darkvader

xyzzy01 said:

Apple isn't shunning Intel chips in a shameless ploy to push its chips

Actually, in most of these cases they clearly are. As an owner of a top of the range 2020 Intel iMac, I'm annoyed. It's far more powerful than the M1 based computers that gets these features, and they still sell it.

1. Facetime calls - blurring the background. This feature is available on older, low end machines on other software like Teams, Zoom, etc. Claiming that only their Apple Silicon chips are able to do this is clearly untrue. If anything, this feature should have been released a long time ago on all machines. That said, while it is annoying and clearly an example of Apple being bad, I don't really care that much: While I do plenty of Teams calls every day - mostly from that iMac - and a couple of Zoom calls a week, I can't remember the last time I used Facetime video.

2. Globe and improved maps. This was available more than a decade ago, on Google Earth. It's not taxing, and it's not special. Granted, the globe feature is just useless and the maps are only for a very, very limited areas (so a non-feature in Norway). And who uses Apple Maps on a computer anyway, rather than on a mobile device? Still, this is also just Apple being mean towards some of their best customers - iMacs, Mac Pros etc.

3. on-device dictation. This could maybe be legitimate. Still, the latest Intel machines have significant ML capabilities - especially those with discrete GPUs - so it sounds kind of fishy that none of them can do it.

4. text-to-speech support for additional languages -- Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. There's no way that the other languages can be done without Apple Silicon, and these need it. Again, just Apple being petty with their current customers.

5. Apple baked all of the T2 security and performance features directly into the processor and then some. This is what enabled Apple Silicon machines to work with Apple's wireless Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. This is different, in that it requires special hardware. Could Apple have supported this on Intel machines prior to Apple Silicon? Absolutely. They supported TouchID on Intel laptops, and could have added wireless protocols to the T2 and keyboards if they wanted to. Not adding it to iMac / Mac Pro for so many years was probably more caused by neglect of these product lines than wanting to push Apple Silicon, though.

So to sum it up: Apple is clearly holding back features that would work just as well on Intel computers.

KTR said:

darkvader said:

Always remember that 'Genius' you think is doing such a great job repairing your computer, so much better than a third-party repair shop could possibly do, is actually working for about $13/hour.  Apple does not pay store employees a living wage.

$13/hr?  What state is that? Here in NYC, the minimum wage is $15/hr.  I just applied to one of the NYC stores.  I doubt they will call me lol

rob53 said:

If this acquisition is allowed it makes no sense why Apple’s App Store is being forced to open up. Apple has every right to run its products the way it wants to. Nvidia owning ARM affects multiple computing companies not just its own.