Are Hardware Interfaces All That Define the Mac?
During this week’s WWDC keynote, Craig Federighi made an interesting turn where he stated Apple’s commitment to the Mac. The bottom line was that Apple has no plans to merge macOS and iOS. Both are necessary. MacBook Pros however, are not.
And I fully agree with Apple’s plans not to merge the two. Touchscreen laptops are an ergonomic nightmare. Those of us who use our iPads to get work done have to reach up to the screen, and it sucks. We want touch pads and mice on our tablets. We don’t want touchscreen laptops.
There will always be a need for powerful desktop machines that are unfettered by battery constraints or mobility concerns. And there will always be a need for lightweight mobile devices that can sip power and go anywhere. In the middle, it’s not so cut and dry.
I did disagree with one thing that Federighi stated. He made the assertion that part of what makes the Mac the Mac is input devices and bigger screens. These are things that can and should migrate to the iPad as well. If the Mac has to rely on a monopoly for hardware interfaces to justify its existence, then it’s not worth keeping around. There has to be something more than that.
I would think that what makes the Mac the Mac has more to do with processing power, ports, and a highly configurable operating system, maybe throw in a dash of portability. Although, the MacBook Pro gets beat on all of these by desktops except for portability. And it gets beat on portability by the iPad, which is unencumbered by a big heavy keyboard. The MacBook Pro isn’t really the “best” at anything.
Apple says that they have no plans to eliminate the Mac. Does that mean the macOS operating system, or are they talking about all the corresponding hardware? Could they keep the iMac and Mac Pro and one day kill the MacBook Pro or merge it with the iPad and still be telling the truth?
In any case, I don’t think it’s up to Apple anyway. We get to the make that decision, not Tim Cook. The sheer price of the MacBook Pro now already leads many would-be buyers to question if they can get by with the much cheaper iPad Pro. If more people decide they can get by with a tablet, then Apple will be forced into a tough spot. At the very least, MacBook Pros will get more expensive. Which will lead to lower sales. Which starts a vicious cycle that will be difficult to stop.
I’ve already stopped buying Macs completely. I use a 10.5” iPad Pro, and when my daughter went to college last year she received an iPad Pro as well. And this is a family which purchased four MacBook Pros in the past six years. No more.
There will always be a need for powerful desktop machines that are unfettered by battery constraints or mobility concerns. And there will always be a need for lightweight mobile devices that can sip power and go anywhere. In the middle, it’s not so cut and dry.
I did disagree with one thing that Federighi stated. He made the assertion that part of what makes the Mac the Mac is input devices and bigger screens. These are things that can and should migrate to the iPad as well. If the Mac has to rely on a monopoly for hardware interfaces to justify its existence, then it’s not worth keeping around. There has to be something more than that.
I would think that what makes the Mac the Mac has more to do with processing power, ports, and a highly configurable operating system, maybe throw in a dash of portability. Although, the MacBook Pro gets beat on all of these by desktops except for portability. And it gets beat on portability by the iPad, which is unencumbered by a big heavy keyboard. The MacBook Pro isn’t really the “best” at anything.
Apple says that they have no plans to eliminate the Mac. Does that mean the macOS operating system, or are they talking about all the corresponding hardware? Could they keep the iMac and Mac Pro and one day kill the MacBook Pro or merge it with the iPad and still be telling the truth?
In any case, I don’t think it’s up to Apple anyway. We get to the make that decision, not Tim Cook. The sheer price of the MacBook Pro now already leads many would-be buyers to question if they can get by with the much cheaper iPad Pro. If more people decide they can get by with a tablet, then Apple will be forced into a tough spot. At the very least, MacBook Pros will get more expensive. Which will lead to lower sales. Which starts a vicious cycle that will be difficult to stop.
I’ve already stopped buying Macs completely. I use a 10.5” iPad Pro, and when my daughter went to college last year she received an iPad Pro as well. And this is a family which purchased four MacBook Pros in the past six years. No more.
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