I too have been a long time Apple fan from my very first Apple II until the day they put out a non-upgradeable trashcan that doesn’t meet my needs and called it a “pro”, whatever that means anymore…
Every mac I’ve ever purchased (with the exception of the original bondi-blue iMac) was user upgradeable. I even managed to upgrade the hard drive, memory and even added a Voodoo2 card to that iMac.
The day I needed to replace my 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 was the day I realized, Apple no longer makes a product that meets my needs at any price. I’ve been willing to pay for Apple products for a long time but that was the first time I came to realize it didn’t mater how much I was willing to pay. Apple just didn’t value me as a customer anymore.
That’s when I broke down and built myself a hackintosh. It scratched the itch for a time but anyone who’s done this may be able to relate, it really isn’t the best solution for a daily driver. Great fun to tinker with, but software updates are always met with trepidation and can take hours or even days to resolve unexpected issues. Great as a hobby but not so great for a computer I actually want to use.
I’ve been finding myself using other operating systems for a while now. I’ve run windows in bootcamp for years for gaming so that wasn’t a difficult transition but lack of unix underpinnings and of course MS shenanigans of their own has always left me unsatisfied. I’ve used Linux for many things, but its just not there as a daily driver either. I mean, its usable and I can get many things to work but its only just a step above hackintosh for ease of doing what you want to do many times.
Sadly, the grass is not greener on any side… I think I’m feeling what many comodore fans must have felt years ago. They’ve had decades to come to terms with it though.
While I’m no longer a huge fan, I’m not completely divorcing the relationship… yet. I’m far too invested in the ecosystem to give up on my iphone but that may change too if they keep making the same ridiculous decisions they’ve been doing.
Sadly, Android offerings aren’t any better and often worse in many ways… grass isn’t any greener here either.
The whole eGPU craze is giving me some hope of an “upgradeable” Mac in the future. Hopefully we’ll start to see Thunderbolt expansion chassis with multiple PCIe slots at more reasonable prices than the current generation. But for now such things are too expensive to tempt me, as well as the fact that most of them are exclusive to Thunderbolt 3.
Your post probably is better than my OP for expressing my feelings.
It is going to be so hard to get out of the Apple ecosystem and really there is no where to turn right now that is better, but I can’t stand what they are doing.
My iPhone 6plus is slowly dieing (often won’t charge, doing weird, random things, etc etc) but I just don’t want any of the new iPhones. I’m going to try to hold on to this until it’s absolutely dead, then I don’t know what I’m goign to do… there are a few 6s Plusses new to be found… but for how long? And how long until an update makes both the 6 plus and 6s plus obsolete like they did with my retina iPad???
Very sad time for me right now. Want to yell and scream at apple to stop this nonsense but they seem set to double down on it device after device.
Windows 10 - nope. not on my watch. at least not for anything other than a game loader
android? nope. less secure, doesn’t work with the rest of my devices, and Google are an NSA front
linux - not quite there yet, and i find the mac so much more productive any time i’m actually doing something other than games, plus i’m pretty far into the apple ecosystem
So. The price rises. Annoying. The hardware changes - i agree with many of them but some are annoying. Overall however there’s nothing in my opinion that is anywhere close as far as a cohesive user experience across many devices goes.
That’s worth money to me. How much money? Well… that’s an open question, and Apple are pushing the boundaries of that relationship at the moment.
So I went to all the T-mobiles in my area and couldn’t find a 6plus or 6splus.
Then I went to apple store, same answer.
But they said the problem with my phone was known issue so they replaced it for 150 dollars with an allegedly new 6 Plus.
I say allegedly because it did not come in a factory new box, and when I got it home it wouldn’t charge with any of my chargers. So I went and bought two brand new apple chargers. Still won’t charge.
I feel if I were the right age/income at the time, I would have been an early iPhone adopter and ‘stuck’ in the ecosystem. Years after that time period I was very tempted to get an apple laptop as windows laptops were all so cheaply built, and windows was pissing me off. So I’d say I’m hardware agnostic, I give apple props on a lot of aspects- that said it’s the ecosystem addiction that keeps me from making the jump. Same reason I will not buy Amazon hardware, I get really angry when I see an obvious ‘gun to head’ effort to block cross pollination (example can’t chrome cast from Amazon video app or the issue I still have getting texts from iPhone friends that apple lost a lawsuit about but still won’t fix).
That is the biggest reason I won’t buy Apple, otherwise I don’t mind paying more money for quality hardware and user experience.
You used to get better quality. My 1992 Performa laptop still works perfect. Almost every apple product I’ve purchased still works.
Some times success is the worst killer of companies. They are making insane profits and quality seems to me to be going strait down hill. Not only that they are limiting all expandability. They seem to want to turn their computers into iPads which have scheduled obsolescence and no expandability so you have to spend more at purchase.
I suppose it makes a certain economic sense if they can get away with it.
I’m pushing back in my little way. If enough people do also they have will hopefully change. Sadly I doubt they will.
Funny I’ve had the exact opposite experience. As some who has never been apart of the apple ecosystem. Minus iPhones up to the 3GS.
I’d say iOS is more usable and functional than it has EVER been. As for MacOS I have no idea. Never liked it never had a reason to use it.
As for their business practices yes, they’re obviously predatory and shitty. But there’s no reason to buy a brand new iPhone. Just stay 2-3 gens behind. Unless you lease a phone, but I would never recommend that.
Another positive. As someone who has owned almost every android brand under the sun I will admit that iPhones are still way better in quality in some areas. Mainly antennas. Apple has always put antennas that are a million times better than even Samsung antennas in their phones. WiFi and cellular.
That’s just my opinion. I’ve had to use one as a work phone for the past month or so. An iPhone 6s. And minus the obviously abysmal battery life I’d still say iPhones are in a better place now than they’ve ever been.
With their phones they are supporting them for 6+ years expecting most people to keep devices for several years. This is the opposite of android for example that lose support in 2 years.
I expect to have my apple stuff for many years before updating them. There stuff seems to “just work” and is well supported.
Try getting a battery replacement for a pixel for example.
All that has just recently changed. This is arguably the first iOS update to actually benefit older phones. And I totally agree the Pixel is a dumpsterfire.
The latest updates have not slowed down my 6 Plus. Just installed 12 and it’s working well so that is good. That is good programming.
But I’m worried for the date they will cut off support like they did to my retina ipad that still works perfect but now I’m afraid to let on the internet because they won’t let it update past ios 9.5.
Until they make another phone with a headphone jack I’m going to try to keep my 6 plus alive.
If I could get the Apple iPhone 4 but replace it with with todays specs and battery life (and keep the headphone jack… and ditched the high prices), id buy one. But I think apple will continue taking features out of their phones and sell them as a dongle. Dongles are now the DLC of phones…
Maybe playing devils advocate, but Obviously optional. I don’t have one or seem to need one… so it would seems like a good decision to remove it. With the inclusion of the W1 chip it’s a no brainier.
I do agree that bluetooth will be viable in at least 7 years as a cheap alternative (depending on how cheap headphones/earbuds implement them), but the way audio is now; and the way a DAC and amp can change the sound in ways that bluetooth cant is why I stick with wired headphones, EQing with software for bluetooth never turns out right to me (yes I’m picky with my audio lol).
Thats Why I bought an Ipod when I was in highschool, to enjoy my music at a quality I didn’t get with my MP3 player, when apple ditched that I was left with some expensive headphones and I didn’t want to fumble with a dongle.
But we’ll see how bluetooth gets adapted, but I have my doubts about its success for people who want proper audio quality.
