“It was a pretty cool week. We saw product introductions from Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft went first, their big product unveil was Surface Studio, a desktop version of the Surface line, that’s nothing like any PC I have seen,” Michael Gartenberg writes for iMore. “Apple followed up with new MacBooks Pro in both 13″ and 15″. They look pretty awesome in terms of specs, beautiful screens, and some improved aesthetics.”
“The biggest difference between the two presentations is how I felt afterwards. I came away from Microsoft’s event wanting a Surface Studio and Surface Dial. I’m not the target demographic. I don’t do the creative work Surface Studio is optimized for. I do want to do those things. I want to create cool stuff, directly manipulate a screen that folds down or interact with it when it stands up,” Gartenberg writes. “Apple’s event was great. A Tim Cook update, a Jonathan Ive product ‘birth’ video. Lots of specs, and some interesting demos from Apple execs and product leads. While the new MacBooks Pro are no doubt among the best, if not the best notebooks on the planet, I still find myself wanting more.”
“Touch ID is a welcome addition but I don’t look at it and feel inspired. I don’t feel like I can take the Touch Bar and aspire to something new,” Gartenberg writes. “That’s a major contrast to how I felt after seeing GarageBand and iMove for the first time. Those made me feel like I could be the next Legend or Spielberg if only I had those apps.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Despite the depressing, vacuous zeitgeist of 21st century America so far, feelings still aren’t more important than facts.
Apple’s strategy is right and Microsoft’s is, as usual, wrong.
The competition is different…they are confused. “They chased after netbooks. Now they are trying to make PCs into tablets and tablets into PCs. Who knows what they will do next? I can’t answer that question, but… we have a very clear direction and very ambitious goals. We still believe deeply in this category and we are not slowing down on innovation. We have been really hard at work on the Mac and we have exciting new products. – Apple CEO Tim Cook, October 22, 2013
As we wrote of the new Touch Bar during our live coverage of Apple’s MacBook Pro event, “This is the smart way to have Multi-Touch on your personal computer, as opposed to the stupidity of smearing fingers all over your Retina display.”
Apple does touch right and, as usual, Microsoft does it wrong – as we’ve been patiently explaining for many years now:
To us longtime Apple watchers, Cupertino seems to be saying, “Multi-Touch on the screen only when trackpads are not part of the device.” – MacDailyNews, November 19, 2008
Does it make more sense to be smearing your fingers around on your notebook’s screen or on a spacious trackpad that’s designed specifically and solely to be touched? Apple thinks things through more than other companies… The iPhone’s screen has to be touched; that’s all it has available. A MacBook’s screen does not have to be touched in order to offer Multi-Touch™. There is a better way: Apple’s way. — MacDailyNews, March 26, 2009
SEE ALSO:
The key mission of Apple’s new MacBook Pros – October 28, 2016
TIME Magazine: Apple’s new MacBook Pro Touch Bar is an inventive new way to get work done more quickly – October 28, 2016
Apple does touch right and, as usual, Microsoft does it wrong – October 28, 2016
IBT: Apple’s MacBook Pro Touch Bar is the coolest thing ever; will change the way we use laptops – October 28, 2016
Wired hands on with Apple’s New MacBook Pro: It’s a whole new kind of laptop – October 27, 2016
CNET on the new MacBook Pro: Apple’s amazing strip show reinvents the notebook – October 27, 2016
Hands on with Apple’s new MacBook Pro: Looks and feels so good it’s unreal – October 27, 2016
Apple debuts three new TV ads for all-new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar – October 27, 2016
Apple unveils groundbreaking new MacBook Pro with revolutionary Touch Bar and huge Force Touch trackpad – October 27, 2016