Why Apple Universal Binary Is Monster In Size And Apple Products Is Overprice?

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Apple had switched to Intel processors for the last 2,5 years. And the new Macs now runs on Intel platform. Softwares (including the Mac OS X) has to be port to the new platform. Me wondering why the Universal Binary is so huge that it consume the space and practically make the entry level mac is a joke.

Oh yes, you said, “The Universal comprises of the two binaries. One for old PowerPC platform, and the other is for Intel platform.” Yeah rite. But 80GB found on MacBook “Santa Rosa” 1GB RAM with Leopard is really a dog. Practically can’t be used. It’s too slow by my standard. Blame it on Leopard for it’s unoptimized code and scary requirement, and the space consuming binaries that takes up all the 80GB like the money you have in the pocket. It’s gone way too fast!

Apple used to be a nicer platform when it comes to binary optimization. Mac OS classics (System 7, 8, 9) takes up space less frequently than Windows counterpart. I had a PowerMac 6100/60AV with 16MB RAM and 250MB Hard Disk, and the space is about “equal to” 340-420MB on Windows. Now, MacBook and Mac with Intel platform 80GB is about “equal to” 40GB on Windows. Do the math!

Apple, you should seriously consider an Q&A and tight up your standard if you don’t want loose your momentum. Of course an iPod and iPhone would be a real serious “Sony killer”, but let’s check your Mac platform. It’s a dog by today’s standard.

You want a decent MacBook? Go for a “DVDRW” version and a little Hard Disk upgrade to 120GB, but gimme another 200 dollar. For 1,399 (street price in Indonesia) you’ll have a MacBook 2.2GHz with 120GB and DVDRW option rather than the 1,199 (street price) for lower version 2.0GHz with 80GB and DVD Combo (DVD-CDRW).

I check the local mall yesterday and found a nice Toshiba (at last) for the first time. It’s not a “jazzy platform” by MacBook standard (which you’ll find more people carrying MacBook and “feel better” on hotspots area). It’s a Toshiba Satellite U305. I try to check the Toshiba Indonesia website (redirect to Toshiba Asia) but can not find the specific product. Could it be a Parallel Import version? Local distributor please comment on this.

toshiba_u305.jpg

It’s a Pentium Dual Core (a variant of Intel Core 2 Duo with smaller L2 Cache 1MB versus Core 2 Duo 2MB or 4MB ) runs at lowly 1.46GHz, but it boasts a 2GB RAM and 160GB HDD with DVDRW Multi (Dual Layer) as a standard configuration for a price for only 1,000 dollar! It has 5-in-One Card Reader, 3 USB, a 965 chipset (which can carry 4GB RAM a.k.a “Santa Rosa” platform) and FireWire.

Now let’s compare with similar MacBook configuration

macbook_santarosa.JPG

For 1,199 dollar streetprice here it runs on Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz with 1GB RAM and a 80GB Hard Disk but with DVDCombo (DVD-CDRW) No Card Reader and “a bonus” of too easy for looking dirty (since it’s white plastic material flaws) and a little “toaster” effect… too hot for your laps since Apple is forcing to put 1″ thick laptop with standard chip and vote design-over-specs without carrying a “low power” version of Intel processor (Low Power version of Core 2 Duo is way too expensive and boast smaller clocks).

Apple enjoys big discount from the king (Intel) for newer chips and bigger discount (since Intel is eye-ing on Apple for 20 years hoping that Apple would takes their chip, Steve swallowed the pills with an exclusive deal that Apple should get better discount than Dell was, and always get hand first on newer and faster chips (sometimes it’s an exclusive offer even surpass Intel longtime partner like HP and Dell). Now seems Apple enjoys big margin by “keeping” the price as original and only adding small updates on specs on it’s product.

There’s also a bunch of people who are trying to migrate from Windows to the Mac platform. For them they requires Bootcamp or a.k.a Partition your space into “Half Mac-Half PC” means the 80GB should be repartition to 40GB Mac and 40GB Windows. Due the Monster Binary in Universal binary found on today’s Mac, I should say 80GB is a joke for today’s Mac. Sure you can always tell to upgrade or opt for “middle specs” MacBook with “only 120GB” space and DVDRW for another 200 dollars. And that would translate a standard conclusion that Apple products is way overprice since 1GB RAM is not usable (with decent speed) for Leopard. Another expenses arise.

Anyone, especially Apple’s directors can always saying that I’m trying to shoot them in the foot. What it really means is we care for you, and don’t want people get disappointed by their first time buying Mac experience. You have to be restructure you pricing scheme. Even worse, by keeping the product too small by offering, it will keep the reseller forcing into a combat in battling for selling lower offering. Lower margin means lower incentive for people selling Mac.

If I were a people with ordinary requirement, specs will reins and it’s not justify by Processor only. Not all people doing the rendering jobs and most people will find their new Mac is “too slow” since it doesn’t fit the requirement (lower RAM installed) and way too fast takes up their space for bloatware binary for the platform.

We wrote this because we care. We care for better product alternatives than Windows. If not why would we care?

*Written on 2,5 years old IBM ThinkPad T42 (Intel Pentium M 1.5GHz with 2GB RAM (upgraded from standard 512MB) and 120GB Hard Disk (upgraded from standard 30GB HDD) with 1400×1050 resolution) ditching my MacBook Pro “Santa Rosa” 2.2GHz with 4GB RAM and 120GB HDD due it’s HEAT and a bit HEAVY to carry around.

34 Responses to “Why Apple Universal Binary Is Monster In Size And Apple Products Is Overprice?”

  1. Adham Somantrie Says:

    Tiger + PowerPC… then I conquer the world… wakakaka…

  2. Antonius Says:

    Weleh.. bukannya ada applikasi XSlimer boss..? hehehe

  3. adinoto Says:

    # Antonius Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 4:54 pm e
    Weleh.. bukannya ada applikasi XSlimer boss..? hehehe

    => Tetep. Aplikasi resize image di Mac paling kecil 4MB-20MB (expanded) while Windows counterpart pake PowerToys aja cuma 521KB 😛 … Mac Binary is way to bloatware these days.

  4. Antonius Says:

    “Tetep. Aplikasi resize image di Mac paling kecil 4MB-20MB (expanded)”

    XSlimmer 1.5MB boss.. tapi itu setelah di XSlimmer-kan juga.. hehehe

  5. IMW Says:

    Walah Apple koq diurusin 🙂 Mending ngurusin makanan aja.

  6. adinoto Says:

    # Antonius Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 6:06 pm

    “Tetep. Aplikasi resize image di Mac paling kecil 4MB-20MB (expanded)”

    XSlimmer 1.5MB boss.. tapi itu setelah di XSlimmer-kan juga.. hehehe

    => Resize Image, bukan Resize Aplikasi seperti Xslimmer 😀 sekem 😀

  7. adinoto Says:

    # IMW Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
    Walah Apple koq diurusin 🙂 Mending ngurusin makanan aja.

    => Siaaaap kumendan! 😀 Secara itu udah 2 posting kuliner. Nanti kalo calwalkot bikin warung mau pada ngumpul ga? 😀

  8. IMW Says:

    Daripada nge”patch” Apple mending nge-patch bubur aja. Mau jurus apa ntar, bisa kita bicarakan kalau lagi ngumpul.

    Gini hari koq blog diurusin, mending ngurusin kuliner.

  9. idarmadi Says:

    1 hari 3 blog? Pertanda apa nih?

  10. IMW Says:

    1 hari 3 blog pertanda kampanye calon wali kota telah dimulai. Jangan-jangan kaos oblong udah mulai disablon.

  11. adinoto Says:

    # IMW Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
    Daripada nge”patch” Apple mending nge-patch bubur aja. Mau jurus apa ntar, bisa kita bicarakan kalau lagi ngumpul.

    Gini hari koq blog diurusin, mending ngurusin kuliner.

    => Bwakakakaka CVS version ya 😀 lagi mentok di hostingnya nih 😀 *ngacirrr

  12. adinoto Says:

    # idarmadi Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
    1 hari 3 blog? Pertanda apa nih?

    => Pertanda euweuh gawe… kekekeke… hare gene main IT? kere deh yg ada *ngacirrrr

  13. Jay Says:

    Spes itu murah jendral!

    *tapi masih fakir spes euy…*

  14. adinoto Says:

    # Jay Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
    Spes itu murah jendral!
    *tapi masih fakir spes euy…*

    => Wakakaka murah kali 100-200 dollar gedek juga lama-lama 😛 kalo murah ya mbok dibundle kitu dari sananya 😀 kekekeke

  15. adinoto Says:

    # adinoto Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 10:22 pm

    # Jay Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
    Spes itu murah jendral!
    *tapi masih fakir spes euy…*

    => Wakakaka murah kali 100-200 dollar gedek juga lama-lama 😛 kalo murah ya mbok dibundle kitu dari sananya 😀 kekekeke

    ==> Secara ini ada 100-200 unit keping RAM 256MB dan banyak HDD 60GB dan 80GB hasil upgrade-an membuktikan user ga puas, lah ini barang-barang mau dikemanain, mau jadi pemberat pancing aja kali kekekeke… 😀

  16. Oskar Says:

    Hm… can I make RAID config with 2.5″ hard disk? If I can, gw beli deh in bulk (5 biji maybe?), asal harga ga mahal2 ajah huehehehe.

    PS: just bought IBM T61 (C2D SantaRosa 2GHz, 2GB mem, dedicated Nvidia graphic card) with Vista, and it’s A LOT slower than my 1 year old Macbook (C2D pre-santa rosa). Apple hardware is overpriced to compensate with their OS I think since Tiger is top of the line (not upgrading to Leopard – still too buggy) for OS

  17. Dedhi Says:

    “way too fast takes up their space for bloatware binary for the platform.”

    I installed Linux and I am happy.
    Linud desktop is ready to conquer the world………

    repeat that every year end 😛

  18. Dedhi Says:

    “ah ini barang-barang mau dikemanain, mau jadi pemberat pancing aja kali kekekeke…”

    What kind of fish that can be fished out with these kind of baits? Geek mermaid?

  19. amen Says:

    yoi yoi mac sejati itu mac ppc
    *elus2 powerbook dijual gak laku2*

  20. toni Says:

    *tepuk-tepuk Compaq Presarion 40GB*
    Panas sih, tapi tidak bermasalah dengan bloated binary :p, ataupun space .. kecuali klo sudah berurusan dengan materi dari id-anime 😀

  21. adinoto Says:

    # Dedhi Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 7:08 am

    “ah ini barang-barang mau dikemanain, mau jadi pemberat pancing aja kali kekekeke…”

    What kind of fish that can be fished out with these kind of baits? Geek mermaid?

    => Bwakakakaka… 😀

  22. adinoto Says:

    # Dedhi Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 7:07 am

    “way too fast takes up their space for bloatware binary for the platform.”

    I installed Linux and I am happy.
    Linud desktop is ready to conquer the world………

    repeat that every year end 😛

    => I’m expecting something nice will come out soon. LinuxMint is a start. But Haiku-OS is definitely a thing that will shake my heart 😀

  23. adinoto Says:

    # amen Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 8:41 am

    yoi yoi mac sejati itu mac ppc
    *elus2 powerbook dijual gak laku2*

    => Hahahaha and System 7? 😛 Much much better boot in less 3 seconds and go 😀

  24. Yosi Says:

    # adinoto Says:
    December 20th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
    ==> Secara ini ada 100-200 unit keping RAM 256MB dan banyak HDD 60GB dan 80GB hasil upgrade-an membuktikan user ga puas, lah ini barang-barang mau dikemanain, mau jadi pemberat pancing aja kali kekekeke…

    –> buat gua aja lah… hahahahaha…..

  25. Reza Says:

    Baru ganti dengan Acer C2D 1.66 dan di test dengan osx86 10.4.10.. Sama kenceng dengan macbook.. Padahal QE & CI gak jalan. Huahahaha.. Hare gene pake mek? Kesian duitna :))

  26. adinoto Says:

    # Reza Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 10:06 am e
    Baru ganti dengan Acer C2D 1.66 dan di test dengan osx86 10.4.10.. Sama kenceng dengan macbook.. Padahal QE & CI gak jalan. Huahahaha.. Hare gene pake mek? Kesian duitna :))

    => Kenapa Quartz Extreme dan Core Image nya ga jalan? Padahal driver 3rd party hacks nya kan udah banyak bro? VGA nya apa? Acer apalagi kebanyakan kan Intel GMA. Built-in Intel GMA udah disupport. Kalo nVidia dan ATI banyak hacks 3rd partynya.

    *ngajarin ga bener *ngacirrrrr

  27. adinoto Says:

    # Oskar Says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 2:19 am e
    Hm… can I make RAID config with 2.5″ hard disk? If I can, gw beli deh in bulk (5 biji maybe?), asal harga ga mahal2 ajah huehehehe.

    PS: just bought IBM T61 (C2D SantaRosa 2GHz, 2GB mem, dedicated Nvidia graphic card) with Vista, and it’s A LOT slower than my 1 year old Macbook (C2D pre-santa rosa). Apple hardware is overpriced to compensate with their OS I think since Tiger is top of the line (not upgrading to Leopard – still too buggy) for OS

    => Compensate bijimana? Kalo harga OS dihargain 129 dollar tapi harga hardware lebih wah mending aku minta Apple jual kosongan aja tanpa OS bwakakakkaa…

    Anyway, ThinkPad itu harus di set di BIOS setting Power nya Customized dan baru di Processornya Fixed Max, kalo ga ga akan pernah jalan clock maksimal (Speedstep effect). Kalo mau pas colok listrik diset “Customized” dan Powernya “Fixed Max” baru maknyusss.

  28. Reza Says:

    “Kenapa Quartz Extreme dan Core Image nya ga jalan? Padahal driver 3rd party hacks nya kan udah banyak bro? VGA nya apa? Acer apalagi kebanyakan kan Intel GMA. Built-in Intel GMA udah disupport. Kalo nVidia dan ATI banyak hacks 3rd partynya”

    Huahaha.. Pakar mulai bicara.. Ini diinstall cuman buat speed test. Masalahnya VGA udah Intel GMA X3100. Hack musti jalanin Leopard. Tapinya seed Leo gak pernah full. Too many things to do kalo musti pake OSX di platform ini. LAN Broadcom gak jalan. Wi Fi Intel 3945 juga blon ada hacknya. Ato bos Noto punya solusi? Kalo gak, dengan Fedora 8 dan Crossover dah maknyus kok..

  29. adinoto Says:

    Reza said:
    Huahaha.. Pakar mulai bicara.. Ini diinstall cuman buat speed test. Masalahnya VGA udah Intel GMA X3100. Hack musti jalanin Leopard. Tapinya seed Leo gak pernah full. Too many things to do kalo musti pake OSX di platform ini. LAN Broadcom gak jalan. Wi Fi Intel 3945 juga blon ada hacknya. Ato bos Noto punya solusi? Kalo gak, dengan Fedora 8 dan Crossover dah maknyus kok…

    => Hahaha menarik nih 😀 Tolong dishare specs dan tipe Acernya mo liat partnya 😀

    Broadcom kudunya no problem ya 😀 WiFi Intel 3945 boleh nih di cari 😀

    Ditunggu speknya!

  30. Reza Says:

    Mulai tertantang nih bos oprek. Acernya Aspire 4720, VGA Intel GMA x3100, Wifi pake intel 3945ABG, Network Broadcom NetLink Gigabyte, Blutut sama irda, Bison Acer Crystal Eye camera. Palagi ya? Itu aja seh. 🙂

  31. sai Says:

    Aa Nata … ntar gua kirimin deh resep kuliner cream soup … gampang bangeut bikinnya (bukan instan loh) … buat nambah koleksi resep ..

    I’m still on iBook PPC and Tiger 10.4.10 … I think I still not overly optimized in using it yet …

  32. Oskar Says:

    @27: Thanks for the tip! Rada nyesel juga sih bawa2 IBM (teuteup, kudu trading, end of year gitu lho… mengharapkan santa clause rally gw nih wakakakak), hardware-nya bagus, tapi sayang euy OS-nya bukan MacOS X… (males juga nginstall hackintosh-nya, ini dari graphic card+wifi+soundcard+chipset kagak didukung wakakakkaak)

  33. Moch Says:

    Wakaka awalnya saya ya mikir… ini mac kok mahal buanget to.. tapi karena penasaran dan ada sponsor jadinay saya nyoba jadi pengguna mac spek rendahan 80 Gb, 2.0 Ghz, memori 1 Ghz… Terus berhubung saya newbies ya say asudah cukup kagum ama itu barang walaupun secara familiar saya masih familiar dengan jendela microsoft… So mending ada ide nggak mas supaya macbook saya itu banyak faedahnya…Saya ahrus belajar apa ya? Karena saya ora mudeng ngliat jeroannya (unix base) lha wong pas kuliah banyak dicekoki ama produknay Om Bill…He3 mohon pencerahan…
    Bayangan saya mau pake buat entertainment ngenet (bingung mau pake apa koneksinya) terus ngetik2…biar sponsor say anggak nagmbek.. he3

  34. adinoto Says:

    # Moch Says:
    December 30th, 2007 at 12:01 pm e
    Wakaka awalnya saya ya mikir… ini mac kok mahal buanget to.. tapi karena penasaran dan ada sponsor jadinay saya nyoba jadi pengguna mac spek rendahan 80 Gb, 2.0 Ghz, memori 1 Ghz… Terus berhubung saya newbies ya say asudah cukup kagum ama itu barang walaupun secara familiar saya masih familiar dengan jendela microsoft… So mending ada ide nggak mas supaya macbook saya itu banyak faedahnya…Saya ahrus belajar apa ya? Karena saya ora mudeng ngliat jeroannya (unix base) lha wong pas kuliah banyak dicekoki ama produknay Om Bill…He3 mohon pencerahan…
    Bayangan saya mau pake buat entertainment ngenet (bingung mau pake apa koneksinya) terus ngetik2…biar sponsor say anggak nagmbek.. he3

    => Belajar apa? Wah pertanyaan ini lebih tepat ditanyakan pada diri sendiri mas Moch. Anda mau pake komputer sebagai apa? Profesi anda apa? Nah berangkat darisana baru bisa diliat kebutuhannya apa.

    Kalo cuma mau bukan liat-liat billing (tagihan client) juga bisa toh bwakakakakka *ngacirrr 😛

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