I think it might be the opposite. You make cheap products for everybody because you are going to make money off subscriptions. Personally, I think it's a reasonable strategy, but it might mean they lose their focus on high-end craftsmanship.

> craftsmanship

What marketing does to people

the M line of macbook pro's are beautiful, well crafted, long lasting machines.

MacOS might not be your preferred way of working, and you might prefer cheaper options or USB-A ports, but there is really nothing you could arguably call bad craftmanship in those machines.

In addition to the sibling comment, I would point out the touch bar was poor craftsmanship and the butterfly keyboard was also poor craftsmanship. They both are addressed now, but there were several years where we had to live with them.

Their software craftsmanship has really suffered in the last 10 years.

I thought the touchbar was pretty neat, it was just a mistake to replace the function row with them. It also was hard to get adoption because it wasn’t available on desktop Macs or their cheaper laptops so developers had no incentive to really do anything interesting with them.

I think a better implementation might have been to have it be an alternate mode for the trackpad and sell external trackpads that also had it so it could be used everywhere. But I get why that didn’t happen, the touchbar was basically being run with a mini Apple Watch SOC built into the MacBook Pro, and it’s primary use was to have the Secure Enclave on it. The touchbar itself was a deal where they could find a use for having an otherwise idle smartwatch’s worth of computing power in there, but that wouldn’t be doable if it’s sold as an external device.

>> nothing you could arguably call bad craftmanship in those machines

my 2 bad craftsmanship cents:

laptop keyboard leaves marks on screen. laptop's sharp edges leaves marks on wrists.

..from the company that brought you "You're holding it wrong", not just bad but dumb

> laptop keyboard leaves marks on screen.

I don't think this has been a thing in years.

Sharp edges on wrists is true.

It definitely is a thing on my M2. Unsure if it is something that was fixed in the later models.

My wrists, conversely, are fine, but I suppose I rarely use it in a 'classic' desk position that would cause that.

My 2023 MBP's keyboard leaves marks on the screen while closed.

I mean, they're not bad, but they have spicy chargers, the corners are uncomfortably sharp, the keyboard often doesn't register, the LCD is prone to vertical bars and other issues even without physical damage and is extremely sensitive to bumps and other minor damage elsewhere on the laptop (not even the display itself), and so on.

Some of these are consequences of what makes them feel "premium" or even "solid". Aluminum is a terrible material for bumps and drops because it dents, and that often damages the internal components.

they're very well designed and built products, craftmanship is something else.

What is it?

They are mass produced in factories, not made by craftsmen.

Have you used Windows?

what does Windows have to do with this? It sucks as much as MacOS

Have you actually looked at apple products and compared them to the competition? The different in quality of finish is really stark in my experience. Some other manufacturers have some products which have some nice features. Whatever you think of the software or ecosystem, almost Apple hardware is just nicely made.

>> craftsmanship

> What marketing does to people

I'm sorry, are my MacBooks Pro, Air, and (my spouse's) Neo not some of the best built laptops you can buy? Maybe there's something better, but these are inarguably some of the best. Absolute top of the line.

See the Verge (I think) reviewing similarly priced laptops priced around the Neo. They were plastic crap, even if they had better specs elsewhere.

I've never bought a Mac, I have used them for work. They are the best built laptops on the market, bar none. Too bad their OS is awful. Its not just marketing.

Neo is a good product, but they're making their better products (Macs) more out of reach for a whole class of customers.

Mac Mini is a stellar product...

Is that really true? The price of Macs today is far lower than it used to be when adjusted for inflation. I know this is true of all computers, but you can get a really good Mac computer without spending a lot of money, historically speaking.

The Macbook Air, the best computer for most people, starts at $1099. I paid something like $2,700 for my computer, which I brought to college in 2002. That's about $5,000 in today's money.

> making useful and affordable products for all users,

Affordable, ethical. You can only choose one.

Interesting, but is Apple as ethical yet as its premium price point could suggest? Fairphone (material sourcing) and Framework (repairability) would suggest otherwise.

Honestly i think it will bifurcate. More Neo more high end