It’s strange - there’s nothing actually wrong with what Apple announced: USB-C on the Mac is great, a thinner, more powerful machine is intriguing and, while it’s too early to say, the Touch Bar could possibly be a gimmick, but it could be useful for helping people discover what shortcuts exist as they use the computer.
The thing is, I can’t figure out who this is for other than those who are on really old machines. Myself, and everyone else, seems to be wondering what, exactly, is the selling point of this upgrade.
That’s because unlike what the name of the product implies, the new MacBook Pros aren’t intended for professionals at all. They are really expensive consumer laptops. Once you learn to accept that Apple is no longer interested in its traditional professional segment of the market, everything starts falling into place.
iOS devices at the lower price point, MacBook Pro and possible upcoming iMacs at the higher price point.
Suddenly, the Mac falls into place.
Just that it needs a Mac to compile iOS applications. So not taking care of developer needs actually is quite a thing.
Anyway, Tim Cook: If you don’t like the Mac – That’s fine, that’s ok. Just do admit it in the public and give us professionals a way to implement iOS apps without using this horrible hardware you are selling as Macs.
Edited 2016-10-31 14:36 UTC
Is not possible to compile for mac on windows/linux? Xamarin Studio? Haxe/Unity/Unreal? Swift can be compiled on linux
I guess the emulator in Xcode is a “no go” but there are alternativs right?
Not for iOS and Apple software – you need OSX and XCode to compile and deliver apps for Apple platforms.
Can macOS technically run on any machine: Yes. Does the license forbid that: Yes
…same for compiling and making store-apps (not sure about non-store)
The workaround is to have a “macOS” build server in your network or to use a cloud-service like mac-in-cloud
Note: this is all assumption based upon researching other projects
It should be/is possible to cross-compile for Mac and iOS just a real PITA. I think FreeCIV used to use a cross-compler for nightly builds on it’s Linux build boxes. Making an iOS rather than Mac target should be possible.
I can’t find the old Howto’s I read, but you ought to be able to take something like this and adjust it for the armvl or whatever target to support iOS rather than Mac.
https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross
The code signing part may require some work.
Cross-compiling is not a great way to ship software, though. You still must test it on the real thing, and keeping a cross-compiler environment up to date and working properly is far, far more work than just setting up the real thing when the target is not embedded.
Apple relinquished the enterprise space a while ago. It is a pro-sumer laptop. Yes, by its nature it CAN run professional applications and workflows. But its not the market its designed for. It is well placed for home users and those in coffee shops, where bling MATTERS
That enterprise market well and truly belongs to the Dell Latitude and its ilk. When Dell release a new model, will we discuss it on OSNews? Unlikely. Will my company order hundreds of them? Yes.
Adurbe,
Thom’s not going to like that I said this, but osnews is unwittingly participating in a much larger echo-chamber, where only a few companies get all of the media attention over and over and over again even with very little to substantiate the attention.
I’m not really a big fan of the current osnews format. When I joined OS news, I was attracted to the original series and contributors like Hadrien:
http://www.osnews.com/story/24270/Hobby_OS-deving_1_Are_You_Ready_/
I really miss these kinds of articles, but it’s hard to keep things fresh year after year. Compounded with the fact that there isn’t much money in journalism these days, publishing quotes of other articles is just the path of least resistance it seems.
Edit: I’m curious, would anyone here be inclined to contribute time or other resources to produce more original content? If everyone wrote an article or two every year, I’m sure we could come up with some very interesting things to talk about!
Edited 2016-10-31 17:20 UTC
I think if you wrote one (on topic) Thom would certainly consider it. I’m afraid I am a bit echo chamber to write anything to original for the site.. maybe I’ll do a review when my pebble time 2 arrives
Adurbe,
I don’t really know what “on topic” is anymore, haha.
You know, I’m not much of a journalist or reviewer, instead I’m a developer. So that’s the domain I’d focus on. And instead of just talking about something, I’d really like to demonstrate it in an interactive way. The problem with this is that it’s a lot of work for something that would just disappear after a few days. What’s needed (in so far as my vision is concerned) is a persistent library with strong community participation. We could have community goals, divide up into teams and have fun contests to liven things up.
So I see people disappointed with this, saying it’s not a “pro” machine. I’m not sure what that means – it’s faster in basically every way than my older rMBP early 2013. The only thing I’m bummed about is the price to gaming performance ratio (it’s too expensive, and won’t play games well enough for that price). That’s not a pro feature afaict.
Edited 2016-10-31 15:50 UTC
Pro’s barely use these machines while mobile, so a Pro machine can have lower batterylife and higher performance. But Apple actively makes choices that are focussing more on mobility and less on performance: http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13460496/apple-macbook-pro-16gb-…
The Touchbar is such a weird idea on a pro machine. Pro’s are normally looking at their screen and letting their fingers do the work blindly. The touchbar is only usable if you take your eyes of the screen. It is basically the hardware version of the Office Ribbon but in the worst place….away from your screen.
Also, no pro video card
Also, dongle-mania
Also: [quote]it’s faster in basically every way than my older rMBP early 2013[/quote]I would surely hope so at the very end of 2016 and with a pretty hefty price increase!
Edited 2016-10-31 16:12 UTC
For one simple reason: I need my USB ports! My Macbook Air, which I’ll hold onto until it dies it would seem, is more “Pro” than this! I can’t even plug a thumb drive in without an adapter! What! The! Hell? I already have enough hubs and dongles.
The sad thing is that I hate this less than the crap Windows 10 has given me. I can’t be happy in this current market: I either get shitty hardware with an os I really like, or else I get amazing hardware with the shittiest “professional” os I’ve ever had the misfortune to use.
Am I the only one who’s bothered by the price ? My white 2007 Macbook was $1000. Now I get a crappy 12″ Macbook with a 480P cam for $1300.
Apple’s new Macbook Pro with display bar is 1800 dollars. And it only has 8GB memory, which I cannot upgrade. And it’s slightly faster than previous model. WTH.
http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/31/2016-vs-2015-base-13-inch-mbp-b…
Nope, you’re definitely not the only one.
This is not surprising as Apple made it clear it wasn’t interested in the professionals anymore when it nerfed Final Cut back in 2011.
It really became apparently they were just interested in the larger market of prosumer and the actual professionals can go screw themselves.
The new laptops is just the same thing.