate at least as fast as anything else in its class. It turns out that gigabit Wi-Fi, 10 Gb Ethernet, and high speed expansion is not such a problem anymore. Otherwise, if you ignore embedded niche cases that nobody cares about, Apple is still where it started, in desktops and laptops. It has even lost one form factor. And ironically, the most exciting new machine for years, the Macbook Neo, doesn't even have an M-type SoC in it.
And yet, that Macbook Neo has given the Windows world the fear, precisely because of the Apple Silicon walled garden strategy. A simple equation has reached a critical point, and it may be irreversible. Every year of Apple Silicon, the experience of using a Mac has gotten better. Every year of Windows 11, the experience of using a PC has gotten worse.
Apple's chips are the core of a new landscape, but its biggest win is Windows
Opinion: Walled gardens make more sense when it's an AI-lligator infested swamp outsideRupert Goodwins (The Register)
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i_am_not_a_robot
in reply to Powderhorn • • •like this
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Powderhorn
in reply to i_am_not_a_robot • • •like this
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tal
in reply to Powderhorn • • •I've had some similar comments about Windows in the past. Like, a lot of the lock-in value that Microsoft enjoys isn't anything special that they've done --- it's because people are expert in using their platform. If you make them change their workflow, you throw that out. And people profoundly dislike changing their workflow, once they've put the effort in to become accustomed to one.
Powderhorn
in reply to tal • • •Powderhorn
in reply to tal • • •The Bard in Green
in reply to Powderhorn • • •Powderhorn
in reply to The Bard in Green • • •I mean, I figured a long press and a context menu would solve the issue, but no. When my dad died last year, I had to completely remove him from my contacts (not wholly unreasonable, given that's a bit of a useless number). I don't want to remove this guy from my contacts because, well, life changes, we bonded over a lot of shared interests, and maybe I'll be in NYC at some point.
You want that guy in your phone. You don't want him to be Option 1.
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MalReynolds
in reply to The Bard in Green • • •SaltySalamander
in reply to Powderhorn • • •Oh good, this isn't a me problem.
Powderhorn
in reply to SaltySalamander • • •I mean, at least I'm talking with my ex-wife again, so that's less irritating than it had been.
(These are separate people.)
SaltySalamander
in reply to Powderhorn • • •t3rmit3
in reply to SaltySalamander • • •Powderhorn
in reply to SaltySalamander • • •SteevyT
in reply to SaltySalamander • • •i_am_not_a_robot
in reply to Powderhorn • • •hersh
in reply to Powderhorn • • •MacOS is not a walled garden any more than Windows is. That's just iOS/iPadOS.
You can run any software you want on macOS. It doesn't need to be from the App Store, and it doesn't need to be notarized by Apple or even signed.
How long that will remain true is an open question. I don't think they can realistically enforce signing or notarization in the near future. Too much would break.
N0x0n
in reply to hersh • • •It's kinda open I guess... But as soon as you try to do things out of the box on MacOS, it just doesn't work without a janky workarround ^^
And just don't get me started on their .plist implementation 🤦♂️ I haven't update for about 2 years, in fear it will totally break my current workflow and all the custom things I had to do to make it work HOW i like it and not how Apple dictates it.
It's a gift, but God what I hate that dumb stupid Macraptop !
B0rax
in reply to N0x0n • • •sunbeam60
in reply to hersh • • •hersh
in reply to sunbeam60 • • •You can run Linux on Mac hardware if that's what you mean.
But I was talking about the software side, in comparison to Windows.
sunbeam60
in reply to hersh • • •Fifrok
in reply to hersh • • •𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
in reply to Powderhorn • • •Ain't that the damned truth!
Edit. Overzealous copy.
Powderhorn
in reply to 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘 • • •The Bard in Green
in reply to Powderhorn • • •Honey, the proprietary operating systems are quarreling again!
*sips coffee in exclusive Linux user land.
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Powderhorn
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in reply to I Cast Fist • • •Fifrok
in reply to Powderhorn • • •I don't get the hype from tech bros for the 'neo'. It's a laptop powered by a phone chip sold for the price of a laptop with a decent dGPU.
Apple selling a 'repairable' and low-end device just looks like a recession indicator to me.
Powderhorn
in reply to Fifrok • • •Fifrok
in reply to Powderhorn • • •TehPers
in reply to Fifrok • • •For roughly the price of a single 9800x3d*, you can buy a complete laptop with a long lasting battery and decent enough specs for web browsing, video playback, and basic office work. It's unfortunately one of the better devices on the market at that price, especially accounting for the battery life.
*Edit: okay the processors came down in price. Fine, the cost of a kit of decent DDR5 memory, then.
One of the few, I take it?
Fifrok
in reply to TehPers • • •The 9800X3D is a desktop chip, so I don't think it's relevant here. We are talking about a complete mobile device after all, not parts.
In my country, for around 800$ equivalent, you can buy a used business laptop with long battery life and enoguh performance for web browsing, video playback, and office work.
The cheapest macbook neo I found in my country is also around that price (820$), and the better configuration is about 900$.
For the lower price, I could get:
- a thinkpad t480 with multiple batteries (hot swappable) and 32GB SO-DIMM RAM
- a latitude 7420 with 11th gen intel with 32GB soldered RAM, a ultraportable like the neo
- a thinkpad t14 gen 2 with 11th gen intel or ryzen 5000 and 48GB RAM (one SO-DIMM slot, and one soldered module)
- or if the size format didn't matter a thinkpad p52 with 64GB RAM and a 90Wh swappable battery
If I went with the higher-spec price, I could get a thinkpad p53 with a quadro RTX 4000 and 32 GB RAM, 512 GB ssd, and a Pantone-calibrated display.
All of them have more ports the the neo, use standard SSDs, an
... Show more...The 9800X3D is a desktop chip, so I don't think it's relevant here. We are talking about a complete mobile device after all, not parts.
In my country, for around 800$ equivalent, you can buy a used business laptop with long battery life and enoguh performance for web browsing, video playback, and office work.
The cheapest macbook neo I found in my country is also around that price (820$), and the better configuration is about 900$.
For the lower price, I could get:
- a thinkpad t480 with multiple batteries (hot swappable) and 32GB SO-DIMM RAM
- a latitude 7420 with 11th gen intel with 32GB soldered RAM, a ultraportable like the neo
- a thinkpad t14 gen 2 with 11th gen intel or ryzen 5000 and 48GB RAM (one SO-DIMM slot, and one soldered module)
- or if the size format didn't matter a thinkpad p52 with 64GB RAM and a 90Wh swappable battery
If I went with the higher-spec price, I could get a thinkpad p53 with a quadro RTX 4000 and 32 GB RAM, 512 GB ssd, and a Pantone-calibrated display.
All of them have more ports the the neo, use standard SSDs, and don't come from a company that is one of the most hostile to consumer rights and right to repair .
One of many. What I meant (and should have said, instead of being vague) is that I don’t expect this to be a real shift in policy, but rather a way to maintain profits when people have less disposable income, and I fully expect Apple to keep lobbing against right to repair, even when releasing 'repairable' devices.