Honestly, I'm a bit surprised Apple hasn't done for their other software what they did for Logic & GarageBand with the Logic Remote app. Every one of their apps could benefit from having a "touch strip" in the form of an app on a user's iPhone or iPad.
People that really are using their computer to do work now have to live in Dongle Land
In exchange for living in Dongle Land, I now get universal ports, any of which can be anything I want. I consider that a good trade.
I've already started replacing some of my cables in anticipation of the new machine, like for external drives and iDevices. They all had their own cables anyway, so there's no reason not to just use ones with USB-C connectors instead of USB-A.
One particularly handy little item from Monoprice will let me plug in all five of the things I need for a Pro Tools session with a single connector. It doesn't look like I'll be dealing with very many adapters.
Once things like external drives start adopting the USB-C connector, I'll actually have FEWER cables and adapters than I have now, because most things will just connect with a C-to-C cable. Since it's likely I will own this computer for a while, a few months of minor inconvenience is far outweighed by the benefits I'll realize over the life of the machine.
People that really are using their computer to do work now have to live in Dongle Land
In exchange for living in Dongle Land, I now get universal ports, any of which can be anything I want. I consider that a good trade.
I've already started replacing some of my cables in anticipation of the new machine, like for external drives and iDevices. They all had their own cables anyway, so there's no reason not to just use ones with USB-C connectors instead of USB-A.
One particularly handy little item from Monoprice will let me plug in all five of the things I need for a Pro Tools session with a single connector. It doesn't look like I'll be dealing with very many adapters.
Once things like external drives start adopting the USB-C connector, I'll actually have FEWER cables and adapters than I have now, because most things will just connect with a C-to-C cable. Since it's likely I will own this computer for a while, a few months of minor inconvenience is far outweighed by the benefits I'll realize over the life of the machine.
IMO, it's a dongle / cable nightmare. They've just unloaded the ports on the computer to all over the desktop. Sure, the computer is slim and clean, but the desk looks like a connector factory explosion.
If Apple has a coherent plan for the Mac and for professional/business users, they sure have done a good job of keeping it a secret.
You have to wait until January for the CES 2017 show when AMD reveals and begins shipping Vega GPGPUs, along-side Zen FX/APUs in 1Q2017.
Apple has several custom ASIC designs for the GPUs thus Vega based solutions. Those are HBM2 only designs.
The Touch Bar would be a perfect addition to the bottom chin of an iPad, even an iPhone. Apple better not wait too long because the competition is already copying them... expect Lenovo laptops featuring Touch Bar in the next 2 months.
The Touch Bar would be a perfect addition to the bottom chin of an iPad, even an iPhone. Apple better not wait too long because the competition is already copying them... expect Lenovo laptops featuring Touch Bar in the next 2 months.
I wouldn't assume they'll add the Touch Bar to the iDevices, but rather the (smart?) keyboards you pair with them. They could have iOS take advantage (like macOS) to use the extra functionality when available, it could quite interesting and useful if done correctly. Sort of a sop to productivity apps which are more prone to be used in conjunction with keyboards, which makes iOS a more productivity oriented OS without having to extend it to all iOS and all iOS apps (which I'm not sure makes sense since they have a touchscreen already in the device).
Or perhaps if they ever do a non-touch iOS laptop, having the Touch Bar in the keyboard would provide some sort of direct "touch" with iOS without having to touch the screen.
Regardless, I think they've hit on a novel idea and can't wait to see them roll it out further into *all* their product lines.
The Touch Bar would be a perfect addition to the bottom chin of an iPad, even an iPhone.
I don't understand. The entire screen is already a Touch Bar. How do you envision it being used?
That's why I personally would like to see Apple implement the "Touch Bar" function as an app for iPad and iPhone to add functionality when a user does not have a latest generation MacBook Pro. I realize that would be running counter to their interests and making the new Pros somewhat less unique, but we've already shelled out hundreds (or over $1,000 in the case of the iPad Pro) for these devices.
Of course. The Logic development team is in Rellingen, near Hamburg, Germany. These sorts of new hardware developments tend to remain internal to Cupertino.
But they can't keep a secret about anything else.
They can't keep a secret about anything manufactured in China, or that can be flown over with a drone.
With the laptops, the path is to pack the most power possible in the most portable possible package. They just released proof of this....
Nice theory, kind of like socialism. Doesn't work so well in practice. Apple has significantly reduced the simple, straightforward usability of the computer by going all in on USB-C instead of providing some legacy connectivity such as HDMI or an SD slot. People that really are using their computer to do work now have to live in Dongle Land, which is a sharp contrast to how Apple used to do business.
Then you really haven't been paying attention. Apple has been doing the exact same thing since they removed the ADB port from the original iMac and replaced it with USB. What we're hearing now is the same sort of wailing at the gates that we heard when the floppy drive disappeared: people complaining that their stack of 3.5nch disks were now useless; people complaining that now they'd have to buy an Iomega drive if they wanted to use removable storage.
Apple learns from its past, and one of the things it learned is that the folk often won't move unless they're pushed. And this is exactly what we're seeing today. The only difference is that Jobs would have just told them to get on with it; Cook throws the whiners a bone by reducing prices (temporarily) to help them get over themselves.
I'm amazed by people who claim to be professionals in one breath by saying 16GB isn't enough to run their web browser, and then in the sentence complaining that all their cables are now obsolete.
I didn't want to abandon C, but C++ came along so I made the move. I didn't want to abandon C++, but Java was more lucrative so I moved again. Java was great, but Python was awesome, so I picked up Python. Being a professional is all about keeping up, not crying in your beer when things change.
Meanwhile, Horace Dediu (in my opinion, the only analyst worth reading), has a dose of reality for the complainers. It doesn't make pleasant reading, but it does explain Apple's thinking.
That was super interesting. So basically redefining the context menu. Right-clicking on things to bring up another menu is going to start looking so dated.
I wonder what this button does. It's pretty common across the toolbars.
Edit: urg, I don't know what I'm doing and having trouble adding an image in-line.
Perhaps when you own one you will find out. Bitching doesn't help.
That was super interesting. So basically redefining the context menu. Right-clicking on things to bring up another menu is going to start looking so dated.
I wonder what this button does. It's pretty common across the toolbars.
Edit: urg, I don't know what I'm doing and having trouble adding an image in-line.
Perhaps when you own one you will find out. Bitching doesn't help.
Who's bitching? He's WONDERING WHAT THAT BUTTON DOES.
Who's bitching? He's WONDERING WHAT THAT BUTTON DOES.
9to5 says it’s a debug button that only shows up in Xcode.
haha. debugging. bug-spray. I get it now. Those icons ought to be straightforward and if that's right that's a debug button, that would be a nice joke.
It takes apple nearly 4 years to update the Mac Book Pro, the specs are largely the same, they've abandoned thunderbolt displays after people invest loads of money with them, they abandon their wifi products that people invested in. The problem apple have always sold at a premium and they always take a gamble when they decide that to stay "Different" to anything else out there releasing technology for the sake of it that isn't adopted because of the high price and those that do find themselves left in Limbo. The touchbar is a bit of a gimmick, it's nothing they couldn't have done with the touchpad. 4 years of innovation and again more price hikes to get a touch bar isn't enough to keep people loyal to the mac anymore. For me their very long development cycle for their own software products which really is the only reason people are with the mac isn't helping and I don;t care what anyone says Tim Cook doesn't really want to keep MacOS forever, he would easily think no-one needs to use a traditional computer anymore and the iPad Pro and beyond with iOS is the future for him.
I am an iMac user for one reason alone and that was because of Logic Pro, however a lot of other DAW's have caught up, become more stable and overtook Logic, meaning needing a mac less important. The game changer will be when Microsoft start shipping the surface studio, the way it's designed and touchscreen capability it's how the iMac should have been, but I believe MacOS can't be touch enabled without another full rewrite of the code of their OS leaving a lot of their applications non compatible they might be forced to do that when they see even more creative and pro users migrate away to the Windows 10 platform as Microsoft target those people even more early next year.
We will see what Apple do in 2017 but they really need to shift focus to their MacOS platform as someone else has said split it into a separate entity and allow them to develop and concentrate on improving the platform before it becomes obsolete.
Comments
I've already started replacing some of my cables in anticipation of the new machine, like for external drives and iDevices. They all had their own cables anyway, so there's no reason not to just use ones with USB-C connectors instead of USB-A.
One particularly handy little item from Monoprice will let me plug in all five of the things I need for a Pro Tools session with a single connector. It doesn't look like I'll be dealing with very many adapters.
Once things like external drives start adopting the USB-C connector, I'll actually have FEWER cables and adapters than I have now, because most things will just connect with a C-to-C cable. Since it's likely I will own this computer for a while, a few months of minor inconvenience is far outweighed by the benefits I'll realize over the life of the machine.
Or perhaps if they ever do a non-touch iOS laptop, having the Touch Bar in the keyboard would provide some sort of direct "touch" with iOS without having to touch the screen.
Regardless, I think they've hit on a novel idea and can't wait to see them roll it out further into *all* their product lines.
They can't keep a secret about anything manufactured in China, or that can be flown over with a drone.
Then you really haven't been paying attention. Apple has been doing the exact same thing since they removed the ADB port from the original iMac and replaced it with USB. What we're hearing now is the same sort of wailing at the gates that we heard when the floppy drive disappeared: people complaining that their stack of 3.5nch disks were now useless; people complaining that now they'd have to buy an Iomega drive if they wanted to use removable storage.
Apple learns from its past, and one of the things it learned is that the folk often won't move unless they're pushed. And this is exactly what we're seeing today. The only difference is that Jobs would have just told them to get on with it; Cook throws the whiners a bone by reducing prices (temporarily) to help them get over themselves.
I'm amazed by people who claim to be professionals in one breath by saying 16GB isn't enough to run their web browser, and then in the sentence complaining that all their cables are now obsolete.
I didn't want to abandon C, but C++ came along so I made the move. I didn't want to abandon C++, but Java was more lucrative so I moved again. Java was great, but Python was awesome, so I picked up Python. Being a professional is all about keeping up, not crying in your beer when things change.
Meanwhile, Horace Dediu (in my opinion, the only analyst worth reading), has a dose of reality for the complainers. It doesn't make pleasant reading, but it does explain Apple's thinking.
http://www.asymco.com/2016/11/02/wherefore-art-thou-macintosh/
Bitching doesn't help.
I am an iMac user for one reason alone and that was because of Logic Pro, however a lot of other DAW's have caught up, become more stable and overtook Logic, meaning needing a mac less important. The game changer will be when Microsoft start shipping the surface studio, the way it's designed and touchscreen capability it's how the iMac should have been, but I believe MacOS can't be touch enabled without another full rewrite of the code of their OS leaving a lot of their applications non compatible they might be forced to do that when they see even more creative and pro users migrate away to the Windows 10 platform as Microsoft target those people even more early next year.
We will see what Apple do in 2017 but they really need to shift focus to their MacOS platform as someone else has said split it into a separate entity and allow them to develop and concentrate on improving the platform before it becomes obsolete.