James: C’mon, man. You imply clearly that the only reason people buy Apple products is that we want to be the “cool kids,” and that we’re willing to pay double simply for “the Apple logo.”
I’ve used both PCs and Macs, both Android and iOS. I would gladly save money if I thought the UX and UI of Windows or Android was remotely as satisfying as their Apple counterparts. I agree that the functionality of different apps is nearly identical on both platforms, but I cannot abide simple UI issues — the way the mouse moves in Windows, and the need to know commands instead of doing simple searches. And I don’t care for ways that Android’s home screen is so infinitely adjustable that it routinely becomes a mess.
If you care about function much more than UI, more power to you — we simply have a difference of opinion. But are you really not seeing that your post implies that I’m therefore too easily influenced by status and by shiny objects — rather than my belief that iOS just works better — FOR ME? And are you really saying that what you wrote is “fact,” and not your opinion?
There’s a subtle (and not-so-subtle) derision of others that’s crept into all kinds of discourse over the past several years, when most of our differences simply reflect the truism that people make different choices, based on what’s important to them. Is the derision the most pernicious thing in our society? Of course not … but why not make a little effort to recognize and avoid that nasty edge?
I switched from Android to Apple several years ago and will never go back. I still use Windows computers just because I’ve never owned or used an Apple computer.
At home I ran Linux on the desktop exclusively since 1993 out of principle, and at that time this was only for the truly crazy. From 2009 to 2018 it was Ubuntu on a MacBook Pro because the hardware for my light use cases and the attention to detail was in another league to Intel laptops. And it held up for nearly ten years without ever any issue until it did get a bit slow for some stuff.
Then I had a Dell XPS 15 4K 2-in-1 which had looked nice, cost a lot, and was a mess with a buggy touchpad, a fragile keyboard, and poor attention to detail (can’t open lid with one hand, no keyboard backlight auto on/off, …). 4 years in it failed completely.
In December I switched to Apple, not with a light heart but mostly because for my use case an Air M2 blows any available PC laptop out of the water, for less money in fact. (The 2 new Dell XPS 13 are jokes, each one in a different way). As sadly Linux on Apple Silicon is far from being there yet, this is with macOS and it’s better running Ubuntu in Parallels on the Air than on a Dell XPS 13.
Both for hardware, software, and level of polish, this is simply a very, very good platform. Dell and Microsoft both should be ashamed. Or better, someone from Dell with a modicum of common sense should buy an Air and use it.
Plonking my iPad Pro next to the Air and wirelessly extending the display to the iPad with not much more than a mouse flick nearly wants to make me cry out of happiness every time.
My Dell XPS 15 with 32gb ram and 1TB SSD has been an excellent computer. I almost don’t even need a computer anymore having been retired for 19 years, except to run a bunch of spreadsheets I have built to manage my finances every which way from Sunday.
I still have an itching for an Apple Macbook Air M2 so it can run Audirvana Studio, Roon, and Apple Music lossless, high resolution when away from home. I’m just not sure I want to learn something new at 75 or spend the money on something I don’t need, hence my user name.
My 2-in-1 was a particularly problematic model hardware-wise, regular ones are better. But I remember now how many little disappointments there were after the MacBook, many tiny ones like the sound of the trackpad click just being less nice, annoyances like the missing automatic keyboard backlight, and so on.
I got used to it, but now I’m finding these little touches again and remember how much I missed them. It feels very satisfying to me that someone made sure that hinge resistance and body weight are in a relation that ensures that the MacBook never tilts when opening the lid with one hand. While nobody cared at Dell.
It’s probably difficult to describe and better to experience. Not many things in the UI are all that different, but some are. I don’t find it a chore and my job trains me to adapt quickly, but you’d have to try. There are online simulators like this one (but you have to imagine that in reality everything is buttery smooth at all times):
Hold on now…I worked for Apple from 1987 to 1996. My (current and first and only) wife worked there from 1988 to 1997. We both still look back on our time at Apple with great fondness. We both feel that working for Apple then was more like summer camp than a real job. We both put in 50+ hour weeks and loved every minute of it. A cult? Hardly! It felt like a bunch friends having a great time doing things we loved.
I suggest stopping the Apple bashing and focusing on your Roon experience.
Alright gang, I’m beginning to feel like Sam Cutler at Altamont because of these threads. Having to ask the same community members to cool out Ad nauseam is really getting tedious. I can barely string two days together that don’t descend into…
My first wife (back in the 90’s) worked at Apple and man did it feel like a cult there.
