Citi Analysts Says Apple May Acquire Netflix

Exactly. It all depends on what you're trying to do. I actually use three machines at once, typically one machine for emails and file copying, one machine for scopes, and one machine to do the actual work. And I now have a spare in case the main machine fails (which it just did back in late October). I beat on the main machine pretty hard, but the little machines are fine with low-stress tasks. And we have Windows machines when we need to handle certain Windows programs.

The Mac Minis are also great machines, but Apple has been loathe to make new ones for years. What they really need is to update the Mac Minis to make them about as powerful as the new iMac Pros. Again: all Apple has to do is to want to do it. But it isn't high on their priority list. You can buy PC "NUCs" that are essentially functional equivalents of this in Windows.

 

I was sure this thread was about Apple buying Netflix but there's been no mention of it for pages now...

 

Including this post. I guess as long as nothing comes to pass, there isn't much more to be said on the matter...

 

What do you mean by not at the same time? One cable connected to a dock gives you access to many different peripherals with difference connectors.

“Desktop replacement” is in the eye of the beholder. Yes, there is a subset of users that can’t get used to using a dock, or a subset that will make no attempt to get used to the keyboard, and a subset that needs 32GB RAM (which they will eventually make available), etc. There are a lot of different use cases of the “professional” class.

That doesn’t mean it is a worthwhile use of resources to placate these small groups of users with a seperate laptop. Apple has already said they will make a Mac Pro with a new design to please many of the people in this small group (not to mention the iMac Pro that has pleased a subset of the subset), so how many of their resources do they spend trying to please such a small set of users?

The Mac Is Turning into Apple's Achilles' Heel

“Apple's decision to work on a new Mac Pro raises a number of red flags.

Resource strain. Even though Apple has $246B of cash and cash equivalents, the company is resource-constrained when it comes to time and attention. Apple's functional organizational structure produces a constant battle among products and teams to grab that finite amount of management's attention. For management to dedicate attention to new pro Mac hardware, the company may need to take its foot off the accelerator with other products....”

As a side note, their current direction has lead to a 10 percent increase in Mac sales in Q4 despite the small minority of complainers with huge megaphones screaming from the rooftops.

Apple's Mac Sales Up 25% Year-Over-Year in Q4 2017

“Mac revenue came in at $7.17 billion, up from $5.74 billion in the year-ago quarter, marking 25 percent growth. Overall revenue is likely up thanks to an increased price tag for the MacBook Pro, which saw prices raised in 2016 with the debut of Touch Bar models.”

 

I really hope not.

 

Yeah. I don’t care how beloved the devourer is, Im skeptical. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken. Do we really need another Comcast or Warner mega company screwing things up? All this says to me is the geniuses at Apple couldn’t do as good as the start up called Netflix at getting people to watch their videos. To pass the spare hour or two in my living room, I’m quite happy with the low-budget alternative known as Netflix. I don’t need any stinking Apple boutique fingerprints on the pricing menu.

 

Repeat after me: imagine what it would be like not to have to use a dock at all. You know, having all the connectors actually on the laptop.

 

Everybody sing along! "...it's easy if you try. No docks in front of us. Above us only WI-FI..."

 

It would be a pain to have to plug in a bunch of stuff every time I want to sit at my desk with multiple displays, SSDs, DAC, keyboard, mouse, card reader, etc. rather than one cable to a dock with a bunch of stuff already plugged in that also provides power. This is easiest and most elegant solution. I know because I had the option to plug in a bunch of stuff to my 2011 MBP and I still used a thunderbolt dock at my desk because it was one cable + one power cable, and it still didn't have enough ports to connect all my stuff without a dock.

The other issue is that there are things I use regularly that have never been built into a laptop...CF card slots and microSD, to name two. As I have mentioned, I still carry around the exact same amount of stuff. I forgot to mention that I have my Lightroom catalog on an external SSD and it uses USB-C.

In other words, I am happy with the new MBPs. However, Apple still sells the 2105 MBP for people that can't live with the change.

 

I'm speaking entirely for mobile users. Anybody sitting at a desktop all day long, my advice would be to use a desktop computer that's permanently installed.

 

As I mentioned, when I am not at the desk I carry the same amount of stuff I was carrying before. Though the backpack weighs less now. The thing is, I do like to use the desk setup when I want larger monitors with higher resolutions ( and all the other stuff)and plugging in one cable is ideal.

I have a fairly new PC and an older iMac, so those are options. I just prefer doing things with one computer that can easily move from desktop to mobile. I doubt I will buy another desktop computer. When the iMac stops getting updates, I will replace it with another monitor ( which is how I use it quite a bit of the time now).

 

Mac users aren't the only ones with access to a nice all-in-one PC anymore. I've got this $2,000 monster from HP, and while there are a few things about it I don't love (the keyboard has some annoying layout flaws and occasionally its custom wireless connection to the PC glitches), in most ways I think it's far superior to the iMac, as well as cheaper than a system with comparable specs:

https://www.amazon.com/HP-34-b010-3...01NCOOFGO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Well, almost comparable - no all-in-one Mac comes with a monitor like this. It probably isn't suitable for professional color work (although I'm not sure about that - I think it's Technicolor Certified, whatever that means), but for most other uses it's pretty dang impressive.

Apple needs to step their game up across their Mac product line, because slowly but surely PC makers finally seem to be catching up. This machine in particular reminds me of a futuristic design concept from the early '80s. Took long enough, but we're finally getting there...

 

I'm happy with my 7.5 year old Macbook (the last uni-body to be white). I've done the odd upgrades, but it's still fine to lug around, It's not like I need the power of a desktop on the go doing hardcore video or audio editing.