Since Safari for Windows was deprecated, I've found myself missing it. I keep the ultimate version installed, but I've been forced onto Firefox, as even iCloud has dropped support for Safari.
It had a better memory footprint than Chrome or Safari, and didn't choke under a heavy tab load (hundreds). Apple's 64-bit-first philosophy probably had something to do with that, even on Windows. And it was snappier. Chrome pulled me off it for a while, but then it got slow and bloated and now I only ever use Chrome for interacting with Google products, since it can now lag an Ivy Bridge black with an SSD and far too much RAM.
I'm leaning toward Pale Moon or Waterfox now to maintain extension compatibility (adblock, flashblock, noscript, iCloud) without giving up that raw third-half-of-my-brain responsiveness I crave.
PS: Has
1. I suppose so, but it did reach that at the DRAM high-water mark when Thailand flooded. It's a small concern compared to the humanitarian crisis, I suppose, but it left a mark on long-time apple buyers' memory.
2. I could cram four terabytes into my current Macbook Pro between my two bays, or using the latest from Western Digital, I can have a pair of 128 gig SSD partitions and 2tb of magnetic storage for the purposes of an enormous Fusion Drive. (well, for a laptop) A Macbook Pro currently goes up to 1 terabyte, and a Macbook Air to half a terabyte; you can't go higher for love nor money.
3. My choice would be to further upgrade my current machine, but it's a Core2 and I don't own a reflow oven. I don't think MBPs go up to 32 gigs RAM, because the modules haven't been invented yet. Also, while the SSDs are blistering fast, their absolute capacity isn't great, and their price-per-gig ratio isn't great either. I'd love to upgrade my machine as you suggest, but she's really at her limits. Had there been a 16 gig Macbook Air configuration, I'd have picked one up, never looked back, and been perfectly happy - but with the current lineup, every single Macbook offers some compromise I don't want to make. And every non-Mac means losing access to some really incredibly useful software - either repurchasing my commercial software on Windows or doing without on Linux, plus either doing without BASH (Windows) or well, I'm sorry to say, a lot of good software.
1: That's more than you'll find it for on Black Friday.
2: The new PCIe based modules are proprietary, probably based on the M2 electrical protocol over a mini-PCI physical layer. They compare favorably to RevoDrives in both price-per-gig and in performance, however. Still, there's no upgrades available at the moment.
3: Actually, no I can't - if I want a 15" macbook, it's a Retina model. If I want a Macbook Pro with discrete graphics, it's a Retina model. The non-Retina 13" model didn't even get upgraded processors, they're still kickin' it old school with the HD4000 and Ivy Bridge CPUs. Could you have at least dropped a Haswell in the socket, guys?
Are they taking a loss on any laptop they sell me?
No?
Am I advising my non-technical family and friends on what kind of computer to buy?
well duh, this is
Therefore, they want me as a customer.
So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of money? -- Ayn Rand