Apple

Having an iphone 4 I figure the display will be simmilar and I mostly like it (but *please* make a not-glossy one). I would really enjoy using the better display but I don't actually need it. And once more software is updated for it I will be more interested. And, while I am dreaming, I want the entire concept of doing graphics in pixles done - it should all be done over in fractals!

As for seeming like an air: if they released this as an update to the top end macbook air then I would be pleased with it. Maybe a bit fat for an MBA - but well worth the extra size. And I would be happly waiting for them to release a pro version without the aformentioned issues. As is, I fear they are planing on making the entire pro line a slightly larger version of the air with better RAM / HD / processor / graphics specs. What they are missing is that I don't really care about the faster processor - after all, I am OK with my 1.5GHz powerbook G4. What I do care about is what the G4 has but their new machine is missing...

Yeah, it sounds like a build-your-own Hackintosh would be a better fit for you. I am a bit dismayed by the disposable computing trend that Apple and others seem to be following.

They are moribund. Personal computers are now refrigerators, with the manufacturers raving over the ice dispensers in the door. When we had 486-66 DX computers with 4 megs of memory there was a long way to go to get to useful. We upgraded for a reason. But I've been saying this for a long time now - people don't need anywhere near the computing power we've had for ten years. A fuel is fine. A dual-core fuel would be perfect. The R18k would have been all the computer SGI needed if they had had a brain to market it. Sure, I'd like a little of this and a little of that but in fact, it does everything I need ... and despite what r-ten thinks, it does more than 90% of what everyone needs.*

The rest of this stuff is just blah-blah this and blah-blah that, because that's all there is to talk about. When they come out with the new Macbook in paisley, then you'll know they've hit the wall.

* It would be nice to have improved software. That means no fucking Java front ends to garbage programs written by pimple-faced teenagers living in Mom's basement. But hey, that'd cost money which we can't allow for business reasons so too bad on that

I take back some of what I said - it looks like the other MBPs are a bit better the Retina model regarding upgradeability and user customization: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/li ... re-its-at/


I think there is a lot of truth there. WolvesOfTheNight is still mostly happy with his 1.5 " G4 PB, and I still use one routinely for managing the website and email for a charity. I usually only notice that machine's age (7 years) on the rare occasions when I need to look at something using Flash. My daily driver is a five year old, 2.3 GHz MBP, and the only time I find myself wishing for more speed is when I try to edit HD video. Even then, it's completely manageable. Unfortunately, the machine won't be supported by next month's Mountain Lion OS release, supposedly because Apple says that the machine's GPU isn't quite up to the task of displaying some whizzy animations or other kinds of useless widgetized crap in the OS. Nonsense, of course. I understand the need to limit support of older machines in order to keep the cash flowing, but for a company sitting on mountains of cash, Apple has been getting worse, not better, in terms of longterm product life cycle support.

Computers are a commodity now, they have been for a while. The most successful companies in the field are the ones who have recognized that basic fact, Apple being a good example. I have no idea why some people are having trouble getting this memo, since these sort of arguments get repeated ad infinitum in this forum.

Also, if some of you don't like change that is fine, but I'd recommend against getting so emotionally vested in a filed which is progressing at an almost exponential rate... you're going to have a hard time.

For what it is worth, I ordered one of the new retina mac books, to me it has the perfect balance of mobility and performance. The retina display is just gorgeous and perfect for the type of stuff I do most of the time with a computer: text editing (and photo editing every now and then).

Absolutely. I mean, computing is just so different ! .than it was ten years ago ! When I leave the Fuel I can barely figure out what to do ! And software ! Omigod ! It's like a different world, d00d !


Oh man, you don't have to tell me just how great text editing is at 3800 x 2400. It's like tits, man. Really good, as soon as I bought that jeweler's loupe.

Hey, you missed one thing - there's a review at anandtech, you know what's really cool ? The SD card reader usually works now ! Is that some hot shit or what ?! Bro, next time I'm in the US I'll be pounding on the door at the nearest Apple Store where those hip young guys and girls can really give me the full low-down on this hi-tech schmutz. Lemme tell ya, I can hardly wait.



Unfortunately, this is how real life is. The Invisible Hand and all that shit are just children's fantasies, spread around by the Cato Institution and the Heritage Foundation slimeballs to whitewash their thefts. The more money people get, the more they want. When they have 16 billion in cash they don't think, "heck, we're set for life, let's loosen the purse strings a little." They think "We only have 16 billion ! If we squeezed a little harder we could have 18 billion !" Law of human nature : greed feeds on itself. The very worst customers I ever had were the ones with the most money ... absolute shitheads. The HA were better, more honest customers and people.

*sigh*

If your fuel is OK for the things that you do, then that is fantastic, for you. Thing is, most people don't do the things you do with their computers. And since there are more of those people, who are obviously morons and unworthy of being your equal, than there are of you, it follows those idiots buying all those products are the ones driving the market not you.

Since I happen to spend a lot of time traveling and writing text/presentations/spreadsheets. etc, this laptop is perfect for me. I fail to see under what useful metric your fuel would be a better or equal alternative to this product for my intended application, but to each their own I guess.

All those things could easily be done with 15-year old computer, but the thing is that people always want new stuff even if there is no real need for it. You could buy some cheap netbook from the local supermarket that would do all those things equally well with only fraction of the cost.

From the hardware point of view I believe we are allready there and most of the extra power available today is just wasted on the stuff most people use it for. Things are more interesting on the software side and there are still lot to do to really harness all that power in real life use. Even the most powerful engine still needs a gearbox to be really useful.

Thank you I will pass. Luckily I can afford a machine with a very nice screen and that weights little, I happen to value my eyesight and I'm of the opinion that when it comes to luggage, the lighter the better.

Absolutely ... You still don't get it ... Okay le, to drop the happy back-biting for a second and get serious, don't you realize when you say these things that people are going to call you on it ? Or has life moved so far away from fact in the "hi-tech industry" that people no longer have to deal with reality ?


Horse shit. Okay ? This is just plain old unadulterated horseshit. If you want a new Apple that's cool. If you like it that's great and you can sing Apple praises and hymns to Steve until the cows come home and I'd never say a mean word. My Assist has a Macbook. It's okay. I have no grudge against Apple users.

But when you tell me that "computing is progressing at an exponential rate" then I have to call you on it. The Emperor is nekkid. Bare-assed dinky-dick pot-belly hairy-butt white-legged nekkid.

Computing, at least in the consumer area, is not progressing at all. Not even one tiny little bit. If anything it is worse than five years ago. Or haven't you used Boogle recently ?

Oh wait ! I forgot about Fireflop adding XRender ! oh my, transparency ! clock hands you can see through ! Gosh, I am so sorry ...


You've said this before. And I've asked you what all these other people do. So far, no answer.


That part I'll have to agree with. But then, the part you seem to miss is "the market" is a pile of crap.


Oh ! Well ! that's different if I only knew you were doing Power Point ! And spreadsheets ! That answers everything. No way on earth can a crummy old last-gen computer deal with spreadsheets ! Omigod, that's some rip-snortin' pawrful-ass computin' there ! I guess it's a big savings, now that you don't have to pay for time on Blue Gene, right ?

Sheesh. If you like the Apple, that's fine, ya know ? But the rest of us aren't dingshits. We don't need it. It doesn't do anything new and useful. It's a case of playing with your dick. That's okay. Lots of people like to play with their dicks. Look at all those people in 200 mph cars when the speed limit is 70. Cool for them. Just don't tell the rest of us we're "going to be having a hard time" if we don't keep up with the "exponential advances" in computing. For FEA guys maybe there are advances but for the average schmo, nothing has happened in ten years. Nothing. I can keep up with the advances in my sleep.


The point is that you were marvelling at all the advances in computing. if you'd care to point out a few I might agree. But so far, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. So please don't tell me what a hard time I'm going to have in life due to not buying the newest latest spiffiest product of the "hi-tech" industry. Then I won't have to tell you that your "advances" are a bunch of fantasies.

Deal ?

... or you can totally go off on another rant and continue proving my point about having a hard time being emotionally vested in this industry. It's up to you.

PS. I never said you had to buy the latest and spiffiest, btw. If your beloved fuel or 15 year old machine do whatever it is that you need to do with a computer, then good for you use that and be happy. Which is what I basically said already.

Yes, I understand that I'm in the minority. Most people only have their computer's covers off a couple of times during the entire time they own it (maybe), whereas I muck about in mine fairly often. Yeah, it's personally a bit irritating at the substantial reduction in options for people like me, but that's because I'm weird.

There is an issue that is more general. Apple crows all about their build quality, and how their machines last longer than many other ones. As others have pointed out, machines today are generally not short CPU cycles, but look at how rapidly the RAM requirements are increasing. 1-2GB 2 years ago, 4GB now, who knows what next. RAM-bumping midlife is pretty much expected now, unless you buy a new machine every two years. Economically, you're best off buying a quality machine with decent RAM now (4GB or so), then planning on RAM-bumping in 2 years or so and replacement in 5. Apple's newest designs do not acknowledge that reality, and while their reality is profitable it doesn't make much sense, unless you're in the corporate market where the labor of mass memory upgrades negates most of the economic benefits (Apple isn't in that market).

The fixed storage issue isn't as big a deal if you view your machine as a satellite with a "semi-archive" storage at home on another server/NAS/external device, but since it is flash-based you could run into problems with the non-upgradable memory forcing paging which kills your device - though there have been hints that perhaps the flash module will be available from third parties, which beats the memory. If you view it as your main machine and use it around the house (thus limiting the use of external storage) and store lots of video on it then the small storage capacity could become limiting, especially if you try to offload daily-use stuff to one of the glacial consumer NAS devices.

Your point ? you don't have a point. You're just spouting marketing garbage like a good little consumer. Oh jesus god you do text editing ! .And Power Point ! and this one is the killer, even Blue Gene has troubles handling a SPREADSHEET !!!

Shee-it. Do you have brown eyes, by any chance ?

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/ ... od_for_us/


I am probably in the minority here, but I use my "computers" for communication and entertainment, not "computing for computing's sake". Which is to say, I'm pretty mainstream, and my mainstream 1.4ghz c2d with 2gb of ram works quite well for me.

You can easily upgrade the disk (one screw holds it in) but since I use a nas at home, 64gb is plenty for me at this time.

And in other news, people value different things differently, and make different choices as a result.

Hamei, you're acting like an asshole. Your choice, but it's not engendering a lot of interest in hearing what you have to say I think.

Can't fault hamei for the courage of his convictions! But regardless of that he is also one of the most generously helpful members we have; I for one can never hope to repay him for all the kind assistance he has sent my way...

I'm not saying he should leave and it's not in my power to cause it even if I were. I'm just saying, being generously helpful shouldn't be a license to act like a jerk the rest of the time. Real "courage of conviction" includes the ability to let other people make their own choices.

I don't need to belabor the point further.

Well, see, here's the deal with that .... I'm not in kindergarten any longer, don't have to worry about getting that check mark under "plays well with others." I don't really give a rat's ass what Americans think. They have abrogated any rights to have an intelligent opinion by the way they have behaved over the past thirty years. Have you looked at the US recently ? Bluntly, it's a piece of shit. And it's not me who did that. 'Project for a New American Century" - are you people insane ?

Fact. Denial is more than a river in Egypt. Do you have eyes ? look around you. The US is a piece of garbage. There's nothing there there. it's gone. You gave it all to "business interests" who made "business decisions" and eviscerated the country. You ain't got shit. Finance, Real Estate, Insurance, Sewage. You got nothin' ....

Listen to R10 ... "computing is moving at such an exponential pace that you can't get attached to any particular flavor" (umm, so "brand" is worthless ?) ... then when questioned what he does ? PowerPoint, text editing, and spreadsheets. Oh whooop-dee-doo. It's all hot air and marketing horseshit.

You guys can stand around and oooh ! and aaaah ! over the Emperor's beautiful royal blue coat with the blazing gold epaulettes and the shimmering tan Italian slacks and the hand-tooled alligator boots all you like. But what's parading down the road is a scrawny limp-dick naked old fart with a pot belly and saggy ass. The consumer computer industry in the US has done nothing for the past ten years. In fact, I'll go a step farther - with the exception of the scientific community telling you that humanity is hell-bent for destruction and you guys grabbing the throttle with both hands to twist it wider, the entire US has done exactly nothing of value ever since the finance -slash - business people took over. For the past thirty years the US has been nothing but leeches. Useless, greedy, ignorant stupid leeches.

I don't really care if people like it or not. You can ooh and aaah the Emperor all you want. I ain't gonna. I'm just speaking truth.

hmm.. i for myself like to read hamei's posts. i dont care much about computers, have to work all day with that crap. i own a MBP, thinkpad lifebook,elitebook and at work i mess around with massive unix servers. for me its all the same....machines which steals my time, nothing glorious in it.

But the topic is "Thoughts on the new macbook" not "Praise the new macbook". You may not like his style, but this shouldn't justify calling him an asshole.


Actually, it's quite the opposite. It progressed fast in the 90' - compare a typical PC from 1990 to a 2000 PC and now take the latter and compare it to a 2010 PC. The performance jump is much lower. The gains in productivity are also getting smaller and smaller. And since the 3D revolution in the second half of the 90' there were no similar breakthroughs. The retina display is nice to look at, but it's nowhere near as important for productivity and comfort as the jump from huge CRTs to FullHD LCDs, compounded by the fact that we have font anti-aliasing on most platforms. I have both the non-Retina iPhone 3GS and the new iPad with Retina, and my view is that Retina macbooks are not yet worth their price.