102010applestorfaulkner.jpgLast time we posted criticizing Apple products the Unplggd horde was unleashed. Honestly we are in love with many of the guiding principles of Apples design, but find other areas lacking. Follow the jump to see our take.

5 Things We Love About Apple:

  1. Apple has strong design appeal that sets it apart from non Apple products. Over the past 10 years, Apple products have been lauded as the pinnacle of consumer electronics design and style. Reference the numerous appearance in pop culture and media.
  2. Apple often knows better than the pundits and consumers. Apple ditched floppy disks, backward hardware compatibility, and superfluous features everyone thought very important (removable batteries anyone) and has not paid the price over the long term.
  3. Apple places user design and consistency over whiz bang features; just look at the consistency of their operating systems and the guide issued to developers on their various OS platforms. It all makes for a slick and cohesive experience while operating the gadget.
  4. Apple's build quality has been and still is very high. A quick view of consumer reports confirms and like websites readily displays Apple's design and engineering expertise.
  5. Apple has taken the integration of products and make it the model for consumer electronics. The company designs every aspect of their products from the hardware to the software for a winning combination.
Bonus: Excellent software like Papers and Times that are only made for Macs!

5 Things We Hate About Apple:

  1. Number one on our hatred of Apple products is their pointing devices. While Apple makes wonderful trackpads, nothing leaves us with more pain in our wrist and frustration than their mice. While indisputably beautiful, we have suffered through pain and destruction of several mice due to clogging track balls and hard plastic exteriors.
  2. Apple often thinks they know better than consumers and tend to strike out. For example, the recent shuffle and nano rethink struck us as idiotic moves only to be corrected the next model refresh. While any consumer product company makes mistakes, we expect better from Apple.
  3. Inroads have been made with OS X seeing wider game development and distribution, but Macs still suck for gaming. Admittedly, we ourselves are not gamers, but our Mac friends are and it drives them batty due to fewer titles and worse performance. Besides, no one really wants to use Bootcamp to run Crysis.
  4. Infrequent products refreshes on things like the Mac Mini and the Apple TV often leave us wondering why the hell Apple still makes those products. Even though they have been updated, we are left wondering how old we will be by the time they get the Apple TV "Hobby" right.
  5. As an investment, we often worry what will happen when Steve Jobs retires. From an investment standpoint, Apple is much like a dictatorship that runs well with the first autocrat, but fails with the successor. Investor confidence is not as robust as one would hope. For example, Apple stock tanked when a false obituary was released by Bloomberg.

Cheers