Apple – Steven UK

I saw this story on Vox, and as a non-Apple using person aka Not-A-FanBoi, I don’t pay too much attention beyond slaying “Power User” Mac’s with my PC and listening to their excuses. Namely that Apple Pro’s are not being updated, and boohoo Apple essentially cripple the machine so its barely upgradable and hobble the software so you can’t use other vendors hardware.

Apple Fanboi Anatomy

I always highlight Hackintosh too, which is essentially a Frankenstein Mac, Mac Software running on non-mac hardware. I mean lets face it, there is no mac-hardware its just IBM PC hardware which mac runs on anyway.

In my eyes all these arguments are akin to moaning you don’t like McDonalds but still eating there 3 times a day, 7 days a week and still moaning about it.

Walking Money Talks Loudest

When it emerged a few years ago that a bunch of Restaurant Chains were taking various amounts of staff tips or indulging in bogus deals, I didn’t like that practice, so what did I do ? I sure as heck, didn’t start going 5 days a week to tell them I didn’t like it, while still paying them.

I sent an email to corporate HQ of the companies I previous frequented, with details of my last few visits. I continued to explain I would NEVER attend their venue, would actively discourage everyone I knew from attending their venue and would continue to do so until their policy changed. Effectively I kicked them in the proverbial, they either fix the issues or lose my money and money I have influence over.

The article in Vox, highlights what I pointed out a month or two ago, that apple seem obsessed with making things thinner, lighter and more minimalist rather than capable of doing the job.

Pro Spec for Power Users

I’m a power user, my laptop (I use the term laptop lightly), weighs in at about 5kg, its has 2x SSD, 1x m.2 SSD, 2 Graphics Cards, an i7 Extreme Processor, a 330w Power Brick and it is a brick, 32gb of ram, and sounds like a Harrier Jump Jet when it gets going. I don’t really care about how heavy it is, how bulky it is, or how it looks.

What I care about is, from pressing the power button, to having Photoshop loaded, takes about 30 seconds and I’m ready to rock. I care about being able to plug a 32″ Output TV to my left, and a second 27″ monitor to my right while using Premier Pro to edit video. I care about it effectively rendering video in real time, about it cranking out Crysis on maximum settings with hi-res resource pack at 60fps+. Most of all I care about the fact that I can pull out the processor and upgrade it, I can pull out both the GPU’s and upgrade them, I can change out the m.2 and the SSDs, hell I can even move from Intel to Killer on the Wifi/BT or upgrade the ram. I can and have overclocked the processor/graphics and ram.

iPhone 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S2

The machine is a Pro Powerhouse, can you do any of that on you’re outdated Mac Pro, hell could you do even half of that on your brand new Mac Pro ?

While some of Apples things are cool, but planned obsolescence and control freak nature is such a downer and stops me ever buying them.

I firmly believe while you, yes you fan bois accept inferior, sub-standard, crippled and outdated tech and proceed to hail them as the messiah, you will always be stuck with more Tosh than Mac.

The meme on the right, is one of many which compares contemporary phones with iPhones and the story is nearly always the same. The iPhone has an array of red doesn’t have, and the competing phone has green straight through.

I owned the very first iPhone, you couldn’t even MMS, no bluetooth, if you faced the screen inwards towards your leg in your pocket, it would stop working until it cooled down, there were no apps, no flash for the camera, it were shite. I took it back to Carphone Warehouse who exchanged the phone over the screen not working before I figured out it were because I face the screen inwards for protection.

There is an article on Gizmodo which compares the original iPhone 1 (2007) to the iPhone 6S+ (2015) and its shocking devastating how little has actually changed, not to mention how feeble the specs are 1gb of Ram, Dual Core Processors, its almost embarrassing.

Steve Morley

A Manchester Based Photographer and Website Developer with interests in Strongman, Fitness and Geekery.

www.steven.co.uk

Splitter Keeper Keyring

Its no secret I’m not an Apple fanboi, more about their alledged theft of *nix code and theft of other peoples ideas and products (see the info graphic at the bottom). I’ve also been saying for a while since Steve Jobs passed, Apple has lost its creativity and innovation, no new products since this time kinda reinforced this opinion. All they have done is made them larger and thinner and much of the same-same. The recent lapse in updates from their portable market where they were effectively selling 3-4 yr old technology for modern day prices and other such shyster moves adds to the pile.

However it appears Apple has been slowly been creating its new cash-cow in the background built on top of Jobs work. Much like a wolf in sheep clothing they disguised it as a feature and enhancement to make their products thinner and lighter with the promise of better products.

It seems its been more about moving the fan bois and fan girls into kill box as it were. Sheep to the Slaughter.

Apples New “Cash Cow” Product

Apple iDondle List by Drew Breunig

It seems the new product from Apple, is iDongle or rather iDongles. Currently none of the flagship products are able to communicate with each other, straight out of the box without a middleman.

What happened exactly to “it just works” ?.

I challenge you to link your new iPhone 7 to a Macbook without needing a middle-man to handle the exchange.

Challenge #2, show me how you charge your Macbook, and connect to a printer ?

Challenge #3, show me how you charge your iPhone and listen to music with your supplied earphones ?

While everyone were getting their rocks off about how “shiny and slender” or “pretty and dainty” the new Apple products were because they removed this connector and that connector. All because those connectors were big and bulky, but it seems secretly Apple were positioning their new product line.

From Drew Breunig’s Twitter Post (image right), that’s a tonne of different connectors and dongles you need to make all your Apple products work together. Don’t forget there are Firewire, USB, USB-C, Lightening, New Lightening, Magsafe, VGA, HDMI, HDMI Mini, 3.5mm Jack, Micro USB and Mini USB off the top of my head, possibly other connectors too.

Out of the 17, yes SEVENTEEN dongles that Apple has released, NONE of them make a common task like charger, printer and speakers all connected at once possible. The most you can connect is 2 devices, for more than that, you need to Daisy Chain them, and link 2 or 3 different dongles, and CHING CHING, you’re being milked by Apple like a good cash cow.

Secondary Market

Uncourage with Adaptor

Apple has recognised that even fan bois and fan girls are showing discontent, so they have reducing the price of cable bag you now need, some discounted 50% or more. This doesn’t change the fact you need carry a tonne of connectors, the fact many many people are losing the connectors but I guess it is a little less painful on the wallet… not much though.

This has spawned a secondary market of new gadgets. When I say new gadgets I more mean a re-appropriation of an old DJ Gadget.

One of my friends who is a DJ were ALWAYS losing his keys, so back in the late 1990s he made a keyring with a Headphone Jack, some speaker wire, a ring loop and a small carabena and stuck his keys into a spare jack point so he always knew where they were. The same guy also had one of those whistler things on his keys so he could find them in the dark. He even had a sample whistle he used to play via the club speakers to light them up.

I saw some years later a better constructed version of this, or a more highly polished remake. Back on track a company called Uncourage took this old method and created a keeper for your required 3.5mm speaker dongle, so you don’t lose it so easy or so often.

I used to have one of those pictured, which includes the safety keeper and a splitter for a few quid.

A History of Apple Theft

Take note of Steve Jobs quote about Apple Shamelessly stealing good ideas 😉

Idea’s Apple Stole and Claimed for Their Own

Infographic by Best Masters Programs