Comments on: Apple’s limited specs appeal

By: Steve Cassidy

Steve Cassidy — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:18:49 +0000

I have nothing to say on the Mac v PC debate, because I pre-date either platform and I use both. I don’t happen to find OSX more productive, but to balance that, I also don’t find Windoes to be crashy – but I know that’s just me.

What I would add, mostly to the review, is that actually the clickable trackpad on the Mac Powerbooks DOES exactly replicate the function of a button – clickng at the top of the pad requires 10 times more force than clicking at the bottom edge. I used my demo new Macbook Pro by scrabbling with the fingers of one hand and clicking with the index finger of the other hand, in the centre bottom of the trackpad. Works a treat.

By: Mike Jennings

Mike Jennings — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:19:54 +0000

Mulvaney – perhaps that’s a reason why Apple is so reluctant to give away specific details. Surely, though, they could ensure the quality of components rather than having to hide things away in case they get some complaints. It does seem a devious way of doing things; but then again, it is Apple.

By: Mulvaney

Mulvaney — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:10:42 +0000

Tesco have their own brand label so that they can change their supplier at will. The customer has no brand loyalty to the underlying product / recipe because they don’t know who actually makes it.

Perhaps Apple don’t want you to know, in order to avoid potential negative feedback when they “change the recipe”?

By: David Wright

David Wright — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:16:35 +0000

It seems a shame that Apple don’t have the information readily available, for the people that do want to know. And what about professionals?

The high-end Lenovo ThinkPads now come with a screen calibrator and a tablet built in. The tablet is a bit gimmicky, but given the amount of time we waste here with poorly calibrated (or uncalibratable) screens, that is nice to have. (I put one site up on the test server and the project manager asked me why the background was a solid colour? On my screen, the designers rendering was shown as a solid colour, because the screen was such poor quality that you couldn’t actually see the colour gradient!)

What would be important in a review is how consistent the screen is. The new iMacs got a poor review in c’t, because the 24″ unit they received couldn’t be turned down below 200cd/m² (average) – 100 is recommended for general office use – and at 200cd/m² in the middle of the screen, the actual brightness ran from 207cd/m² in the top left, down to 177cd/m² in the bottom right of the screen! That is a big fluctuation.

By: hjlupton

hjlupton — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:45:43 +0000

I’m not sure how David figures that if you want to do something more complicated then Macs aren’t as user friendly. The Unix roots of OS X make it immensly powerful, but the majority of users simply do not need to delve that deep. I think that’s more subjective, in that people who are used to delving into Windows (and i know my way around the core of Windows too) might find they have to adjust to the different way of doing things beyond the basic UI. This is hardly more complicated, just different to what some may be used to. It doesn’t make it any less valid.

Personally i can’t be bothered with the Mac / PC debate, both are valid system choices, it’s surely down to what the user wants. All of the hate for either platform is simply childish IMO (note this is not a dig at David here, i’m just making a general point)

As for detail of specs, a lot of the additional detail is really more “nice to know” but not essential. the average user wants to know CPU speed, amount of RAM etc. the exact CPU chip used and so on is less relevant. That said it would be nice if Apple were a little more forthcoming over the fine details.

One thing is for sure though, when i made the move to the Mac platform at home, i wasn’t disappointed with the build quality or the performance of my iMac. It is a great machine and not only does it do everything i want it to do and plenty more besides (i have several VMs for testing), it also opened up new creative avenues for me using tools such as iLife.

By: bioreit

bioreit — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:58:49 +0000

@ Bryan

Ah, you mean like all those Mac adverts….?

By: David

David — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:26:05 +0000

“Macs just work”

At a basic level, yes – but when you want to do something a bit more complicated they aren’t as user-friendly as many would like to claim.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:50:34 +0000

@ Mr Staoles – And then you wonder why some Mac users are so defensive about their choice of computer? It’s almost as ridiculous as saying that all PC users are conformist, beige suit wearing, business-men. Making sweeping statements doesn’t really add to the debate, does it ?

By: pcernie

pcernie — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:16:53 +0000

For the money being spent, I’d say a lot of people might wanna know!

By: c6ten

c6ten — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:40:35 +0000

This sort of information is only useful if you have something to compare it with. I agree with the comment about processor IDs, as this sort of information is generally available, but screen specs are not generally very useful because there usually isn’t a choice. I also detect trust issues here. In my experience if it’s good enough for Apple then it is probably good enough, full stop. This may change, especially if there is a change of management, but I think it makes a lot of sense to take Apple at their word.