Apple: Design Macs for Other Types of Professionals

Article Comments
43

I agree the power brick with Ethernet makes sense, I can’t see monitor and USB connectors within one however. Ethernet, like power, is set-and-forget, makes sense to let that be behind the desk and down on the floor. Can’t say the same for USB.

I have an earlier CalDigit, it’s a bit flakey, or perhaps my Mac is. Hard to say, one of the monitors blacks out occasionally.

I would love some form of a Dock like the TS4 but with two inputs and a switcher to select the device driving the monitors and peripherals attached.

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44

Thanks, Simon, we’re aware.

Oo, I like that idea.

45

Exactly. Ethernet usually is located similar to power and you plug it in once and forget, also like power. That’s almost never the case with all the other stuff plugged into these docks.

I’d say maybe monitors too, but since Apple displays usually come/came with only a single input, not even that input can be allowed to go all too far if you have more than just one computer you use with the screen.

46

Here’s a visual example of why 5K is better than 4K for those of us who look at text all day long.

https://jackwellborn.com/2022/03/01/my-5k-soapbox/

47

Interesting that the letterforms in Windows had much more defined verticals and horizontals with fewer jaggies as a result. I wonder if the type design was created with a view on the wide array of hardware it would appear on.

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48

I wonder what fonts were used. Some of Microsoft’s fonts (e.g. Cambria, Georgia, Sitka, Tahoma, Trebuchet and Verdana) were designed specifically for use on-screen and when printing at very small point sizes. Other fonts, like Arial, Palatino and Times New Roman, are designed for printing and can suffer when used on-screen, especially at small point sizes.

See also Font List Windows 10 - Typography | Microsoft Learn

Apple’s set of fonts similarly has some optimized for screen usage and some optimized for print usage. Any test that attempts to compare font-rendering systems (e.g. Apple vs. Microsoft) must use the same fonts (preferably the exact same TTF files) or it will be impossible to know if the differences are due to the OS or the font.

And interesting article, but I can’t help but notice that he isn’t presenting all of the options in his comparison.

He presents a 5K screen at its native resolution (which I assume to mean configured with HiDPI disabled, because otherwise every resolution is scaled from a larger internal image), 4K at its native resolution, and a 5K image scaled down to a 4K screen (by the GPU? by the display?).

But are those the only choices? I haven’t worked with large screens on macOS before, but on Windows, you can do more than just pick a resolution. You can also pick a scaling factor. If you have a 4K display (which the author thinks is rendering text too large), and choose a scaling factor less than 100%, it will reduce the size of everything, but it won’t do it by making a larger desktop that is scaled down to 4K. It will apply the scaling to the rendering pipeline, causing the fonts to render at smaller point sizes. This should be less blurry than downscaling a 5K image. Vector graphics should be similarly cleanly scaled.

Of course, there is no substitute for having more pixels, but there are different ways to scale images and some will definitely look better than others.

I’d love to see Mr. Wellborn’s actual system configuration (on the Mac and Windows), fonts and sizes chosen for the test. What we’ve got here isn’t enough for us to judge if he’s making a legitimate point or if there may be a solution to his problem that he hasn’t tried yet.

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49

Interesting and (nearly) exhaustive in enumerating all the dimensions of the “professional” world and their sometimes unique, sometimes overlapping requirements.

Sometime back around OS X 10.1, or maybe 10.2, Apple went on a big push about how great Macs were for scientific computing. It’s been a long, silent time since then. Several generations of crickets have come and gone in the intervening years.

For the kind of science I used to do before retiring, Apple would need to go the other way from the onboard memory upper limit currently offered. Think 128 Gbyte, or better 256 Gbyte or even 1 Tbyte. And support for external Thunderbolt enclosures that could accommodate two or three eGPUs — or better yet, do that on chip. Of course, I’m talking about GPU computing, not image processing.

The difference between these extreme requirements and the ones in the article are stark in terms of population. I’ve no doubt there are 50 lawyers for every Ph.D. scientist that does that kind of computing (maybe a hundred; maybe a thousand), though if the hardware were there, that could change overnight.

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50

Thank you for this article. I’ve been using Macs for over 30 years of my life and have never bought another brand of PC believe it or not. I’ve just never had the need and have adapted over the years (through the lost of floppy disks, CD drives, SCSI etc…) as Apple scaled back their functionality and refocused on what “Pro” means to them.

Your article really resonated with me. The new products are fast and beautiful but do leave out significant categories and functions.

In 2013, when Apple announced the thrash can Mac Pro, I leaped at the opportunity to buy the last of the dying breed 2012 Mac Pro towers. That Mac still serves us well today almost ten years later. A lot of fun is made of it today, but that Mac helped my wife borrow many an Audio CD and other educational titles from the library when my kids were in elementary school. The multiple hard drives allowed me to efficiently back up and then upgrade to SSDs. I’ve now been able to install a new RX 580 card that allows me to and my (now teenage) kid to play the latest games off steam.

We have another very old iMac in the living room that after much family discussion was replaced this year with a second hand 2017 iMac Pro. Why this Mac? Much like the 2012 Mac Pro, this is the last of a dying breed. It represents the last of Apple’s XEON Intel chips and ECC Ram hardware. For all the advantages boasted about the new silicon, my family (particularly kids) live in the real world and need access to applications / games that are only available on Windows and/or Android. The iMac Pro makes booting in Windows so easy and it allows my children to play Genshin Impact (Windows only), Fortnight (Windows only thanks to being thrown out of the Mac store) and more importantly access utilities for their school extra curriculum activities that are only available on Android or Windows (for example, Windows in bootcamp is now running an Android emulator that helps my son use a word utility for his scrabble championship practice).

So we will probably continue buying Apple hardware. iPads and MacBook Airs are easy to justify as kids grow and educational requirements demand them…but it is looking less and less likely that Apple would make a “big family computer” that combines reliability with a bigger breadth of functionality - that plays nice in the real world anyway.

P.S. Yes I know there is Parallels for Apple Silicon but it does not do as well as bootcamp, particularly if you’re trying to run a more processor or graphical intensive thing.

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51

Excellent take on the poor ergonomics of an iMac and poor ergonomics do not just hamper professionals.

I would very much like an adjustable screen set up on my iMac - like the lampshade iMac version - as I need it higher for zoom, video et al sessions and lower for keying and editing work.

As for ports on the iMac, I have given up on expecting Apple to add sufficient ports and purchased a high end hub with all options covered and it sits below the screen and is easily accessible for all the things needed to connected to the iMac.

Apparently Apple does not want ports on the front of the screen - so untidy - but Apple hasn’t noticed the untidy mess that customers see when facing the back of a computer being used at a service counter. Airplay and wireless connectivity is great until something goes wrong and takes forever sorting out Apple’s unhelpful network/printer/scanner system apps.

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52

Excellent article. One minor thing I was a little confused about:

“Satechi even makes the $89.99 Type-C Aluminum Monitor Stand Hubthat addresses both limitations, albeit in a non-adjustable way and not with USB-A ports.”

I have one of these under the iMac in front of me as I type (I love it) and it has plenty of USB-A ports. Maybe because they’re described as “USB 3.0 ports” on the product page it was confusing?

Thanks,

Tom

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I do agree that apple should offer a better stand, but also want to point out that Apple does offer a VESA option for all iMacs, though it’s barely mentioned on their website. [Go the iMac buying page, and below the standard configs, there is a link to the Vesa iMacs.] I always order this config, as once you have your stand installed, swapping out a computer/monitor with a new one is easy.

Also had the thunderbolt display before it died after 10 years, and had the Apple Vesa kit for that. It was a amusing process to switch it out, lots of screws and a flexible plastic card to release some hidden latch.

To continue the theme of Adam’s article, Apple should make every iMac/monitor sold Vesa compatible by default, given its ubiquity.

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Family Physician… been running EMRs under virtualization or BootCamp since… well since I can’t remember since… holding out for the “Holy Grail” of when EMRs will be web based and I don’t have to keep remembering that the track pad works backwards on PCs.

55

These are the folks that released Comic Sans on an unsuspecting world…the horror, the horror! And it doesn’t even really look like fonts that had appeared in comic books.

MS also chose Times New Roman as a default because they didn’t want to pay Monotype to license Times. Steve Jobs, who had a great reverence for, and knowledge of, typography, invested the extra bucks for Times. Steve gave a very excellent and moving commencement speech at Stanford shortly before he died, and he discussed why he focused on typography when developing Macs. Here’s the segment:

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This was true in 1984 and the early years of desktop typography. You needed both a screen font that would render quickly on screen, and it partnered with a far more complex printer font that would be downloaded directly to a printer. Steve Jobs sold this idea to John Warnock of Adobe, and they worked closely together to develop PostScript technology, which was a feature in the very first Macs. And this partnership led to the development of LaserWriter as well as desktop graphic design and layout software.

IIRC, it wasn’t until around Windows 3.5 or so that PCs began being able to kind of/sort of handle PostScript, and Macs were, and still are still the weapon of choice in design and professional printing. But desktop hardware and software was rapidly advancing, and a single file font, TrueType, was developed by Apple, which they shared with Microsoft. TrueType works fine and dandy with desktop printers, But they don’t deliver the high level of detail and quality required for most imagesetters. Adobe and Microsoft then developed OpenType, which is also single file and unsuitable for most high level printing. So double file PostScript is still alive and well, and is still required for most high end printing.

57

Add “Ultra Super Volume ++” to the “Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio” and you have the name of a hair conditioner!

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58

That was a great article Adam and I concur on most of your thoughts. As a person who runs a small business I spend my day on the web browser, spreadsheets, accounting and email of course. Hardware wise the M1 Mac Mini is really good and fits the needs for my home office and would here at my main office when we upgrade from the 2017 imac 4k 21.5 I have here but I’d really would like a $300-400 display that is 4K that would go well with it. I would like Apple to really focus on improving their software. Their email app in particular is just too basic but other apps I have tried work ok but they have their problems too. What would be ideal is that they update their programs like mail with new features but decouple from an OS Update. My same complaint on the iphone / ipad too. It’s more than just hardware but software too.
Thanks
-pat

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A slightly more expensive but high-quality 27" 4K display with a great panel and no external power brick.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraSharp-U2720Q-Backlit-Monitor/dp/B086H26XWV/

The QM model is the exact same, it just comes with an HDMI cable instead of DP.

60

So true.

I actually thought they ought to sell Apple Telephone Directories at the Apple Store so we could correct the ergonomics on iMacs. For some reason even though millions of iMacs are propped up on books, etc, one never sees that in ads. Or all the cords needed to work around the lack of ports in more usable places.

I tried to get fellow lawyers to use Macs. Just wasn’t happening. Things like too many dongles to attach when using it with court AV equipment—that can actually be a deal breaker. More battery life even if it makes the laptop a bit bigger. And yes, cellular.

Your point is well taken, but Apple is far removed from the people who use its computers. I don’t expect change.

61

Judging by the sheer number of comments, this is certainly a issue of interest to many different professionals. I scanned through the comments, most concerned with visual and power issues.

I would simply prefer more software choices. I despise Word but have to use it because my clients don’t like translated Page documents and won’t use other writing platforms. I would like to see accounting programs, good writing programs, graphing, time-management, data mapping and similar programs outside the world of video arts. I don’t often upgrade to the latest MacOS for the simple reason that I would have to pay a fortune each time to upgrade all my non-Apple software to match the newest OS, if in fact the non-Apple software is available. When I do upgrade the OS, I find that most of the “improvements” are focused on video performance and speed, about which I care very little.

The only reason I continue with Apple is its intuitive use and shallow, short learning curve, but even that falls down once in a while (e.g. Word).

Not everyone needs video, but nearly everyone needs to write and communicate in their respective fields, even if it’s only a water-tight contract for visual work. Great videos, for all the information they provide, won’t stand up in court in the same way as a well-written report of findings with documentation.

One more comment. I despise the ever-increasing trend of having to pay every month for software I used to be able to buy once and use for years without additional costs. Unfortunately, I don’t think that trend is going away.

62

Though this was over 30 years ago, back in the day before cloud services were just a glimmer in anyone’s eye, I did some consulting for a legal publishing company. I was very surprised to see that although they has a lot of advertising for PCs and Windows apps, there was nothing for Macs. Even MS Word, which had flooded the print and broadcast ad market for some time, was out of sight and out of mind. Everything, hardware and software, was for PC. And except for a very few prepress people in the company’s production department, I was told that this was because Word Perfect, which didn’t run on Macs, had a lot more built in features that lawyers use that Word didn’t have and was a lot cheaper. And very few developers of legal software, including database apps, would not even consider writing apps for Macs at all.

And of course, Windows machines were, and still are, much cheaper than Macs. But my attorney brother in law, and every other legal eagle friend and relative I know, loves their iPhone. And the legal publishing company got wiped out long ago, when databases, docket info, etc., etc. moved into the cloud.

If our MacAttorney TidBits Talker is tuning in to this discussion, I’ll bet he’d agree.