So Apple Introduced M3 Chips

Last week I read news that Apple introduced a new M3 chip in multiple variants. There is a performance bump - M3 Max = M2 Ultra, graphics card supports ray tracing and other stuff. And it can run modern video games.

From the hardware perspective, the integration of processor, graphics card, memory and IO into one system on chip is really impressive. I wished I could buy high performance boards easily. Even current iPhone 15 with A17 is quite impressive.

However from my point of view buying Apple hardware has no point. Why?

• proprietary graphics API Metal. I get why not use DirectX, but why not Vulkan? Why do not cooperate?
• they replace motherboard instead of fixing (I heard the cost is at least 500 eur). It is probably fine in EU with 2 year warranty and most of the time they are not known to break
• it is a golden cage, operating system and software are locked, calling to Apple servers and user has to accept latest whatever from Apple
• just to install and use Xcode (compiler) requires to agree to EULA
• there is a push to get user to paid services
• they sold less devices in 2023 than in 2022, they can start to think about other monetization strategies
• something is wrong with them, I have trust issues - for example because of encryption and CSAM dramas
• 8 gigabyes of RAM and 128 gigabytes of SSD is a joke - I get it, for office people it is enough, but these are not Macbook Airs. This is probably the main reason I don’t trust them. You can get 256GB chip (see PS5 Slim with 4x256), but they still put only 128G? I have 128G in my mobile phone and it is not much. Should be 16G/512G at least.
• base configuration price increased by 300 dollars
• to upgrade RAM or storage is very expensive, 4x-5x more than market price and later it cannot be upgraded
• they are arrogant and communicate just good enough
• Steve Jobs is gone and Jony Ive left and the innovation does not excite me

What is the conclusion? If you can cover the cost in unlucky case, it might be a good choice.