> 64-bit ARM is a large step, yes. But, to call it a major breakthrough is laughable. It's a natural evolution, the fact that Apple did it first does not make it more significant if Samsung or Qualcomm created their own ARM64 SoC. The iPhone 5s' camera quality is nothing significant either – the Lumia 1020 has a far better camera and is really true innovation – Zeiss optics, an enormous sensor... how is that less significant than a simple sensor upgrade? I didn't see anyone scoffing at the quality of the GS4 either.

I see Apple's A7 as a breakthrough. They went from having nothing to having the best mobile SoC design and implementation in the industry in three years.

I really don't get your statement about the Lumia 1020. Who is arguing that it is "less significant" than the sensor upgrade in the 5S? Why can't people respect both technologies? You come across as incredibly defensive when no one is attacking your favourite product or making any claims like the ones you are defending against.

> People will defend this in the name of thinness, but I call bullshit, because the Dell XPS 15 is nearly as thin but contains DIMM slots. It's just a ploy to move more units, and I'm not pleased in the slightest.

It's not a "ploy". It is very obviously the computer that Apple wants to make. They tend to build for themselves, not for their customers (which seems to make a lot of people angry). I have no idea how you can begin to think this is a ploy to "move more units." If Apple were into money-making ploys they would have put stickers all over their laptops, bundled them with bloatware and other anti-consumer additions.

> In all seriousness, this is now true. When I look at Mavericks' feature list, it's pretty weak. Multiple display support is something that should have been addressed in a point release. Timer Coalescing is something Windows and Linux have had for ages[1], and compressed memory is something we saw years ago.[2] There has been no new replacement for the aging and outdated HFS+ filesystem. There has been no integration for UNIX protocols like X11, and Applescript has been left out to rot.

So it's a problem when Apple adds a software feature that is already present in another operating system? What a weird thing to write. It's good that they improved OS X and provided it as a free update. You are trying to spin this as a negative for some reason.

There are genuine improvements in Mavericks, the energy usage improvements alone have extended the time I can use my laptop without power by a significant amount. The scroll view content area caching is also very nice in practice, and the new frameworks like SpriteKit have been great fun to play with.

On a side note, multiple display support was never an issue under OS X and I fail to understand how Mavericks "fixed" anything in this regard — multiple displays have always worked better under OS X than under Windows.

> No Ethernet on a professional machine? I can understand getting rid of it on the ultraportable, but if you want something to be used as a heavy-duty appliance, it needs to have the necessary connectivity options out of box.

I use my retina MBP professionally every single day and have not once needed ethernet. It is simply not an issue for me, if it is an issue for you then that is why the adapter is available.

> iOS 7 is certainly... bold, if you could call it that, but what core improvements does it hold that make it so much better than 6? On the surface, it's a pretty UI makeover with an ugly icon makeover, and few user-facing features such as AirDrop and Control Center. Yawn. Shiny new APIs? Nice, but, again, there's little in the way of "bold" innovation as Gruber claims.

Gruber didn't claim it was "bold innovation," he claimed it was a "bold move," and it's hard to argue with that. It was a move that caused a lot of friction and controversy because many people did not like the change. This is a suitably bold move, especially relative to past updates.

You simply write a list of some of the changes and then "Yawn" at the end. It's easy to be dismissive and to play down the improvements, but the improvements were on par with most other major software releases. The frameworks have always been the best part of iOS updates, and that continues to be the case with iOS 7.

> The Apple store left me with a cold, decoherent vibe. Nothing seemed interesting. iOS 7 was underwhelming, and the iPads were just iPads. They didn't have anything new. Everything was whitewashed and covered in super-thin Myriad. Shades of grey prevailed throughout, and the staff, while helpful, didn't seem to have much interest in the user so much as heralding the merits of the product. Enter the MS store. Everything felt... so new. Inviting.

It sounds like you're simply bored with the Apple aesthetic and want to try something new. That's great, you should do that.