Black Friday (read: Month) brought about all kinds of ridiculously cheap MacBook deals. These were the Arm Apple Silicon models with the formidable M1 and M2 chips. $600 for the M1 at Walmart was tempting. So very tempting.
Let's back up. I'm a long time Android user. After Palm's failed attempt to enter a renewed smartphone market, I switched to a Moto Droid 2 Global (Walmart still sells a dummy version for unknown reasons). Looking back, that phone was terrible yet it started a nearly 15 year stretch of Android phones.
I had one brief encounter with iPhone. My ex-wife was a big fan while I stayed on Android. I ended up with an iPhone 7 in rose gold. What a color. I gave Apple a real shot. I swapped the SIM from the OG Pixel Really Blue into the iPhone 7 for a month. A very long month. There were a few things I enjoyed on it. Apple had more apps at the time. Most apps were a little better built too.
My list of complaints was much longer though. For starters, where was the file system?! I wanted to copy music over and I knew about iTunes. I figured out how to copy music from my laptop to the iPhone through iTunes. I didn't like the iTunes interface on the phone. Fine, let's download a different music player. Crap, the music player can't access the music files.
That's how it continued to go for that month. One little problem after another little problem. Nothing that would be individually deal breaking but accumulated, they made for a miserable experience.
I realized that my complaints were entirely my own. Millions of people happily used iPhones and other Apple products. The difference is akin to Windows users transitioning to Linux. Linux users readily remind them that Linux is different and they should embrace the Linux way. I was not prepared to completely conform to the Apple way. If I used the iPhone the way Apple intended, I would have a near perfect experience. It would just work.
Which takes me back to Black Friday. The MacBook deals were impressive. The newer series are lightweight, fast, quiet, and have serious stamina. Most of the time I plug in my laptop yet the allure of 15 hour battery life is real. Do I need it? Nah, but it sounds really cool.
As I dug into the pros and cons of Mac, I realized that a switch in computing power ultimately meant a switch in all things mobile. My OnePlus 12, Galaxy Tab A9+, Galaxy Watch, and other accessories would no longer serve me as well. Mac won't even talk to an Android phone without a third party app. While the Mac would offer a strong experience, the real experience comes from the complete seamless ecosystem that Apple designed.
The closest thing that Android offers is Samsung. Google wants their services used nearly everywhere on everything. Samsung, however, places a few barriers. No where near Apple levels of stone walls and alligator infested moats protecting their ecosystem, but perhaps an occasional landmine. I can use a Galaxy Watch with any Android phone but Samsung reserves features like EKG for Galaxy phones.
Today I was reminded why I don't live in a vendor restricted environment. I have been reevaluating Samsung phones, contemplating whether a Galaxy Ultra would offer advantages over a Pixel Pro or OnePlus flagship. I naively believed that Samsung would want users to install their programs on Windows to encourage phone adoption. Ha. No. Many of the Windows counterparts are still limited to Samsung Galaxy Book laptops.
Samsung isn't so delusional to believe they can create an ecosystem like Apple but they can create some vendor lock in between devices. The most complete Samsung experience is only available to users who have Galaxy Books to use with their Galaxy S phones and Galaxy Watches.
It leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Like questionable week old taco meat. What happens if I want to use a OnePlus Pad or Pixel Watch? What happens to the Samsung experience?
This is why I will purposely avoid these restrictions in the future. I don't love that the OnePlus SuperVOOC fast charging is proprietary but I can still quickly charge with any USB PD charger. Or I can use services like Google Drive or OneNote on any laptop, tablet, or phone I happen to use. I can complete my personal ecosystem with an array of devices and still find a strong degree of integration between them without permanently locking me into any walled garden.
Ultimately, the allure of a MacBook melted away as I realized the long term implications. So if you are asking yourself if its worth it, its probably not. We all should probably start recognizing that these new shiny devices often offer little over what we already own.
Comments
Post a Comment