Dell's new XPS laptops reminds me of Apple in 2016.
They're adding gimmicks to try to differentiate and prioritizing form over function.
Because Dell uses Intel/AMD chips with Windows, it's extremely hard to differentiate over a Lenovo or Asus or Samsung or HP or Acer. This means they can mostly differentiate on marketing and price.
So they started adding gimmicks such as removing the function keys and adding touch buttons to replace them. This is a worse version of the Apple Touch Bar that most people hated.
They made the touchpad "invisible" to make it look cleaner. This reduces functionality because now it's harder to know where the touchpad begins and ends.
Lastly, they removed the headphone jack at a time when Apple started to add more ports back.
Apple's old Mac design philosophy was form over function in order to differentiate from other Intel laptops. Now that they have Apple Silicon, they no longer need to differentiate over gimmicks.
They're adding gimmicks to try to differentiate and prioritizing form over function.
Because Dell uses Intel/AMD chips with Windows, it's extremely hard to differentiate over a Lenovo or Asus or Samsung or HP or Acer. This means they can mostly differentiate on marketing and price.
So they started adding gimmicks such as removing the function keys and adding touch buttons to replace them. This is a worse version of the Apple Touch Bar that most people hated.
They made the touchpad "invisible" to make it look cleaner. This reduces functionality because now it's harder to know where the touchpad begins and ends.
Lastly, they removed the headphone jack at a time when Apple started to add more ports back.
Apple's old Mac design philosophy was form over function in order to differentiate from other Intel laptops. Now that they have Apple Silicon, they no longer need to differentiate over gimmicks.