Apple First Quarter Results

The main question is, do you believe they can keep it up, and I for one do. Their eco-system gets stronger every year.

When will these people listen to Stallman?! It is CRITICAL TO EVERYONE that we be able to compile Hurd from scratch.

But look at the other markets, why would anyone switch off of the Mac for other use cases like development, A/V editing, Adobe Creative Suite apps, or design? This is debatable, but you could make the case that Apple is best-in-class for all of those, and there’s no other platform you could make that case for (e.g., Linux is clearly worse for A/V editing, and Windows/Linux for design, both missing core apps - note also I’m excluding high-end specialized hardware you’d find at a studio for example).

Migrating off of platforms is a huge hassle, and although they’ve skirted the line, they haven’t actually crossed it by hurting workflows (outside of Nvidia).

(In fact I’d argue that the worst casualties of Apple's bad Mac years were advantages that only Apple had. Apple had a thriving indie software ecosystem that produced one of the greatest platform exclusives in modern history, Sketch. That doesn’t happen anymore because Apple's approach to the Mac App Store prevents it. But that was an advantage only Apple had and therefore they could afford to lose it, because there’s nothing else to switch to that also had it. Apple were willing to sacrifice there own advantages for their security crusade, but they weren’t wiling to go all the way and block apps like Adobe CS and VS Code from running on the platform, which the security model they have been pushing for would require. Because blocking those apps would actually have resulted in lost market share, because those apps run on Windows.)

Technically, up $1.7B from that quarter, but why are you comparing 2021Q1 with 2019Q4?

2021 Q1 $8.675B

2020 Q4 $9.032B

2020 Q1 $7.160B

2019 Q4 $6.991B

Clearly the uptick in Mac sales is due to the pandemic and work from home, because 2020 Q4 was prior to the release of M1 Macs, and Mac sales had been flat for several years prior.

It's difficult to determine the effect of M1 Macs on the last quarter sales, because they weren't available until mid-November and were also very supply-constrained.

Also, when it comes to computers (I use a Mac), there is also another factor. Apple devices may be difficult (and expensive) to repair, but they are certainly popular, which means one can find plenty of online resources or even spare parts, where applicable. And, one can actually find a local store that repairs Macs and take the computer there, if throwing money at the problem is an option.

Quite recently, I came across a case of a Lenovo laptop whose user had somehow activated bitlocker and forgot the password. Wasn't interested in the files, they just wanted to be able to use the computer again. I tried to find a way to reinstall the operating system and, I kid you not, there was literally no obvious way to boot normally from a usb device nor Lenovo provides any meaningful documentation or, Heaven forbid, the boot image to reinstall. It was actually kind of difficult to even determine the model of the device, as there have been several generations with the same name, each with a different processor and efi firmware. It was almost as if the model never existed.

We can laugh all we want for Apple's expensive and un-repairable devices, but the above nightmare cannot happen in the Apple ecosystem. You can even get the device to an apple store and they'll happily take your money and fix your device (if it's not severely damaged of course). This is not unique to Apple, e.g. Dell has excellent support and documentation. But this is a quality that is very important and yet it is often overlooked.

Last fall I bought two Dell desktops (for a client project) and neither has working Bluetooth/WiFi. One machine has been fully out of commission for 2 months and the other is limping along with weak WiFi and no Bluetooth.

The Dell is upgradeable and I could put 3rd party cards in there and get along. But they’re brand new machines under warranty. I’ve had two tech visits and traded more than 45 emails with Dell tech support and I’m still waiting on full system replacements that will ship in February sometime. I bought these machines in November.

Right to repair or not, I trust Apple non-right-to-repair hardware over Dell “I could repair it myself” desktop hardware.

The user experience of dealing with both companies negates the right to repair concern for me, on these right now.

The other day I put my phone through a full washing machine cycle though, and it didn’t need to be repaired. That’s incredible. It came out of the machine looking brand new.

I’m a little torn. Can we have repairable devices that are this stable and robust, and have such an incredible form factor?

Considering this phone will last me 4 or 5 years, it’s a good value and extremely dependable. I want more repairable things, I just don’t know how they’d make it happen in a way that keeps them competitive.

One shitty thing: my left AirPods Pro clicks and pops, and the only solution is a complete replacement. Apple is willing to replace them at no charge, but I can’t stand the waste. What will they do with them? Recycle and landfill? These things really are a repairability nightmare and I don’t think I can justify buying then again.

My personal experience has been very positive though. The need to repair is remarkably rare.

Your comment isn’t clear enough to explain what is happening. What’s your setup (browser and everything)? You claim a bug without giving enough information about how the bug appears. Because if this bug were as widespread as you make it sound, we’d hear about it.