Have Apple got boring?
Last week two things happened. Microsoft revealed a brave new innovative piece of hardware (shocking, I know), in the form of a huge touchscreen that swivels to allow creatives to get up close to their work like using a drafting table.
Meanwhile, Apple put a touchscreen where the function keys were.
I watched the Apple Keynote in a way that I never did back in the day, I kept skipping the boring bits. Essentially I was able to get the 1 hour long video down to a few minutes, within which I deducted that Apple had done the following with the MacBook Pro:
Replaced the function keys with a touch screen (Touchbar)
Made it faster
Made it lighter
Made it thinner
Other general improvements.
Now I know that those things are all good, and lots of work went into them - but they are not much different from the last thing they did with the MacBook, or the iMac, or the iPhone. Generally, improve things.
However, being a creative and having used Apple products since about 1996 when I started college, I have always know that the Mac is the place to be if you are a creative designer.
In my job I have my MacBook Pro hooked up to a large Apple Cinema display, I need a big screen! Yet Apple seemed to reveal that they were no longer making nice large displays when in the Keynote they talked about the new LG screen they had worked in partnership on. The Mac Pro was an innovative looking machine full of power when launched, but hasn't been updated in almost 2 years now. Is this a sign of changing times? Have Apple got boring? Have they forgotten creatives? I hope not.
Surface Studio
Microsoft on the other hand, came out with something I would have wanted Apple to - the Surface Studio.
This looks like what the iMac should have evolved into, one huge screen counterbalanced by a sleek base that contains the brains of the machine.
It swivels down to an angle that resembles a drafting table, making it ideal for creatives to lean on and really get into their work.
This is much like the iMac G4 that I loved the design of, I have never been a fan of how it has evolved since then.
I think the videos speak for themselves. Watch the Microsoft video and it just looks like something Apple should have been brave enough to make.
The Apple video, just seems like the same old, same old. Jonny Ive monotonously droning on about perfection and subtleties.
I hope that Apple are working on something, I really do - because as much as I want something like this, it still runs Windows.