Apple has always been about moving forward, about pressing customers to buy the latest and greatest. Product pacing has been high in Cupertino (except for the Mac Mini, obviously), and this is obviously a good thing if you're an Apple bean counter. Most Apple fans more or less accept this planned obsolescence without question, but the company may have just gone a little too far.
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Member since:2005-06-29
It gets even better: PowerPC and Intel Macs sold in 2006 are still under Apple warranty. So you have the weird situation where your machine is under full warranty, yet you do not get to use parts of Apple's software.
I'm sorry, but you have to be crazy to accept this without question.
Member since:2005-07-06
It gets even better: PowerPC and Intel Macs sold in 2006 are still under Apple warranty. So you have the weird situation where your machine is under full warranty, yet you do not get to use parts of Apple's software.
I'm sorry, but you have to be crazy to accept this without question. "
I love my shiny new MBP, but I agree completely. I wonder in what way I'll be left out in the cold in 2 or 3 years!
Member since:2005-08-28
Member since:2005-07-06
"The myth of course is that Apple hardware lasts longer."
Hmmmm - you had better tell my wife that her 800mhz G4 iMac (lamp) purchased in 2000 and is running Mac OS X 10.4.6 isn't still working. Sure it isn't as fast as current computers but she does all the normal stuff that normal people do on computers. Except maybe pron. I don't think she surfs for that but maybe she does. The same is true without 2001 800mhz G4 PowerBook
Sure she can't have me install OS X 10.5 or let her run the newest version of iLife.
I was able to install the newest version of iWork (I bought the family pack for it) which runs on all of our computers except for the 1998 original iMac version b. That still works for surfing the web and doing e-mail too running Mac OS 9.2 and is the only Mac we have with anti-virus software.
I was thinking about updating both but she likes the look of her iMac lamp and the new MacBook doesn't have a firewire port so I can't connect our Sony digital 8 video camera to it. So in a way, our old PowerBook is better than the new MacBook. And I don't feel like spending an additional $500 just for a FireWire port.
I do also have a Nov '06 white 24" iMac Core2Duo which I've installed the new iLife on. The learn keyboard and guitar looks pretty cool. I've only peeked at it. The new iMovie is MUCH improved though I may still need iMove '06 (I restored it from TimeMachine - very easy - very cool). Guess I'm glad a waited for the Core2Duo version.
Edited 2009-02-04 16:02 UTC
Member since:2005-10-12
her 800mhz G4 iMac (lamp) purchased in 2000 and is running Mac OS X 10.4.6 isn't still working.
Its not at all surprising that it is still working. There is nothing unusual about this. Go into small businesses and charities all over the place, and you'll find Dells and Compaqs as old as or older than this working just fine. Some are running Win 98, some XP.
What is amazing is that people seem to think there is something unique about Apple hardware when it lasts the normal length of time for all computer hardware.
The reason people swap out PC hardware sooner is nothing to do with longevity of the hardware. Its for three reasons.
One, they want the increased performance. Probably Mac users do too, but they do without.
Two, they want to run new software (and this, obviously, applies to Mac owners as well).
Three, and this does not apply to Mac owners, its real cheap. You buy a new base unit, it comes with OS installed, or you put your favorite distro on it, and its not a size of purchase you have to think about much. Its not like buying a Mac. And you get to reuse your monitor which makes it cheaper.
Mac owners hang on forever to obsolete hardware because its too expensive to replace. PC owners throw out perfectly well functioning hardware and replace it with something faster because they can afford to and they feel like it.
Mac people then conclude that their hardware was better quality and lasted longer. No, it was just more expensive.
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Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
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Member since:
2005-10-12
Those who are with PowerPC, will be classified as "Pending for upgrade" Status, in Apple ecosystem, 3 years are around the time they expect you to upgrade.
The myth of course is that Apple hardware lasts longer. So when people do analysis of the installed base, they assume lots more of the shipped Macs are still in service than of the shipped Windows machines. When they do value for money comparisons, they assume that the Macs last longer.
There never has been any evidence for this, and the quote above suggests the contrary, as does the phasing out of support for anything that is not current.
Throw the junk out and buy a new one, seems to be the message.