Apple Is Listening
I’m glad that Apple is finally updating their Macs again, but at the same time Apple has doubled-down on its refusal to sell user-serviceable, upgradeable, and expandable hardware at prices that are within reach for most customers.  The laptops have soldered RAM and soldered storage.  The Mac Mini and iMac Pro thankfully have DIMMs, but in order to keep the warranty, you have to visit an Apple-approved repair center to have a specialist perform the upgrade, which costs more than doing it yourself. After over two years of waiting, the Mac Pro announcement was a huge letdown since the cost of the only user-serviceable Mac has doubled from $2999 to $5999, alienating Mac Pro users who can afford a $2999 computer but not a $5999 one.It’s one thing for me to buy a “disposable computer” when it is priced very low.  It’s another thing for me when you can’t upgrade or service computers with premium-priced parts in them.  This is a trend I don’t support.Unfortunately the only way to protest Apple’s business decisions is to leave the Mac, which means giving up macOS, which I find a more productive environment for me than Windows or any of the Linux desktops like KDE and GNOME.  I started using macOS back when Macs were user-serviceable, upgradeable, and reasonably affordable.  I continue using the Mac for macOS, but I’m finding myself alienated by Apple's business decisions.I wish the situation for personal computer operating systems were better.  I want PC hardware with an operating system that has the same power, attention to detail, usability, and reliability that macOS has.  At this point I am willing to spend my spare time on such a project.