2016: The Year Apple Stumbled

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ZDNet seems to think that, even though Apple made money hand over fist this year, all is not well in Apple-land. After running down a laundry list of reasons for Apple's recent run of bad luck, the author of the article states that 2017 will more than likely be more of the same.

2016 has been a rollercoaster of a year, with political upheavals the world over and a constant stream of high profile celebrity deaths. But the tech world hasn't been without its dramas either, and one company that's been keeping pundits and analysts at the edge of their seats throughout the year is Apple. And 2017 looks to be an even tougher year.
 
Pro means I can push it until it's fans nearly give out while spinning faster than a jet engine! Pro means I can run Prime95 on it without going into nuclear meltdown mode. Pro means I can render something on the order of Toy Story without having the video card be turned into a molten pile of slag. Pro means I can make it work and have it come back to me while figuratively saying "Is that all you got!? I'm not even breaking a sweat here! Give me more!!!"

Unfortunately the MacBook Pro is not that kind of machine.

Apple really needs to stop making crap so damn thin for the sake of being thin. If making it thin results in performance loss you need to take a step back on the thinness and go back to the drawing board.
 
BDK said:
Luck seems to imply that chance was a factor in their failings instead of really bad management and business decisions. Tim Cook is simply not able to sell ice to an Eskimo like Jobs could.
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Well Cook is a supply chain guy and a polesmoke or whatever, but not much of a visionary unfortunately.
 
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We need new innovative toys. The Dick Tracy Watch hasn't caught on yet, and hell if I'm going to fumble around for reading glasses, because the cell phone I carry with me most of the time, does a better job. It took the industry awhile to realize that the Baby Boomers needed a larger screen if they wanted to increase sales. Star Trek Tablets have reached saturation point. Tri-corders could use some tweeking. Desktops have lost their appeal to laptops for the younger cell phone crowd. , other than for gamers. That might come to a halt if portable video cards get on main stream.
 
Oh how I would love to have a video card that I can simply connect to my notebook via Thunderbolt and be able to play games on a notebook PC but with the power of a desktop-style video card. Hell, it would be even nicer if I put my notebook down, connect the video card, and close the lid but have the system be smart enough to notice that I have the external graphics card plugged in thus not go to sleep and have a dual-monitor setup connected to the video card. I would simply use an external keyboard and mouse for when the notebook is in desktop mode. But all of this won't happen until external graphics cards get better in terms of price.

Hell, it would be very damned cool if you could have an Intel NUC PC with that external graphics card. It would be the end of the big-cased PCs as we know it.
 
trparky said:
Oh how I would love to have a video card that I can simply connect to my notebook via Thunderbolt and be able to play games on a notebook PC but with the power of a desktop-style video card. Hell, it would be even nicer if I put my notebook down, connect the video card, and close the lid but have the system be smart enough to notice that I have the external graphics card plugged in thus not go to sleep and have a dual-monitor setup connected to the video card. I would simply use an external keyboard and mouse for when the notebook is in desktop mode. But all of this won't happen until external graphics cards get better in terms of price.

Hell, it would be very damned cool if you could have an Intel NUC PC with that external graphics card. It would be the end of the big-cased PCs as we know it.
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I'd upgrade just for that. Thats the problem I have now. Heck my win10 still can't remember not to go to sleep after 2 minutes from a sleep awakening, must keep the mouse or youtube running in the back ground, no matter what settings I use. Have to reboot so it doesn't go to sleep.
 
I've owned a small amount of Apple stock for about 8 years. I've had a good run with it. I took a little off the table a few months ago. I still have some as the company has a mountain of cash and has potential to keep raking in money. Go to an Apple store - always freaking crowded. I hate their stores, but they stay crowded.
I know a lot of people were waiting on a Macbook Pro refresh. The one Apple delivered isn't what they were waiting for - but they are still buying them. There really are no choices if you need/want to run OSX.
Personally, I think Apple could use an executive shake up.
 
trparky said:
Oh how I would love to have a video card that I can simply connect to my notebook via Thunderbolt and be able to play games on a notebook PC but with the power of a desktop-style video card. Hell, it would be even nicer if I put my notebook down, connect the video card, and close the lid but have the system be smart enough to notice that I have the external graphics card plugged in thus not go to sleep and have a dual-monitor setup connected to the video card. I would simply use an external keyboard and mouse for when the notebook is in desktop mode. But all of this won't happen until external graphics cards get better in terms of price.

Hell, it would be very damned cool if you could have an Intel NUC PC with that external graphics card. It would be the end of the big-cased PCs as we know it.
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Both of those things are actually available. The Skulltrail NUC supports Thunderbolt 3 graphics and so do a few Notebook models. The graphics card chassis are a bit pricey right now but they'll come down if people buy them.
 
They need to start loosening up their grip on iOS. I believe Tim Cook has said in the past that they would over time, but all they've done since then is allow custom keyboards, add a messaging store and allow devs to use siri. They could start by implementing a file browser, the functionality is already there and evident if you've ever jailbroken your device. I understand there are security and app pirating concerns so just wall off all of the sensitive folder and just leave the basic ones like documents/photos/music/videos. Hell... make a "pro" toggle in the setting and have it waive your warranty if you enable it for all I care.

They build and design great products, but their software innovation has been lacking direction... although as of late the same could be said about Google.
 
elzeus said:
They need to start loosening up their grip on iOS. I believe Tim Cook has said in the past that they would over time, but all they've done since then is allow custom keyboards, add a messaging store and allow devs to use siri. They could start by implementing a file browser, the functionality is already there and evident if you've ever jailbroken your device. I understand there are security and app pirating concerns so just wall off all of the sensitive folder and just leave the basic ones like documents/photos/music/videos. Hell... make a "pro" toggle in the setting and have it waive your warranty if you enable it for all I care.

They build and design great products, but their software innovation has been lacking direction... although as of late the same could be said about Google.
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I honestly believe any techie worth their salt would tolerate the level of restriction that comes with owning an iOS device. It makes me sick that Android seems to be trending towards punishing root users as well. Who I'm their right mind would buy a Mac/PC they did not have root/admin access to? With phones/tablets as powerful as they are nowadays, why should they be any different?
 
trparky said:
Oh how I would love to have a video card that I can simply connect to my notebook via Thunderbolt and be able to play games on a notebook PC but with the power of a desktop-style video card. Hell, it would be even nicer if I put my notebook down, connect the video card, and close the lid but have the system be smart enough to notice that I have the external graphics card plugged in thus not go to sleep and have a dual-monitor setup connected to the video card. I would simply use an external keyboard and mouse for when the notebook is in desktop mode. But all of this won't happen until external graphics cards get better in terms of price.

Hell, it would be very damned cool if you could have an Intel NUC PC with that external graphics card. It would be the end of the big-cased PCs as we know it.
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Razer Blade Stealth with Razer Core. I do exactly what you describe with mine.
 
rat said:
Razer Blade Stealth with Razer Core. I do exactly what you describe with mine.
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At what price!, when that should be a standard for most laptops(notebooks) . I'm sure no one has a copyright to that, I think. Nothing proprietary about that either, I think.
 
Like Obi Wan said - From a certain point of view.

They may have been making a shit ton of money, but what have they really brought to the table in terms of something cool, new, innovative? Something worthy of an upgrade. Intel fell into the same pit. If you're going from an older model, not one or two generations back, it's a decent upgrade.

Apple didn't release anything that was a must have. It didn't create a lot of "WOW" this year. I'm not an Apple guy, but even the Mac enthusiasts weren't as loud this year. It was just a ho-hum year.

Lots of money to be had, but it was a lackluster year for hardware innovation. Hopefully next year is better. Honestly, after Jobs left, they've been coasting along...
 
they have plenty of money, they should focus on making a product not money. That sounds funny but more people think about apple and to quote the other guy selling ice to eskimos... about pr and products that are made as cheaply as possible and sold as deer as possible. buy low sell high makes sense when people get perceived value for their dollar but when most people joke that even when it does what it is supposed to it does not provide value for the money...

They really need to take a step back from the apple culture and say what are we actually selling to people. It is the shareholders company so they are the ones that need to figure that out.
 
Uncle said:
At what price!, when that should be a standard for most laptops(notebooks) . I'm sure no one has a copyright to that, I think. Nothing proprietary about that either, I think.
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$999 for the base Blade model, still outspecs a Macbook Pro.

$399 for the Core if you buy a Razer laptop. $499 otherwise, which can be used on other machines that have a Thunderbolt 3/USBC port.

It's not proprietary at all, so it's really down to OS and OEM support in that model... they just have to include it.
 
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rat said:
Razer Blade Stealth with Razer Core. I do exactly what you describe with mine.
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What I would love and I have been thinking about trying to create with my meager hardware engineering skills is a 1080 form factor in a small cube, the form factor that they put in laptops. It would be awesome to have a small device that has that form factor that is tb3 for laptops. Rather than the huge pcie box it would be an upgradeable all in one. The problem is that I don't really know how to make it! Been looking at it though. If you had a shiny-mac-like version of this I bet you could sell it to tons of macbook users.
 
gulguran said:
What I would love and I have been thinking about trying to create with my meager hardware engineering skills is a 1080 form factor in a small cube, the form factor that they put in laptops. It would be awesome to have a small device that has that form factor that is tb3 for laptops. Rather than the huge pcie box it would be an upgradeable all in one. The problem is that I don't really know how to make it! Been looking at it though. If you had a shiny-mac-like version of this I bet you could sell it to tons of macbook users.
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Buy an Intel NUC of the appropriate specs you want for yourself. Make sure it has a TB3/USB3C plug on it. Buy a Razer Core. Install a GPU. Connected Core to NUC using a TB3/USB3C cable. Allow Windows to configure new video card. Done.
 
Doesn't matter. The non techy people of the world will still line up around the block to buy the next version of whatever i-anything that gets released; they're status symbols for most of the people that own them. Doesn't matter a whit whether they're the most advanced devices available. Just another example of conspicuous consumption.
 
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