Microsoft rumored to take on Apple TV with Xbox-branded set-top box in 2013

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  • Reply 41 of 62

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cycomiko View Post


     


    How do I fix Mountain Lions long boot times?



     


    Fusion drive.

  • Reply 42 of 62
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TBell View Post


    Say what you want, but Microsoft's X-Box media features kicks Apple's butt and I am a huge Apple fan. Microsoft's interface on the X-Box is first rate. I was going to buy an Apple TV a while back and my girlfriend bought me the X-Box for Christmas. I simply can't justify the $99 price tag when the X-Box does so much more. 


     


    Apple simply is not leveraging the strength of its platform to offer a truly competitive package. For instance, why doesn't Apple have a Apple TV app store? Google, Microsoft, and Roku all do. Moreover, you can surf the web on these platforms. Airplay is Apple's biggest strength, but Google is working to mimic that. Roku's Box costs $50 and it has far more channels (interface sucks). 


     


    Apple could have a kick ass product by 1) tying messaging into Apple TV, 2) adding an email client, 3) adding Safari, 4) bringing Siri on board, and 5) adding an Apple TV app store. If it doesn't do these things, both Microsoft and Google are doing it. I would love to be able to be watching Netflix, and a box pop up telling me a I have a message or call. 



     

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    All very wise, except for Siri. Are there not enough drunk guys yelling at their TV already?


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  • Reply 43 of 62
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ThinkKnot View Post



    It won't matter since Apple will come out with their own HDTV next year with Apple TV box built into it. So folks can buy that and hook the Xbox to it, but nobody will pay to watch movies via the Xbox since the capability will be built into the Apple HDTV.

    Apple should put a bunch of HDMI ports, USB ports and more onto it so it will be the one HDTV to rule them all. And they'll welcome Xbox, WiiU, PlayStation and other consoles so long as you use an Apple HDTV.

    Apple knows the add-on doo-hickey box that the current Apple TV, Roku, Google TV, etc days are numbered. Same as how they got out of the printer business.


     

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    SInce Sony, Sharp, etc, have come very close to going out of business due to their TV set exposure, Apple better have something really amazing, or else just leave the TV set market to die a slow death.


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  • Reply 44 of 62
    igrivigriv Posts: 1,177member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cycomiko View Post


     


    How do I fix Mountain Lions long boot times?



     

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    Take Qaaludes?


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  • Reply 45 of 62
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    wings wrote: »
    That's one way to fix Windows' long boot times, just leave it on constantly.

    My parents do that. I wish I could get them to stop.

    cycomiko wrote: »
    How do I fix Mountain Lions long boot times?

    Is this sarcastic? ML doesn't seem to take noticeably longer time than previous releases. An SSD can easily cut the time down to a third. I went from about 60 seconds to maybe 15-20 seconds.
  • Reply 46 of 62
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post





    It gets hot rendering game graphics, I'm sure power usage goes way down when streaming video.


     


     


    Again true (I just checked as I am streaming an video from my Mac to the X-Box now). Still quite warm though. :o)

  • Reply 47 of 62
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by igriv View Post


     


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    All very wise, except for Siri. Are there not enough drunk guys yelling at their TV already?


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    LOL. Yes, but Siri could single handedly reinvigorate the TV market as drunk guys throw crap at the TV because she is being a smart ass. 


     


    Voice recognition on the X-Box using Kinnect isn't that good. Truth be told, compared to Google's new voice recognition on the iPhone, Siri needs some work. Google's voice recognition goes to work immediately and you get the answer much quicker then Siri. Siri of course is integrated much tighter with the OS. 

  • Reply 48 of 62
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    That would solve Windows 8's problem with being too stupid to remember that I have the WDDM 1.1 driver installed, kicking my screen back to 640x480 every time I boot into it.


     


    Power draw, noise, 60% hardware failure rate…


     


    What long boot times?


     


    The first part is incorrect, the second part is completely irrelevant except to the Anti-Apple Brigade who has to pat themselves on the back any way they can to feel special.





    http://www.anandtech.com/show/3774/welcome-to-valhalla-inside-the-new-250gb-xbox-360-slim/3


     


    XBox slim: Less than half the noise of the original XBox and less than half the power cosumption.  A measured 87W watts to play Halo 3.  Pretty good value cost wise, I'd say.  The failure rate is around 10-15 %.


     


    I still have one of the ultra noisy, power hungry Xbox 360s from 2007.  The failure rate was terrible.  It failed within 12 months, was repaired under warranty, Microsoft then extended the warranty and it failed again, 12 months later.  Microsoft again fixed it under warranty and it has been working fine since that last repair in 2009.


     


    Now this might sound odd, but my 'customer experience' with Microsoft's handling of these issues has been every bit as good as my experience with Apple's customer experience, if not superior.  I find it surprising to say this as I am not a Microsoft fan, but it is the truth.


     


    What matters to me is that I have not had to pay a cent more than the original purchase price of the XBox and have had a good five years use out of it.


     


    Microsoft's handling of the situation with the design defects was exemplary, and superior to my corresponding experience with Apples handling of design defects in their products.

  • Reply 49 of 62


    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post


    XBox slim: Less than half the noise of the original XBox and less than half the power cosumption.



     


    Same hardware as six years ago. Call me when they actually release a new console. image Same with Sony. Why they think people will still want to be playing a PS3 in 2017, I'll never know.


     


    And yeah, I know we're talking about it in the home media center sense, but buying an Xbox without the intention of playing games on it is, in my mind, incredibly silly. Particularly when you'd be consciously choosing to contend with its interface.


     



    The failure rate is around 10-15 %.


     


    The failure rate was terrible.



     


    Wait, wait… was terrible?!


     


    You must be too accustomed to Microsoft's legendary quality to notice how bad this is. 

  • Reply 50 of 62
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    tbell wrote: »
    Microsoft should be spending a lot of time figuring out how to use the X-Box to sell its other products. 

    It has limited scope because XBox represents gaming. If you attach it to things that don't represent gaming like a media center, the XBox brand can start to get a bad association. At least a confusing one, even if it does allow you to play casual games.

    It sorta works for these products though:

    - Xbox TV = casual games + movies
    - Xbox Surface = casual to mid-resource games + tablet/touch
    - Xbox = full on gaming with Kinect

    I personally think the full Xbox is becoming a bit redundant. I think they should stop at the tablet. $299 8" tablet sold at a profit, very fast GPU, maybe a larger one that is the same speed. I think they should slim down the controller too like so:

    1000

    Clickable capacitive glass pads vs analog sticks, d-pad and buttons around the pads with colours no letters rather than the other way round, micro-USB connector, Li-Ion battery - very thin, around the width of the top shoulder buttons so it's portable. Works with both Surface and TV box although I'd say the TV box should basically be a Kinect with an Apple TV inside so the controller is optional and obviously the Surface has touch input that can mirror the controller layout.

    The Surface would be around the same performance as a current Xbox and the TV about half. All profit-making hardware that can be updated regularly.

    XBox Surface beats the Wii U because it can operate as a tablet and has better games.
    The PS4 won't be out for a while and the value isn't there in a big console any more.


    [VIDEO]


    Next-gen games will use all the power they can get but if they bring out new hardware every year, developers just have to scale the graphics down for older models.
  • Reply 51 of 62
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    And yeah, I know we're talking about it in the home media center sense, but buying an Xbox without the intention of playing games on it is, in my mind, incredibly silly. Particularly when you'd be consciously choosing to contend with its interface. 



     


     


    I hate Windows, but Microsoft has done a good job with the X-Box interface. I think with the last overall of the Apple TV interface, Apple took a step backwards. With that said, I agree the X-Box would be an expensive investment just for media consumption. I got mine as a gift, and that is pretty much all I use it for. I still pull out Splinter Cell occasionally. 

  • Reply 52 of 62
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member


    Some good points. I like the ideas for the controller. Integrating the surface into the X-Box experience is a no brainer.


     


    Microsoft should have ditched the name Windows for its Touch based OS all together. I think Surface would have been a decent name to call its Touch based OS. Calling it Windows stinks. Even Metro was good. The name Windows doesn't give me warm fuzzy feelings. 

  • Reply 53 of 62
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Obviously they don't because one can get HBO GO on their iPhone/iPod/iPad, and the iPad is shown on it's commercials.

    The iPad is different than Apple TV. In fact, Apple blocks certain apps- HBO go, Showtime, amazon instant video, etc from AirPlay working on Apple TV. While other apps they allow it. It's an apple thing... I understand why- it competes with iTunes. But amazon isn't any different than Netflix and HBO go is such a small select group... They're just being sticklers.
    Again- it's on every single other streaming box- except ATV. You do the math.
  • Reply 54 of 62
    cycomiko wrote: »
    wings wrote: »
    That's one way to fix Windows' long boot times, just leave it on constantly.

    How do I fix Mountain Lions long boot times?

    With Windows, I wouldn't want to reboot and risk that it doesn't boot anymore. With OSX, what long boot times? Even if so, get a SSD.
    thinkknot wrote: »
    It won't matter since Apple will come out with their own HDTV next year with Apple TV box built into it.

    Wait, there's another company named Apple?
    Apple should put a bunch of HDMI ports, USB ports and more onto it so it will be the one HDTV to rule them all.
    You really don't know Apple. They don't do 'a bunch of ports'
    That would solve Windows 8's problem with being too stupid to remember that I have the WDDM 1.1 driver installed, kicking my screen back to 640x480 every time I boot into it.

    WOW. Just WOW. Hey, that could work as their new name; WaitingOnWindows
    peter236 wrote: »
    Windows 8 boots ups faster than OSX which is used only by a small number of computers.

    The first part is incorrect, the second part is completely irrelevant except to the Anti-Apple Brigade who has to pat themselves on the back any way they can to feel special.

    After reading "used only by a small number of computers" I thought 'which' referred to Windows
  • Reply 55 of 62
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    philboogie wrote: »
    With Windows, I wouldn't want to reboot and risk that it doesn't boot anymore. With OSX, what long boot times? Even if so, get a SSD.

    1998 called, they want their excuses back
  • Reply 56 of 62
    jfanning wrote: »
    philboogie wrote: »
    With Windows, I wouldn't want to reboot and risk that it doesn't boot anymore. With OSX, what long boot times? Even if so, get a SSD.

    1998 called, they want their excuses back

    You've said it! There is no excuse to be weary of such a simple thing as a reboot; yet some dread to do it because they had a bad experience. Even from before 1998, I believe.
  • Reply 57 of 62
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    philboogie wrote: »
    You've said it! There is no excuse to be weary of such a simple thing as a reboot; yet some dread to do it because they had a bad experience. Even from before 1998, I believe.

    Yes, how very true. I am scared about purchasing another Apple product as I have had an iMac and MacBook both fail requiring system board, and RAM replacements, then I had to deal with Apples terrible non US support. I don't want that experience again.
  • Reply 58 of 62
    tbell wrote: »

    Get a SSD drive. :O)

    I just installed one on my late model 2009 aluminum Macbook running Mountain Lion. It boots in about 20 seconds. The Macbook is much faster than when I bought it. 
    That's still around double the time Win8 takes to boot with a SSD.

    My 4 year old iMac boots Win8 on boot camp in 15-20 seconds. Mountain lion is closer to a minute. People can critisize Win8 in many ways, a lot of it is just opinion, but it has to be said the boot times are impressive on any level.
  • Reply 59 of 62
    8002580025 Posts: 175member


    When I read the phrases: "may compete", "will run", and (most iportantly) "hardware specs not fully locked down", it leads me to belive majorcrap has nothing tangible. They just want to have their name in print and lead folks to beleive they "have something". Sounds like another Zune in the making...

  • Reply 60 of 62
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    timgriff84 wrote: »
    That's still around double the time Win8 takes to boot with a SSD.
    My 4 year old iMac boots Win8 on boot camp in 15-20 seconds. Mountain lion is closer to a minute. People can critisize Win8 in many ways, a lot of it is just opinion, but it has to be said the boot times are impressive on any level.

    I guess those figures are about right. With MacOS on a desktop, I don't think booting is as necessary if sleep will do the task. I checked my iMac, sleep takes power consumption down to 2 watts and wakes up in a couple seconds.
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