Hi Doren,
Slow day here in the hills, so I thought I'd pick on a few of your points. Feel free to chew my POV up later.
They are basically more expensive. Apple is levering more money out of our wallets for less machine. - same price no optical - sure you can buy an external but externals are more expensive than internals - obviously Apple's had to pay for a lot of replacements of crap internal optical - a lot I think - more profit for apple if they don't have to screw with mechanical devices There's an inconsistency in what you are saying. Did you miss the fact that the new iMacs come with twice as much RAM? I would think that going from 4 to 8GB of RAM would be better than a mostly unused DVD any day. Besides, most of the buying public will not do the math that it takes to find out if this iMac costs more or less than the previous iMac vis-à-vis the additional cost of a DVD.
- can't upgrade ram or drives yourself - more expensive - more profit for Apple
Don't need to. Already has 8GB RAM and 1TB HD, minimum. If anyone should grow out of that during their 2 to 5 years of ownership, they should have been thinking ahead at purchase time.
- hard to repair - this means the effective life of a Mac is shorter - if your Mac dies on day 3 years plus one you are sh¡t out of luck. Probably doesn't mean much as MOBOs etc don't die often now that Apple has cooling down pat but what it you aren't lucky? My quicksilver will be 11 years old Jan 28, still usable to some extent. Actually probably close in power and speed to my brothers low end iMac. This was one of my points I was trying to make, so since it didn't land perhaps I should rephrase it.
Doesn't it appear as though Apple's strategy in building sealed iMacs is to:
- Spur AppleCare sales. The inability to get into the device for repair tends to make a person want to keep it under warranty.
- Spur replacements at the end of the AppleCare warranty period, for the same reason.
- Create a used iMac market under the control of the mothership. Sealed boxes are easier to price as used goods, because you know what's in them. Accepting used computers for refurbishing and reselling with another year's warranty is something no other computer company has done. Nor could they with their razor thin margins. Apple is already doing it, just not up front and public. They have been for years. If they start pitching this, they get credit for recycling old computers as well as increasing customer loyalty. It also makes it possible for the refurb iMac to compete within the lower price tiers of the market, expanding the user base in that direction.
Apple is looking down the road to when solid state makes everything non-upgradable anyway. Motherboard, case and screen. Not even any wires. I think that's what this is. Not down the road. Now.
My nano and maybe my phone is a problem if I abandon Apple but their are other devices. I can tell you that I'm very reluctant to buy any software or media from Apple because I know they are trying to lock us in. In fact one little application I really like I would like to upgrade. I haven't because the App is ONLY available through the Apple store. If you take every advantage that Apple's ecosystem has to offer, and there are many, then you are locked in. Trying to fight it can only keep you mired in the past. Platform independence is a dream, a wisp of digital smoke to cloud our ambitions, and in the end, it means nothing.
When you choose a platform, you marry that platform, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, until death [of hardware] do ye part. And even then, if you married the right platform, you want her ... err ... it back!
What you are saying is that you are only dating the OSX/iOS ecosystem, and you are afraid of being seduced. I hear you, brother.
And, what is that "one little application?" |
