Comment by carlosjobim
3 months ago
Macs are very expensive in some parts of the world, where other computer brands are affordable. A hackintosh could be a good option, and when somebody learns to do it well they could do it for others for money. Not only installing MacOS on PCs, but also installing newer versions of MacOS on Macs that are officially not supported anymore.
> A hackintosh could be a good option, and when somebody learns to do it well they could do it for others for money
Apple thoroughly screwed over Mac developers that the only compelling software that's exclusive to MacOS is developed by Apple themselves[1], IMO. Even those packages have equivalent (or better) alternatives on Windows. Macs used to be the platform for DTP, audio and video production - now all the 3rd party developers have pivoted away to other operating systems. One of the reasons professionals resorted to Hackintoshes in the past was because Apple had periods of neglecting the Mac Pro hardware on and off. Why would anyone go through the paid of setting up a Hackintosh in 2024, outside of being a fan of MacOS aesthetics?
1. Logic Pro likely has the biggest pull; Final Cut isn't the halo app it once was.
I use many third-party apps on MacOS that are top of the line in their niche, regardless of OS. People have many different uses for computers and workflows that you are unfamiliar with.
When you discover how programs on MacOS can connect and interact with each other and with the OS as a whole, it becomes a completely different experience.
Macs continue to absolutely dominate audio and video production, and desktop publishing. You're just making stuff up.
Nice strawman! You completely demolished a market share argument I never made. My point is that audio and video professionals now have viable alternatives to Apple software. Running MacOS is now optional, which wasn't the case in the past, so there's less of an impetus for running MacOS on an non-Apple hardware.
As for making stuff up - I don't know if you remember the years of neglecting Mac Pros, or the clusterfuck that was Final Cut Pro X. I do. I remember a lot of dyed-in-the-wool Apple users switching to Adobe on Windows. How many 3rd party DTP, audio or video production packages are still exclusively available on Apple?
Only on the countries where Apple brand dominates, the remaining of the 80% desktop market share makes do with Windows and eventually some custom Linux distros supported by the hardware vendors themselves.
VFX Reference platform includes Windows and Linux for a reason.
https://vfxplatform.com/
I'd run a Linux desktop if it wasn't for audio production. Mac's Core Audio / Core Midi are the top of the heap.
I couldn't agree more. I started my life buying/using Macs but nowadays I wonder why people make the financial effort considering the very large premium even though Macs don't do anything much better anymore.
You are right that the main driver is probably Logic. Final Cut is being largely replaced by BlackMagic and Adobe softwares (because they work everywhere and integrate better with other things people care about). Avid software works just as well on PC. As for the desktop publishing stuff, this is a use case so trivial (and in some ways displayed by web tools) and so dominated by Adobe that it feels Adobe is really doing Apple a favor in keeping their software update/optimized on time.
In my opinion/experience, they keep selling them because it is very hard for people to change. Most keep using them because this is what they are used to and similar reasons.
This is where Apple is very shortsighted and acting pretty stupid, you can see the young largely ignoring Apple computers because they are way too expensive, I believe they have permanently eroded their domination even in the media industries, because even though they have the money it won't take long to notice they can keep doing the same quality work even if they buy hardware half as expensive because it makes no difference to their young workers.
Apple premium pricing was a historical artifact of always being on the bleeding edge and being one step ahead of the competition for many things. Now, aside of the silicon (that has some advantage for the laptop in the form of battery life, but not really any for the desktop) it doesn't feel like they are ahead for anything.
In fact, when you take a hard look, you realize they are selling update of stuff that were designed 10 to 15 years ago and not much has changed when the PC industry as a whole has evolved quite a lot.
What is strong though, is the delusions of people defending their extortionate price for whatever ridiculous reason they can think of at the moment.
Don't get me wrong, I think Macs are ok for the most part, just not at their current price, especially in Europe (France).
Why is it a hacker thing to denounce everybody with a different opinion or preference as "delusional" or brain washed?
For many people it is nothing to pay a couple of hundred dollars more for a device that in their experience is easier to use or in their preference looks wise, even if the geek specs are worse. Especially for a device they'll be using for many years.
> In fact, when you take a hard look, you realize they are selling update of stuff that were designed 10 to 15 years ago and not much has changed when the PC industry as a whole has evolved quite a lot.
Then why has the PC industry not been able to catch up with Apple in computer design in all this time? A 2014 Macbook still looks better than any 2024 PC laptop. It's beyond weird to me by now. Apple made a great leap in design with the unibody Macbooks, but then after more than a decade nobody else has came after, even though customers would love it.
Imagine if there was only one car manufacturer that could design a good looking car...
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