Re: Too late
It’s not about performance. It’s about connectivity.
I don’t like Mac keyboards... used them a long time and when I started using a Surface Pro, it was like a blessing from the heavens. Mac keyboards are a curse... especially the latest on which has absolutely no perceivable tactile feedback. I might as well be typing on hard wood.
So, I need a Mac to remote into.
A Mac Pro is just not a sound investment. It’s several generations behind on Xeon... which means more than on i7. It has an ancient video card. It has slow ram and slow SSD. If you’re going to spend $5000 on a new computer, it should be more. Even so, a modern version would be 10 times more machine than would be worth paying for. After all, Mac doesn’t have any real applications anymore. Final Cut is dead, Photoshop and Premier don’t work nearly as well on Mac as on PC. Blah blah.
Then there’s iMac. Right specs, but to get one with a CPU which isn’t horrifying, it takes a lot of space and doesn’t have pen support. In addition, you can’t easily crack it open to hard-wire a remote power switch and it doesn’t do Wake On LAN properly. So, you can’t use it unless it’s somewhere easily accessible.
Then there is the Mac Mini. Small, sweet and nice. I use a Mac Mini 2011 and a 2012 which I won’t upgrade unless there is a good update. The latest Mac Mini doesn’t offer anything mine doesn’t already have except USB3 and Thunderbolt 2. But to make that interesting, consider that to get that is $1500 as the cheaper ones are slower than my old ones. If I were to spend $1500 on a machine, I want current generation.
So... that means that there aren’t any Macs to buy.
Let’s add iRAPP. Apple has the absolute worst Remote Desktop support of any system. iRAPP was amazing, but it’s dead and now there is no hope for a remote management.
So that leaves a virtual hackintosh. Problem is, that requires VirtualBox or VMware... neither are attractive as I program for Docker which is on Hyper-V which can’t run side by side with either VMWare or VirtualBox.
The end result is... why bother with Mac? It’s too much work and there’s just no reason to perpetuate a platform which even Apple doesn’t seem to care about anymore. No pen, no touch, no function keys, no tactile feedback. I can’t use my iPhone headphone on Mac unless I use a dongle on the phone or play the pair and repair Bluetooth game when not looking everywhere for my other earbud which I forgot to charge anyway.
I still use iPhone... but I’m seriously regretting that since the last software update that has an iMessage app that looks like an American highway covered with billboards for 20 companies, doesn’t scroll properly, etc... let’s not get started on the new mail app changes.
Apple is a one product company. They make the iPhone and the make a computer to program it on. iPad is basically dead... well you wouldn’t buy a new one at least. I’m happy with my 5 year old one. AppleTV is cute, but I ended up buying films on Google now because it works on more devices. I’d actually switch to Android for now if Google makes a “important my iTunes stuff” app which would add my music and movies to my Google account.