Wow, this article is bad -- like, literally WRONG on nearly every boldfaced point.
1. "External monitors don't work". Wrong. I present often, and frequently use hotel projectors or monitors. I've never had a problem connecting to a monitor.
2. "You can only install software from the App Store". Wrong. Software installation is simple. Sure, you can use the App Store, but you absolutely do not have to.
3. "Only a limited number of hardware works out of the box". I have yet to run into a hardware compatibility problem. I use non-Apple keyboards and non-Apple mice, non-Apple cameras, non-Apple mass storage, Sennheiser headset, etc.
4. Tech support with Apple is better than I've had with any other major tech vendor, including Dell -- where we pay out the wazoo for supposedly gold-plated support -- with only one actual problem: Apple doesn't sell the 'we fix it RIGHT NOW' plan Dell offers. (Of course, Dell tends not to actually meet this promise, so ...)
5. "It is very difficult to find a laptop with more than 2 USB ports." Wrong. Apparently the author didn't look very hard, because the 15" Macbook Pro has 4 USB-C ports. Here, he seems to be mad that the other two models -- marketed as compact and slim over powerful -- have made more tradeoffs to be small than the 15".
So yeah, forgive me if I don't take his comments terribly seriously. It's not that there aren't some very legitimate criticisms to be made about Cupertino, even if you don't take a position on proprietary software. There definitely are. But absolutely none of these are valid.
However, I'm absolutely certain that the Apple-hating contingent on HN will eat it up with a spoon. :(
As predicted, the anti-Apple contingent, and right on time -- and with exactly the sort of paper-thin rebuttal I was expecting, too.
1. The argument he made was "plugging an external projector will most likely not work." All that is necessary to disprove this is to show examples where it does work. I do that all the time, in a variety of locations with a variety of ages and brands of projectors and monitors, and never see an issue, it seems that pointing out my experience is relevant. The author has made a blanket and unsupportable statement easily disproved with one counterexample, so there's not a lot that needs to be done here.
2. In point of fact, the author made NO argument. His (erroneous) complaint is "there is only one true way," but this is also easily disproved with a cursory survey of major vendors, nearly all of whom provide direct-download installers today just as they have done for 20+ years.
3. See #1. "only a small number of things work" is not an argument, either. He can claim this, but it's not true; as many, many other folks have pointed out, Mac hardware is broadly compatible with peripherals from a wide range of makers. In 20+ years of using Mac laptops, I've never had a problem with a peripheral not working.
4. Yeah, it is. Tech support with Apple, by phone or in person, is far superior than the support you'll get from any major hardware vendor without purchasing a pricey service plan, and probably better than you'll get even if you do. That the author contends it's no better than random Googling means either s/he didn't try Apple support, or that s/he is fantastically inexperienced with (e.g.) Dell or HP service.
>All that is necessary to disprove this is to show examples where it does work.
No, the opposite of "likely won't" is definitely not "sometimes will". And your other descriptions are not even close to what is written in the article.
I don't care one way or the other about the complaints raised (and of course they are exaggerated, it is supposed to be humorous), but you are discussing stuff nobody said.
1. "External monitors don't work". Wrong. I present often, and frequently use hotel projectors or monitors. I've never had a problem connecting to a monitor.
2. "You can only install software from the App Store". Wrong. Software installation is simple. Sure, you can use the App Store, but you absolutely do not have to.
3. "Only a limited number of hardware works out of the box". I have yet to run into a hardware compatibility problem. I use non-Apple keyboards and non-Apple mice, non-Apple cameras, non-Apple mass storage, Sennheiser headset, etc.
4. Tech support with Apple is better than I've had with any other major tech vendor, including Dell -- where we pay out the wazoo for supposedly gold-plated support -- with only one actual problem: Apple doesn't sell the 'we fix it RIGHT NOW' plan Dell offers. (Of course, Dell tends not to actually meet this promise, so ...)
5. "It is very difficult to find a laptop with more than 2 USB ports." Wrong. Apparently the author didn't look very hard, because the 15" Macbook Pro has 4 USB-C ports. Here, he seems to be mad that the other two models -- marketed as compact and slim over powerful -- have made more tradeoffs to be small than the 15".
So yeah, forgive me if I don't take his comments terribly seriously. It's not that there aren't some very legitimate criticisms to be made about Cupertino, even if you don't take a position on proprietary software. There definitely are. But absolutely none of these are valid.
However, I'm absolutely certain that the Apple-hating contingent on HN will eat it up with a spoon. :(