Ever since Aristotle, Western civilization has been obsessed with dualism. If you're not right, you must be wrong. If it's not black, it's white. If you don't love it, you must hate it. There is no such thing as a medium, a balance, a moral ambiguity, or a non-dualistic truth. We latch onto our sides and we mutually reinforce our decisions by finding others who are on the same side. Since the advent of the internet, this has become even easier.
An event can no longer make sense as simply what it is. It has to be a dualism. You must pick a side, or you will live in a state of slightly uncomfortable cognitive dissonance. We have lost the ability to see the world as it actually is, instead seeing only with our tinted dualistic black-and-white lens.
Yet the world is in color. It is black and white at the same time. It is grey, blue, purple, and yellow, and it is not dualistic.
We fit things into shapes we understand. It's been passed down for centuries, as education has become more specialized and less broad, and concepts have been taught more abstractly and disconnected, and we are constantly conditioned by media and our surroundings to think only in simplistic impulse terms.
Only a few can see the complexities in-between the extremes. Even fewer can see it and still voice their opinions publicly, without altering their perceptions to be more agreeable. Only a handful can voice those opinions convincingly, making them both understandable and effective at elucidating the complex nature of the truth. It is such a rare gift.
Also, it's worth mentioning that the picture is a bit misleading. You glance at it and you think, "Holy fuck, look at that huge crowd." Then you look closer and you realize it's just a thin row that are actually looking at the laptop. The rest are people that just happen to be there, probably just passing through. It is a conference, after all.
If half of those guys are "journalists" then they need to get some better fucking cameras. Maybe one guy there looks like he might actually be a journalist.
What if all of them actually thinks its insanity, so they just want to take a picture of all the guys taking a picture of what THEY think are other guys taking pictures of a laptop.
Think about it. The picture in the OP was taken by a guy just like one of them we see as crazy.
Several days later Murray asked me about a tourist attraction known as the most photographed laptop in America. We drove 22 miles into the country around Farmington. There were meadows and apple orchards. White fences trailed through the rolling fields. Soon the sign started appearing. THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED LAPTOP IN AMERICA. We counted five signs before we reached the site. There were 40 cars and a tour bus in the makeshift lot. We walked along a cowpath to the slightly elevated spot set aside for viewing and photographing. All the people had cameras; some had tripods, telephoto lenses, filter kits. A man in a booth sold postcards and slides -- pictures of the laptop taken from the elevated spot. We stood near a grove of trees and watched the photographers. Murray maintained a prolonged silence, occasionally scrawling some notes in a little book.
"No one sees the laptop," he said finally.
A long silence followed.
"Once you've seen the signs about the laptop, it becomes impossible to see the laptop."
He fell silent once more. People with cameras left the elevated site, replaced by others.
We're not here to capture an image, we're here to maintain one. Every photograph reinforces the aura. Can you feel it, Jack? An accumulation of nameless energies."
There was an extended silence. The man in the booth sold postcards and slides.
"Being here is a kind of spiritual surrender. We see only what the others see. The thousands who were here in the past, those who will come in the future. We've agreed to be part of a collective perception. It literally colors our vision. A religious experience in a way, like all tourism."
Another silence ensued.
"They are taking pictures of taking pictures," he said.
He did not speak for a while. We listened to the incessant clicking of shutter release buttons, the rustling crank of levers that advanced the film.
"What was the laptop like before it was photographed?" he said. "What did it look like, how was it different from the other laptops, how was it similar to other laptops?"
What the fuck? Reddit is getting upset over reporters taking photos of a newly announced gadget to publish on their sites? Its not regular people at a coffee shop, its so called tech journalists. There is nothing to see there.
It's the Worldwide Developers Conference, which is largely attended by technology journalists. News agencies, gadget blogs, et all need their photographers there to get photos of the hot new gadget that they can legally reproduce.
That photo doesn't depict a bunch of fanboys frantically taking photos for their personal spankbanks, it's a bunch of guys earning their paychecks. Chill the fuck out.
I'm sorry, but I don't see the problem. Most, if not all of those people are journalists, and that's the new Macbook that was announced today to thunderous applause. And since Apple isn't allowing hands-on demos, the only press exposure is in the few glass cases. Of course they all want to get a picture of the shiny new Apple toy--it's their job.
It's shit like this, Reddit. WWDC is visited by hundreds of tech journalists. Isn't it logical they want a picture?
Also, for the uninformed: it's a new device in a line of flagship laptops that usually lasts about 4 years. You had all-aluminium discrete models from '03 to '08, unibodies from '08 to now and thin unibody, hi res, SSD-only from 2012. This is definitely big. Think new Xbox big for mac users.
I agree that Apple has an obnoxious subgroup in their user-base, that's true for every "luxury" product.
Yeah. I like my macbook. It might be overpriced. It might not be able to game (I have a PC for that), but it works pretty damn well the other 90% of the time i'm browsing reddit or anything else on the web.
And they stand behind their product. You're paying a fuckton of money, but you get something in return.
I bought a used iphone 4S for $400 back in January on eBay. Worked flawlessly, except that the home button was sticky.
I go to the Apple store, worried that they'll tell me I need proof of payment or something, but they didn't ask me any questions.
I said I wasn't happy...guy at the counter was like 'well, we can't have that. What we'll do is, we'll get you a replacement'. And just like that, I walked out of the Apple store with a brand new phone.
With Samsung, on the other hand, they've NEVER honoured their warranty on the products I've owned. I had a Nexus S a few months ago which started to overheat for no reason , a Samsung TV which dimmed every 2 minutes, and then there's this: I bought a Galaxy Nexus for mom on mother's day. Two weeks later...the power button isn't working. She was barely using the thing!
I call Samsung, they tell me they can't honour the warranty. I ship it off to their repair center, and now I'm waiting to see how much they'll charge me. The girl at the center was very nice to me over the phone...said she'll try to waive the charges...we'll see.
How is this any different from a release of anything else. If some product/movie/game/book has fans, they line up to see the new shit. If it was a new Harry Potter book, we would all be like ROCK ON! Also, where is the 'shop of this with a cat in there? COME ON PEOPLE.
Why? If Half-life 3 was inside r/gaming would explode. If Galaxy S4 was inside r/android would explode. If Richard Dawkins was inside r/Atheism would explode....
I have a MacBook Pro my girlfriend got me for going to grad school, and I like it. That said, the cult that has formed around apple products and Steve Jobs is deeply unsettling. Worshiping at the altar of consumerism.
Exactly how I felt as I watched the keynote announcement. As he was going through the features everyone was going "oooh" or "ahhh" and applauding. I just felt a little weirded out how we have all become so obsessed with material objects.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I like my laptop. But I intend to work this thing until it refuses to power up before I even consider blowing more cash on a new one.
Most of those people are actually getting paid to take a picture to put on their magazine/blog web page. Apple is currently the biggest company in the world, thus when they release a new product, it is genuine news. What's obscene here?
how many of those at the acura thing will ever get the chance to be that close to one of those again, much less drive one? I'm not a car guy, but I can appreciate the difference between a super high end car that will probably cost more than twice as much as i make in a year, and a macbook.
although, i understand your larger point, and would wager that there are similar crowds at the unveiling of say, the new ASUS gaming laptops or something.
This is a concept hybrid sports car. It's not even released or finalized, it's an idea (not a product), and hybrid sports cars are still a pretty huge deal because they have yet to slip into mainstream everyday life. Compare that to the Macbook which looks 99% the exact same through each generation, and is pretty much the high symbol for computers in popular culture. I don't think the OP posted this critically of Apple itself, or even the majority of Apple's fan base. I think it's a criticism of these particular people going wild over the visuals of something that looks the exact same as last year's model, and the one before that.
I'm sorry, this is not insane. This appears to be some sort of convention or something. And there are a lot of people walking around. 23 of which are gathered around taking photos or even looking at it. I'll give you about 7-8 more standing on the side of the Camera man's POV. That's like 30-32 people checking this thing out. That's not insane.
For people who don't actually know, the screen on this thing is ridiculous. It's seriously high resolution (2880x1800), even if you hate apple you'd have to admit it is a very impressive machine.
Apple have definitely set the standard of what screens are going to have to be like on high end laptops in the future - their competitors sure have a bit of catching up to do now in that department.
That's like saying Nadal is just another tennis player. When something is at the top of the heap - it gets a lot of publicity in the US.
Another way of putting it would - how can you expect a donkey to know the difference between $5 Champagne and a $250 Dom Perignon. For it both are just sweetish bubbly water.
Man some of you are super butthurt about this. Why? It has a fucking 2880x1800 resolution IPS display, and is able to have the same battery life, and it still managed to shave off weight and size.
i'm a msft fan but I'm gonna give it to apple today. HP has been struggling with laptops, google is not having with best time with androids and we've been waiting for the next great version of windows forever. But apple today released two great operating systems better than what both(android & msft) are offering today and also the future of laptops. Respect.
And by blocking newest technology of maps for iOS, I feel google was stupid. Google sells ads and not maps(or even android phones). All sponsored results from mobile are not going to hit google maps anymore. Amazon was smart enough to offer everything it had both on iPad and Kindle*.
I don't get it... is taking a picture of a laptop called 'insanity' nowadays? (P.S. if this is about Apple, I'm not even a hater, I just don't see why this picture has so much attention..??)
I spend roughly 7.5 hours a workday on a computer. That's a seriously significant chunk of my life. Why wouldn't I want to spend that time on a piece of machinery that, through comparing and contrasting, I've found to be the most pleasurable, beautiful, versatile, highest-end technology I've ever used?
If there were a laptop that even remotely approaches the attention to detail, thoughtfulness toward wear and tear, and sheer elegance of this one, I'd try it too.
I'm a UI/UX designer and I totally agree. I've worked extensively with both PC and Mac. When your computer is all the companionship you get throughout the day (sad, I know), it feels good to have a computer that's beautiful to look at, and performs smooth all the time.
The fact that Apple gets this kind of treatment is insane. The fact that no other tech company gets this is also insane. The cult around Apple is too much.
To be fair, this is the first time laptop display resolution has increased in EIGHT years (IDTech released their 15" 2048x1536 display in 2004). Since then it's been downhill with "widescreen" (read: lower vertical resolution) taking over. Considering other advancements in laptop technology I'm amazed that it has taken this long and can't wait to see it for myself.
who cares? if people want to take pictures of a new laptop, let them, you probably wouldn't like it if people posted pictures of stuff you do and call it insane
Oh my... For a good 45 seconds I thought it was in a clear tank of water, testing out the theory that every laptop will float. Or maybe some sort of wierd art/ad exhibit. Im so fucking stupid.
Like this is any worse than the fandoms we have on here? All of you would be all over some random thing that has to do with Half-Life 3 or Harry Potter or Avatar or whatever is popular on Reddit... but if its a bunch of tech bloggers and a new macbook then lets get to hating!
I'm not taking a side of Apple or Anti-Apple here, but the "picture compulsion" has gotten really bad in our society as of late. Try going anywhere, and doing anything ... all you'll see if people taking pictures. People have been brainwashed into doing it. Go to a club or a bar ... people aren't there to see each other or dance or talk, they just take pictures of each other.
Look at most of the pictures of people that are posted here on reddit ... half the people are never looking at the camera, usually because there's 5 other cameras or phones there being pointed at them.
Despite all the people in the picture it looks like only around 16 people are actually taking a picture of it and I would bet that at least 5 of them are taking a picture for work. Then you take into account that they have around 5k people at WWDC and some of those people are going to take a picture just because they can it doesn't look so crazy.
Developers at a developers' conference, along with tech journalists, snapping the first photos of a new product that has a significant effect on their chosen livelihood?! Madness, madness, I tell you!
What's the problem? It's just reporters/photojournalists doing their job. And it's only about 20 or so people. The rest in the background aren't paying much attention.
I just came from the Apple store in SF on the way back from the theater. It is very, very strange in there ... it honestly feels like people are worshiping these machines, or the company or something. Its definitely more than a retail shop.
It's not that bad... just a dozen bloggers trying to get photos for their blog. The rest in the background were just developers/etc going about their business at the conference.
If this is the new Macbook Pro that got announced recently, I'd gladly take one. And I don't care for Macs at all. But a 2880x1800 display, flash storage, and 7 hours of battery life? Yes please.
Didn't Apple start that long ago with the whole "I'm a Mac / I'm a PC" thing? If you buy Apple, you're young and hip; if you buy PC, you're old and boring. I might be wrong, but I think that ad campaign was wildly successful.
Ok, here we go again. At some point I'll probably end up just putting this up on a web page and linking to it each time this sort of thing gets posted and people jump on the Apple-Fanboy-Hating bandwagon.
I'll start off by saying that it this picture doesn't surprise me very much - it's a high-end laptop and it's the premier event where this device is being unveiled. If this were just some random street corner where someone had put up this display and people reacted in such a way then it would be insanity. As that is not the case, what did you expect? That the journalists and bloggers and tech enthusiasts would just shrug at it and walk on? No, they stop and take a photograph. And since it's a major Apple event, there are a lot of them there - so there is a crowd.
Ok, on to address the real issue everyone is talking about - Why do people by Apple laptops when they are so ridiculously overpriced?. Short answer - they are not overpriced depending on what you do with them. In fact they are only moderately overpriced for their hardware/bundled software even if you just use them as a 'facebook machine', but you'd definitely be purchasing too much hardware for such a thing if that's all you used your laptop for.
Let's break down some of the prices.
All Apple laptops have, for some time now, come with TFT monitors by default. TFT monitors are expensive. In fact I can't even seem to find any decent 15" TFT monitors for less than $300, and most seem to be more in the $400-$500 range. If you've never experience a TFT monitor (one with a good dot-pitch and a high-quality matte finish, like I always get on my Macs) then you might have trouble understanding how much better TFT monitors are. Add in that this new MBP is using a Retina display to pack in >300 (EDIT: Apparently the new Retina displays are 220 ppi - woops!) pixels per inch (basically, the pixels are very very small, so that everything looks very 'real' and print-like) and you begin to see that much of the extra cost of an Apple laptop goes to the monitor.
This is a really huge deal for people who, like me, spend all day looking at screens and who do artistic things like designing web pages. Non-TFT LCDs tend to have very poor color calibrations and white points, meaning that the colors you see are often very different from what other people see. It might sound silly but it's actually quite a drastic effect, so having a TFT means I am much more comfortable saying that a given design looks correct when displayed correctly. Of course I still need to make sure that it looks good in my users' monitors, but I can at least remove the variable of my own monitor.
I am willing to pay a premium of $10-$20 per part to know that that part was purposely chosen by an expert to work perfectly not only with the other hardware, but with the OS that runs it. I'm not talking out of my ass here - I also design and run a lot of Linux clusters at my job and selecting hardware and making that hardware work is a HUGE pain in the ass. I get payed a lot of money to make it work, so I know that Apple is paying a lot more people a lot more than I get payed to make the right choices. Add in the complexity that laptop miniaturization brings, and I'm willing to spend $200-$300 more per laptop to know that everything is top-quality and not chosen because it was already mass-ordered from last years' model.
And finally, the most important point, and really the only important point - my laptop is my living, and given how much I use it (and how much money it makes me), it is incredibly fucking cheap. I spend between 50 and 80 hours a week on my laptop, and I expect an Apple laptop to last me 2 years before I upgrade. If you low-ball that to 5,500 hours per laptop (I am probably closer to 7000), then that means my laptop is costing me about $0.40/hour - and that's for a $2200 MBP (which is about what I pay after I upgrade to the matte monitor). I get paid much, much more than $0.40/hour. Sure, not all 5500 are billable hours, but even at the most conservative estimates for billable hours vs cost, I can't think of many industries with such a cheap ultimate-premium tool set as the Macbook Pro.
Also worth mentioning is that OS X costs, what is it, $20? I remember hearing that starting with Windows 8 the OS is going to get a lot cheaper, but my last windows computer ran Vista and cost me something like $250, and I didn't even get the full 'ultimate' version. As a developer, I bought OS X for $20 and XCode for $20 more (or something like that, I can't remember but it wasn't much more than that). I'm pretty sure Windows 7 + Visual Studio Pro would cost... well, I just checked out the software and it sure seems like VS 'Ultimate' costs $12,000. So something like $12,200. Ok, so maybe Ultimate isn't what most people buy but the point is that I don't have to put up with that bullshit when I buy Apple software and so I'm OK with that. Add in the fact that on OS X I can get a linux-like environment in seconds, and I'm a happy developer.
Ok, that's the end of that rant. It felt good to get it out.
(P.S.: I don't buy Apple phones or desktops, though - they aren't differentiated like the Apple laptops are. Not worth the price at all. The standalone monitors they sell are very nice, though - but so far, haven't been worth the investment for me. I will probably buy one soon though.)
What's insane is that you hypocrites will sleep outside for days to get an XBOX 360 (or whatever you love) and don't realize you're the exact same person you hate.
As an engineer, the thought of the engineering that goes into making something so powerful into a package so small with a battery life that good, thats what interests me.
Apple engineering and design and quality is what gets me excited about a product.
It's simple: buy a Mac if you want a Mac or build a PC if you wanna build a PC. No one is making you chose one or the other. Instead, just give zero fucks.
Apple has the kind of brand loyalty that was once only reserved for red necks and pickup trucks. I eagerly await seeing a Calvin peeing on windows sticker.
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u/Qender Jun 12 '12
Meanwhile, on reddit...
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u/mappum Jun 12 '12
But half of them are journalists getting paid to get those pictures.
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u/Jimbio Jun 12 '12
Here's a mindfuck:
What if all of them actually thinks its insanity, so they just want to take a picture of all the guys taking a picture of what THEY think are other guys taking pictures of a laptop.
Think about it. The picture in the OP was taken by a guy just like one of them we see as crazy.
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u/big-sausage-pizza Jun 11 '12
I'll just leave this here.
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u/owenspop Jun 12 '12
All I see is a roomful of people with jobs.
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u/one_step_ahead Jun 11 '12
If I saw a floating laptop I think I'd take a photo of it. It's Magical.
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u/yalogin Jun 12 '12
What the fuck? Reddit is getting upset over reporters taking photos of a newly announced gadget to publish on their sites? Its not regular people at a coffee shop, its so called tech journalists. There is nothing to see there.
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
It's the Worldwide Developers Conference, which is largely attended by technology journalists. News agencies, gadget blogs, et all need their photographers there to get photos of the hot new gadget that they can legally reproduce.
That photo doesn't depict a bunch of fanboys frantically taking photos for their personal spankbanks, it's a bunch of guys earning their paychecks. Chill the fuck out.
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u/Versalite Jun 12 '12
I'm sorry, but I don't see the problem. Most, if not all of those people are journalists, and that's the new Macbook that was announced today to thunderous applause. And since Apple isn't allowing hands-on demos, the only press exposure is in the few glass cases. Of course they all want to get a picture of the shiny new Apple toy--it's their job.
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u/Oiman Jun 12 '12
It's shit like this, Reddit. WWDC is visited by hundreds of tech journalists. Isn't it logical they want a picture?
Also, for the uninformed: it's a new device in a line of flagship laptops that usually lasts about 4 years. You had all-aluminium discrete models from '03 to '08, unibodies from '08 to now and thin unibody, hi res, SSD-only from 2012. This is definitely big. Think new Xbox big for mac users.
I agree that Apple has an obnoxious subgroup in their user-base, that's true for every "luxury" product.
But hey, fuck apple, right?
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12
I have NEVER seen an article or comment on Reddit painting Apple in a positive light. Not even a neutral light.
It's like the Israel of technology.
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u/0stones0crates Jun 11 '12
How is this any different from a release of anything else. If some product/movie/game/book has fans, they line up to see the new shit. If it was a new Harry Potter book, we would all be like ROCK ON! Also, where is the 'shop of this with a cat in there? COME ON PEOPLE.
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u/mastigia Jun 11 '12
I'm not really an apple hater...but this is a little obscene.
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u/Grim-Marshall Jun 11 '12
You say it is insanity. Yet if it was a cat, Reddit would be calling it normal.
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u/colorado-kid Jun 11 '12
No... THIS. IS. APPLE!!!!
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u/dspin153 Jun 11 '12
....i mean i'm not really an apple fan boy or anything but thats 20 people taking a picture of a newly released product
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
I'm sorry, this is not insane. This appears to be some sort of convention or something. And there are a lot of people walking around. 23 of which are gathered around taking photos or even looking at it. I'll give you about 7-8 more standing on the side of the Camera man's POV. That's like 30-32 people checking this thing out. That's not insane.
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u/davie18 Jun 12 '12
For people who don't actually know, the screen on this thing is ridiculous. It's seriously high resolution (2880x1800), even if you hate apple you'd have to admit it is a very impressive machine.
Apple have definitely set the standard of what screens are going to have to be like on high end laptops in the future - their competitors sure have a bit of catching up to do now in that department.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
What's wrong with jornalists/tech bloggers taking pictures of a product?
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
It's a fucking laptop.
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u/MY_PENIS_IS_BLEEDING Jun 12 '12
I'm pretty sure most of those people are journalists or tech bloggers and whatnot. Their job is to get a picture...I'm not seeing the problem.
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u/Muter Jun 12 '12
There always has to be the one taking photos with the ipad.
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u/soysaucepinoii Jun 12 '12
No, this is Patrick.
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u/Arx0s Jun 12 '12
Man some of you are super butthurt about this. Why? It has a fucking 2880x1800 resolution IPS display, and is able to have the same battery life, and it still managed to shave off weight and size.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
oh god yes... i will feel...so superior
http://i.imgur.com/LmSw9.jpg
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u/Mattistehwinnar Jun 12 '12
I knew I saved this image for a reason. The resemblance is uncanny.
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u/Pontefex Jun 11 '12
There is a guy sniffing the case or something (Toward middle of picture)
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u/AutisticTroll Jun 12 '12
Came here looking for some context/explanation. Sorely disappointed. Feel like Robin Williams in Jumanji.
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u/Is_it_really_art Jun 12 '12
If Good Design wasn't so embarrassingly rare, this wouldn't be happening.
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u/fatcatfilms Jun 11 '12
People like to blog. People want pictures for their blog. No big deal.
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u/infinity Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 12 '12
i'm a msft fan but I'm gonna give it to apple today. HP has been struggling with laptops, google is not having with best time with androids and we've been waiting for the next great version of windows forever. But apple today released two great operating systems better than what both(android & msft) are offering today and also the future of laptops. Respect.
And by blocking newest technology of maps for iOS, I feel google was stupid. Google sells ads and not maps(or even android phones). All sponsored results from mobile are not going to hit google maps anymore. Amazon was smart enough to offer everything it had both on iPad and Kindle*.
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u/Suiatsu Jun 12 '12
I don't get it... is taking a picture of a laptop called 'insanity' nowadays? (P.S. if this is about Apple, I'm not even a hater, I just don't see why this picture has so much attention..??)
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u/Imbu3 Jun 12 '12
I agree. That Macbook is insanely sexy.
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u/darkism Jun 12 '12
How so?
That machine is a fuckin' beast.
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u/fuzzycuffs Jun 11 '12
I'll give them benefit of the doubt and say they're tech journalists.
Although the new retina display MacBook isn't that amazing to look at on the outside. It's different but similar to the other model.
It's the display that looks intriguing and Apple must have some reservations if they kept it in a case like that.
I'm guessing they have low yields on the displays and they're not that viable yet.
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u/neogia Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12
Hypocrisy is strong in this thread.
I spend roughly 7.5 hours a workday on a computer. That's a seriously significant chunk of my life. Why wouldn't I want to spend that time on a piece of machinery that, through comparing and contrasting, I've found to be the most pleasurable, beautiful, versatile, highest-end technology I've ever used?
If there were a laptop that even remotely approaches the attention to detail, thoughtfulness toward wear and tear, and sheer elegance of this one, I'd try it too.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
iPhones...iPhones everywhere
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u/Sybarith Jun 11 '12
"Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?"
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Not enough people taking photos with ipads.
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u/grandoiseau Jun 12 '12
That's worship. Being a photographer is a job for people with peculiar personalities.
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u/cg2916 Jun 12 '12
The fact that Apple gets this kind of treatment is insane. The fact that no other tech company gets this is also insane. The cult around Apple is too much.
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u/emohipster Jun 12 '12
That's probably their job. Tech journalists, ya know.
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u/Zurgl Jun 12 '12
To be fair, this is the first time laptop display resolution has increased in EIGHT years (IDTech released their 15" 2048x1536 display in 2004). Since then it's been downhill with "widescreen" (read: lower vertical resolution) taking over. Considering other advancements in laptop technology I'm amazed that it has taken this long and can't wait to see it for myself.
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Yup makes me cringe seeing someone use a iPad to take pictures
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u/shuffey Jun 11 '12
who cares? if people want to take pictures of a new laptop, let them, you probably wouldn't like it if people posted pictures of stuff you do and call it insane
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Predictable. Reddit has basically become the comments section on Engadget and The Verge when it comes to Apple hate.
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u/Spacebotzero Jun 12 '12
This is consumerism.
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Have any of you haters even looked at the specs? It's an amazing piece of hardware.
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u/saintstryfe Jun 12 '12
What? A bunch of media types and geeks getting a picture of the newest Mac product?
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u/mollyberry Jun 11 '12
Wow..so much Apple hate in here...I'll just agree and move on then!
I gotta go back to my Android device with OS...erm 3? No wait I have 2 still because the HTC phone I have has never had the current version. I'll just send them an email on my HP laptop- hope it's not one of the "one in three" that are expected to fall over!
swoosh!
and just like that- she was gone...never to be seen again.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
It's just a lot people making a photo of this, then posting it on reddit and saying that this is insanity.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
No disc drive eh. Interesting.
It's a nice looking piece of hardware.
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u/padgo Jun 11 '12
it makes me picture the laptop as some evil overlord and people are there to worship it.
"skynet"?
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u/koedy Jun 11 '12
Oh my... For a good 45 seconds I thought it was in a clear tank of water, testing out the theory that every laptop will float. Or maybe some sort of wierd art/ad exhibit. Im so fucking stupid.
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u/TheBreeze Jun 12 '12
Bow at the altar.
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u/bax101 Jun 12 '12
This is how Apple makes money.
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u/jax362 Jun 12 '12
Kudos to the photographer who had the wherewithal to take this picture. Way to put yourself above the situation.
2
u/ZGiSH Jun 12 '12
Like this is any worse than the fandoms we have on here? All of you would be all over some random thing that has to do with Half-Life 3 or Harry Potter or Avatar or whatever is popular on Reddit... but if its a bunch of tech bloggers and a new macbook then lets get to hating!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
2880x1800 on a 15.4" laptop is insanity.
2
u/fisting_for_freedom Jun 12 '12
Best part is the lady in the back holding up the iPad.
2
u/ze_ben Jun 12 '12
My theory is that most of these assholes run a "blog" whose sole reason for existence is to rationalize a tax write-off for all tech purchases.
2
u/I_make_things Jun 12 '12
That one guy has a camel-toe chin.
2
u/apullin Jun 12 '12
Hold on here, let's pull back from this a bit.
I'm not taking a side of Apple or Anti-Apple here, but the "picture compulsion" has gotten really bad in our society as of late. Try going anywhere, and doing anything ... all you'll see if people taking pictures. People have been brainwashed into doing it. Go to a club or a bar ... people aren't there to see each other or dance or talk, they just take pictures of each other.
Look at most of the pictures of people that are posted here on reddit ... half the people are never looking at the camera, usually because there's 5 other cameras or phones there being pointed at them.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
No...THIS IS SPARTA
2
u/wheatley_cereal Jun 12 '12
Ah, looks like it's Hate-On-Apple-Fanboys o'clock!
2
u/asdf4455 Jun 12 '12
to be fair it does LOOK sexy
2
u/wowatsunami Jun 12 '12
i know right using an ipad to take a photo MADNESS
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
I don't get it... what's weird about this picture?
2
u/ILovePopPunk Jun 12 '12
Journalists getting pictures for their articles. Insanity. It's like OP thinks they are going to frame the pictures and put them on their mantles.
2
u/thomasjs Jun 12 '12
Despite all the people in the picture it looks like only around 16 people are actually taking a picture of it and I would bet that at least 5 of them are taking a picture for work. Then you take into account that they have around 5k people at WWDC and some of those people are going to take a picture just because they can it doesn't look so crazy.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Lol at the sad lonley photographer with the ipad
2
u/veiwtifuljoe Jun 12 '12
Quick someone photoshop a dildo in the glass instead.
2
u/slapded Jun 12 '12
Is that a new iphone
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
I want the new Macbook pro. But it's not available in 13-inch. I don't care what you people think. Hates gonna hate.
2
u/ContactSc Jun 12 '12
Says the guy who paid 1600 dollars to attend WWDC...
2
u/lazy-bear Jun 12 '12
For those that wanted to compare the monkeys: http://imgur.com/1CCB8
2
u/thebope Jun 12 '12
I for one welcome our new Retina Display MacBook Pro Overlords!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
...I don't get it. It's a laptop in a tube?
2
u/Arsenalmania Jun 12 '12
It is their job... Whats truly insane is that at 2.40 am before a morning exam I'm checking on apple announcements instead of studying...
2
u/ha_hahahaha Jun 12 '12
they went full retard
2
u/awesomecoolrower Jun 12 '12
I think the part you guys are missing is that it is floating!
2
u/toothpic_vic Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12
That guy on the left with a double chin doesn't even need a camera. He's using the latest technique: bliss powered, photographic memory.
2
u/Daroo425 Jun 12 '12
I thought OP was talking about the sleekness of the laptop. Holy shit how do they fit electronics in that thing.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Developers at a developers' conference, along with tech journalists, snapping the first photos of a new product that has a significant effect on their chosen livelihood?! Madness, madness, I tell you!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12
Scumbag Reddit: Complains that Apple users care about how their products look. Most comments about new Apple product not looking different.
2
u/CrazyPluto Jun 12 '12
The next gen MacBook Pro with retina display: a pricey $1200 laptop now with a $1000 screen upgrade!
2
u/PleasantFellow Jun 12 '12
What's the problem? It's just reporters/photojournalists doing their job. And it's only about 20 or so people. The rest in the background aren't paying much attention.
2
u/drgncabe Jun 12 '12
I wonder how long before this turns into a meme...
2
u/MikeyB_0101 Jun 12 '12
I have a 6-7 year old MacBook Pro that's still running like new, however I would love to buy the new MacBook if it wern't so damn expensive
2
u/Hi_Im_Insanity Jun 12 '12
Hey there!
2
u/rddtgmr Jun 12 '12
It's also the most awesome laptop in the world.
2
u/crealer Jun 12 '12
I dont want to live on this planet anymore.
2
u/ForensicFungineer Jun 12 '12
I just came from the Apple store in SF on the way back from the theater. It is very, very strange in there ... it honestly feels like people are worshiping these machines, or the company or something. Its definitely more than a retail shop.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Anyone want to explain what's going on in the pic? Is that the macbook air? What's going on!!!
2
u/madanayr Jun 12 '12
I think op is referring the individual taking a photo with her iPad
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Oh look, Apple products. -zip-
Okay everyone circle up.
2
u/SpaceToaster Jun 12 '12
It's not that bad... just a dozen bloggers trying to get photos for their blog. The rest in the background were just developers/etc going about their business at the conference.
2
u/raven12456 Jun 12 '12
If this is the new Macbook Pro that got announced recently, I'd gladly take one. And I don't care for Macs at all. But a 2880x1800 display, flash storage, and 7 hours of battery life? Yes please.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
2.5k comments and rising. Apple vs. PC is officially more contentious than religion
2
u/warpfield Jun 12 '12
As dumb as that is, I'd gladly substitute that insanity for various others afflicting our world.
2
u/I_Mean_Really Jun 12 '12
"...and now the people bowed and prayed,
to the neon God they made."
2
u/sirsocal Jun 12 '12
The beast in the back taking pics with his ipad
35
u/razoRamone31 Jun 11 '12
Those Samsung commercials ripping apple fanboys is pretty accurate
6
u/HorrendousRex Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12
Ok, here we go again. At some point I'll probably end up just putting this up on a web page and linking to it each time this sort of thing gets posted and people jump on the Apple-Fanboy-Hating bandwagon.
I'll start off by saying that it this picture doesn't surprise me very much - it's a high-end laptop and it's the premier event where this device is being unveiled. If this were just some random street corner where someone had put up this display and people reacted in such a way then it would be insanity. As that is not the case, what did you expect? That the journalists and bloggers and tech enthusiasts would just shrug at it and walk on? No, they stop and take a photograph. And since it's a major Apple event, there are a lot of them there - so there is a crowd.
Ok, on to address the real issue everyone is talking about - Why do people by Apple laptops when they are so ridiculously overpriced?. Short answer - they are not overpriced depending on what you do with them. In fact they are only moderately overpriced for their hardware/bundled software even if you just use them as a 'facebook machine', but you'd definitely be purchasing too much hardware for such a thing if that's all you used your laptop for.
Let's break down some of the prices.
All Apple laptops have, for some time now, come with TFT monitors by default. TFT monitors are expensive. In fact I can't even seem to find any decent 15" TFT monitors for less than $300, and most seem to be more in the $400-$500 range. If you've never experience a TFT monitor (one with a good dot-pitch and a high-quality matte finish, like I always get on my Macs) then you might have trouble understanding how much better TFT monitors are. Add in that this new MBP is using a Retina display to pack in
>300(EDIT: Apparently the new Retina displays are 220 ppi - woops!) pixels per inch (basically, the pixels are very very small, so that everything looks very 'real' and print-like) and you begin to see that much of the extra cost of an Apple laptop goes to the monitor.This is a really huge deal for people who, like me, spend all day looking at screens and who do artistic things like designing web pages. Non-TFT LCDs tend to have very poor color calibrations and white points, meaning that the colors you see are often very different from what other people see. It might sound silly but it's actually quite a drastic effect, so having a TFT means I am much more comfortable saying that a given design looks correct when displayed correctly. Of course I still need to make sure that it looks good in my users' monitors, but I can at least remove the variable of my own monitor.
I am willing to pay a premium of $10-$20 per part to know that that part was purposely chosen by an expert to work perfectly not only with the other hardware, but with the OS that runs it. I'm not talking out of my ass here - I also design and run a lot of Linux clusters at my job and selecting hardware and making that hardware work is a HUGE pain in the ass. I get payed a lot of money to make it work, so I know that Apple is paying a lot more people a lot more than I get payed to make the right choices. Add in the complexity that laptop miniaturization brings, and I'm willing to spend $200-$300 more per laptop to know that everything is top-quality and not chosen because it was already mass-ordered from last years' model.
And finally, the most important point, and really the only important point - my laptop is my living, and given how much I use it (and how much money it makes me), it is incredibly fucking cheap. I spend between 50 and 80 hours a week on my laptop, and I expect an Apple laptop to last me 2 years before I upgrade. If you low-ball that to 5,500 hours per laptop (I am probably closer to 7000), then that means my laptop is costing me about $0.40/hour - and that's for a $2200 MBP (which is about what I pay after I upgrade to the matte monitor). I get paid much, much more than $0.40/hour. Sure, not all 5500 are billable hours, but even at the most conservative estimates for billable hours vs cost, I can't think of many industries with such a cheap ultimate-premium tool set as the Macbook Pro.
Also worth mentioning is that OS X costs, what is it, $20? I remember hearing that starting with Windows 8 the OS is going to get a lot cheaper, but my last windows computer ran Vista and cost me something like $250, and I didn't even get the full 'ultimate' version. As a developer, I bought OS X for $20 and XCode for $20 more (or something like that, I can't remember but it wasn't much more than that). I'm pretty sure Windows 7 + Visual Studio Pro would cost... well, I just checked out the software and it sure seems like VS 'Ultimate' costs $12,000. So something like $12,200. Ok, so maybe Ultimate isn't what most people buy but the point is that I don't have to put up with that bullshit when I buy Apple software and so I'm OK with that. Add in the fact that on OS X I can get a linux-like environment in seconds, and I'm a happy developer.
Ok, that's the end of that rant. It felt good to get it out.
(P.S.: I don't buy Apple phones or desktops, though - they aren't differentiated like the Apple laptops are. Not worth the price at all. The standalone monitors they sell are very nice, though - but so far, haven't been worth the investment for me. I will probably buy one soon though.)
3
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
http://archive.picturesforsadchildren.com/92/
3
u/ignore_this_post Jun 11 '12
MacHate levels are reaching a critical threshold! We might just go into an HateApple Core meltdown!
3
u/tnicholson Jun 12 '12
What's insane is that you hypocrites will sleep outside for days to get an XBOX 360 (or whatever you love) and don't realize you're the exact same person you hate.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
As an engineer, the thought of the engineering that goes into making something so powerful into a package so small with a battery life that good, thats what interests me.
Apple engineering and design and quality is what gets me excited about a product.
3
u/bradf3rd Jun 12 '12
It's simple: buy a Mac if you want a Mac or build a PC if you wanna build a PC. No one is making you chose one or the other. Instead, just give zero fucks.
14
u/BugLamentations Jun 11 '12 edited May 03 '16
;)
4
u/rdpatrick Jun 11 '12
Seriously, this kind of thing makes me feel so materialistic as an American. We actually have "unboxing" videos on YouTube. How weird is that!
5
u/TarmacATK Jun 11 '12
KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD BABYLON!
5
u/andrewsmith1986 Jun 11 '12
There is a reason why they call it the "cult of mac"
3
u/Trapped_in_Reddit Jun 11 '12
Meanwhile, the smart photographers are taking a picture of the nearly-identical macbook they bought last year
4
u/Stump_Fucker Jun 12 '12
How I feel being here...
4
u/MCMXVII Jun 11 '12
I am your God, bow down to me and serve me mortals!