Aren't the people complaining about the new Macs mostly geeks?
That's a very vocal but ultimately tiny sliver of their customer base.
That's a very vocal but ultimately tiny sliver of their customer base.
Programmers make up a tiny percentage of the target market.
Being able to get more cores and CPU power than a top of the line iMac for cheaper than the base iMac helps a lot in any motion work. Access to Nvidia GPUs and therefore GPU rendering engines completely changes your workflow for 3D and product design work. Products like Surface studio are way more valuable to illustrators than an overpriced Cintiq or a TouchBar.
Ten or so years ago you'd see plenty of Macs on the cutting edge of creative work, not the case now I mean heck they can't even consume VR content let alone create VR content.
Of course the average person is not complaining, in reality the average person can use a 10 year old PC for what they do with it. Facebook, stream music, maybe email....
In reality, most people can use pretty old PCs these days but laptops in particular do get beat up over time and eventually they get outdated enough that it may be time for something newer. I could use my 6 1/2 year old MacBook but I definitely prefer my 2 year old one.
But most people care about money, so when a consumer needs to overspend on a piece of hardware that is less competitive than previous generations it matters. So the geeks need to inform the people that don't know enough to know they might be wasting their money.
Technical people have a tendency to say stuff like "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." when the iPod is announced.