I'll agree the model introduced before that (2013 if I am correct) was long overdue for a remake.
* Please note: the link above points to the Apple Store page because I could not find a product/spec page dedicated to the rack mount edition that would let me post both a link for the tower version and the rack mount version. This is the only page I found that clearly shows the 2 configurations side-by-side. Apple clearly does not need my help to sell their products, and I am not trying to influence anyone into buying any of the products on their site. I sincerely hope I did not offend anyone by posting a direct link to a store page.
If you are talking about the server OS, I am sad they no longer offer it. On a side note, even if that part of their product lineup has some die hard fans, I think Apple is mostly geared towards:
consumers and not businesses
hardware and not software
their mobile phone products more than the desktop computer products
paid services having recurring revenue models
managing the revenue streams from their marketplaces (itunes, tv, app store for desktop & iOS, etc.)
The server product is a hardware product for the business segment: nothing that will move their needle. Basically, I don't blame them for not being interested. They do not have good penetration in that market, aside for niche use cases. I do not see how that would change. They probably do not see it either, nor do they seek that change, because they simply do not need that to change. They make their statements elsewhere. I'm only glad they keep putting out new models, they could easily have dropped that part of their lineup. The 2013 model would have been a sad ending for that glorious product.
I had a couple of Xserves in the garage until the last clear out last year. Fantastic piece of kit.
Apple are completely consumer focussed, which is why they donāt care about backward compatibility.
However, their recognition that they lost the server wars to Microsoft and Linux in some ways should be celebrated with the compatibility their products have with both.
hmm, I don't think it is that easy: their hardware does only sell because of their software and its integration into a wider ecosystem also inhabiting ever new services. Otherwise nobody would have bought an Apple computer in the last decade - OK almost no one.
In this the M1 and the strategy going with this move from x86 to ARM is gamechanging from my point of view. It only works because of the software being there and being blazingly fast from day one and in numbers. This goes for ARM-native as well as Rosetta2 dependend programms.
Everything exists from this point on only in the Apple-enclave of their ecosystem.
The bridge to the outer world: only APIs and the browser, sandboxed and secured. Every third party software will get its own domain on the platform but integration and exchange via file system will become harder in years coming.
A bit distopian but for me the path from Mojave to Catalina and now Big Sur shows a clear direction. It's all about integration, no distinction between hardware and software company. Others try to copy this because binding customers this way creates strong ties.
Back to the M1 MacBook, one other thing that I donāt believe Iāve mentioned: Iām frequently being asked to use touch ID or enter my password when filing from, say the Desktop to a folder in Documents.
As previously mentioned, this MacBook Pro was setup without any legacy settings or applications, everything being manually added. My data files and folders from the original MacBook Air were transferred using standard file share over the LAN (from memory, seems ages ago now). All files and folders stored on the Desktop have read & write permissions for my account with staff and everyone groups varying from read only to read & write.
However, all folders and files in the Documents folder have a read & write permissions for an owner called _mbsetupuser as well as staff and everyone groups. The transfer was the same procedure for other folders such as Pictures, Movies, etc and these have the correct permissions.
The permissions on the original MacBook are as expected, so there has been something rather unusual about the transfer of data to the āDocumentsā folder.
At the moment Iām lazily using the touch ID button. Disk Utility has reported no problems, so Iāll soon have to run through the Documents folder using Terminal with chown.
Yes I agree software is relevant, no one wants an empty box.
I stress they are focused on hardware and not software when thinking about where their revenue comes from.
They used to be compared to Microsoft all the time. Microsoft is a software company. They sell their OS, they sell their Office Suite, etc. Only recently did they get into the game of hardware with the surface.
Apple sells mostly hardware (phones, watches, computers). They give their OS with the hardware. The revenue models are significantly different and this is often overlooked. That was all I wanted to point out.
It may be 40% on the gross margin ( hardware cost vs sale )... but they have a much larger organization to also pay for. Net profit would probably be near impossible to calculate to an individual machine.
What is your note about the 6-10% margin for retailers based on? In all my years of working with businesses in the US, both from the perspective of a developer and through accounting...I've rarely seen gross margins below 20%, with a few exceptions. Most gross margins are in the 25-40% range. If you are talking net profit, yeah, I can see that. But then we are back to apple and oranges.
At the risk this post is going further off track, I donāt think there is any doubt Apple are making money, but looking at the margin per device, I understand it to be around 40%. Their profit and loss accounts are published, so the overall profit is public knowledge.
My experience of 15 years working for an Apple partner, prior to AppleStores, and retailing hardware and software in the UK. Apple hardware was incredibly thin margins, but higher margins could be achieved on third party products. The best margins we ever achieved were on Dell Servers purchased directly from Dell, but the market for 40% margins have long gone.
Josh you're completly wrong about margins, not in in computing,
apple resellers get 15% at most, others like 5-8%
and yes apple has 30-40% margin on products, that'a fact
One thing is heard yesterday talking about M1 has a moment where the
Obama admin worked on a projection that energy usage required for
computing in the USA 2020 would be 12% of the total. The energy usage
required for computing in USA is 1% presently. The tech-head attributed
that to the use of ARM chips in hardware. With that it mind, big
companies could look at saving huge amounts of money on the energy bill.
That's a big motivator. Then there is the possibility that ARM
development will but Moore's Law back on track.
A quick update, as Iāve just resolved the most annoying issue affecting my productivity, where windows and dialogues have been opening up randomly anywhere on the 34ā or MacBook Pro display.
It was a Mission Control setting rather than an omission from the M1 MacBook, the Assign To option only appears if at least 1 additional Space is added.
However, it treats FileMaker Pro 18 Advanced (my reference version) and FileMaker Pro 19 (my development version) as one application, so trying to reference an old and new multi-file solution remains a challenge, but this was the case before.
However, this will make a big difference and I havenāt used my 1-year old Intel MacBook since, as the M1 laptop continues to impress.
However, the loss of resolution and display arrangement after the displays dim remains an annoyance. After this, the Display preferences have to be opened and all settings adjusted.
The bluetooth issues persist. I havenāt had a disconnection with anything other than the Apple Magic Mouse 2. Keyboard, Airpods, Logitech MX Anywhere and Microsoft Arc Mouse absolutely fine.
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