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Comment by Golden_Wind123 | Hacker News Reader

The counterpoint is that we don't need a new gimmick every year, and the companies that do chase new gimmicks (like Samsung and Xiaomi) do so at the expense of overall fit and finish.

However the magic really isn't gone. The Apple Pencil is a nice invention whose whole purpose is for creative endeavors.

Gradual refinement isn't a bad thing either. While this isn't a new invention, it definitely feels like magic to wake up, take my M1 Air everywhere I go, and not have to charge it again until I go to bed (even in 2024, I doubt I could do the same with a Dell XPS). The extra benefit is I have no gimmicky touch screen or never used 2in1 hinges to deal with as well.

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>The counterpoint is that we don't need a new gimmick every year, and the companies that do chase new gimmicks (like Samsung and Xiaomi) do so at the expense of overall fit and finish

I think you're sort of making my point for me in a roundabout way. We don't need our consumer computing devices to come out with new iterations every year. That's more down to the process people who listen to Wall Street's wanton cries of "QoQ growth for all of time must happen or else we will riot". They look at Cook and say "we have to copy that". Instead of following the gaming console trend (a new device every 4-5 years that was clearly several technological steps up from the previous console), they become addicted to releasing nearly identical products with a few marginal changes because that gets them nice quarterly numbers.

I'd rather own a device, use it a few years, and then upgrade when the product utility and usecase demands I need to.

>The extra benefit is I have no gimmicky touch screen or never used 2in1 hinges to deal with as well.

Its insane that Microsoft, who also produces the XBox, just couldn't be bothered to produce a quality HTPC interface for Windows, when they already had all the elements for such as early as their fantastic Zune interface. To this day, there is no proper UI for hooking my PC to a TV and using it as a strict entertainment center. You gotta download Playnite/Emby , etc

And IBM is still around too. I don't know how many machines they make now, but it's far from bankrupt.

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