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Fucking state of Apple

Started by Cloud, November 23, 2018, 02:37:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Ferris

My iPhone and iPad is lovely. All speaks to each other and the Apple telly and that. Mrs Ferris has the same. We're just computer casuals trying to get by in this crazy game we call technology tho.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on November 24, 2018, 04:10:02 AM
My iPhone and iPad is lovely. All speaks to each other and the Apple telly and that. Mrs Ferris has the same. We're just computer casuals trying to get by in this crazy game we call technology tho.

Fair to say both of you should die before we do


Ferris


biggytitbo

I don't wish you early death, just that all your apple products burn down.

Ferris

Quote from: biggytitbo on November 24, 2018, 12:42:09 PM
I don't wish you early death, just that all your apple products burn down.

YOUR BLOCKED

-Sent from my iPhone

Sebastian Cobb

Some of the ideas of linux in this thread seem a bit outdated really. Thanks mostly to webapps replacing lots of shite enterprise software (eg Google Office), reasonable open source software and wine being able to run things like photoshop, I find it easier to get going with things than a fresh version of windows (even if it's managed to find the drivers).

I'm also quite surprised given macs have been heralded as a tool for writers, just how fucking awful office for mac is. It seems somehow worse than the windows one, which is dreadful. I use google docs mostly but sometimes someone emails a .doc or .xls and office starts to open and I start to swear.

Again it depends on whether or not you're doing it (semi) professionally though; at that point macs become cheap.

pigamus

When my cheap PC exploded circa 2003, I bought a Mac Mini - I still had the keyboard and monitor so it seemed to make sense. Can't have been more than about £400 or I wouldn't have been able to afford it. Just checked and they're twice that now. Shouldn't think I'll ever own a Mac again. Shame.

mobias

Quote from: pigamus on November 24, 2018, 01:33:44 PM
When my cheap PC exploded circa 2003, I bought a Mac Mini - I still had the keyboard and monitor so it seemed to make sense. Can't have been more than about £400 or I wouldn't have been able to afford it. Just checked and they're twice that now. Shouldn't think I'll ever own a Mac again. Shame.

Yeah it used to be the way that Mac Mini's were the 'affordable' way to own a desktop Mac and have access to OS X. I haven't looked at what you pay for a refurbished Mac these days but I'm guessing third party refurbished Mac's are the only relatively affordable way in now. Every time Apple put their prices up (which seems quite regularly these days) people predict their bubble will start bursting but equally people underestimate the large swathes of computer users out there for whom spending at least £2K on a Mac every few years is something they don't give a second thought to. 

Ferris

Fucking hell a Mac is $3k! When these phones give up the ghost, we'll move back to windows. That's bonkers.

Sebastian Cobb

My mate used to be able to get refurbished 2009 non-retina macbook pro's for sub £300. It's probably less than that now they're not supported by Mojave.

Current Mac mini's are £800 for the basic one, and I believe you can't upgrade the ram as it's soldered in. I know they're not really meant for that, but that does seem a tad expensive when you compare it to something like an nuc.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on November 24, 2018, 04:10:02 AM
My iPhone and iPad is lovely. All speaks to each other and the Apple telly and that. Mrs Ferris has the same. We're just computer casuals trying to get by in this crazy game we call technology tho.

Not so technologically advanced to be able to respond to my PM...BLOCKED

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 24, 2018, 01:02:56 PM
Some of the ideas of linux in this thread seem a bit outdated really. Thanks mostly to webapps replacing lots of shite enterprise software (eg Google Office), reasonable open source software and wine being able to run things like photoshop, I find it easier to get going with things than a fresh version of windows (even if it's managed to find the drivers).

I'm also quite surprised given macs have been heralded as a tool for writers, just how fucking awful office for mac is. It seems somehow worse than the windows one, which is dreadful. I use google docs mostly but sometimes someone emails a .doc or .xls and office starts to open and I start to swear.

Again it depends on whether or not you're doing it (semi) professionally though; at that point macs become cheap.

Use latex you prannet.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: BlodwynPig on November 24, 2018, 02:45:58 PM
Use latex you prannet.

We use Markdown for our technical docs, grandad. Although these days I just draw a diagram in google draw and annotate it.

Ferris

Quote from: BlodwynPig on November 24, 2018, 02:44:13 PM
Not so technologically advanced to be able to respond to my PM...BLOCKED

Just replied using my iPad.

Seriously though, $3k for a Mac is bonkers. This tablet was $380 CAD I think, which is about 200gbp. Not cheap, but hardly super expensive.

Computers are weird.

mobias

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on November 24, 2018, 02:27:13 PM
Fucking hell a Mac is $3k! When these phones give up the ghost, we'll move back to windows. That's bonkers.

The iMac Pro starts off at just shy of £5K for the 'basic' model. It amuses thinking about how Apple must have arrived at that price. 'Whats the highest price we think we can get away with charging idiots for an iMac?'

I've read a few reviews of the iMac Pro and all them questioned who its aimed at. Its a ludicrous computer.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 24, 2018, 02:46:57 PM
We use Markdown for our technical docs, grandad. Although these days I just draw a diagram in google draw and annotate it.

Yes, markdown is all well and good for technical documentation, s'pose, but not for writing publications.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: mobias on November 24, 2018, 02:56:52 PM
The iMac Pro starts off at just shy of £5K for the 'basic' model. It amuses thinking about how Apple must have arrived at that price. 'Whats the highest price we think we can get away with charging idiots for an iMac?'

I've read a few reviews of the iMac Pro and all them questioned who its aimed at. Its a ludicrous computer.

The rack mounts for the pedalbin mac pros is about 500 quid. You're allowed to virtualise osx on standard (hp proliant etc) servers provided you have one pedalbin in your cluster.

mobias

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 24, 2018, 03:56:59 PM
The rack mounts for the pedalbin mac pros is about 500 quid. You're allowed to virtualise osx on standard (hp proliant etc) servers provided you have one pedalbin in your cluster.

Does anyone know anyone who uses the Mac Pro? I know various people who work professionally in 2D and 3D graphics and no one seems to use Apple. Predominantly because 3DS Max has become the industry standard and its not available for OS X.

The music world seems to be the last place Apple reign with their computers. A lot of photographers sill use them I guess. 

Sebastian Cobb

The only place I've heard of them used was driving a massive petabyte SAN for use with proprietary apple-based video editing software.

Mister Six

Honestly don't get the love for the Apple OS or any Apple-specific software that I've experienced, to be honest, but I only really had to use Apple for work (InDesign and Photoshop, mostly) and have spent most of my life on Windows.

They seemed to be more or less the same thing, albeit a bit more slick on iOS, and preferences in either direction looked to be more or less about what you were used to. Apple did some daft stuff like asking you to press a function key when clicking to serve the same function as a right-click (I know they have two-button mice now, but that was preposterous ludditism for the sake of nice visual design) but it seemed like much of a muchness.

However, mid-2000s iTunes can burn in Hell.

Beagle 2

I needed a laptop for video editing and music, so I did think I would just bite the bullet and get a Mac. In the end I got a Lenovo for £700 which, as far as I could see, was less than half the price of a Mac with similar capabilities. And sure, a Mac would have been nicer to use all round, but not an extra £700 nicer. It just feels like they're taking the piss.

Cloud

To be fair, I still like iPads.  Android tablets are rubbish.  The laugh  is, the official iPad keyboard is better than the  crap on this MacBook.


just received this


lmao *flexes fingers*

New Jack

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on November 24, 2018, 01:02:56 PM
Some of the ideas of linux in this thread seem a bit outdated really. Thanks mostly to webapps replacing lots of shite enterprise software (eg Google Office), reasonable open source software and wine being able to run things like photoshop, I find it easier to get going with things than a fresh version of windows (even if it's managed to find the drivers).

I'm also quite surprised given macs have been heralded as a tool for writers, just how fucking awful office for mac is. It seems somehow worse than the windows one, which is dreadful. I use google docs mostly but sometimes someone emails a .doc or .xls and office starts to open and I start to swear.

Again it depends on whether or not you're doing it (semi) professionally though; at that point macs become cheap.

I love Mint. Tried Linux a few times - used Solaris at uni for my Comp Science degree and got pretty decent, then into Red Hat land, but I've only had to support Windows in ten years+ of IT support (Apple seemed to get big in the industry around 2012-2014, even the Cabinet Office use MacBooks, I found out at an interview there!), so that became my home system, I did like W7 and 10 is OK apart from the leakage.

But my Windows copy that came with my rebuild ThinkPad (with new battery, SSD, and solid state screen, and the old style keyboard) was a naughty volume license that expired.

So I've been running Mint and it's just ace. Barely ever reboot it. There's software for most things I'd use a laptop for (not arsed about gaming, it's a writing / consumption / streaming device basically).

Need to get my head around Wine a bit more I suppose, but Mint is so, so easy. And I had to solve some weird BIOS problem to even get it (old ThinkPads have odd legacy boot options, Mint defaults to UEFI boot and I needed to set it to "both" for it to see the OS on the drive, IIRC)

It's sleeker and more customisable than any Mac I've used. Like you, probably, I use cloud apps like Google Docs and Sheets as 1) fuck Office and 2) sharing and customisable, and the last two IT jobs just used Google for loads of inhouse stuff so it's not far away from being industry standard. Plus I've got Office 2016 on my main Windows 10 PC.

I've fixed MacBooks time after time. They're not logical per se. I was a bit appalled at one user not telling us his password when he left, and how easy it was to get in with a default pass I got off the internet.

The thing about computers now is: they ALL "just work", to varying degrees. Christ, even Steam sorts yer graphics drivers for you now.

Mint is ace though. I'm struggling to think of an issue I couldn't sort within minutes apart from that boot mode issue.

Sebastian Cobb

I've used mint, it seemed alright; I still prefer straight Debian to any of its derivatives, to me they just seem like Debian + cruft.

I absolutely loathe Solaris. It seemed ok at University with all those lovely little Sun Rays running off a single machine, but a fair bit of administration must've gone into making it usable as I've also used it professionally that have had a base install, Oracle and some backend pro*c applications installed and being left to rot and they were horrible to try and use. They felt utterly incomplete, ksh is for cunts and who makes an operating system without an inbuilt case-insensitive version of find and no locate or whereis either? Utter shit.

biggytitbo

Quote from: Cloud on November 24, 2018, 05:01:37 PM
To be fair, I still like iPads.  Android tablets are rubbish.


They definetly used to be, had some real dogshit ones over the years. But this new lenovo is as good as any ipad I've used. Real pity they abandoned the mini as it was the ideal size, 7 inches fit perfectly in my hand.

Ferris

I bet it did you dirty bollocks etc etc

Mango Chimes

The absolutely baffling shit upthread is why Linux remains not an option for me. I'm enough of a nerd to be posting about operating systems on coodandbombd.co.uk at half six on a Saturday evening, but the word 'distribution' makes me feel ill.

The gulf between macOS (ugh... 'OSX' looked much nicer...) and Windows still exists for me, but it's narrowing. I don't know about all the techy backend stuff, and much of the 'visible' stuff macOS has added in recent years is all this iCloud and Siri integration shite that I do not want, but generally the polished user interface remains just... nicer.

Ten years ago the gap was insane, and whilst Windows has caught up hugely, macOS is still prettier and smoother to use. I'm not sure how best to describe it, but with macOS it feels like it wants you to use its visual interface, whilst Windows has often felt like it can't quite cope with it. And control-wise too. I don't know if Windows now has trackpad gestures, but on a MacBook they're brilliantly instinctive. And little things like a logical way to add modified characters (option-u for an umlaut, option-dash for an en-dash), I'll be sad to lose.

Jerzy Bondov

Had Macs for 15 years or so. Got a Mac Mini a few years ago, the last model you could open up to install RAM. Even managed to take it apart and put an SSD in there. I hope it lasts a while as I won't be buying another.

I'm still tied to the idea of having a desktop computer in many ways but it's becoming pretty unnecessary really. The iPad does most of everything I need, especially now I've got a nice keyboard case. I've got an Air 2 and I haven't looked at any newer models so maybe the iPad has also gone to shit but it's very obvious Apple are far more interested in iOS than macOS now.

Sebastian Cobb

It's less relevant these days unless you're doing something that needs a lot of processing power. The imac is basically a big screen with some laptop parts stuck to it. Working at a desk if you're trying to concentrate is nice, but there are plenty of docking peripherals that let you do that with any laptop these days. Quite like the dell/lenovo docks they do on their business machines, I always thought apple were missing them, but I guess these days with usb3 everything including display it's only one cable you're plugging in.

Blumf

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on November 24, 2018, 04:00:45 AM
I thought about linux, but I actually want to do stuff with these machines, not dick about with code.

...

I'm increasingly reluctant to keep the mac OS up to date, as everytime I let the things talk to the mothership & suckle some new code down, something stops working & I have to find a workaround.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Hah! Same with Windows users "Ugh! I don't want to fiddle around with technical stuff!!" ... <opens up regedit and taps out GUIDs to try and stop MS killing their install>
Lost count of the number of times I've had to fuck around with obscure command line utils on Win10 to fix their fucking updates.

Mint Cinnamon for my laptops
  • [/sup], works straight off the install, no fucking with drivers or anything.

    • [/sup] Slackware for my workstations/servers, but even that is a breeze these days.