Video: Should Apple spin off the Mac into a separate company?
Apple's new series of ads promoting the Mac[1] as the choice for creatives could backfire and simply drawn attention to how infrequently it updates its Mac lineup.
Just before Apple released the Mac ads, Mac app developer Quentin Carnicelli of Rogue Amoeba, posted a scathing assessment of the sorry state of the Mac. Basically, Mac fans are out of luck if they're looking for a fresh Mac from Apple.
"It's very difficult to recommend much from the current crop of Macs to customers, and that's deeply worrisome to us, as a Mac-based software company," Carnicelli writes.
MacRumor's Buyer's Guide[2] sums up the state of the Mac: not a single model in its current line-up is rated as 'Buy now'. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro were last updated over a year ago, while the Mac Pro was updated 436 days ago. The Mac Mini was last updated over three and a half years ago. The only 'fresh' option Mac fans have is the $5,000 iMac Pro.
SEE: 10 Terminal commands to speed your work on the Mac (free PDF)[3]
Age is just one problem though. Apple's recent butterfly keyboards and TouchBar on MacBook Pro laptops, and the sole USB-C port on the MacBook have drawn criticism, too. And fans are wondering why Intel's eighth-generation chips aren't present.
The critique follows Apple's omission of any new hardware updates at its recent Worldwide Developers Conference.
Given the current choice of Mac hardware, Carnicelli says for testing the company ended up buying used hardware rather than having to "compromise heavily on a new machine".
Another problem facing Mac users is