I mentioned in an earlier Slog that I've got a M1 MacBook Pro. Which I do! I'm using it right now in fact! It's very good for what I use it for; a general web browsing machine that has good battery life and a holistically decent hardware. Which it does, even about five years later. It's one of those with the TouchBar. A feature I thought was cool but less cool than it could have been since it replaced the function keys in the process. But it's still supported; I really like how when typing spelling correction suggestions appear there. It's one of the few Mac hardware ideas I'd like to see replicated on a Windows PC. (There was the ZenBook Duo, which I had... which shouldn't be surprising. This was a good device but the screen was half the size of the main and didn't have deep OS support so was not as effective.)
I was an Apple fan from the start. I learnt to program on Apple II's at school, and lusted for years after a Apple IIgs. The first digital camera I ever used was a QuickTake...
But most modern Apple products I really don't like. Too much form over function, and too much "This is how we want things so this is what you're gonna get and you're going to like it...." A good example was the Butterfly Keyboard. Thin is apparently good therefore a thin keyboard work towards that goal so thus the Butterfly Keyboard. People say it's has a worse feel and is prone to jamming when dust gets inside but it takes years for Apple to acknowledge this and after five years it's gone. One could argue that it's an example of how they do listen and adapt, but this I think is more that they saw the numbers and were losing too much in support and sales. PowerMac G4 Cube. Crazy nonsense design. Looks cool in concept sure, but it loses most of that concept once you plug things in and then you've lost the one thing it had going for it, which was the futuristic floating square.
Having said all that I do keep track of Apple releases, and sometimes am tempted by their work. The iPhone Duo is a good example of that. Looking at the videos even the software seems to be done the way I like it; natural and prioritising multitasking. But that's the other issue with Apple these days. The price. Wow. Since that screen is Samsung tech I'm not sure how they are justifying it.
I certainly can't.
