Apple assures us that this cloth, with its supple “nonabrasive material,” can “safely and effectively” clean any Apple display, even the high-tech nano-texture glass of the Pro Display XDR.
If the insinuation is that the Pro Display XDR has glass that needs special care, that sounds like a product that many would not consider a good choice for “pros”.
I have another point that I don’t see talked about a lot that I would like to consider. Their XDR Pro model is targeting actual professionals in the video field. Unlike pretty much everything that Apple makes, this monitor is comparable (and downright cheap) when compared side by side with other industry standard color calibrated video monitors. Professional grade video equipment has always been super expensive, and it’s not just an Apple thing. For example, here’s a Sony model commonly used in live broadcast. Same size, but the Apple monitor is actually 1.6X as bright for HDR, it’s higher resolution, and less than half the price. The only downsides being no SDI input, but it can still be used for post-processing just fine, or even live with a converter box. It also informs why the stand for the monitor doesn’t come standard, and is expensive as hell— it’s because they don’t expect anyone in their target market to buy it. They expect most of these monitors to be installed as a drop in replacement in color grading workflows or broadcast trucks, which are all pretty much fully vesa mounted already anyway.
In that context, their XDR Pro monitor makes perfect sense. On a cost basis alone, Apple’s monitor offering is very competitive for the professional video demographic they’re targeting. It’s not for the average power user, it’s for people whose literal sole job rides on colors being accurate.
As for the polishing clothes, yes they’re expensive when purchased separately, but they come “for free” in the box. I would rather they sell them separately than not at all, but the screen really doesn’t require anything special, just any old microfiber cloth should be fine, as long as the cloth is kept clean. Even that markup isn’t insane IMO, it appears to only be a 5-10$ markup on an accessory of a monitor they expect to be very low volume.
Overall, I think the product is just misunderstood more than anything. I don’t think it’s being advertised wrong, I think Apple just has such a proclivity to advertise their other products wrong that people’s expectations aren’t set correctly for when they are actually addressing the actual professional market (cough cough the iPhone PRO, a product that isn’t really a “professional” product in any sense of the word). These are just what professional grade products cost. Sure it’s expensive, but that’s what they have to cost to make these devices viable for any business to manufacture. The combination of low volume, high cost for components with a better than average precision, and pro grade calibration means that they just plain cost a lot more to make.
Equipment like this and the Sony monitor above are used in environments where they just need to work EVERY single time, and there is 0 room for failure. As an example, running shading (color grading) on a live broadcast, think events like the super bowl. Using any old monitor, you may not be able to tell the coke ad you are cueing up is going through your shading workflow, and their red branding is slightly off-color. That could easily be a million+ dollar mistake, I’ve seen similar things actually happen in the field (with other advertisers I will not mention for my own sake). Or god forbid you loose picture entirely. I’ve been in similar positions, and broadcast engineers/companies will pay any amount of money to make sure their equipment is top of the line, and won’t fail ever. If you don’t believe me, take a look at some other pro grade video gear, like a grass valley kayenne. The scale of money is simply, different with pro video equipment.
I’ve seen a bunch of professional equipment and their requirements vary greatly. Usually they involve some ridiculous compromises. One thing is really good while other things aren’t. If you’re a pro, you know how to use the device and you’re always mindful of the specific limitations each device has.
If you’re doing SEM, XRD, NRM or anything like that, you can get great results but the sample preparation is a royal PITA. In this case, you’ll be paying for the quality of the analysis results, but everything else will probably suck.
Alternatively, you could get a rugged pH or redox electrode, chuck it in the back of your car, take measurements in any filthy puddle you find along the way and you’ll get acceptable results every time. The data isn’t great, but the device will work in harsh conditions. You’re paying extra to make sure you can measure things quickly and easily. The device is portable, rugged, robust and all that. Other things might suck though, but a pro would understand that and treat the results accordingly.
All the reviews says that the incredibly expensive monitor has that micro texture on the glass that will impregnate with finger oils making it extremely hard to clean. So when a client touches your screen (because clients always need to physically touch your screen when they need to prove their point) it will leave a permanent mark on it. So “pro”
My old manager once drew on my screen with his pen when pointing out something.
He would also leave his coffee cups on my desk including a nasty ring.
I was so glad when he left, and am even more glad to work from home where people can’t draw on my damn monitor.
This is the thing about Apple and why this sort of thing doesn’t bother me. Overall, their hardware, at least their phones and notebooks, are relatively similarly priced to the competition with similar hardware. Then they charge buckets for all the accessories. But if you pay for those accessories, that’s on you. It’s not an Apple Tax, it’s a Stupid Tax.
their laptops start at similar prices but not if you actually compare apples to apple(s) Mac are way overpriced
It’s not an Apple Tax, it’s a Stupid Tax.
If you buy Apple products, you are already grandfathered into that Stupid Tax.
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Only their phones are similarly priced and that’s only if you look at the most expensive android phones
Base priced Macbook Air is $1099. That’s pretty relative to a lot of the competition. You can definitely find better deals, but let’s not pretend it’s more expensive than everything else in its class.
Usually the price per power on macs is pretty horrendous though
I can get a decent windows or linux laptop for like $500. Each of the last two I got were in the $400 range, and they are still in use 3 and 5 years later. Plus I can easily upgrade the ram and ssd on those to further extend the lifespan.
Are we defining class by relative power and capabilities? Cause if so, yeah Apple is absolutely overpriced.
I can almost guarantee you a more powerful machine of similar size and weight exists for 750-900 bucks outside of the Apple ecosystem. You’re paying for the shiny metal construction and the name.
You won’t get anything with as good build quality for that price and performance. You also won’t be able to match the battery life, due to bad firmware/software.
In general you’re pretty hard pressed to find a laptop that is all around as solid as a Macbook. Macbooks do pretty well across all categories… Good battery life, performance, screen, build quality, keyboard, trackpad, speakers, weight, size, etc… It’s hard to find a competitor that provides close to as good of an experience on all factors at the same time. I don’t have a Macbook at the moment because I prefer to run Linux and got my last laptop before the M1 came out… But it feels pretty hard to justify staying in Lenovo land these days.
not to mention thats assuming youre buying all new hardware.
If you want a usable device with 16gb ram and a 512gb SSD it’s $1400 which is $300 (27% stupid tax) more than a comparable dell. Although I will admit the M1 chip in it will probably perform better at certain tasks.
You can get a similar Android phone to the iPhone 12 for a third of the price. Perhaps even with newer chips and newer cameras. Apple has always been grossly overpriced.
And also a 120 Hz display, a lot of phones for around 400€ have that nowadays
This is why I like apple.
I just updated the firmware of my apple cloth and now it cleans 10% faster.
ahem… Don’t you mean 10% slower?
There’s a negative impact overall since apple throttled swipe speed due to aging cloth nonabrasive material.
But I feel 13% happier so that would offset the negative impact.
And of course sold at a vastly inflated price.
I’m surprised they didn’t mention it during their totally not cringeworthy meeting with mother nature
Knowing Apple, they must have thought about a way to make old polishing cloths specifically incompatible with their newer screens.
Phewww… I thought I have to buy the iSwipe Pro Max 27 for $1,000 to clean my new iPhone
Is it certified for clockwise wiping only, or is it bidirectional?
It’s the opposite of whatever everyone else does
“Natural” wiping.
Wiping in a motion that resembles an apple with a bite out of it
You’re wiping it wrong.
Depends on your hemisphere.
Coriolis effect, of course.
I think it is a subscription based model.
Wax on, wax off.
This article is really trying for an eye-rolling kind of tone while at the same time, literally just being an advertisement for new Apple products.
Yep. That’s iVerge for you.
Only Apple could make a non-abrasive cloth more beautiful.
So they made it white and slapped their logo on it.
Though soon it will be transitioning to a subscription based model.
Lower upfront cost, but they get you in the long run.
This felt like a The Onion headline, i love it
Dont forget to tip your waitress folks.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
It’s that time of year again — the time when millions around the world nail their eyeballs to the Apple Store website and wait, unblinking, to find out whether the new iPhones and Apple Watches are compatible with the $19 Polishing Cloth Apple launched in 2021.
After all, you bought the cloth as soon as Apple announced it, and you know all about planned obsolescence.
That brings the grand total to almost 120 supported devices, per my quick count.
Apple assures us that this cloth, with its supple “nonabrasive material,” can “safely and effectively” clean any Apple display, even the high-tech nano-texture glass of the Pro Display XDR.
Apple launched the cloth alongside its M1 Pro and Max chips and third-generation AirPods, and in the two years since, it’s no doubt cleaned countless Apple screens the world over.
To save you a trip to its product page, the Apple Polishing Cloth now supports:
The original article contains 230 words, the summary contains 153 words. Saved 33%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
To save you a trip to its product page, the Apple Polishing Cloth now supports:
Supports what maaaaaan??
Title reads like an onion headline.
I read it in the voice of Professor Farnsworth lol
I thought it was at first… Had to peruse the comments to be sure I wasn’t the only one.
I legit thought it was a joke too.
It reads like thick satire, I think it’s a joke.
Edit: I think I misinterpreted you referring to Apple and not the article. Oh well lol.
