Apple promises 'scary fast' Mac announcement the night of October 30
Apple's next special event will take place on the night of October 30, with the "Scary fast" presentation anticipated to include Mac updates.
October 30 'Scary Fast' Apple event invite
Alerts have been sent out to the media on Tuesday, inviting them to watch a special Apple Event online. The event, subtitled "Scary fast." will take place on October 30.
Unusually for Apple, it is timing the event for 5:00PM PT, which is 8PM ET and 1AM BST. Compared to other typical event timings, this is an extremely late showing for the iPhone maker.
The event is likely to see the launch of new Mac models, including potentially a new 24-inch iMac.
The 24-inch iMac is long overdue for an update, with it languishing on M1 chips when practically everything else in the Apple Silicon range has moved on to M2.
While other Macs will rely on M3, it seems unlikely that there will be an appearance of Macs using the chip during the event. On Sunday, rumor reports continued the narrative that new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines running on M3 are at important stages of mass production, but won't surface until early 2024.
Indeed, Apple made a considerable hint that Mac will feature during the event via its Apple Events page. The Apple logo animates a change to the "Face" icon used by the macOS Finder app.
A bunch of iPad updates are also potential candidates for the event, but the rumor mill suggests otherwise.
Earlier in October, Apple introduced a new Apple Pencil with USB-C, amid rumors of an iPad introduction.
An update to the iPad line, including an M2 iPad Air and a refreshed iPad mini, could happen as spec-bump updates. However, there have also been claims that there won't be any iPad changes before the end of 2023.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Apple does not make devices that appeal to low cost consumers. If you want a simple desktop computer, the mac is not for you. I do like the interoperability between the varied devices, so one intriguing possibility is that Apple does make a more versatile and affordable monitor "system" that can display, on a desktop, content from any source - iPhone, iPad, legacy devices like a mac mini, or...straight from internet sources, and just skip any local processing or storage.
YMMV.
First, there are a still a ton on Intel Macs out there where an upgrade to M2 or M3 (we assume) will make a huge difference in performance and capability for even average computer users. I see many 2014, 2015, 2016 MacBooks being upgraded.
Second, as far as low cost... true, the least expensive M2 MacBook Air is $1099 and you can find PC's a lot less than that. But how long is that PC going to last? Three years? Four years? That M2 or M3 Air will almost certainly go seven or eight years for the non-pro user. So they have a large expense at the outset, but over time, they are saving money. That was true with my first iMac in 2012- it cost me easily $1200 more than a PC, but it lasted seven years. I was needed to upgrade PCs every two to three years.
Third, "If you want a simple desktop, the Mac is not for you." No. Seriously, no. The Apple user interface is by far better than anything Windows can offer and dealing with settings is most certainly better.
Finally, as far as using a Mac mini or Mac Studio with an external monitor- that is absolutely a great choice for a lot of people. I do wish the Studio Display just wasn't so expensive.
Ohmigosh. Is apple actually going to launch pro and max chips also????
if so, it looks like apple is on the hunt again. Good stuff.
What I was trying to write, and didn't, was for a desktop experience, maybe we are at a stage where a MacBook (yes thats a mac and my bad for being particularly bad about implying otherwise) can feed a nice desktop sized display...or maybe a iPad or even iPhone will do that. I'm reminded of my very first Mac, the PowerBook Duo 230 with a docking station. But still...the macOS (and iOS and PadOS) need help being much simpler. I think that was what I was trying to express, but didn't.
My last iMac was a mid 2009 27" version. I would still be using it, but it has developed thermal problems requiring manual control of the internal fans, making it noisy.
this is likely opening things up to try to give the VP as much of an iPhone focus as possible.