Of late I’ve noticed myself becoming ever more frustrated by Apple. My frustration is quite undirected though since I own no Apple products myself (being a poor scholarship student) but I do have a fair bit of experience with them. My sister, the graphic designer, owns a great big iMac and I’ve been following the development of the iPad closely since it was announced. I’ve always had a love for Apple products for many of the same reasons as most people but mainly because they always work (which none of my electronics seem to ever do) and more importantly the amount of effort that is put into their design, particularly the mechanical design.
So here’s my gripe: obviously I’m not frustrated by Apple (exept for their prices for the iPad I lust after) but really the fact that nothing else can compare. Right now I’m working on my Toshiba laptop which in blatant and misguided emulation of the Macbook is made of painted silver plastic instead of aluminium and all the ports are along the sides. Why Toshiba? At all times I have at least three USB ports occupied by my external hard-drive, mobile internet dongle and mouse receiver. Then there’s also the power cable that always needs to be plugged in because the battery doesn’t last the two hours stated in the manual which it also didn’t do when it was new. Not to forget, with me being an extreme Audiophile, I have an audio cable plugged in the headphone jack right under my palm that always gets pushed loose when I try to type. To prove my point it just happened now interrupting Patti Smith quite rudely. All of these wires jut out at the sides like ugly spider legs and is enough to drive a person (me) insane.
I see it more and more that companies are too lazy to spend a dollar on design and just follow what Apple does which leads to a disaster. And how can this be? In a day and age where we spend millions upon millions of dollars on research and development we still aren’t attentively looking at the every day use of consumer products. I suppose it’s because companies like Toshiba don’t really give a *** because we’re gonna buy their sub-par products no matter what. We’re forced to really. Can you show me a normal person who can afford a fleet of Apple products however much I… eh hem, they want to?
I wonder how long a Macbook lasts compared to a new ordinary laptop that needs to be replaced every two years. Mine is showing the signs of it’s age already (it’s been a year) and I sit with the difficult decision of either bankrupting myself for a Macbook Pro next year or buying another failed imitation that will bankrupt me in the long-run anyway and frustrate me endlessly. I honestly don’t know what to do.
