> It’s called “aspirational luxury”. Even PhD students who could solder together a laptop with parts off Alibaba still want a MBP because, you know: sex.
It's really not though, for me. I resisted going Mac for many years, to my personal detriment. I finally threw in the towel during a business trip where my current Thinkpad was getting less than 2.5hrs per charge, while the MBP I picked up at Best Buy lasted 12+.
I haven't looked back for laptops ever since, and w/ the M2 the gap is growing even more.
The form factor is far and away a secondary consideration these days to it simply being useful as a tool. Perhaps the windows laptop ecosystem has caught up since - but Apple would have to fuck up for me to consider it a priority worth spending the time on switching again. A $1,000 "apple tax" every 3-5 years when I need a new one is money well spent to avoid such things.
Mobile devices are similar. I'm still on Android, but just barely. The ecosystem continues to get worse in my opinion, and a lot of the benefits of "open" are slowly being eroded into a shittier version of the Apple walled garden.
For me, personally, I'd be in the market for Apple devices that are "skinned" to look like they are not Apple devices. I actually hate bringing my Macbook out with me since it makes you stand out as a target for theft in some areas. I use them because they simply get the job done better for me, and my daily computing is no longer a hobby I enjoy tinkering around with.
Well said. For Macs specifically I just tell people for me it is basically Linux where the hardware always works really well and you don’t have to screw around with drivers.
It's really not though, for me. I resisted going Mac for many years, to my personal detriment. I finally threw in the towel during a business trip where my current Thinkpad was getting less than 2.5hrs per charge, while the MBP I picked up at Best Buy lasted 12+.
I haven't looked back for laptops ever since, and w/ the M2 the gap is growing even more.
The form factor is far and away a secondary consideration these days to it simply being useful as a tool. Perhaps the windows laptop ecosystem has caught up since - but Apple would have to fuck up for me to consider it a priority worth spending the time on switching again. A $1,000 "apple tax" every 3-5 years when I need a new one is money well spent to avoid such things.
Mobile devices are similar. I'm still on Android, but just barely. The ecosystem continues to get worse in my opinion, and a lot of the benefits of "open" are slowly being eroded into a shittier version of the Apple walled garden.
For me, personally, I'd be in the market for Apple devices that are "skinned" to look like they are not Apple devices. I actually hate bringing my Macbook out with me since it makes you stand out as a target for theft in some areas. I use them because they simply get the job done better for me, and my daily computing is no longer a hobby I enjoy tinkering around with.