> The Macbook Air was fantastic because it was cheap. For Apple it was too cheap. So we got Touch bar. Did it solve any user problems?
Do you remember the same Macbook Air I do? The first one was $1,799 retail, and probably the biggest complaint in reviews was that it was too expensive for what it was. The MBA didn't drop below $1000 until 4 revisions later with the introduction of the 11 inch model. In 2014 that dropped to $899 for the 11 inch model. The cheapest the 13 inch model ever got was $999 for the last intel and the first M1 model. Today it's $1099, hardly a change from the "too cheap" $999 of its heyday. Also to the best of my knowledge, no MBAs shipped with a touch bar.
> iPhones are getting heaper all the time. Yesterday a base model iPhone 15 was $799, today it's $699.
Last year's model. It's going to have a year less life in terms of software support too. It should be $100 less. Probably more. You are (probably intentionally) missing the point.
> Do you remember the same Macbook Air I do?
The very first one in 2008 was a POS. The good one was released in 2010-2011, which simply needed a newer screen in later models but Apple pushed the POS 12" Macbook instead, because the 2010-2014 (2015?) MBA was simply too cheap (for Apple) to be interested in.
> Also to the best of my knowledge, no MBAs shipped with a touch bar.
MBPs shipped with a Touch Bar. Stop being overly pedantic. That's actually the point. They killed the old MBA form factor and replaced it with one they could charge more for. The 12" Macbook wasn't a replacement (too many compromises like only one port). They eventually had to bring the MBA back because it was such a good compromise between price, power, size and weight.
Doesn't matter, your argument was that the new features of the current year model are "added simply to make it more expensive." If that's true, the fact that its "last year's model" shouldn't make a difference to you. You wanted the phone to get cheaper, it did.
> You are (probably intentionally) missing the point.
Realistically if I'm missing it, it's because your point is obtuse. You seem to be complaining simultaneously that iPhones never get cheaper, but also you want them to get cheaper without any of the attendant things that make technology cheaper (like older technology or potentially less support lifetimes). The iPhone 15 bought today has exactly the same support lifetime as an iPhone 15 bought yesterday. But for some reason the fact that a new iPhone model was released today means for you that the 15 did not in fact get cheaper over the last 24 hours.
> The good one was released in 2010-2011, which simply needed a newer screen in later models but Apple pushed the POS 12" Macbook instead, because the 2010-2014 (2015?) MBA was simply too cheap (for Apple) to be interested in.
>They killed the old MBA form factor and replaced it with one they could charge more for.
I really have no idea what you're talking about. The Macbook Air received annual refreshes every year except once in 2016. The 12 inch Macbook was released in April 2015, one month AFTER the 2015 MBA refresh. That 2015 Macbook which did come with a "retina" display retailed for $1299, the 2015 13 inch MBA retailed for $999. The MBA was never "killed", its form factor was never retired.
I think what you're trying to say is that the missed 2016 update and the fact that it took to 2018 for the MBA to see a retina screen is some attempt by Apple to not have low price point laptops. The problem with that interpretation from my point of view is:
1) Apple continued to sell the MBA the entire time, compare to the Macbook moniker which was discontinued from 2011 until the 2015 model because they did supplant it with the MBP 13 inch instead
2) Apple released the 2015 MBA literally a month before the 2015 Macbook, if the goal was to replace the MBA, it would have been simpler to not release the same model year MBA for folks to compare against
3) The 2015 Macbook used the Intel M series processors, compared to the Core series in the MBA at the time. The M series allowed producing a computer in the MBA form factor that didn't have fans (something they couldn't make work in the MBA with the Core series chips until the last revision before the M1 MBA.
To me that time period reads as Apple trying to make a MBA form factor machine that could run fanless and cooler, potentially by using a different chip set from Intel, but they were unsure if customers would accept the tradeoffs required to make that work. Certainly if the goal was just "more expensive" computers, Apple could have just raised the price of the MBA, which they did in 2018 with the retina model ($1199), before subsequently dropping the price each year after, until we'd hit the lowest base MBA price of $799 in 2020.
None of that really suggest to me a company that is "engaging in feature-bloat to protect [a] price point" or thought the MBA "was too cheap". If cost was the driver, if "The only reason the Touch Bar existed was to make Macbooks more expensive", then why did Apple lower the prices on the MBA after raising them with the switch to Retina? Why release the 2015 MBA at all? Why do a refresh in 2017? Sure you might say "because their customers weren't buying the 2015 Macbook" but why bother with that at all? They could have just raised the prices along with a processor bump. They could have discontinued the MBA all together and the customer's would have been forced to choose between the 2015 MB and the MBPs, which were even more expensive. Why go back to a price point you claim they had no interest in serving and why continue to this day to come in at a mere $100 over that price point when the Apple M series chips would have been the perfect excuse to simply jack all the prices up and never look back?
It's cheaper if you consider inflation. $999 in 2020 dollars is about $1,210 today.
The original iPhone was $499 in 2007; around $750 today. The iPhone 16 starts at $799, so it's a bit more expensive in adjusted dollars. It's also enormously better, of course.
You have a keyboard and mouse as inputs to a Mac. why not a mini touch screen as well? but instead of rendering the app content there you render the controls. this way you don't need to remember shortcuts because common actions for an app are displayed there.
IMO the idea makes sense but needs further refinement in execution. maybe even better haptic feedback
This is a big issue with modern cars (particularly Teslas). People generally hate touch screens because you have to look at them to use them. For driving in particular, that's a real problem. Compare this to a more normal car where you can feel the AC button or the volume or whatever.
Companies like touch screens because it lets them punt on UI/UX design and selecting controls, which means they basically never get done. It's purely a cost issue.
Now with Macbooks, I did like that I could slide my finger for the volume. That's it. And that wasn't worth losing the Escape key for. Or function keys for that matter.
But that's so specific that I'd rather just have a volume control. A slider would be ideal but that takes up a lot of space. The best compromise is a "roller" (like on the Corsair K70 keyboard) as you can get precision and speed. You absolutely don't want to repeatedly hit a volume up or down button.
I'm imagining a touch screen right next to the trackpad that displays the short cuts to common functions of the current app that's open.
For example, I don't mind having common controls of, say Google sheets or Photoshop near the keyboard. Maybe the trackpad could be that touchscreen. idk but I feel there's something to explore in this space.
Or alternatively, individual keys on a keyboard can be LCD screens and show you app specific controls. this way you get the haptic feedback too.
Although this reminds me, my old Logitech G15 from 2008 already had an LCD screen and a bunch of app-customisable buttons.
Phones (particularly iPhones0 have stubbornly resisted getting cheaper. That's by design. Features get added simply to make it more expensive.
We saw this with the Macbooks about a decade ago. The Macbook Air was fantastic because it was cheap. For Apple it was too cheap. So we got Touch bar. Did it solve any user problems? No. I know a few will say they like it but it was a dismal failure.
The only reason the Touch Bar existed was to make Macbooks more expensive.
I have been frustrated with subsequent iOS updates because it gets less and less intuitive. Even Safari has a lot of touch points on the screen that do stuff I don't care about. On the iPad there's now split screen. I bet you've triggered this acccidentally or had to solve this for a friend or relative who had. We replaced private browsing mode with "tab groups". Does anyone actually need this? If you don't (and I would posit that's most people) then it's now an extra tap to switch modes.
Cut and paste just seems to get worse and worse. It tries to be cleve by selecting a word. It can be difficult and involve several taps to get around this. The original implementation of this was (IMHO) far superior and more intuitive.