I will give apple credit, if you drink the kool aid and full send into their ecosystem? Their product line is almost unmatched.
But it all only works in exactly the way apple intended- so it really limits what you can do with such expensive pieces of equipment.
Exactly, which is why I’m willing to recommend their products while also not wanting to touch them myself.
I would rather use a device from a hardware company than an ad company.
To be fair, the hardware is excellent. Overpriced as hell, especially considering that you can’t upgrade it yourself and the prices Apple charges for RAM and storage are ridiculous, but you can’t really argue with the quality. The locked-down, inflexible software and basically forcing you buy into the whole ecosystem if you want your devices to work together is the issue.
Well, I’ll go ahead and argue about quality then.
- butterfly keyboard nonsense
- macbook pro flexgate
- antenna-gate, or “you’re holding it wrong”
- any of Louis Rossmann’s videos recommending against Apple devices
Apple products are fashion devices that work pretty well most of the time. I don’t think they’re the best by any stretch, but they have a consistent design aesthetic and pretty complex engineering (and that complexity is where problems lie).
Anyway, buy what you like, just don’t delude yourself into thinking they’re a step above everything else. Google Pixel has a better camera, ThinkPads have better keyboards, and AMD MiniPCs (e.g. minisforum) are more compact. Buy what fits your needs, but don’t just knee-jerk buy Apple because it’s “better,” whatever that means.
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Why I got a iPhone: I detest Google and I have had very bad experiences with Android devices losing software support after only a couple years - some not getting any major updates at all. My cell carrier also had a clear-out special going for the last gen models.
Why I got a Macbook: the Apple silicon Macs blow Windows laptops out of the water in terms of horsepower and battery consumption. Second-hand M1 and M2 devices can be picked up now for reasonable prices. It is a nice change of pace as Microsoft is completely butchering Windows.
Tons of laptops with top notch specs for 1/2 the price of a M1/2 out there, and they can have linux installed. The M series still has issues with applications running properly on them as well.
Tons of laptops with top notch specs for 1/2 the price of a M1/2 out there
The 13” M1 MacBook Air is $700 new from Best Buy. Better specced versions are available for $600 used (buy-it-now) on eBay, but the base specced version is available for $500 or less.
What $300 or less used / $350 new laptops are you recommending here?
The half-price laptops have 1/4th the battery life of an m1 which is the other reason OP likes it
It’s funny that you brought up application compatibility when numerous creative tools I use don’t support Linux. I also did not buy my Macbook at full price.
I wouldn’t mind having a Linux laptop to tinker with some day, but it would not be a primary or secondary device for me.
I’m not saying linux is the end all be all, there is a reason the enterprise world runs on Windows still, but while I like my MacBooks from work, they’ve got a lot to be desired for the price. Non mac laptops have really caught up with design and hardware.
Because they’re not Google.
And dog shit isn’t cat shit but I still won’t eat that.
In this day and age you’re forced to pick either; choose.
Nah.
I have:
- Pixel phone with GrapheneOS and no Google apps (yes, the Pixel is from Google, the irony isn’t lost on me); old phone was Motorola; hope my next phone is a Linux phone
- ThinkPad laptop running Linux
- custom Linux desktop
- Tuta for email
- DDG for search
The only Google stuff I use is Drive and maps, and I’m actively replacing drive with NextCloud.
There are more options, you can avoid Microsoft, Google, and Apple. Whether you want to is a separate issue.
Cope
Lmao
Because they are great in pies that you can have for dessert with some ice cream or a glass of milk.
Having been a Mac user since the late 80s I don’t like Apple per se, but the design ethos that seems to leak into other applications. This Ars Technica review from 2004 is a great example
This is an example of the best kind of peer pressure. There is simply a “climate of excellence” on the Mac platform. Any developer that does not live up to community standards is looked down upon, or even shunned. Commercial, open source, freeware, shareware, it doesn’t matter: pay attention to detail, or else.
This has definitely changed since the iPhone became their biggest product, but it still has a more polished feel than competitors.
The title implies eveyone would have at least 1 reason to like Apple.
I don’t.
No, it’s asking people who like Apple why they do. Not all questions need answers from everyone.
I can’t say I like Apple exactly, but I like Mac OS a lot more than any version of Windows I’ve used recently (but not as much as Linux Mint on my notebook). The problem is that I worked until recently in video and graphic design fields and those are very Mac-centric. So I have stuck with it when it comes to desktops for quite some time. My next desktop probably won’t be a Mac because that’s no longer an issue (or at least not for now), but I plan on using this iMac until it’s just not practical to use it, so that might take a while. It’s an Intel iMac and it’s still chugging along just fine (admittedly, it’s only running Big Sur, but I don’t see a reason to upgrade).
I do also have an iPhone (I also use those until I can’t, so I currently have an 11 after having an XR until the battery started crapping out on me) for several reasons- one, I bought into the system before Android phones existed and invested a lot of money in apps and games that I would have to repurchase, two, the rest of my family has them which makes compatibility handy and three, so far, with the iterations of Android I’ve played with, I just prefer using iOS as an OS. I realize it’s more limited, but I just prefer the way it works. Maybe it’s just that I’m more used to it, but that’s still how it is.
So for me, I’ll probably stick with iOS for a while longer, but I doubt I’ll keep buying Macs for the same reason I doubt I’ll pay for an Adobe license anymore. It’s just not necessary for what I do.
Edit: Gotta love it when you get downvoted for answering OP’s question.
Welcome to saying anything positive about Apple outside of an Apple community. PC/Android users like to downvote and condescendingly comment on anything positive about Apple, even when it’s the topic of the post. Notice how the top comments are always useless contributions about hating Apple? I think it makes them feel superior since they’re not dominating in market share. Lol
Also, you can get the XR battery replaced for $89 if you want it up and running again.
I didn’t even say anything all that positive beyond “I prefer using iOS to Android.”
It’s not just Android users or Windows users or whatever though, there’s silly tribalism across the tech world. The idea that having the choice of OSes is good and there’s nothing wrong with preferring one choice over another. I really feel like some people believe there should be some sort of monopoly without realizing that’s what they believe.
Agreed. I have nothing bad to say about Android other than it’s not for everybody. With great power comes great responsibility, and not everyone wants or needs full control of their daily driver. Personally, I prefer the mindless security over full customization on my phone. It’s like trading admin privileges for user.
Re the edit about the XR (I actually meant XS, I keep confusing them) battery, I did that and gave the phone to my daughter. Her phone was on its last legs anyway. I try to keep tech in use as long as I can if possible.
Sorry about that. I thought of it right after. I was hoping to get it in there before you read it.
That’s a good move for the planet. Apple is very good about recycling materials for reuse, but there’s still energy consumption and some material loss in the process. The longer you can use tech the better it is for everyone.
A while ago there was an article about how Apple is destroying a lot of its phones (old generation) instead of selling them at a low price.
It was also explained that in the facility where it was done a lot of phones were disappearing because employees were stealing them to use them.
So I don’t know if they’re so good about recycling ♻️.
I can’t find the article but it seemed legit.
It was probably an article about a store that had an internal theft problem. It’s not entirely uncommon, but it’s very far from the standard. I used to work for Apple. Employees get a substantial annual discount on iPhone. There’s really no incentive to steal, let alone older generation iPhones.
Apple sends the newer, resalable iPhones that are traded-in to a third-party company for resale. The ones that aren’t worth repairing are recycled.
The year they began the trade-in and recycling process, they recovered over one ton of gold, 23 million pounds of steel, 13 million pounds of plastic, 12 million pounds of glass, 4.5 million pounds of aluminum, 3 million pounds of copper, and 6,600 pounds of silver.
https://money.cnn.com/2016/04/15/technology/apple-gold-recycling/index.html
The grade is the most important quality in recycling metals. They’d much rather reclaim their own grades of metal than have to mine and manufacture. It’s better for the planet, ease of manufacture, as well as profits.
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I got a MacBook Air last year because Apple Silicon is insanely good. I never have to worry about battery life. I was working on an android app at the time, and Android Studio ran so much better on that thing than it did on my 11 gen intel DPS 15. Build times were almost instant, and unlike the XPS, the battery life was well more than I needed in a day. The XPS I would close everything and could squeeze out about 3 hours, and it was hot on my lap. Got my boss to buy me an M3 Max MBP for work, I’m truly a convert, can’t see myself ever going back unless windows laptops can leapfrog Apple in terms of performance and battery life. And for the Linux crowd, much of my work takes place in a Linux VM and it’s great, build times are noticeably faster than the WSL2 environment I used on the XPS.
Since then I’ve bought the rest of the Apple ecosystem. Like, other than a Vision Pro and HomePods, I’ve got them all. Started with an iPhone simply because it was phone upgrade time, the iPhone 15 series was about to come out with USB C, figured I’d give it a try since it would sync up all the stuff really well with my Mac. Figured I’d try the watch too, I kinda like it (got the magnetic link band for Christmas too, it’s an awesome fidget toy you can wear on your wrist).
My Sony WF-1000xm4 battery died in one of the buds. Now, even though they’re out of warranty I’m pretty sure Sony would replace them, but I figured since I’m increasingly all in on the Apple ecosystem, I’d try the AirPods Pro with their new USB C case. My review: they’re not the best earbuds for noise cancelling, but they’re serviceable, the sound quality is pretty good (I switched to Apple Music at the same time, they encode their music with noticeably higher quality than Spotify, so that’s an important factor here). The real magic though: I stick them in my ears, and then they just follow me to whatever device I’m using. Listening to a podcast while cooking and cleaning, then sit down to do some work, pause my phone, they connect right to the Mac. Get up, grab the iPad to go lay down in bed, the switch automatically. Best thing I’ve ever used in that regard, and they’re quick. Highly recommend if you have many apple devices.
Most recently I bought one of the new M4 iPad Pros. My review isn’t quite as rosy here, don’t buy this thing unless you really want to piss away money. Like, I enjoy playing around with the Apple Pencil and all, but really it says more about my financial discipline than the usefulness of the device. I am hoping to contribute better iPad support to some open source iOS apps. Also bought an Apple TV because my partner was ready to destroy the HiSense google tv we have because its interface is slow and unresponsive, and the audio and video would desync all the time. Crossy road on the TV is amusing.
So that was long, but that’s how I went from no Apple products to all Apple products in a year, save for my gaming desktop which is running windows solely for the reason that it has the best games compatibility and I don’t want to have to spend any more time babysitting it than I have to. RX 5800x3d, 64 GB RAM, 3080ti. It ultimately came down to Apple silicon being the best thing to ever happen to laptops, Apple switching to USB C, and optimism that governments are going to force them to open up the ecosystem a bit more.
I’m currently avoiding silicon until more apps are compiled to work on them. My last bad experience with this was trying to run virtualbox on the host and ununtu as a guest, and it ran slow as crap because some part of virtualbox wasn’t ready for silicon yet.
Disclaimer: I generally avoid Apple like the plague, my comment and experience are specific to a job that really wanted me to use a macbook in my role as a Linux systems admin. My specific complaint may well have been adressed literally years ago by now.
I don’t
I like it when I use Ableton Live.
I can load any of my projects and everything is running exactly how I left it. Any issues I’ve had have been down to 3rd party plugins.
I’m fortunate in that this is the only thing I use my MBP for, other than accessing music stuff on the internet using Firefox with uBlock, which is synced with my phone.
It’s not logged into Apple ID, and I bought it used. So there’s no money paid to Apple and as little data as I can give them.
It’s my hobby, but if I were to do it professionally I would do everything exactly the same. Except I would buy the machine new.
Their chip design is pretty good and they have the cash to buy up most of TSMC’s best production
I don’t like Apple but I’m forced to admit that the iPhone my employer is forcing me to use and my wife’s 2012 MacBook Pro are good machines.
The MacBook runs Linux like a charm and is making me consider old MacBooks for my next Linux laptop.
I’m also looking forward to testing iOS 18.
ThinkPads are probably better for Linux because they tend to use Linux-friendly hardware. However, Lenovo has been making some pretty stupid choices recently (e.g. removing your rights if you flash different firmware on their phones), so I can only speak to their older devices. I still have an E495 that’s been working great with Linux since I bought it, and I would probably still have my old T440 if my kids didn’t pour a ton of water on it.
That said, Apple devices are generally pretty decent, provided you don’t need to repair them. If you do need to repair them, you’re in for an expensive surprise, and several models have had nasty design flaws (esp on Mscbook Pros w/ display ribbon cable and butterfly keyboards).
I personality don’t like Apple laptops (have a 2019 Macbook Pro for work and prefer my personal E495), but a lot of people do, and they’re not the worst way to go. Just be careful with the M-series chips if Linux is your goal because support is still early days on that CPU.
Apple TV is the only set top box that doesn’t show you ads and sell your watch data up and down a river. The battery life on Apple silicon laptops are unmatched and it’s a better OS than windows by far and the big desktop environment packages on Linux don’t match it either (It also doesn’t feel right not just using terminal/bash on Linux for me either, GUIs are overrated)
Lastly I feel better about my data privacy using the full Apple ecosystem compared to using Google’s full ecosystem. (But will admit using an open source rom focused on privacy and disconnect from any cloud service would be the most effective, I do want some level of convenience )
We don’t control macOS, iOS, anti-libre software (it fails to include a libre software license text file, like AGPL), so it’s never private, secure or reliable. A great example of dangers to avoid. That’s why I like it. 🚩
