Serendipitous solutions enthrall me, and broadens my thinking for when I'm faced with a condondrum.
I assume you are also playing along :) ?
For what I do with a laptop, a Chromebook is fine. And it's what I use.
Are you possibly able to understand that other people do other things with their laptops and so see value in the technology?
Like I spend my time compiling things. A fast, low-energy processor is brilliant for me, because it lets me work faster and for longer. Can you not understand how I'd see value in that?
But I don't own any Apple technology and can't think of a reason I would buy any.
Yes I do work in tech as a full-stack developer and sysadmin.
If Apple is compiling my application 1.5x as fast and lets me work 1.5x as long without recharging, that saves me genuine time in the day, either to do more work, or to work on my hobbies, or to take more time out. That's really valuable to me. That's why I buy it, and why so many other people buy it. The cost is pretty insignificant considering it's where I earn all my money and do 50% or so of my hobbies.
The M1 Max (the highest end chip available in a Mac laptop) is slower than competition from Intel and AMD, though. I'm not sure what its supposed to be 50% faster than, unless you are only comparing it to old Intel Macs.
I'm sure you can get even faster single-core by brute-force burning power, but Apple were trying to do something more intelligent by balancing with power.
I think anyone seriously trying to claim they can't see any value in this is clearly just being silly.
Yeah, that’s not true; it doesn’t even make any sense. And certainly not performance per watt.
Most people don't use a laptop much at home, preferring to consume media on a phone or smart TV. At work, most people use web applications and microsoft office and not much else.
So why do they need a fancy car? People like fancy cars. They have been buying them for years, and they aren't going to stop.
Now you are driving your jeep off road on your mountain ranch saying some people need an SUV and you are right, but you aren't rebutting what he is saying.
> I sometimes wonder what value these people see in this stuff.
And you answered it yourself with your own example:
> Now you are driving your jeep off road on your mountain ranch saying some people need an SUV and you are right, but you aren't rebutting what he is saying.
That's an example of someone seeing value in it right?
He’s a very casual user. In part, his positive impression was due to me setting up Ad blockers on his MacBook. But it’s also due to the speed, screen, build quality, and the expectation of longevity.
Also, he can resell the Apple for a pretty good price if he wants to. His Chromebook is practically worthless on the used markets.
He feels like it was money very well spent. Apple’s numbers suggest there are many like him.