I wish that I could buy hardware as well made as Apple’s from anyone else, for any amount of money. To be clear, I don’t mean “brushed aluminum” or “sub-micron tolerances” or “retina screens are made of love”, though those are all nice enough; I mean “committed.” To a set of values, of principles, an aesthetic. To something. Apple’s hardware is extraordinarily well-executed design-in-depth in service of a set of principles I fundamentally disagree with and a vision I don’t share. But I don’t know of anyone else making hardware who is that committed to level of execution, to understanding their own values and expressing them through the design and function of their products. I don’t care about “thin” or “light” at all, but far as I can tell I can’t buy hardware built with a comparable commitment to resilience, maintainability or experimentation from anyone, anywhere.
– Mike Hoye, The Setup, 2019
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