With his very first statement about Apple Macs, the author of this article shows his total ignorance of the product line. The Mac Mini is by no means hobbled in relation to the iMac. It is a fully capable Mac with a full complement of ports. All it lacks is a built in monitor and it does not come with a mouse or keyboard, recognizing that many people already have those peripherals.
Is the iMac hobbled in relation to the MacPro because it doesn't have a second gigabyte Ethernet port? Or is the MacPro hobbled because it doesn't come with a built in WIFI? Perhaps the iMac is hobbled by not having Xeon processors and error correcting RAM such as the MacPro has, being limited to i5 and i7 processors, or the capability to drive 8 30 inch HD monitors? Probably.
The Mac Mini, the iMac, and the MacPro will easily run all the same software, so there is no "hobbling" in that area. Similarly, the laptop will also run the same software as the desktops. Where this author gets his idea of his mythical Apple hobbled product lines seems to have been pulled out of his nether most portion of his anatomy.
It doesn't matter because with Windows 8, Microsoft now supports both.
OK, there's an x86 compatible version on Android out there, too. But for now it's more of an experiment than a serious play in the market. Meanwhile, when it comes to ultramobile operating systems, Apple's iOS is ARM-only..
Uh, no. Every app that runs on iOS ran FIRST on an Intel Mac... Where it was developed. iOS is at core, a subset of OSX.
Multi-tasking
The idea that iOS is not capable of multi-tasking is a myth pushed by the marketing of the competitors. It has been Multi-tasking from the day it was introduced. It's task switching is easy and unobtrusive... But most important, it is ENERGY USE ECONOMICAL far better than anything offered by Android, thus saving the battery charge. The user is not required to manage background tasks. iOS handles it.
Backwards compatibility
OK, this bit only applies to the regular x86 version of Windows 8 and not the ARM-compatible Windows RT, flavour. But only Windows 8 offers you a fully contemporary, touch-enabled ultramobile OS that also supports the huge ecosystem of legacy PC applications and delivers powerful multi-tasking.
It really is one OS to rule them all.
The need to run every fully functional desktop applications on a tablet has never been demonstrated and Apple determined that was unnecessary to do so. File compatibility, however, between desktop and mobile device of certain apps is of importance, and built the OS with what was necessary to support that. The philosophy to require a mobile device do all things a desktop can is doomed to failure from day one. Do you really need to run a full version of a cadcam application that requires gigabytes of ram on a five inch phone or a seven or ten inch tablet??? Or do you merely need to bring up the CADCAM created plans in a PDF format for a quick review on your phone or tablet? The desktop computer and mobile devices are two entirely different purpose machines. . . they don't have to converge in one OS.
As for Microsoft Windows taking over tablets and smartphones or even the laptop/tablet market, this Friday might be educational. Microsoft and Apple both released their new products: the Microsoft's ARM Surface and Windows 8 and Apple's new Mac Mini, new iMacs, and preorders for the new 8" iPad Mini.
Pundits who went to sales points for both companies found long lines at the Apple stores and none at the Microsoft stores and sales points. Apple sold out the iPad mini, millions available for delivery on November 7th, in seventeen minutes! One pundit went to Fry's Electronics and found their Apple area quite crowded on that Friday, but only three people, including him, were looking at the Surface during the hour he was there. He then went to a mall that had both an Apple store and a Microsoft store, right across the walkway. The lines at the Apple store was down, but the store was packed. The Microsoft store? Crickets. Despite MS offering a $100 credit at the App Store with each Surface.
When I shopped around for a new Mac, I bought a Mac Mini server instead of an iMac. Connected up to a Samsung HD TV/monitor and I'm happy. Saved a lot of money (with some acceptable loss of resolution). With a SSD it's fast. And I remotely access and control it from a Macbook when I want to. Apple is doing great things with its eco-system; it all simply works seamlessly. MS has the wrong message; it isn't about cramming everything into one machine and befuddling the user.
Did any of these “pundits” notice all of the 32GB Surface RT tablets were already sold out on the first day of pre-order?
I have no Idea what their sales may have been, but there was definitely a lot of interest around the Surface launch.