Hardware relating Comments on HN has always been fairly low quality to say the least, comparatively speaking to many other subjects. But Apple M1 sort of brings the worst out of it. My current counting right now over 10K comment suggest most have very limited understanding of Hardware tech, little on Hardware business, and quite literally zero on supply chain.
So I would not be suspired If many doesn't know.
I could count people with one hand who have to constantly comment and correcting all the wrong assumption, TSMC capacity limitation, NAND and DRAM price fixing etc etc. And now we have Apple's supply chain monopoly.
The world currently ships approx ~1.2B Smartphone every year, and Apple represent less than 20% of it. And if you include Tablet, PC and Laptop ( Which shares the same supply chain ) Apple is much closer to 10%. The premium Apple pays is not leading edge ( apart from 5nm TSMC ) but very strict quality control and capacity guarantee.
My observation into this issue, is that most software developers and tech workers are so far removed from old model ( non-tech ) of business they have very little understanding of Logistics, Supply Chain, Lead Time, Sales Channel, Distribution and Discovery ( Marketing ). And ironically enough the world best company at doing all of the above is also a tech Company called Apple.
https://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/08/21/apple-locks-its-riva...
> How Apple locks its rivals out of the tablet market with exclusive sourcing deals
Care to explain how we are wrong instead of just claiming we are dumb? I promise that if you educate me (somewhat a bit famous in the "hating on Apple" space) I will help educate others. (Though, FWIW, I do know that a lot of Apple's hardware is semi-custom design, and so if the argument is that I know but find it irrelevant for this comment thread. I am focusing on the belief that Apple makes it hard for others to source parts, which has a lot of history to it.)
Example when the first iPad using NAND launched, Apple secured nearly 60% of the world's total NAND production capacity. That was not a monopoly or exclusive deal. It was out of necessity. Securing a stable supply of critical component is the norm is any industry. It is up to the manufacture to decide whether they should expand their capacity to meet demand ( from others ).
In again NAND example, since the cost of building a new fab and amortisation time is far too long, most would delay any Capex spending until it is absolutely necessary. With high demand and fixed supply, NAND and DRAM price were sky high, and Samsung managed to be the most profitable company for 3 quarters in 2017, only to be overtaken by Apple. The profits then fasten the capacity increase cycle because the risk are now comparatively lower.
Smaller players who do not have the volume, forecast and commitment will always be left at the will of their manufacturing partners. But partners / vendors will always complain these players dont give ( accurate ) forecast. Capacity planning in itself is a profession. And these are common, if not the norm across all Manufacturing industries, from Food, Metal, Raw Mats or even Transport like DHL where they have Data Scientist working on Flight Space ( Their unit of capacity ).
It has been releasing faulty keyboards on it's macbooks for years. They knew. They didn't care. They just continued to release new ones every year with the same faulty keyboard.
Not to mention staingate (which affected me personally).
Those 2700$+ macbooks with ghosting screens. The stupid chip that does a weird sound when you stop your music.
The list just goes on and on.
And this is the stuff on the surface. Go open a macbook and analyze every single component quality...
It’s an Intel machine
They’ve released versions with bad graphics cards, bad batteries.
It takes time to re-design and ship. They replaced numerous “bad keyboard” models for people.
Meanwhile, every plastic Lenovo or Dell needs a new hinge or battery cover every year, and screws fall out.
I’d take physically legit with hard to source issues like ghosted screens since I’m only using it for text and browsing and occasional sound hiccups than a laptop that falls apart after 2 years.
My recent 15” MBP has outlived Dells of the same age at my employer.
80% of the way there is better than 60%
It looks like you speak from your own experience, and so do I.
Enterprise grade laptops from either Lenovo and Dell are known to be very sturdy and well made. Not sure if the materials will be as nice for your fingers as the macbook materials, but for sure they won't fall apart.
I have had thinkpads that would have survived falling from a third floor. I just don't see how a macbook is more reliable than a thinkpad or a precision.
Try throwing a macbook out your window.
Also the cognitive dissonance is deafening. The company with industry leading device lifetimes and premium long lasting second hand market value is, er, guilty of built-in obsolescence. How does that work exactly?
I mean Ive got to think you must know both those points are true. The fact that Apple has nothing to do with the vast majority of the PC supply chain, and the fact that Apple devices have industry leading lifetimes and service and support is just overwhelmingly supported by the evidence. I just don't see how you can not know those things. Yet here you are making this argument. I just find it really puzzling. Are you really not aware of these things, or deny that they are true? Are these things we actually need to dig into and discuss?
I'll concede on the repairability point, yes that's a valid argument. I would contend that it's mostly just a tradeoff between compactness and simplicity of design, versus repairability and it's up to customers to choose which they value most, but Apple has sometimes gone too far in unnecessarily obstructing repairability.