Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott
Have we?
Today desktop PCs are declining in popularity because nobody wants a big box huffing and puffing away in the living room where there's nowhere to put it. That's why most people today have a laptop or even just a tablet, and game consoles like the PlayStation 5 are popular even though they cost more than a typical PC (quite the change from the 90's when they were far cheaper).
[...]
The iMac was a breath of fresh air in a market crowded with boring boxes. My favorite iMac design is the G4 'Sunflower' - a bitch to work on but so stylish and practical in use. One day I hope to own one.
Why iMac G4 is still the greatest Mac ever made 20 years later |
You could frame it as a template for "what to say when you hate PCs"
How convenient it is to forget that (as mentioned above) the main and obvious reason for the decline in big box PC sales is primarily the fact that smartphones (aka mini computers) exist, and also that laptop prices tumbled down to the level where they cost as much as cheap smartphone.
Meanwhile,
PC games have generated more revenue than console games for the past 10 years, so there's that.
It's also extremely convenient to forget the Macs' prices when gushing over their stylistics but they are a fact of life, as grelbfarlk mentions, and one of the reasons why despite its wondrousness (ie thorugh-the-roof hype cause by iPhone worship) Apple has only 10% PC market share worldwide - a few percent increase from the old days - despite being allegedly such a visionary trailblazer which changed everything.
Now, I don't begrudge anybody liking nice design, but it's a undeniably sad truth that large part of that in real world scenarios is driven by snobbery and elitisim, since the exorbitant prices make Apple devices into status symbols (and clever marketing adds "coolness" factor). Nah, thanks, I will take the boring box any time of the day. Because the box is only as boring as its user, and the only thing that really matter is what you can do with it and what appears on the screen.
I can see how some Amiga fans might be captured by the allure of Apple and seek similarities, but imo it's a blessing in disguise that Commodore has folded when it did. Because if it didn't and somehow survived and became Apple, I'd hate its operational model just as much as I hate the real world one.
Taking a piss out of Macbook wielding coffeshop hipsters who studiously ponder their never-happen screenplay/book is just a silly, unimportant pastime. The real problem, aside from pricing, is the walled garden approach both regarding hardware and software. For all its faults and "boringness" (well these days you can stick some gaudy RGB lights on it thou) PC is still the king when it comes to openness and doing whatever the hell you want with it, while paying still fairly reasonable prices for it (ok ok, I too hate the new GPU pricing, but still). And that's how it should be and why I have never looked back with sorrow since leaving Amiga back in the days.