SEJU

proline said:

a) It gives them a way to sell technology that isn't produced in volumes of 200 million per year
b) It made a ton a money

I put a) first because contrary to what all the douchebags said, this isn't just about making money. By restricting themselves to components that are produced in huge quantities at affordable prices, Apple was leaving it to Android to offer up the very most cutting edge features- the absolute best cameras and displays, for example. They're tired of it, and now their top phone will be the best in every respect. If you can't afford it, wait a year or two and get the mid-range model.

Genau! The X is clearly a product where they shift the technology in multiple sectors, just like they did with the MBP 2016, and that gives them the opportunity to develop all the necessary technologies to make it happen. For Apple that is what really counts, to be able to create a technological advantage and the necessary economy of scale.

MacPro said:

Sold more maybe but at less profit. It's about profits not volume.

I know, but in this case I am advocating for a more reasonable price, once the new technologies went mainstream. This might be a little bit selfish, but I am ok with that ;0)

But seriously 1600,- euro for the 256 GB X plus AppleCare is rediculous! I have always bought the top of the line model with the maximum amount of memory plus AppleCare and that price is by fare the highest!!!

Ok, but if the price would have been comparable to the previous generations, they would have sold more. The configuration I usually purchase would have cost me 1500 or so. I hope they will bring down the price to where it used to be over the next generations, but I doubt they will do so...

GeorgeBMac said:

And, that becomes increasingly true when one realizes that the appeal of MacBooks is less in their hardware and more in their software/OS and Apple ecosystem.

As long as it has a terminal, runs some sort of Unix/Linux + my CAD, modeling + graphics software I am ok. Take away anything of these and I change to something else. A world of iPads, where no terminal exists, is not something I am eager to experience.

But Apple asks a premium, their machines cost a lot. It is one thing as long as they are solid, repairable, etc. If they start to just cost a lot and brake down easily, it makes no sense to pay that much money. I would leave Apple to those who need status symbols.

I might be ok with “it just works”. I am not ok with “it brakes down just like that”.

cgWerks said:

fastasleep said:
Still funny to me that people say this stuff with authority, as if they know what Jobs would’ve actually done in situation x. What a disservice to him.
...
Look, I know you have a hard time imagining a future of computing that looks different from your own use case, or even a different definition of “professional” that doesn’t involve a big clicky keyboard, but Apple can. Look at all the input/keyboard patents on Patently Apple going back ten years and the tea leaves aren’t that hard to read. The technology isn’t where it needs to be yet to replace the traditional keyboard, but you can see the steps they’ve taken and continue to take. The future is coming whether you like it or not; you should give it a chance. 

Jobs actually cared about computers... particularly the professional models. While I can't know exactly how it would have gone, I'm pretty confident I wouldn't be far off.

And, this has nothing to do with future-tech imagination. I'm pretty sure professionals of the future will need to get information into their computers, too. Unless you're imagining some kind of virtual keys with taptic, force-fields, and tractor-beams, I think we'll be sticking with real keyboards for quite a long time.

It is not only Jobs who cared about the professional models. I am convinced that all people from the hardware department care about the professional models. In order to design their products they have to use CAD/CAM, visualisation, simulations. These programmes do not run on an iPAD. When you work on a specific detail it is not enough to move a poly line, edit a datapoint, you work whole day on it and the most efficient interface is still a keyboard a mouse and a display!!!

Programmers might have other priorities and anyway concentrate on the soft part, but the hardware design team surely is interested in Apple producing pro machines, since they are the first who will have to work on them whole day!!!

It is one thing to be on a construction side or in a prototype laboratory and edit a wrong dataset, correct a small mistake, take some measurements with a laser etc., here an iPad is enough and the fact that it is sealed is even an advantage. But as soon as you have to work you need another setting. Try to model a skyscraper, a bridge, a circuit or the casing of a MBP on a screen the size of an iPad, with your thumb and you will change profession.

The more you rely on a product, the more you care about it. The PR and business administration department is a different matter, but historically they knew what design is worth. They learned everything from Olivetti anyway! Even the circular campus has been taken from Gabetti e Isola's project for IVREA.

The moment they forget their DNA, the importance of a well designed project, of the coherence necessary to carry it out, they will disappear just like, unfortunately, Olivetti did.