[Closed] Apple? where and why did it all go wrong??

The technology has matured, innovation is difficult, look at the complete **** up microsoft made with windows 8 when "innovating" for the sake of change rather than with purpose.

Some technologies just work, the optimal number of wheels on cars is 4, not 3 or 6, every now and then someone will try and be different, but it is just a gimmick and will fail.

Apple kit still the best all round my a long way IMO. Not sure what bugs the latest OSX and iOS are supposed to be riddled with, we upgraded immediately and have had no issues (iPad & Mini, iPhone 4S & 5 & 6, MBP, Mac Mini)

No I haven't tried to export bookmarks as the cloud does it automatically and immediately, with latest OS you can now start reading a web page on one device and switch over to the other very easily.

The new iPhone 6 is fabulous. When I am done with it I'll be able to sell it on for a good price, old Android/Samsung/ phones are virtually worthless.

Totally agree with you, the specs are so poor compared to android phones and what annoys you s when they do their wwc thingies and go ooooooh we have the best phone ever! No I'm afraid you don't every one else had the same tech as you two years ago. Unfortunately I'm tied in to my 5s until next August! Boooooooo

As someone who's been using macs for 20 years, even when they were shite, I used to laugh mockingly at PC users and their constant software patches and updates

But now it seems that every time I fire up my Mac, theres a message to say 'to run iWotsit you must now install iThingy 10.2.3......'

Its getting right on my tits 😈

They should remember that the joy of macs was always that the just worked. Without any of this nonsense!!!

Jobs died.

They're a victim of their increased popularity. Imagine how buggy there software would be if, like Microsoft, they had to cope with a huge variation in hardware etc. from loads of different manufacturers.

Who really cares what the "spec" is of the Android phones, the Apple phones are great, they do the job extremely well and the whole integration experience with computers etc is outstanding. Look at the statistics, as the STW folk said recently after their front page poll the majority of users on STW are using Apple devices.

The specs of Android phones may be better, but apple has optimised their phones and operating systems so that they run faster and smoother even though they utilise less ram and, on paper at least, a slower processor.

I find iPhones are much nicer to use.

Phone wise the best thing I did was jump from idevices to android. The iPad is still the best tablet out there IMHO, but is still muchos 'spensive. The Sony ones are catching up very quickly though.
I haven't really played with macs, but Apple's OS doesn't make me go ooooohhhhh, Windows 10 did though.

They're a victim of their increased popularity

You only have to look at the items they address in iOS to realise what's going on esp in terms of security. So many patches and yet hardly any worthwhile enhancements or integration.

For me they definitely lost it with iOS 7. Put it down and take a step back and ask yourself is this actually any good?

apple is just style over substance these days; see the results of that middleclasstrackworld survey on the front page 😉

the ipod was a big leap, and theyve pushed touchscreen tech forwards with their phones and ipads and easy to use apps

but you are just paying a premium for the logo, a lot of similarities with the santa cruz thread, some people are happy to do that, but better stuff is out there for less

itunes has got worse with every new version and google/android does integration much better without forcing the consumer to buy into their premium hype products

Jobs died.

Nah, they all went to China.

[quote=MSP]The technology has matured, innovation is difficult, look at the complete **** up microsoft made with windows 8 when "innovating" for the sake of change rather than with purpose.

Not entirely the case.. Microsoft had to do [I]something[/I] to cater for the rise of handheld, touchscreen devices, or get left even further behind.

well the tide [i]must[/i] be turning - this is the first thread I've seen here where the iCrowd even hint their system may be slightly less than perfect....

apple is just style over substance these days

That depends. Ever tried working on massive multilayered hi-res photoshop files on a PC? Without launching it out of a window after its fallen over for the 27th time?

When it comes to what used to be their old core market, they're still approximately 372,986,296 times better than the other available option

Apple have never been 'cutting edge' - they take other peoples ideas and make them work. And put them in a desirable package.

And anyone who says Apple were perfect has obviously never had to faff about with SCSI chains!

We've used up all the alien technology discovered at Roswell that led to the recent rapid advance in technology we've had recently, so things are slowing down as our own ability to keep the pace up dwindles.

I arrived late at the party when I moved to a Mac last year. As a consumer product its almost perfect. Its fast, works well when its up and relatively efficient with the hardware. Its pricey and a pita when it goes wrong, but the time saving on booting alone over the year probably makes up for the extra hassle.

I cant see the iphone being anything more than a fashion statement as the android phones are just as usable. Its just an app and battery life war. Im more than happy with my one plus.

That depends. Ever tried working on massive multilayered hi-res photoshop files on a PC? Without launching it out of a window after its fallen over for the 27th time?

No. I use a maxed out MacBook Pro and external monitor (I guess you use something similar). Can't see the point in trying a PC to save a bit of money when my time and sanity is worth far more.

Having been an on-call PC tech support for ageing parents with a Microsoft infected computer I refuse to go anywhere near another windows computer.

I'd quite happily see the bloke who designed iTunes get a proper shoeing for designing slow, obstructive and painfully unintuitive software.

i've had an iphone since 2005, and i've enjoyed them for what they've been.. but it's just such a faff to use vs an android phone... i've never been one of those people that could be classed as a fanboy and i think it's time for something new once my contract is up (in a year's time 🙁 )

and also this:

PJM1974 - Member
I'd quite happily see the bloke who designed iTunes get a proper shoeing for designing slow, obstructive and painfully unintuitive software.

Having been an on-call PC tech support for ageing parents with a Microsoft infected computer I refuse to go anywhere near another windows computer.

For similar reasons I am eternally grateful that my parents were convinced by my Mac-loving brother to get a MacOS infected computer, and it's his problem to sort them out when things inevitably go wrong.

Nah, they all went to China.

And then they died. 🙁

jambalaya - Member
The new iPhone 6 is fabulous. When I am done with it I'll be able to sell it on for a good price, old Android/Samsung/ phones are virtually worthless.

What's virtually worthless? Cause I got a handsome price for my 2 year old HTC, that I didn't pay for upfront.

I have all Apple at home and use Windows at work. I have to say I think MS have come a long way over the years, W7 is much more stable than OSX (I regularly churn through 100s Gb of data at work and my machine never misses a beat). Whereas I endlessly have to reboot my MBP esp after upgrading to the latest OSX e.g. ever since the upgrade it loses the internet connection every day and I have to reboot to get it back....

However, the iPhone 6 is utterly brilliant, by far the best phone I've ever owned / seen. Worth it just for the camera.

If you're having to endlessly reboot your computer, no matter what modern operating system it is running, something is wrong with THAT computer. Deal with your (IT) problem, stop blaming it on someone else.

Rachel

I have a defunct, slow, riddled with errors XP PC at home, which isn't worth a penny.

I have a MacBook of the same age, which runs fine and has taken over from the above as our go to PC and is not painful to use in the slightest.

Just sayin'

The music players are great. Probably the best you can get. It's those things with operating systems that they're screwing up. Maybe they should focs on what they do best and bring out an iPod with proper disk space..

(By the way, I upgraded (lolz) my iPhone 4s to 8.1 and now I'm getting freezes. Thanks GrahamS! 🙁 )

[i]I have a defunct, slow, riddled with errors XP PC at home[/i]

I have a defunct, not-slow, no errors whatsoever XP laptop at home. I gave it to my son to do his homework on, small memory upgrade and it runs like a dream. Laptop must be 6-7 years old.

I have to admit, though, my Mac does have a 'bug' at the moment, it seems...

[img] [/img]

Long-term iPhone and iPad user, shorter-term MacBook use (just over a year). The most recent IOS is the worst. The worst by quite a margin. Despite really great features it is so full of bugs. It also could do with some distillation - a move back to the core principles. It also needs some better integration of the new features into the user experience to make them less cluttered and more seamless. This is something that Apple has historically done well.

OSX has been less bug ridden and as yet seems to be working well for me. I was s long-term user of Windows and I can honestly say OSX is a much simpler and more enjoyable experience...

DezB - you do know that the iPod players, even the old ones, do actually have an operating system, right?

Rachel

If you're having to endlessly reboot your computer, no matter what modern operating system it is running, something is wrong with THAT computer. Deal with your (IT) problem, stop blaming it on someone else.

I'm betting it's a bug in the latest version of OSX, as that's the only change which caused it. I'm expecting it to just go away after one of their many bug fix builds.

This is the company that launched the iPhone 6 and the next day released an iOS update for it that killed both the fingerprint reader and radio chip. I had a £600 paper weight for a week before they released another update which undid the bugs from the first one....

DezB - you do know that the iPod players, even the old ones, do actually have an operating system, right?

So it's not pixie dust?

[s]Rachel[/s]. [s]Dez[/s] Jamie.

For anyone who likes to fiddle with computers, Iphones and Itunes are way too restrictive.

The issue I have with modern IOS systems is that they tart them up too much when it's not required. I had an Iphone 3 that worked fine, and then they updated the IOS and made the folders fade in and out, and do all sorts of useless graphical features, the phone ran so slow I eventually upgraded to a 4. This pi$$ed me off. Blatantly forcing you to upgrade by 'forcing' advanced graphical features on you that you don’t need or probably want.

Any high end PC user (graphic design, 3D modelling etc..) will tell you, the first thing you do with a new PC is turn all the advanced graphical features off to free up memory for the important tasks.

A modern phone should easily run a watered down Windows XP type OS, and an XP level OS could easily do what we need phones to do...

Windows phone 7 should have been good, but lack of support and bugs finished it off. Windows 8 is better, but still quite restrictive.

A modern phone should easily run a watered down Windows XP type OS, and an XP level OS could easily do what we need phones to do...

You can run XP on an iPhone 6, some Chinese chap has ported it across.....

Blatantly forcing you to upgrade by 'forcing' advanced graphical features on you that you don’t need or probably want.

ah, the old I was 'forced' to upgrade chestnut. I thought all software updates were optional? and how do the latest versions of android run on dated phones?

I think it is less that apple has faded, and more that windows/android has got better.

For similar reasons I am eternally grateful that my parents were convinced by my Mac-loving brother to get a MacOS infected computer, and it's his problem to sort them out when things inevitably go wrong.

I too got my folks a mac, only had 2 emergency support phone calls, one asking where to get the printer drivers from (easy as they were not needed) and how to stop the windows whizzing around with expose (sorted by watching the little video built into the settings panel) no support calls for months now.

The smartphone market is a mature one now so there's arguably a lack of innovation on all sides. I don't count stuffing the latest, fastest off-the-shelf SoC into a phone particularly innovative, nor duplicating 90% of the functionality of the base OS with your own vendor apps.

Android vendors (much like Google itself) like to throw lots of new ideas into their products, whether they work properly or not, and see what sticks. Apple seem to take a more considered approach and put in things like fingerprint readers only when they have a technology that works well enough for them.

I did have a few months on Android (which was OK) but back on iOS now. The extensions/widgets in iOS8 aren't as comprehensive as you get on Android but functional enough for me. I can have Lastpass sign into websites (authenticated by my finger), I can easily send stuff to Pocket or Evernote and I can start a Strava recording straight from the Today screen.

Wireless charging and waterproofing would be nice, but not that important to me in the grand scheme of things.

For anyone who likes to fiddle with computers

I'll admit I'm an Apple man, mainly because I've been working with them for my entire working career starting with OS7 I think, so the only system I know really. Would never say they are perfect, but I've never had what I would can major problems with their kit or systems. Admittedly Maverick was gash, but still worked. iOS8 and Yosemite have been awesome for me so far. On my Mac and home and work and iPhone 5 and 6 and my iPad.

Thing I find is all these new products whether Apple or Samsung or Sony or Microsoft (I'll admit, I hate their products I've used) are all trying to ram so much new tricks and gadgets into them, probably find about 90% of them we never actually use.

look at the complete **** up microsoft made with windows 8 when "innovating" for the sake of change rather than with purpose.

As above - they did that to cater for touch. Also, simply by bringing out something new and radically different looking they highlighted the fact that Apple hadn't. MacOS looks really old fashioned to me now.

the time saving on booting alone over the year probably makes up for the extra hassle.

Does your new PC have an SSD by any chance? I just put one in a 5 year old dual core celeron laptop and it boots W7 in a matter of seconds from cold.

Thing I find is all these new products whether Apple or Samsung or Sony or Microsoft (I'll admit, I hate their products I've used) are all trying to ram so much new tricks and gadgets into them, probably find about 90% of them we never actually use.

Yep - step forward Google and the Chromebook. The best innovation we've had for many years.

For similar reasons I am eternally grateful that my parents were convinced by my Mac-loving brother to get a MacOS infected computer, and it's his problem to sort them out when things inevitably go wrong.

I haven't had a parental tech support call for many years. Seems like W7 just works.. and ChromeOS even more so 🙂

Despite being labelled an Apple fanboy I actually agree with the OP, I think Apple have taken their foot off the gas a bit in several areas.

I don't use OSX, so I can't speak about that, but certainly in the mobile and tablet arenas they seem to be losing their edge a bit.

It's tricky though I guess. Comparisons to Android are inevitable, but Android isn't one thing - so folk point at a very cheap Android phone and say Apple is too expensive, then they point at an expensive Android phone and say Android has better hardware.

I was impressed just how much more functional Android is and also surprised by just how much of a limited walled garden Apple actually give you.

Apple walk a fine line there too. The "walled garden" approach is (or at least [i]should be[/i]) why their stuff is consistently easier to use and works better. It allows them to simplify things because they know the hardware/software involved and have much tighter control over things like protocols, software interactions etc.

For a lot of people that is a good thing. They know that, for example, they can safely install apps from the App Store without worrying about viruses and malware. They know they can buy an Apple TV and it'll "Just Work" with their iPad and iPhone without faffing around.

BUT... that has to be carefully balanced with consumer freedom. The walled garden is only really useful if you are happy to stay within it. Otherwise it feels like a prison.

Ditched my MacBook back in the summer for a Surface Pro 3. Like a breath of fresh air.

Any high end PC user (graphic design, 3D modelling etc..) will tell you, the first thing you do with a new PC is turn all the advanced graphical features off to free up memory for the important tasks.

Errr no they wouldn't. At least I wouldn't (and I'm a high end PC user, who also happens to use macs). But i'm willing to be proven wrong, got any benchmark results? Or even just tell me the test I can do to convince myself...

A modern phone should easily run a watered down Windows XP type OS, and an XP level OS could easily do what we need phones to do...

Well, apart from designed in security, power management features etc etc... I could go on...

And what is "XP level" anyway? Windows NT4? Linux Kernel 2.4 - I guess you're part right there, Android runs a descendant of that kernel...

And iOS runs a variant Mach kernel, that dates from around 1990...over a decade old by the time of XP...

Why would you want to do that?

To score points in internet arguments?

For anyone who likes to fiddle with computers, Iphones and Itunes are way too restrictive.

The trope that Apple is for simpletons and technophobes gets repeated a lot.

I'm a senior software engineer specialised in embedded systems. I like Apple and I see plenty of Apple devices around the office in the hands of other engineers that, like me, have been "fiddling with computers" for several decades.

A modern phone should easily run a watered down Windows XP type OS, and an XP level OS could easily do what we need phones to do...

That would be Windows XP Embedded. No longer supported by Microsoft I believe (and having written code for it I'm glad of that!)

But feel free to get a Windows phone which does have a mini-Windows-OS on it.

+1 on GrahamS too BTW.

And I say that as someone who's had Maemo and Meego phones...proper hardcore I tell thee, can't even get a proper X-term on Android! How restrictive is that!... 😉

(oh and I know i'm feeding the trolls here, most people won't have their opinions changed on this almost religious topic. Feel free to change mine though, with facts.. 😉 )

For anyone who likes to fiddle with computers…

Go get to work! Might get one for Xmas.

As for OSX… I'm still on 10.6.8, and, having also used all the more recent updates, have seen nothing of real value added to the OS since then.

And the phones? Yes, you do have to keep updating the OS, even when you don't want to, if you want to install new apps… all part of the bizarre idea that only handheld computers less than 3 years old matter. The same is true for all platforms, and yes, annoying. And wasteful.

and then they updated the IOS and made the folders fade in and out…

Turn all that rubbish off! Day one! And yes, Apple have hidden away the option to do that, and yes, that's very poor.

[i]DezB - you do know that the iPod players, even the old ones, do actually have an operating system, right?[/i]

You know what I mean, Ms Pedantic!

[s]Dez[/s] [s]Rachel[/s] [s]Jamie[/s] Dez

Ditched my MacBook back in the summer for a Surface Pro 3. Like a breath of fresh air.

Interested - how so?

Rachel we all love the hungry caterpillar !

For anyone who likes to fiddle with computers, Iphones and Itunes are way too restrictive.

The trope that Apple is for simpletons and technophobes gets repeated a lot.

I've been writing software commercially on and off since 1985 and the last thing I want to do when I get home is hack my phone / tablet / PC.

Apple have never been 'cutting edge' - they take other peoples ideas and make them work.

step forward Google and the Chromebook. The best innovation we've had for many years.

Their desktops and laptops are still by a big margin the best computers out there, and their longevity is outstanding I've 3 MacBook Pros the oldest one being 9 years old (1st gen Intel) and still it works pretty well.

Phone and tablet wise they certainly aren't the best out there, they look beautiful but for the price there is a lot better stuff out there, I lost my iPhone 5S in the summer and it wasn't insured so didn't want to shell out £600 for a new one so bought a OnePlus One -probably the best phone I've owned and it was £270. Sure it doesn't look as pretty and it's not made of such nice materials but it does just show Apple are a luxury brand - they are the Paul Smith suit to my OnePlus One Burton suit.

That is laughable.

Not entirely. They've ripped off their fair share of stuff over the years.

Indeed, but Apple gave us the GUI that everybody now uses.

i'm a big apple fan and always been quite evangelical about them, however, I have a 3 month old iMac and recently upgraded to the free Yosemite 10.0 (updated yesterday to 10.1) and it's a total shower.

I've got 32gb of RAM and it wants to use 30Gb of it just doing nothing. Been back to Apple twice who clear down a million caches and blame parallels (which I need to run a windows specific software. Removed parallels and it's still shite.

They are now advising me to do a clean install and blaming time machine for dragging something across from my old 6 year old 13" macbook which was faultless, and still brought £420 on eBay when I sold it!

I'm at the end of my tether with it, the only way I get it working smoothly is by actually running paralles and using MS stuff, which I could've done for less than £1400.

Do love my iPhone 6 though, that does work well.

I'm a very recent convert to the world of i.. MrsBouy has been i 'd for about 13 years or so but me, nah I came from a land of PC's mainly because all my employers used them..
Now I've converted fully and everything I have is synchronised, 5s,iPad,MBA and MrsBouys MacPro.

I'm not going backwards, I'll stay in the world of i 😀

Indeed, but Apple gave us the GUI that everybody now uses.

Hmm.. they made the first commercial one but they didn't invent it.

Indeed, but [s]Apple[/s] Xerox gave us the GUI that everybody now uses.

ftfy

I've got 32gb of RAM and it wants to use 30Gb of it just doing nothing.

Not [i]necessarily[/i] a bad thing.

Is it actually holding onto that memory and making other tasks run slowly (bad!), or is it cleverly pre-caching stuff in the available memory but happily freeing it up if needed? (good)

Indeed, but Apple gave us the GUI that everybody now uses.

Their desktops and laptops are still by a big margin the best computers out there, and their longevity is outstanding

My kids were interwebbing on one of these until recently, and it still worked fine

[img] [/img]

The hard drive is now sat on a shelf as its still a lovely looking thing, and I can't bring myself to get rid of it

I do think the old ipod classics are the best mp3 players about but not impressed with any of their other stuff at all. All our editing pcs at work are windows 7 running avid and after effects projects all day and they hardly ever fall over.

I'm surprised that we've managed to get this far without whispering - 'Ubuntu'... (ubuntu.com - it's linux, and is not just for nerds anymore, in my nerdy opinion)

The modern releases are surprisingly good. Very easy to install, compared to Yosemite even. Easy to use. Most software you need is free. Even the word processor (LibreOffice) is very good and is good enough to ditch MS Office. Edits word files perfectly, so far.

I run a Mac and Ubuntu side-by-side at work and it's getting to the point that I sometimes sigh with relief when I move back to my Ubuntu desktop. It used to be the other way around. Seriously thinking about putting Ubuntu on my mac laptop. At least a dual boot system.

And as for a smartphone, FirefoxOS is actually usable already. Not perfect, but it does the things I need.

I'm surprised that we've managed to get this far without whispering - 'Ubuntu'... (ubuntu.com - it's linux, and is not just for nerds anymore, in my nerdy opinion)

Given the struggle I've had to make Ubuntu do even basic things that I wanted, I would not recommend it to anyone. I'm using it daily on my work laptop.

For example, having it dim the screen when I unplug the power - I had to write my own script. And don't get me started on hybrid graphics adapters.

So yes maybe, if you are lucky. But as a general recommendation definitely definitely not.

Multiple iPhones, iPad and MB Air. Couple of the phones and the MB Air have had to be replaced or repaired under warranty. The MB Air has just broken again.

I think it is quite telling that the MB Air is not returned with Mavericks or Yosemite on it from Apple service. I hope they learn from these major releases.

So I think while the Apple stuff works it is nice to use. But the hardware quality is poor. I would not expect this to change as margin on hardware is what Apple is all about.

So yes maybe, if you are lucky. But as a general recommendation definitely definitely not.

Well, okay, but if you are even sightly nerdy - at least install it on your desktop.

For example, having it dim the screen when I unplug the power - I had to write my own script.

You sound like you consider this to be a bad thing. It could be easily fixed with a script you wrote yourself! It may be the rigid singlespeed of the OS world, but some (odd) people actually prefer singlespeeds 🙂

Fangin - what is it that you can do with Ubuntu that you can't on your Mac? The Mac, after all, is a full Unix OS.

Seems to cope well as a development environment, especially in open source, judging by the number of glowing Apple logos facing me whenever I'm speaking at a conference...

Rachel

The modern releases are surprisingly good. Very easy to install, compared to Yosemite even. Easy to use. Most software you need is free. Even the word processor (LibreOffice) is very good and is good enough to ditch MS Office. Edits word files perfectly, so far.

Libreoffice really isn't good enough to edit Word and Powerpoint if you have anything remotely complicated happening, i.e. other than basic text! I say that typing on a Ubuntu machine with an RDP session open to a windows box for this reason....

It does dim the screen on battery fine mind 😉

So does my mac, but I could write a script on that to do so if I wanted to...

Find it a strange phenomenon - Folk buying consumer electronics and then acting like they've got shares in that company - why the loyalty? You think they've got you back or something?

why the loyalty?

Justifying £100s/£1000s of expenditure?

You sound like you consider this to be a bad thing. It could be easily fixed with a script you wrote yourself!

Of course. I'm still using Ubuntu, by choice, and it has some huge benefits. But for a non techie it's still nowhere near.

It wasn't only that - I had to install and configure packages to get it to manage power effectively; I spent weeks getting the hybrid graphics adapter working properly with multiple montiors; you need to google for a series of commands to get persistent bluetooth mouse connections; I still haven't got a system image backup tool because you can't do system image backups when the system is running - at all. You have to boot from USB to do it.

It did WORK out of the box, but I only got half the battery life I got under Windows until I did all this crap.

why the loyalty?

People want to believe they've made the right choice, as the alternative is unpalatable.

Find it a strange phenomenon - Folk buying consumer electronics and then acting like they've got shares in that company - why the loyalty? You think they've got you back or something?

If someone calls you an idiot, simpleton or sheep for buying a particular bike/car/house/phone/whatever isn't it fairly natural to defend your decision and, by proxy, the creator of that product?

Especially if you feel their criticism is unfounded.

£97 billion of cash reserves
Remind me where apple went wrong and feel free to offer any advice you IT nerds think apple should listen to.

The trope that Apple is for simpletons and technophobes gets repeated a lot.

I'm a senior software engineer specialised in embedded systems. I like Apple and I see plenty of Apple devices around the office in the hands of other engineers that, like me, have been "fiddling with computers" for several decades.

Yup. Last thing I want to do is have to fiddle with my home pc or phone or TV streamer. My nexus 5 was a buggy crashing PoS and I'm happy to see the back of it - after initially being overwhelmed by the 'powa'. Now, 99% of that was the software (Divide I'm looking at you) installed on it, but I've not had the same experience on iOS or OS X (which I went to instead of Linux to try 10 odd years back, and stayed with it for my home kit).

Last thing I want to do is have to fiddle with my home pc or phone or TV streamer.

It seems to be a common theme.

My theory is that as Joe Public gets more tech-savvy some of them are experiencing the joy and freedom of tinkering and "hacking" devices for the first time.

Whereas many of us that tinker like that for our living already had that first epiphany a long time ago, been there and done it, and now have the perspective to appreciate the joy and freedom of devices that just work.

Interested - how so?

@molgrips

High resolution screen (I went from the first unibody MacBook Pro), touchscreen, pen, detachable keyboard, an OS that's touchscreen friendly, Photoshop with a pen instead of a tablet, stand thingamajig, lightweight.

I use it for Visual Studio (the MacBook wouldn't run it due to crap virtualisation implementation) and with the keyboard it works absolutely fine. Anyone who says it's not a proper keyboard hasn't used one.

Cons? The WiFi driver is STILL buggy; Windows seems to have a never-ending stream of updates; and if you enable Hyper-V you lose stuff like Connected Standby and Instant On. It's not as pick-up-and-go as my iPad, which I've had to keep for work.

Whereas many of us that tinker like that for our living already had that first epiphany a long time ago, been there and done it, and now have the perspective to appreciate the joy and freedom of devices that just work.

Which is why a lot of people stick to Windows - it just works. And anything you buy is guaranteed to be Windows compatible, Mac probably, and Ubuntu/Linux almost never.