Anand Lal Shimpi, the editor and publisher of the well-regarded AnandTech site, is going to work at Apple.
An Apple rep confirmed that the company was hiring Shimpi, but wouldn’t provide any other details.
Last night, via a post on the site he founded in 1997, Shimpi said he was “officially retiring from the tech publishing world,” but didn’t say what he was doing next. “I won’t stay idle forever. There are a bunch of challenges out there :)”, he wrote.
This is great news for him, and after 17 years of some of the best technology journalism in the world, he certainly deserves a change of pace. Still, the rest of us lose a great voice, one of the best technology journalists of all time.
Inside Apple, nobody hears you scream.
Looking through his Apple product reviews (http://www.anandtech.com/tag/mac), I wonder if Shimpi hasn’t been on the Apply payroll for some time already. I hate conspiracy theories, but this smells.
Bullshit.
The cold and harsh truth: every Mac is better – most often exponentially so – than its non-Apple counterpart. The iMac is the best all-in-one. The MacBook Air is the best ultrabook. And so on.
In mobile, it’s a bit dicier, but the iPad is still the best tablet. I think the iPhone was surpassed left and right long ago, but that’s it.
Macs and the iPad get positive reviews because they are better than the competition (note that this not mean that they are better for you).
I’m not sure any Apple mobile devices have been the “best” for a few years now – iOS was overtaken by Android with the release of Jelly Bean, various top-end mobiles (HTC, Samsung, LG even) are better than the equivalent iPhone and the iPad+iPad Mini have been beaten by various Nexus and Samsung tablets.
Apple haven’t innovated in the mobile space since they introduced the “Retina” display, IMHO. I do like the hardware of Apple’s laptops, but can’t say I’m a fan of Mac OS X myself and the pricing of said laptops is quite ludicrous.
iOS overtaken by Android? I’m curious what makes you say that.
Android is more open and customisable I’ll give you that, so if you don’t like the way iOS works I can see why you would prefer Android.
But in which way would it otherwise be superior to iOS?
As for hardware there are certainly phones that are as good or better than the iPhone. But when it comes to tablets.. really?
Yeah sure, if you like the way iOS works out of the box, it’s a fine mobile OS. But if you don’t, it’s a miserable pile of ass.
Same goes for any OS really. And customisability usually comes at a price.
You contradict yourself. Customisability comes at a price and iOS did not pay it where Android did.
No I didn’t contradict myself. Perhaps I failed to communicate properly.
Both models have their strengths and weaknesses. Either way you need to make compromises.
Bullshit. This is only true just after these machines come out. It is also only true when you take the Mac as the baseline and try to find a pc to match it. If you take a pc as the baseline and try to find a Mac to match it you can also say that it is better than the Mac. Macs are only sold at the high-end price points, so of course you should expect high-end machines
There is no way that you can claim that a Mac Mini is still the best small pc. “With third-generation Intel Core processors, Mac mini keeps up with computers twice its size.” They are way to slow/big/expensive/powerhungry compared to modern small form factors. This device category really needs an update.
How can you call an All-In-One without touch the best All-In-One? And for an 1800 Dollarmachine it should have a much better SSD than a “1 TB 7200 RPM HD” (and I know that that is a Fusion drive)
And MacBook Airs are indeed very nice machines, but the resolution cannot be taken seriously anymore. “The 11-inch MacBook Air features a resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, while the 13-inch model wows with a resolution of 1440 by 900 pixels.” Seriously? 1440×900 WOWS!
How are those “exponentially better” than their counterparts? Don’t get me wrong, they are all pretty nice, high-end machines but their specs haven’t kept up with the competition while their prices haven’t dropped enough to compensate for that.
I am still liking my ipad2, despite its low specs it does what I want. At that time I don’t think there was any doubt about it being the best tablet. I think iPad Air is still among the best, but I couldn’t call it the best. Apple devices are nice, but not magically the best simply because Apple made them. And the competition has caught up and overtaken Apple for the most part
The reason why I liked Anand is because of the whole incredibly detailed analysis that lets you make up your own mind about the product based on facts. When Thom says something as generic as “The cold and harsh truth: every Mac is better – most often exponentially so – than its non-Apple counterpart. The iMac is the best all-in-one. The MacBook Air is the best ultrabook. And so on. ” that is actually exactly the opposite as Anand would say
Edited 2014-09-01 11:37 UTC
Yeah, “exponentially better” doesn’t actually mean anything. Is Thom getting hired too?
I think everyone’s opinions are informed by their own experience. I run a company-issued Dell laptop running Windows 7 with an i7 2.8 processor and 8 gigs of ram…it’s a nice machine, and I like it fine. However, I just set up a new 2012 Mac Mini with 16 gigs of ram and a 2.3 quad core i7 running Mavericks, and also running Win 7 Pro via Parallels (with 4 gigs of ram allocated)….and with a 1 TB 7200 mechanical HD. The humble little Mini is easily the equal of the Dell, IMHO if not clearly superior….YMMV. And, I have long considered Anand’s reviews to be reliable for comparison purposes, and quite even-handed too.
First of all, there is no 2.3 Ghz model with a 7200 RPM harddisk. You either pay 200 dollars extra for a Fusion-Drive or you get a 5400 RPM.
You also spend 300 dollar for that extra memory so your “humble” machine is not very humble.
And then you compare a laptop with an unidentified disk and a company provided windows installation (bloatware/domain) with a self-installed virtual on a desktop and you draw conclusions from that? Didn’t Anand teach you how to compare? You take specs/price/calculated-performance/features and you compare them with equal configurations. Than you attach weighing factors to whatever you think is important for you and voila…the best hardware for you
It is a custom Mac Mini with an HGST 1TB 7200 rpm drive added (not purchased at Apple); and the processor is indeed the quad core I7 2.3 model and the 16 gigs of ram were also not supplied by Apple. Cruise up to CustomTech Sales to duplicate my configuration for around $1k.
Then, I am comparing the systems I run in the real world every day, which is how MY opinion is formed…YMMV.
Which makes it a system Apple doesn’t sell.
And you’ve made a great point in here. Apple has not refreshed the Mac Mini since 2012! I have one and I’m disk bound with Mail and several other programs. It’s very slow at times. Since it uses a laptop HDD, it’s slow and doesn’t have a lot of disk space. I end up buying two huge external hard drives to store my iTunes collection and for a time machine backup. That means my desk is full of ugly boxes. I miss the old mac pro form factor with real drive bays.
On the CPU side of things, Apple doesn’t make a system that’s much faster without dropping close to $2000. Most Macs ship with dual core below that price point aside from the iMac. Almost two years later and Apple only has one MacBook Pro that is faster than their 2012 mini.
That MacBook Air is the *only* machine in Apple’s lineup with a 16:9 display. And to be honest, there are PC manufacturers still pushing that crap resolution out today on MUCH LARGER MACHINES.
Every other Mac laptop has a 16:10 ratio. Apple is the only company still offering taller screens. Every other manufacturer is offering crap 16:9 ratio panels, good for watching movies (but not really because you still get black bars) and nothing else. Every. Single. Manufacturer.
Resolution wise, the Retina display set off a shitstorm in the computer market where just *this year* manufacturers are starting to give us IPS displays again and starting to move away from the 1366×768 display as standard. There was a dead period, from around 2006 until 2013, when laptop displays were a race to the bottom. It made no sense that smartphones were coming out with higher resolutions than laptops. The 16:9 ratio is still garbage, because a new 15″ screen gives you less viewing area than a 14″ screen did just a few years ago. Apple is the only one getting it right, and they are responsible for the current trend away from shit panels.
What is it with the reality distortion field here? “Apple is the only one getting it right” “Apple is the only company still offering taller screens.”
Googles Chromebook (Pixel) and Microsofts Surface Pro 3 both have “taller” screens. Much “taller” than a Mac screen actually. And for the last 5 years or so my company has bought Dell Latitudes E65x0’s. (from E6500 to E6540). All of those came with 1920×1200 or 1920×1080 screens. If you want a good screen, you have to pay for it though. That is true now and that was true ages ago when I could choose between Toshiba 440CDS and 440CDT. Apple simply never offers a “CDS” but they also aren’t offering the best screens. The best screen they are selling is this one: http://www.apple.com/displays/specs.html
and guess what. That is not 4K and it is a 16:9 screen
Way to go off-topic by bringing up a tablet, a Chromebook, and a stand-alone monitor. The fact is that if you want to purchase a new laptop without a 16:9 ratio screen, Apple is your only bet.
The chromebook pixel is a laptop, how is he going off topic ? 3:2 aspect ratio, 2560 x 1700
Also there is this:
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-15-9530/pd 3200 x 1800 touchscreen
mbp pro retina 15″ = 2880×1800
I dont care about 16:10 or 16:9- id rather have 3200×1800(touchscreen) over 2880×1800 its more screen real estate any way you look at it.
its also around ^Alb500 cheaper than the comparable spec 15″ retina.
Or this :
http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/precision-m3800-workstation/pd again 3200×1800 (touch screen)
Or this:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/pc-peripherals/notebook-computer…
13.3″ SuperBright + 350nit QHD + LED Display (3200 x 1800) with Touch Screen Panel
or this:
http://shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/w-series/w540/#tab-te…
15.5″ 3K (2880 x 1620) (300 NITS) / also thinkpad t540p
I’ve said this previously Apple does generally pioneer stuff like this. They came to market first with the better res screens and i’m glad they did/do as laptop screens have been terrible for a long time, the original mbp 15 with its 1680×1050 res screen was no better either that is just a weird resolution. 1366×768 is just terrible and lenovo is still pushing out laptops with that shite resolution.
There is 1 major exception to the above though and thats Sony — Sony seem to fail at marketing their products (they just don’t have a rabid fanbase like Apple for most of their tech), but if you go back and look at their range:
Sony vaio Z was the first ultra book that I know of well before the macbook air incredible specs tiny laptops pushing the envelope but also incredibly expensive their screen resolutions were also very good they were full 1080p on 13″ laptops before retina release, for the time very impressive.
Afaik they have now sold their pc division which is good most of their recent laptops were pretty meh, but their top range laptops bested anything on the market.
Current market laptops the 15″ dell xps I personally put on top of the pile. I’m waiting on the intel broadwell/skylake release / refresh and really hope they provide a linux developer version of it, but even without it I am going to get it and wipe windows and stick on Linux.
Yep, Sony has been one of the top laptop manufacturers for sure. But yeah, as you said, they have failed with the marketing.
I’ve always wondered what might have happened if they had adopted BeOS back in the day and gone the Apple route. It would have been a risky thing for sure but I think a company like Sony would actually be able to pull it off. Plus they would have had an awesome OS for phones/tablets.
I don’t think any sane person would suggest that Apple makes the best laptops out there at any given time. It’s always a game of catch-up, and Apple doesn’t like to rush it. Which means that they will fall pretty far behind every now and then.
For me it always boils down to who offers the most compelling package. And for me OSX is one of those things that can make up for a lot. In fact I honestly don’t like where Apple are going with their computer line these days. Everything is glued and soldered. And they make them thin for no purpose, which means more heat and fan noise. But as a whole, they are still the best out there to me, much thanks to OSX and the software for it.
Funny you say this I’ve always thought Sony should have stuck its neck out and dumped windows for Linux – taken kde or enlightenment and themed it all and then integrated it with playstation and their audio and tv lines.
I really think it would have worked as well, playstation consoles are modified freebsd, their phones are all now android. It would have not been a big stretch for them to take Linux and make it work perfectly with their hardware – From what I understand gaikai and all of PSN runs on Linux, their tvs use montavista linux, infact:
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/common/search.html
Most of their embedded stuff is running on a Linux kernel.
Unfortunately there is also the Douche side to Sony, the Music and Movies side which would try and DRM the shit out of the OS which would have been terrible – I reckon protecting the movie and music arms of Sony has done the most damage to their hardware and brand.
Considering they’re a Japanese electronics company, probably also a lot, if not most, runs on TRON? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRON_project )
To be honest I’m not sure, it looks like most of their recent stuff is using linux. The only thing I can go by is stuff like this:
http://www.sony.net/Products/Linux/TV/category03.html
If you look at the earlier link I posted you can see all of the devices they have listed running Linux and its a big list.
Other thing to consider is that with TRON companies don’t have to list it in such source code distribution service?…
Meh, the only think Apple does “different” is that they are marketing what other companies sell to companies as consumer machines.
Buy a Thinkpad (tho i suspect the quality there has declined since the transfer from IBM to Lenovo) or any number of business models from HP or Dell and you will find the quality.
But those will be packaged in a utilitarian shell, not a softly glowing logo or shiny metallic surface to be found.
Yeah, unfortunately those “utilitarian shells” run Windows. I don’t care much about the looks, I do care about the software.
Anecdotically, why do most wintel laptop owners carry a mouse? I seem to be doing fine with just the trackpad on the apple overpriced shiny metallic surfaces.
Because a mouse is much more comfortable and faster to use? At least I think so. I mean, I can get by with a touchpad if I need to, but I’m much more efficient when using a real mouse.
Yeah, a real mouse sh!ts all even the best laptop trackpads, but (to me, at least) Apple’s trackpad implementation seems to be the best of a bad bunch. With most Wintel laptops, the trackpad drivers* are just piss poor. Heck, most lower-end (about same money as cheapest MacBook Air) ultrabooks’ trackpads only became useable once I wiped Windows and installed a Linux distro of some kind, and Linux isn’t known for being that great with out-of-the-box trackpad performance to begin with.
*My experience up until Win7. No idea if the situation’s improved with Win8 or not. Not interested in finding out, tbh.
Mice vs trackpads are personal preference. I like to use the very same 5 button Microsoft Intellimouse on my Macs and Dell lappie (I have several of these dinosaur mice, and they just work well for me)…on OSX and Win 7 both.
The Apple implementation of a trackpad is superior to anything Windows based. I have no idea why it is so hard for manufacturers to get right. Lenovo had it best with their trackpoint-only setup, but it seems that every other Windows setup (as well as the garbage rolling out of Lenovo these days) was prone to interpreting inadvertent palm hits as a mouse movement. The result is that most Windows users are sitting around with their trackpad DISABLED so they can type while using an external mouse.
“Most”? I haven’t noticed such trend at all…
BTW, touching the trackpoint during typing can also be a problem… and it has some other problems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick#Ergonomics (and linked there numerous research which shows that touchpads are actually faster)
For me, a thumb trackball is way better than a mouse or trackpad, this is coming from someone with sweaty hands. However, if it was down to a mouse and a trackpad (no matter how well implemented), I would choose a mouse anytime. Many trackpads have poor ergonomics (apple included). I have been using trackpads more than mice, just because it is convenient and have suffered RSI because of it. I would never recommend long term use of trackpads, a good mouse or trackball is best, ask any occupational therapist dealing with wrist injuries or CTS.
Now only if I could find something better built than a Logitech M570, I’d be in productivity heaven.
I think this is very much a personal preference. I started using a computer almost 30 years ago and a mouse (?) perhaps 20 years or so – I am embarrassed to say I can barely write.
Initially I carried around a mouse with my laptop but as trackpads got bigger I got used to gestures and and I found a mouse limiting. I now use a magic trackpad at my desktop ( at full acceleration ) and I find a mouse very unproductive ( except for gaming
I think my biggest beef with mice is the mechanical motion I have to make to reach portions of the screen which tends to be quite a bit slower. Even clicking is – to me – much more efficient on a trackpad ( two finger click, no press down ).
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Man, I don’t like to be harsh with people, but I cannot believe what you are saying really…
I’ve been using Thinkpads at work on a daily basis during the last 10 years or so, I know almost every model… they are not even close to the cheapest Macbook Pro!! Really, the difference is so so big that they seem from different centuries (at work I switched to my personal Macbook Air instead of the assigned Thinkpad).
In the past, before Lenovo, Thinkpads used to be ugly but sturdy machines (I loved my T42 so much, It was even better than my Powerbook)… but now Thinkpads are just ugly. There’s no added value in a Thinkpad, they are generic PC laptops with a premium price.
PS: I don’t know the situation with other PC brands like HP, Acer or Dell because I’ve never used one… but Thinkpads cannot even compete with Apple machines. 100% honest.
Edited 2014-09-02 02:53 UTC
So if IBM sells it, it’s quality, but if Apple sells it it’s “Meh.” Presumably the nice packaging detracts somehow.
I didnt think you were that stupid, but oh well..
Do you know what exponentially means? I for one would gladly like to be taken to school on what it means and how exactly it is one laptop or ultrabook can be “exponentially” better than another.
i also find that you are applying some strange logic here? if its not better for you, then how it is a better product? what is the metric of whats best then? the majority? who speaks for the majority?
Only for those that don’t care about graphics programming or pushing hardware performance.
Paying 1000^a`not more for half the features? No, thanks.
Edited 2014-09-02 08:07 UTC
Reality check. The cold hard truth is that Apple makes some of the best consumer laptops. However they inevitably become complacent and keep selling the same products for far too long.
No Apple product made in the last 15 years has been exponentially better than the competition.
Apple phones are ludicrously overpriced (without carrier subsidies) and their hardware is so far behind the leaders that they are a joke.
Except the Mac Pro. It doesn’t compete with workstations from Dell, HP, or Lenovo, unless you decide to limit it’s competition to “Things that are named ‘Mac Pro.'”
As for the rest of their hardware, it is only usually better at the beginning of the product cycle – their hardware refreshes are few and far between compared to the rest of the industry, and since they don’t really lower prices as well, their bang-for-the buck ratio starts to suck.
Also, you seem to be ignoring the Sony’s VAIO line, which frequently gets compared to the various MacBooks quite favorably, and isn’t at all clear-cut.
Are you actually serious? He always backs up with opinions with actual arguments instead of just saying things and from what I’ve seen I can’t find any instance where he went out of his way to praise anything from Apple. I dare you to point me to any such instance, I’m fairly certain you can’t.
I do not like Apple, I despise Jobs and I think their products are overpriced, but even then I find this kind of slander ridiculous and petty. Even worse, you’re slandering someone like Shimpi who has done absolutely nothing, ever, to deserve such. No, something smells here, but the wind blows from your general direction.
Unrelated – dude, you need to read more carefully. This: http://www.osnews.com/thread?595217 NO, NO, NO! I wasn’t talking about any of the projects you were, I was talking about the *actual* sourcecode of the OS they are re-creating. Unfortunately, having a life, I missed the window to respond on that thread.
I’m dubious.
Yes, you’re a dubious character. We all agree.
Indeed
Ignore this, OS News decided to post the same comment twice when I edited it to fix the formatting issues.
Just to make this worth existing:
http://bebits.com/app/4640
This is recompiled from private code.
Edited 2014-09-04 12:11 UTC
Dubious because of…? The code was quite famously leaked. Here is a bit of the code:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110505030748/www.bebox.nu/tech.php?s=t…
The BeBox specific stuff was leaked as no one thought that would be an issue. After all, who would even have a use for the bootrom code? More?
https://web.archive.org/web/20120106030610/www.bebox.nu/tech.php?s=t…
https://web.archive.org/web/20120106025642/www.bebox.nu/tech.php?s=t…
None of this was ever release, yeah? Sadly BeBox.nu is dead, so we need to jump through the hoops of Archive.org. But that is honest to goodness BeOS private kernel level code.
BeBox.nu is dead?…
(makes you wonder about how fleeing thing on the internet are; and how to avoid it)
But I still want to know from where the code was lifted!
From a tarball
There are 2 versions, one is corrupt and half the code is garbage, one is a fully compilable version of the OS. It builds once you’ve configured it. I build a PowerPC version a few times. It has a load of experimental stuff in it, the kernel doesn’t have the R5 patches that put the about box in the kernel, so you need to patch OpenTracker to get it to work, but the app server has the R5.1 decorator (non movable tabs, new look and feel) and all of the UI controls also have the new look and feel. It feels quite unpolished though, so it’s not what the 5.1 release used. It’s a pretty pointless and outdated OS though, and no, I don’t have the code any more, nor do I have a machine that would even compile it. It was a fun little distraction in the mid 2000’s.
And just for legal reasons: we never did anything with it, because it wasn’t ours to do anything with. All we did was build PowerPC versions because they were obsolete and it was obvious that the PowerPC version of Haiku would use ELF not PEF exe format, so the whole legacy BeOS for PowerPC was a complete and total dead end.
Edited 2014-09-05 11:03 UTC
No, from where originally the violation came?
Kudos to Anand. His site was in my daily feed ever since Jon Stokes left Ars Technica. I fully underwrite what Thom written.