David H Dennis

I purchased a 2016 MacBook Pro in February. I noticed the typed key doubling effect (which created results like "appple" or "Macbbook". I chalked it up to the keyboard being different to type on and soldiered on. About a month before I left Costa Rica, my keyboard failed entirely - pressing buttons would do nothing. Unfortunately, the Apple Stores there do not honor the US warranty, something that left me alarmed. Fortunately I had already scheduled a trip back to the US. Upon my return, I went to the Apple Store Wellington Green to get it fixed. In a little under a week, I had my computer back, good as new. Actually, better than new. The keyboard is working flawlessly without a doubling problem. I just hope it will last, because a failure while I'm back in Costa Rica will be a big problem ... For anyone who's not in Costa Rica much of the time, I highly recommend the machine. Time will tell whether I should have gotten the old keyboard, but I actually like the feel of the butterfly keyboard and enjoy typing on it. I would say that if you have a problem, bring it in for service and give it another chance. One handy tip: If you are visiting a country where Apple's warranty is not supported, bring along a Apple wireless keyboard and trackpad. Pair them with your laptop before you leave. They will enable you to use a computer with a broken keyboard while you wait for your next trip back to the US. I was able to find something that looked a lot like an Apple Wireless Keyboard, but I had to hit the "1" key about five times to be able to type a "1". Don't be like me. Take the real thing along. At least the semi-functioning substitute was only 8,000 colones. (About $15).

mikethemartian said:

I noticed that looking at the 128GB model with 4TB drive. Since you cannot upgrade it later you can’t just buy a model that is available now and upgrade after the supply chain issues have abated.

When I was last at an Apple Store, I noticed the M1 Max MacBook Pro was available as a pre-packaged system with that configuration.  (At that time the Mac Studio was not yet introduced.). You might want to check an Apple Store and see if they have a pre-packaged system in stock for you.

Where do Apple executives live?

The Bay Area.

What cities do they visit?

NYC

So where are things beautiful?

The Bay Area and NYC.

Cheer up, through.  Here in Costa Rica we don’t even get navigation and I have to use Google Maps or Waze.

Unfortunately I can understand why Costa Rica is a low priority.  Costa Ricans don’t buy iPhones, they are far too expensive.  Only tourists and expats (like me) have them, and most of us buy them from the USA because import fees here are prohibitively high.

Any idea when Costa Rica, where I live, would be getting this treatment?  Right now we don’t even have directions!  

Alas it will probably take years

Down here in Costa Rica, with the weather nice almost all the time, people frequently enjoy working outdoors.  I built a nice little outdoor office, with my MacBook Pro, 4K monitor and Philips Hue lights, to savor my awesome ocean view.  

But there is just one problem: Evil biting insects are attracted to the light created by all this stuff.  So around the end of daylight, it becomes downright miserable to work here in paradise.

I just wanted to thank Craig and friends for introducing Dark Mode, which should be ideal to make the insectos, as they call them down here, become less virulent.  I can't wait to try it and see the results!  My entire body will thank them .

(I just thought it was kinda funny to announce a genuine need for a feature that might strike most of us as frivolous eye candy .... LOL.)

I've read all these comments, and it really surprises me that everyone puts the blame for Apple's problems on Tim Cook.  Tim was never intended to be a product manager.  He was intended to be the one who made the company run smoothly.  Tim's responsible if the announced products don't show up on time, or if they are not easily available upon introduction, etc.  As far as I can tell, those essential functions are being executed better than ever.  I remember how difficult it was to get some iPhone models when they were introduced; now it's pretty easy because he's worked out supply chain kinks to perfection.  So all praise to Cook.

Steve's heir for product development is Jony Ive.   I don't think anyone disputes his product design chops, particularly in regard to the new iPhones and Apple Watches.  Apple Watch has been quite a success, although it's built more slowly than Apple's other products.  As I'm out and about in the USA, I'm seeing more and more of them around(*).

Let's consider Apple's breakthrough products.  iPhone was based on iPod.  iPad was based on iPhone.  Apple Watch was based on iPhone.  So we can see Apple's most revolutionary products actually evolved from previous successes.  It's logical to think that if Apple has a new breakthrough product, then, it will evolve from iPhone.  It's even possible that Apple's next breakthrough product could be an evolution of Apple Watch, made to be standalone instead of dependent on iPhone.  

Moving forward, we will always need something with iPhone's functionality, even if it is no longer an iPhone.  Apple seems like the logical company to produce that device, no matter what it may be. To be honest I think a watch-like device is more likely to be iPhone's successor than glasses or a VR headset.  

So the real question is whether Apple has lost its way in terms of breakthrough products.  Well, Apple Watch is a breakthrough product in that it has thoroughly disrupted the watch industry and left its Android-based competition reeling.  But it is not (yet) replacing iPhone in the hearts and pockets of customers.  It does show that Apple's product development team can in fact continue to develop fresh products people love.

What are the next future innovations?  Foldable phones seem interesting but nobody seems to have produced anything like a great one yet.  Apple certainly could.  5G phones are not going to have significant 5G networks for at least a year or two going forward, so I would say there's little point to a 5G Apple phone today.  I am confident that being slightly behind won't be much of a disadvantage since the full standards for 5G are not even set yet.  Better to have a 5G phone when the standards are set and the technology is ripe.

We are all looking forward to the next big thing.  Let's hope Apple produces it.  Even if it doesn't, it would be surprising if they had no entry into the market.  Sometimes being late to market even works better.  Consider the original iPhone.  It was far from first, but it was the best.  Maybe that's what will happen with the new, new thing.

Whatever it actually is.

(*) I am an expat spending most of my time in Costa Rica, which is a lower middle income country with a microscopic Apple market share.  There are iCon stores here, which look like 2/3 scale models of Apple Stores, and they cater mainly to the tourist and expat markets.  Prices are given in US dollars, not local currency, and are about 25% more than US prices.  As a result, almost everyone buys their Apple products in the US and brings them here.  The price difference in most cases easily pays for the round trip flight to the USA!

They make me feel like I’m about to pass out.

I strongly suspect that for me and many others, it will be far less harmful to get Covid-19 than to wear a mask.

As a result I welcome the relaxation, or, better yet, the elimination of all mask mandates.

Rayz2016 said:

Right, are they saying that's it for new Intel-based hardware?

Well, if you put yourself in their shoes, would you want to introduce new models distinctly inferior in nearly every way to what you've already introduced in Apple Silicon?

That would feel like an embarrassment, for sure.

I'm kinda shocked how many people there are out there using Windows on a Mac.  I guess it makes sense because buying a Mac gives you a great Unix machine to work on your web sites while still giving you the commercial software of a more or less mainstream environment.  But I never really thought of being able to run Windows as that big a deal.  Getting Parallels and a Windows license is about the same cost as buying a new low-end Windows machine, and that gives you the full masochistic Windows experience that people who use your software receive.

I'm curious, why are people talking about Brew being in a difficult state during the transition?  Doesn't Brew download and compile from source?  I would think that would work on the new machines pretty much by definition.

get serious said:

Why build a car when any car can be "your" car?
Any rental car/autonomous vehicle would automagically customize to your preferences. The paradigm of 'owning' a car will change to use case rental for many if not most people.

Except for one thing: It’s a lot more expensive to rent a car than buy one, if you need one daily as most people do.

Last time I rented a car for a long period it was about $500 a month, while you can lease the same bottom-end car for about $200 a month.  

I liked the idea of an eternal rental since I wouldn’t have to do repairs, but that price difference changed my mind real quick.