gbdoc

What are you people carping about? Help, help, the sky is falling!!! AAPL’s down 2.3% today!!!

C’mon, get a grip. Today's “shocking” closing price is 11% higher than one month ago. Apple just reported record earnings. You all believe Apple’s a bad investment, and you’re ready to cash out before Apple goes down in flames? I hope you do, so I can buy some more at an even more favorable price.

For me, the most important aspect of these changes is that Apple is willing to admit to their mistakes and correct them. Butterfly keyboard, Touch Bar, and now I/O slots. Of course, they’ll never openly apologize, and instead tout the changes as something new and wonderful, but no matter, the corrections are welcome.

My first computer was a //c, in 1984. I loved it. It got better and better with stuff like AppleWorks, BeagleWorks, a ZipChip, a modem (remember BAUD rates?), a battery for portability. The OS and programming were so easy to understand that even I could play with the software, write little apps, etc. I mourned when I switched to a Mac.

With all due respect to the authors, I don’t understand the need for articles like this, explaining/defending the price of the Mac Pro. Sure, it’s interesting to see what’s in it and what it can do. But the price issue is pointless. Is a Rolls-Royce or a Lamborghini worth the price? Or, perhaps more to the point, a Formula One car? If you have that kind of need and that kind of money, the answer’s clearly yes, the Mac Pro is probably great for that group of users. But that group is miniscule. For everybody else this is no more than a showcase machine, like Mercedes F1 cars. If Mercedes cars win, the company probably sells more of their normal cars.

And here’s the hitch. Apple’s made this Mac Pro, but where are products for the rest of us? Most computer users are in the Chevy, Honda, or Mercedes group. I bet there’s not even one appleinsider or MacRumors reader who needs the Mac Pro. We’d love to buy great Macs (computers, not iPads!), from entry-level up to our kind of pros. But Apple has stopped making them. What they make is disappointing and overpriced.

So this begs the question: why did Apple make a come-on machine (which probably adds nothing meaningful to their bottom line) when they offer nothing to come on to? Will their next Pro machine be a Mac Quantum? And when they do, will there be arguments about the price? Will they think that most of us will be thrilled?

Just want to add my voice in case anyone at Apple is taking any of this seriously. (Not holding my breath.)

Seems to me Apple could save a lot of money by simply making Macs like they once used to be: robust, high-quality, easily-serviceable in the event, and even return to user-upgradeable RAM. Doing this might even end up with selling more Macs. Just saying.