Overly dramatic; Apple is doing fine. But they are definitely behind in appeasing the pro user segment with decent hardware and not doing nearly enough to fix that. I replaced my 2012 model (essentially the last model that had Steve Jobs' fingers all over it) late last year with the 15" model. So far so good with the keyboard but not looking forward to having to cash in my overpriced apple care and lose it for a week or more while Apple does whatever it needs to do to fix a problem that shouldn't need fixing.
What I want and what Apple sold me are miles apart at this point and they came very close to losing my business. Technically, I could be up and running using Linux and not lose a lot of time having to switch tools. Essentially everything I care about should just work. I do backend stuff. In the end I chickened out and had to replace my old laptop in a hurry and went for an easy upgrade to not lose time dealing with a different OS, configuring shit that shouldn't need configuring, shopping around, etc. That's what it means to be a pro, I just don't have time for that stuff. I don't even mind the steep price. I'm totally OK paying 4K for a laptop that I use every day for 3-5 years. Not a problem. Earns itself back within weeks. I bill more per week.
But I do want quality and performance. I'm getting neither with the latest model. It's fine but nothing special. Mind you, I have the tricked out version with the extra GPU memory, faster cpu, etc. But it's 16GB, just like the one it replaced. Has a slightly faster 4 core CPU, just like the one it replaced. I guess the SSD is a slightly faster but don't really notice much difference. The retina screen is nice but I would have preferred a non glossy one. I clocked my builds before and after and they're about 30% faster on the new machine. That's appalling for a state of the art laptop replacing a laptop that was half a decade old.
On top of that the keyboard absolutely sucks. It's loud, flimsy, lacks keys I need, the arrow keys are tiny, etc. Terrible job in form over function style design. The touch bar is a nice gimmick but not getting a lot of value out of it. Definitely not worth losing the function keys over. I don't think I would miss it.
If I were to shop right now and had more time to do so. I'd be looking to get one of those nice new CPUs with 6 or more cores (yes, I actually use them), 32 GB, or 64 GB even. Decent cooling so the laptop doesn't throttle itself every time I need some performance. A keyboard that doesn't suck. And less dependence on dongles would also be awesome though not super critical for me. If that means 0.5cm thicker laptop: great. Not a problem.
On a positive note, I know several people that have abandoned Apple. They seem quite happy with their windows/linux laptops but they seem to be replacing them fairly quickly as well. My observation with issues they are having is that competitors still have some catching up to do. You get issues with trackpads on linux, webcams that are in weird positions (dell), build quality issues, etc.
All that means in my book that all Apple needs to do is slightly up their game on the quality front and they'll be fine.
What I want and what Apple sold me are miles apart at this point and they came very close to losing my business. Technically, I could be up and running using Linux and not lose a lot of time having to switch tools. Essentially everything I care about should just work. I do backend stuff. In the end I chickened out and had to replace my old laptop in a hurry and went for an easy upgrade to not lose time dealing with a different OS, configuring shit that shouldn't need configuring, shopping around, etc. That's what it means to be a pro, I just don't have time for that stuff. I don't even mind the steep price. I'm totally OK paying 4K for a laptop that I use every day for 3-5 years. Not a problem. Earns itself back within weeks. I bill more per week.
But I do want quality and performance. I'm getting neither with the latest model. It's fine but nothing special. Mind you, I have the tricked out version with the extra GPU memory, faster cpu, etc. But it's 16GB, just like the one it replaced. Has a slightly faster 4 core CPU, just like the one it replaced. I guess the SSD is a slightly faster but don't really notice much difference. The retina screen is nice but I would have preferred a non glossy one. I clocked my builds before and after and they're about 30% faster on the new machine. That's appalling for a state of the art laptop replacing a laptop that was half a decade old.
On top of that the keyboard absolutely sucks. It's loud, flimsy, lacks keys I need, the arrow keys are tiny, etc. Terrible job in form over function style design. The touch bar is a nice gimmick but not getting a lot of value out of it. Definitely not worth losing the function keys over. I don't think I would miss it.
If I were to shop right now and had more time to do so. I'd be looking to get one of those nice new CPUs with 6 or more cores (yes, I actually use them), 32 GB, or 64 GB even. Decent cooling so the laptop doesn't throttle itself every time I need some performance. A keyboard that doesn't suck. And less dependence on dongles would also be awesome though not super critical for me. If that means 0.5cm thicker laptop: great. Not a problem.
On a positive note, I know several people that have abandoned Apple. They seem quite happy with their windows/linux laptops but they seem to be replacing them fairly quickly as well. My observation with issues they are having is that competitors still have some catching up to do. You get issues with trackpads on linux, webcams that are in weird positions (dell), build quality issues, etc.
All that means in my book that all Apple needs to do is slightly up their game on the quality front and they'll be fine.