RoboFu
One of the green rats
no one here is going to give a fair assessment of anything. They will use their plastic phones and plastic laptops with their shitty windows corrupting every update and save a few bucks and smile.
Apple is way overpriced, who agrees?
- Thread starter David B
- Start date
no one here is going to give a fair assessment of anything. They will use their plastic phones and plastic laptops with their shitty windows corrupting every update and save a few bucks and smile.
MilkyJoe
Member
Puscifer
Member
Sure bud, whatever you say. Here's my "fair assessment" that I posted a few pages back.
That being said, the M1 Air is the last apple product I'd ever buy. 10-15 years ago you cold argue easily they're worth the money, they had things even some of the most expensive windows laptops just didn't have like high resolution color accurate screens, backlit keyboards, aluminum bodies, not to mention outside of the pentalobe screws just to be quirky they were super repairable and upgrable so you could easily keep them going long past their purchase date. There's Macs you can buy from years ago that look damn near new, maybe outside of natural oil buildup on the keyboard, that function well.
But since maybe 2015? Far as I'm concerned every years there's been less and less reason too. Soldered components, less ports (rectified, MOSTLY), no way to upgrade or replace anything, no 32bit compatibility killing lots of software that ran just perfectly before they did it, build quality that's been caught up by other manufacturers, killing boot camp.
I dont get it, yeah I could've justified the "ecosystem" 10 years ago, especially with the quality of iphones, but I can't anymore. My pixel 6A is amazing and it only cost me 300 bucks, is repairable and has 5 years of support. My laptop has an all aluminum build, thin and light, I can replace and fix every component and has a great battery life with a dedicated GPU and cost me around 800 bucks (razer blade stealth)
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Trogdor1123
Member
What, exactly, is the metric we are using to say something is over priced? There is a massive difference between expensive and over priced
Heimdall_Xtreme
Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member
2 weeks ago I went to a department store, I saw that Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung had more people... Apple didn't even have a soul, it seemed like a ghost town.
I do have a windows laptop, because apple doesn't play nice with all my software, but because i did extensive market research to buy my current laptop, i know the macbook air (the only one i considered) has a fair price when compared to the competition,
Jinzo Prime
Member
Not in the US, everyone here uses iPhone. Or occasionally Samsung.
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
This thread* feels like a Tier 1 vs Tier 3 social trap.
Also...how many people here have a 5090...I'm not looking for receipts but I recognize some of yous' names
Also...how many people here have a 5090...I'm not looking for receipts but I recognize some of yous' names
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Trunx81
Member
In using Apple since 2003. Last year I bought a windows laptop because it was cheap and did what it needed to do. On mobile side, that's a different story. My wife has a cheap Samsung and I find it terrible. Adequate smartphones with the fluidity of an iPhone cost nearly as much as an Apple phone. I had iPhone since 2007, so I'm deeply rooted into the eco system. In combination with Apple Watch (still a series 3) and the long live of an iPhone (I replace them every 5 to 6 years), it will take more than just "you can customize it!" to make me do a change in the future.
Mattyp
Not the YouTuber
You can replace every component in a laptop…? Tell me when have you ever had to replace a cpu in a laptop due to failure, the gpu?
Battery life is non comparable on any laptops to my real world usage of an Apple laptop, used solely for 16 hours of life.
I swear on my Carbon X1 I physically watch the percentages drop as I type.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
Do many brands allow ram and storage upgrades? Genuine question, I was under the impression that practically all consumer electronics are locked with the specs they have when you buy them.
Puscifer
Member
I get 11 hours for just daily task like web browsing, word processing, video calls and the like.
By parts, you know what I mean. Ram, storage, fans, screen, battery. There's several modem window laptops with 20+ hours of battery life that are arm based, there's amd based laptops that have around 14 hours of usage.
I just know my M1 as I stated, is my last apple machine. Why am I paying hundreds of dollars for basic upgrades? Even if I can afford the question I'll ultimately come back to is "why?" At the time I customized it with 16GB of Ram and 1TB of storage and it cost me 1500 dollars.
It brought the base price of the M1 from 999.00 to 1500. At the time, I could've upgraded a windows laptop with double the ram equal storage for about 160-200 depending on the ram I purchased and brand of SSD. But for some reason apple is more than double? I don't get it anymore.
As I said, 10-15 years ago easily worth the cost. Now? I guess if you have to have the sleekest computer at the coffee shop, sweet! But I don't care.
Audiophile
Member
Less an issue with general pricing and more an issue with the silly add-on costs where they charge absurd amounts for a few more RAM or NVMe chips.
- £200 for an extra 8GB RAM (for well-binned L5X chips that's probably a minimum markup of 400%, likely a lot more).
- £400 for an extra 1TB of storage (probably 300% markup in the case of the very best chips, but again, likely a whole lot more).
- £200 for an extra 8GB RAM (for well-binned L5X chips that's probably a minimum markup of 400%, likely a lot more).
- £400 for an extra 1TB of storage (probably 300% markup in the case of the very best chips, but again, likely a whole lot more).
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ReBurn
Gold Member
Upgradeable laptops are becoming less common. The last couple I bought only allowed you to swap out the M.2 drive, the RAM was soldered. But it's hardly worth the effort to upgrade internal storage these days. It's easier to just plug in an external SSD, which is what I do if I need more space.
Tams
Member
In the past, soldered components were just an annoyance and were done to save the manufacturer cost and upsell higher config models.
Now though, being more integrated into the computer (nearer the processor and faster and wider links) means significant performance advantages. It probably accounts for most of Apple's lead in the battery life and performance per watt.
Now though, being more integrated into the computer (nearer the processor and faster and wider links) means significant performance advantages. It probably accounts for most of Apple's lead in the battery life and performance per watt.
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ResurrectedContrarian
Suffers with mild autism
Apple M-series laptops are the best work machines on the market.
I do software in machine learning / AI. Everyone I know is also using Macbooks. When you can run a ton of small-to-medium models entirely on your laptop, models that required 32+ GB of vram -- and still have amazing battery life, build, and immediate unix-adjacent development, where there is relatively little friction between local build environments and the 100% linux systems you'll deploy anything of worth on today -- it's more than worth the cost.
Exactly -- and it's always so strange to hear people living in some alternative history where Macbooks are for the non-technical audience. I know and have worked with software engineers of many kinds across many countries in the last years, all doing cutting edge work, and Windows barely has a footprint at all. The island of software dev for which Windows is useful is shrinking rapidly... if I see a PC laptop, I know that person is either a gaming dev or doing some kind of dated .NET or C# bullshit, lol.
The one exception I know of in my orbit of devs is using a linux PC. That's the only serious alternative, except for those very few aforementioned software domains that are still tied to Windows.
I do software in machine learning / AI. Everyone I know is also using Macbooks. When you can run a ton of small-to-medium models entirely on your laptop, models that required 32+ GB of vram -- and still have amazing battery life, build, and immediate unix-adjacent development, where there is relatively little friction between local build environments and the 100% linux systems you'll deploy anything of worth on today -- it's more than worth the cost.
Exactly -- and it's always so strange to hear people living in some alternative history where Macbooks are for the non-technical audience. I know and have worked with software engineers of many kinds across many countries in the last years, all doing cutting edge work, and Windows barely has a footprint at all. The island of software dev for which Windows is useful is shrinking rapidly... if I see a PC laptop, I know that person is either a gaming dev or doing some kind of dated .NET or C# bullshit, lol.
The one exception I know of in my orbit of devs is using a linux PC. That's the only serious alternative, except for those very few aforementioned software domains that are still tied to Windows.
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The Ram on a M chip works differently. Yes I think the 8GB laptops were a bad idea. That is why I went from a 2018 Intel Air (which had 16gb ram and a 512gb drive) to a base model M4 MBP with 24gigs of ram and a 1TB.
I don't need the pro chip. It would have been nice for games but this thing is more than powerful enough for what I do. I wish I got the nano texture but I'll deal with it.
You just can't get the whole package with the I the screen, keyboard, trackpad and efficiency. If I end up doing something that needs more I'll upgrade to a Pro chip next time. Look at a comparison between a G14 and an M4. It's not even close.
Pretty much everyone that is looking for a laptop right now for basic things should be looking at a MBP base model or wait for the M4 Air.
A similar windows laptop just isn't worth the sacrifice in battery and build quality.
The fact any 1st gen M model chip is decent is a testament to how well they are working. It will do those basic things for years to come. Like I said I was on a dual core intel from 2018. It did everything I wanted. But I dropped it and my wifi antenna was broken and I decided not to replace it.
As for the upgrades ya they are expensive. And if you spec it out right it isn't that big of a deal. I found a deal on B&H and got this model for $200 off so it was under $2000 after tax and shipping.
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Puscifer
Member
This goes back to my original point, most peoples computers are by and large bootloaders for Chrome and Microsoft office: and you don't need a 1500 dollar laptop for that. Hell, a Chromebook is more than enough for a lot of people.
An AMD based laptop averages 12 hours, more than enough for a full day of work or just netflix and youtube.
On the subject of build quality, after a certain price point everything's made of metal. Hell, even Pixelbook Go's were made of magnesium alloy and that was 2019 so let's not get ahead of ourselves here to act as if apple build quality is something special. Like I said, 15 years ago? Most definitely. Now? It's all the same.
So, I decided to spec out a Macbook Air if I wanted to replace my Razer Blade stealth. I'd end up losing ram at 24GB and getting similar storage brings it up to 1600 dollars, with my 1TB Nvme I have now I'm using on average 700GB so this laptop would cost me an ungodly amount of money just to use chrome and being a dump for photographs and videos on my phone.
Not worth it
fran.fernandez
Member
I think they are ok. I travel a lot and any issue I have , warranty .
You can't even buy a new 14" Razer Blade Stealth right now for less than $2200
How much is an older M2 or M3 Air? Or heck even an m1
Puscifer
Member
The last time they made a Razer Blade Stealth was 2020, I literally have the last model they produced with a 1650.
Looking at the current models, you and up with a dedicated GPU for gaming if that's important to you.
And doing some casual looks, you'd need an M4 Max to do anything serious to beat the default GPU workload of the stealth running a 4060. So you'd end up spending 1K more to outdo the Razer Blade 4060 and have a glorified tablet, cool I guess.
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Days like these...
Have a Blessed Day
The new Iphone 16 e has 1 camera (no ultrawide) a 60hz screen, USB 2.0 transfer speeds, 128 gigs of storage and 800 nits of brightness in the year of our lord 2025 for $600. Just spend the extra money and go with the Pro or a 2015 pro max
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Randall365
Member
They are overpriced, because their profit margins are obviously huge - that said, they have little competition so you can't blame them and they will not lose sales.
I have a Blade 14 which got an hour's battery life out, out of the box and shit colours. Some tinkering gives me perfect colours and 6 hours battery, but a macbook would give you that off the bat. It just works.
I have a Blade 14 which got an hour's battery life out, out of the box and shit colours. Some tinkering gives me perfect colours and 6 hours battery, but a macbook would give you that off the bat. It just works.
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Unknown Soldier
Member
Windows is degrading and enshittifying at a terrifying rate
I'm glad I have my M1 MBP from 2020, I try to only use my Windows machines to launch games now because interacting with Windows is such an unpleasant experience
I'm glad I have my M1 MBP from 2020, I try to only use my Windows machines to launch games now because interacting with Windows is such an unpleasant experience
Puscifer
Member
Or get a Pixel A phone for 200 dollars less: 7 years of support, high refresh rate, USB 3.0 and USB-C, more features through software updates, more reliable fingerprint scanner without weird face shit. Like I said, less and less reason to invest in Apple these days unless you're so balls deep into the eco system you're stuck with no way out
Days like these...
Have a Blessed Day
I wouldn't pay more than $300 for the iPhone 16e. I was going to suggest a Pixel but I didn't want to incur their wrath.
twilo99
Member
Generally they are but they do have a few products that are actually incredibly competitive considering their performance.
MacMini M4 (nothing comes close currently)
Macbook air M3 (no real competition if you consider that its passively cooled)
airpods pro 2 (I don't see competition as far as the overall package)
Their watches are quite good for what they can do but I know there are some Garmins that can compete on a few fronts.
The iPhones are alright .. solid long term software support and the build quality is top notch on the pro line.
MacMini M4 (nothing comes close currently)
Macbook air M3 (no real competition if you consider that its passively cooled)
airpods pro 2 (I don't see competition as far as the overall package)
Their watches are quite good for what they can do but I know there are some Garmins that can compete on a few fronts.
The iPhones are alright .. solid long term software support and the build quality is top notch on the pro line.
twilo99
Member
I use macos and windows daily and still don't understand why people always say that macos is better, I don't see it. Better at some things and worse at others..
They are both very good operating systems.