Why has the past decade of PCs been so boring? [Friday Night Fights]

As a pioneer of personal computing, Apple’s first machines changed the way we looked at computers. In the years that followed, the company broke new ground with incredible innovations that its rivals couldn’t have dreamed of.

Things have been a little different over the past decade or so. Apple’s innovations haven’t been quite as forthcoming, and while some would say its rivals are catching up, others would argue that the PC industry as a whole has become somewhat boring.

So, why has personal computing gone stagnant? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out!

Luke Dormehl: This week’s Friday Night Fights grew out of a discussion we were having earlier this week (believe it or not, there are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday fights) about whether this decade has been comparatively uneventful for personal computers. Each day I write “Today in Apple history” articles, and it regularly amazes me how much innovation happened over a relatively short space of time — even in the 1990s, when Apple was widely viewed as being in the doldrums. For instance, today I wrote about the 1993 arrival of the Macintosh Color Classic. It’s amazing to think that 7 years later Apple had introduced the iMac G3. We’d had the internet revolution play out, we were approaching the era of the digital hub strategy, and the look and feel of personal computers had totally changed. I suggested to you that nothing so significant had occurred since 2010. You disagreed. Why?

Killian Bell: Because I don’t think innovation was nonexistent over the last decade. I think personal computers are still incredibly exciting today, and I think hugely significant changes have been made since 2010 that you seem to be ignoring.

We now have laptops that turn into tablets when you take off their screens. We have computers that can send us to new worlds through virtual reality. We have insanely powerful PCs like the Mac Pro stuffed inside cases the size of trash cans.

How could you possibly say it’s been an uneventful decade?

Luke: I don’t think it’s been entirely uneventful, but compared to the speed of advances over previous decades? Absolutely. This isn’t entirely unexpected, of course. Any mature industry is going to advance more slowly than a fresh industry, and that’s what we’re seeing. Certainly there are exciting things possible with personal computers right now (3D printing is another one that you didn’t mention), but these aren’t yet reaching their full potential.

What I’m saying may be true for the PC industry as a whole, but it’s 100 percent true for Apple. Yes, we’ve had exciting products from Apple over the past few years, but you’d struggle to point to a time in the company’s history when Macs were more ignored than they are today. A lot of what you’re talking about here — laptops which become tablets, for instance — is something Apple has conspicuously ignored.

Killian: I disagree. I think everything about personal computers has changed for the better. And many of those changes have been incredibly significant.

Macs aren’t ignored today. Apple continues to make them more powerful every year, and it adds features like super-sharp displays, new connectivity standards, and features like the Touch Bar when the time is right. It also overhauls its designs just as frequently.

But Apple’s primary focus shouldn’t be on the Mac, because that’s nowhere near its biggest business. No matter what Apple does with the Mac — no matter how big its next upgrade will be — it isn’t going to miraculously triple its sales for the next quarter. People just aren’t buying personal computers as much as they once were because they’re no longer as necessary — no matter how exciting the latest models may be.

Luke: So you legitimately think that Macs have seen the same pace of innovative ideas and new features this decade that they always have? That’s simply not true. Compare any previous 7 or 8 year stretch (because that’s how far we are into the 2010s) and it’s impossible to argue that this is the case. Good new features? Sure. Faster? Absolutely. The combination of ahead-of-their-time new hardware and software features? No way. It’s not just the hardware and software, either: the entire of notion of what a personal computer was in our lives was in constant flux: from the first networking solutions of the 1980s to the internet in the 1990s, to the the digital hub in the 2000s. Give me one previous stretch of time you think the 2010s has outshone.

Killian: I don’t really know what you expect, Luke. You acknowledge that the industry advances more slowly now that it’s more mature, but you’re still not happy with Apple’s pace of innovation. What do you want from Apple? The company is improving things all the time, and until very recently, it was way ahead of any of its rivals in almost all areas.

Like you say, the notion of a personal computer was in flux back then, but it’s not today. Consumers know what they want, and that hasn’t changed much over the last decade. You complain Apple’s not doing enough, but do you have any suggestions for what it should be doing?

Luke: Okay, so you basically admit that there’s no period in history where Apple was doing less with the Mac than it is today?

For starters, I’d like to see a proper update of the Mac Pro. You cite it as a great machine — and it is — but it’s also been neglected for years. I’d personally like to see more focus and resources put into ironing out some of the issues with macOS, possibly even doing what Microsoft is doing by exploring innovative ways to blur the mobile and desktop interface. Instead, we get incremental “improvements” like the Mac Pro’s Touch Bar, which seem half-hearted at best.

Look at Apple from even its worst years in the 1990s and what you see is a company that was leading the way not just with the quality of software and hardware spec, but also the plethora of new features it was introducing. Heck, from a purely design perspective I wouldn’t mind seeing a new design for the iMac, which has looked the same for ages now.

(I take it, by the way, that you’re not actually going to single out a previous point in history when Apple was doing less with the Mac?)

Killian: It depends what you mean by “doing less.”

I certainly agree the Mac Pro has been neglected, and I can’t think of a good reason for that. That’s one thing we can agree on. But we don’t know how many Mac Pro units Apple is selling. Maybe it’s not enough to warrant an upgrade every year?

You complain about the Touch Bar, but what about the many other improvements Apple has made. It keeps making the MacBook lineup thinner and lighter, yet more even more powerful. It keeps improving battery life, displays, its keyboards and trackpads… the list is endless.

You’ve moaned in previous Friday Night Fights that Apple is doing too much and should streamline. Now you’re moaning because it isn’t doing more with the Mac. I’ve asked you to suggest some groundbreaking changes it could make, and you say “ironing out some of the issues with macOS.” Apple can’t win with you.

Once again, I’m not sure what you mean by “doing less.” I don’t think the Mac lineup has ever been this big. And as we both acknowledged, the industry has matured. The changes are never going to be as significant now as they were when personal computers were taking off.

Let’s hand this over to the readers now. Do you think it has been a boring decade for personal computers?

Friday Night Fights is a series of weekly death matches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?

Killian Bell

Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.