Yes, it’s strange. Almost like Microsoft and Apple have changed places. MS used to dictate in the same way as Apple. For instance, Win 7 is a great OS, but Win 8 is not. A misguided effort to “educate” consumers into what they are supposed to prefer. Some have adapted, but many have not.
But now, MS has listened and Win 10 looks to be excellent. Apple seems to listen to no one but themselves, making decisions that are so obviously designed to herd the faithful into buying what Apple wants to sell them. No quad in a Mini; slow to adopt USB3 and now they do it in a more complicated way requiring hassle with adapters; if you want a nMP get a Thunderbolt chassis or else all new interfaces; don’t need over-the-top video with 2 cards…pay anyway; sorry, we broke PCIe so no UAD Quad for you, etc, etc.
And now, maybe worse than any of that, OSX has become a minefield of “do I dare to update/upgrade?” So many things broken by OSX upgrades, people rolling back to previous versions of OS or software, everyone making sure to backup everything before daring to update, etc, etc. Sounds like Windows in 2002. Forget viruses in Win vs Apple, you don’t need viruses to mess up your machine now…Apple will do it for you!
And let’s take the nMP. For the $10,000.00 for the top model, you could have well over twice the power (24 physical cores) for less $$$ in a PC that also has all the PCIe slots you will need, saving the thousands for a chassis or else new I/O.
I have had several Macbooks in a row and made the decision to use Mac Pros for audio at my former management position at a very large facility with dozens of workstations. But I am now typing this on a PC laptop (with touchscreen) and using all PCs for audio. And I am very happy with my decision.
Too bad. Apple was once the champion for creative people. Now?