smack416

The trouble with basically any other monitor other than the 27" LG Ultrafine is the PPI. This BenQ is not retina resolution, nor is it well suited to MacOS as a non-retina display (reference: https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays/).

With the 27" Ultrafine, you're sacrificing a few inches of screen largeness for a noticeable amount of clarity (218PPI vs 138PPI on the BenQ), many more pixels (5120 x 2880 vs 3840 x 2160 on the BenQ), and the LG costs you just $100 more. To me, there's no contest given the value, unless extreme response time is a deal breaker for you.

The knock on the LG monitors is that they are not great in build quality, but the screens are as good as it gets. Simply put: the 27" LG Ultrafine monitor is the only option available today if you're looking for the clarity of a retina screen, and will be the only economical option when Apple releases their pro display. At least until a competitor else releases a +200 PPI monitor. In the meantime, this BenQ monitor doesn't compare.

Missing December allowed Amazon the opening to have this buyer to try out an Echo Plus, only to hear first-hand how completely awful the audio is and confirm how limited the functionality is outside of music. i returned my almost unused Alexa this week. Can't wait for HomePod.

JinTech said:

A link to the video would be nice....

There is a video link, but it's confusingly labelled as "described as" in the article. But still, the link should be more directly stated and highlighted. And why not embed it? 

In any case, here it is: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/01/how-apple-makes-its-own-chips-for-iphone-and-mac-edging-out-intel.html (And it's also not too clear at that link either; the image at the top of that article is clickable and will load the video).

A level up from the HomePod mini would be welcome.

After using a number of original HomePods and HomePods mini alone and in stereo, the minis are a pale comparison to the original HomePod. I think the price difference was reasonable given the more fulsome sound.

Something that gets closer to the original HomePod for $99 more than the mini would be great and maybe a better consumer price point than the original Homepod. I otherwise wouldn't buy or recommend another Homepod mini and will be crestfallen if something happens to my living room HomePods and there's no reasonably close equivalent to replace them.

docno42 said:

Ugh, once again integrated graphics only.  Once again Apple pays lip service to pro users.

For pro users who are fed up with integrated graphics, Apple is definitely all-in on promoting eGPUs. You want pro GPU performance from one of their more consumer-oriented systems, that's where they'll tell you to go, having pretty firmly settled into no discrete GPU in anything other than the highest end 15" MacBook Pro and high end desktops. 

Blackmagic just added a Vega to their eGPU enclosure and Apple is pushing both Blackmagic's original and Pro eGPUs on their MacBook Pro page and Thunderbolt page, with an eGPU mention on the Mac Mini page, and an Accessories recommendation on the MacBook Air tech page.

And since there has never been a discrete GPU in a unibody 13" MacBook Pro, I for one am grateful for the eGPU option for staying portable and powerful. Right now, the eGPU is an improvement on the best discrete GPU you can get in 15" Pro as well, but they've also just announced Vega GPUs will be an option for 15" MacBook Pros in November.

All of this points to Apple serving professionals better this year than any time in recent memory. If they release a new Mac Pro next year, you'll have the most diverse pro-friendly lineup they've ever had, with the option of plugging in an eGPU into whatever Apple computer you'd like, or spending 3+ months worth of rent on an iMac, iMac Pro, Mac Pro, or 15" Vega MacBook. That's more pro choice than I can recall them offering in the last 20 years.

OutdoorAppDeveloper said:

But are any of those products really new or are they just updates to existing products? When will we see something truly groundbreaking from Apple?

My two cents:

Airpods were and continue to be truly groundbreaking (in case you're implying that they haven't released anything groundbreaking in years).

The new iPad Pro is groundbreaking from a hardware point of view, years ahead of the competition, and competing speed and GPU wise with current shipping computers. What would be groundbreaking is a sustainable model and commitment from major software vendors like Adobe (and Apple, for that matter) to bring Pro software to the iPad. I much prefer working on iPad over any OSX device, but I need better file management, Adobe Illustrator, and a few other software improvements in order to ditch OSX altogether. Then there's the whole programming on iPad issue.

A compact Macbook Pro with decent GPU performance would be groundbreaking. There's very little that's Pro about the 13" Macbook Pro.

Airpower for $150 or less will be groundbreaking, allowing you to charge your phone, wireless headphones, and watch at the same time, from one outlet.

Siri being able to understand my voice would be groundbreaking. I can't imagine how poorly it must work for people with an accent.

Shifting the AppleTV to be gaming centric (really, just a positioning and controller issue) could be groundbreaking, especially if there's a game subscription service in the works. Adding a wireless hub to Apple TV at the current price point could also be groundbreaking. Consistent, reliable wifi is still an unsolved issue at my home and office, despite trying various solutions (Apple and Orbi).

Incorporating a key, tempo, genre, and energy algorithm into Apple Music in order to auto mix playlists could be groundbreaking. I'd at least settle for adding this metadata to tracks so I can manually sort playlists more effortlessly. All we have now is BPM and genre.

Global ECG support for Apple Watch would be groundbreaking.

From my point of view, who needs brand new products (VR glasses? a car? iPhone socks?) when there's so much room to innovate across the existing product line. You can't even get a 6-core iMac right now, but you can get a 6-core Mac mini or 15" Macbook pro. I'd prefer they have more of their focus on the current product line than trying to find the next big thing.

Here's the thing I discovered using a similar, flat charging matt. The way the sport watch bands sit, if you lay the watch flat, it starts to lift up in the middle, pulling the back of the watch far enough away from the matt that it doesn't consistently charge. Also, your sport loop or other closed watch band will prevent you from charging unless you take at least one end off. So a flat AirPower may not be able to charge the watch without removing the bands. Not ideal.

trustnoone00 said:

sog35 said:

MacBAir said:

They are right. The vast majority of Galaxy users are people that associate more cores, more pixels with better phones. Those will keep buying Android devices, probably the great S7.

The others, that wanted S-pen specific features, will keep using older notes or other galaxy devices, too. They have no other choice.

Those that wanted the Note because it had the best screen and best camera won't obvious buy an iPhone as well.

For the users that feel that they lost trust in Samsung, some will go Android, some will go iOS.

Did. Not. Read.

Only 36 posts. Not going to waste my time

Did. Not. Read.

Normally I find your posts a welcome change and usually quite funny however you haven't been here long enough.  Not going to waste my time.

My man. We've both been here since 2004. Neither of us over 50 posts. This n00b writes 10,000 posts in 3 years and he thinks that qualifies him to bully others. Shameful.

And now we've both been sucked into derailing this thread. Mods, deal with this.

DAalseth said:

EDIT: Here in Canada it starts at $899. Nope, it’s not worth it. The base 16, that is significantly better is not that much more. 

If you are thinking of buying a 16 in Canada, be sure to make that decision soon. The only reason the price difference between the 16E and 16 is at $230 CAD is because Apple hasn't updated the exchange rate on the 16.