VRing

alandail said:

So Apple fixes an issue where degraded batteries cause unexpected shutdowns and everyone is upset with them for fixing it?

As the article says, there is no slowdown with fully functioning batteries.

Instead of suing Apple, customers should be thanking them for fixing the random shutdown issue.

The "fix" was to degrade device performance and not tell anyone (including store staff).

So they introduced a new problem to fix the old problem, and only now are they acknowledging the new problem after they had been caught. If it didn't come out through testing, Apple would have never said anything.

Mike Wuerthele said:

JanNL said:

Appreciate your piece about CES. But when it's that bad, why is AI putting out so many articles about (great) products?

CES is... funny. We are about eyes-deep in press releases full of superlatives about mostly unreleased products. The first filter we put on is AI-reader relevance. The next is a "likely to ship" filter. We then write about what interests us, removing almost all of the "best-in-class"-like modifiers that get applied by the mavens that send it to us.

Over the last six years of CES extravaganzas I've covered from this very chair, I'd put good money on 50% of the PR I've seen for CES products haven't ever made it to market.

There's no reason why this couldn't be spread across the year, instead of in a show that is mostly a vestige of a day gone by.

I agree, just focus on what's relevant. There are lots of interesting products buried in the various press releases.

For example, this $399 Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 eGPU dock with a GTX 1050:


 It's a bit on the pricey side, but seems to be relatively discrete. Potentially a good option to use with a 13" MacBook Pro.

hodar said:

Put this in a Mac Mini, and make some very minor tweaks - and Apple will sell Mac Mini's at a rate that they cannot keep up with supply.

1)  DIMM Slots - again, just like the 2012 and earlier versions.  Allow the user to add memory.

2)  SATA Connector(s) - allow the user to add a second hard drive, or SDD, or simply add two SDD's, again; just like the 2012 and earlier versions.

The Mac Mini is a small inexpensive INTRODUCTION to the Apple computer environment, it sports no monitor and is just a small form factor, desktop Mac.  The sad fact is that the 2012 Mac Mini with some very inexpensive upgrades will stop the living bejezus out of the top-of the line Mac Mini that is sold today.  Given the money, I will buy the 6 year old Mac Mini - as USED - before I would consider the current stock of Mac Mini's sold at Apple.

This is a chance for Apple to not only refresh the aging Mac Mini; but to also make some inroads against Windows (Mr. Cook, you do remember MSFT, don't you?)

The late 2014 Mac mini uses a 15W, up to a 28W, U series chip with integrated graphics. It has a starting price of $499 and an internal power supply.


The entry Hades Canyon system has no RAM, storage or OS. It uses the 65W i7-8705G, up to a 100W i7-8709G. It has a starting price of $799 and an external power supply.



A 65W chip won't go in a Mac mini with minor tweaks and once you add a SSD and RAM it would cost well over $1000.

metrix said:

VRing said:

rob53 said:

fastasleep said:

TEAMSWITCHER said:

TOP Performance ... TOP = Totally Obnoxious Pricing

Here we go...

Please configure a stupid PC that comes anywhere near the power and price of the iMac Pro before spouting off these types of comments. When you find one, make sure it can actually run OTS software.

GamePC (Silicon Valley company that makes custom workstations) has Xeon W listed in their prices.

For comparison:

iMac Pro - $9,699 (same configuration that MKBHD had)

• Intel Xeon W-2155 (downclocked)
• Radeon Pro Vega 64 16 GB HBM2 (downclocked)
• 128 GB DDR4-2666 ECC
• 2 TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• 10 Gb network card
• MacOS
• 1 year warranty

GamePC GMT-W7/300 - $6,514 (PC) + $1,299 (Dell UP2715K display) = $7,813

• Intel Xeon W-2155
• Radeon Pro Vega Frontier Edition (Vega 64) 16 GB HBM2
• 128 GB DDR4-2666 ECC
• 2 TB PCIe NVMe SSD
• 10 Gb network card (2x)
• Windows 10 Pro
• 1 year warranty

That's $1,886 less for a more powerful workstation that can be upgraded and won't have thermal throttling.

Of course, that's just one company's price. 

You lost me at Game PC. What design company buys no support computers from some company called Game PC that been around for a day and has web footprint the size of a gnat?

Alcatael, Avaya Communications, Boeing, General Dynamics, Gulfstream, Hitachi Global Storage, Icon Medialab, IEM, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Oceaneering, Rockwell Collins, Raytheon, SRI international, Verizon Laboratories, Bizzard Games, Breakaway Games, Demiurge Studios, Epic Games, Irrational Games, SunStorm Interactive, Duke University, Federal Aviation Administration, Gallaudet University, General Services Administration, Homeland Security, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, John Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Monterey Navel Academy, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Standford University, United States Navy, University of California Berkeley, University of Minnesota, University of Buffalo and more.

They have many high profile clients and they've been around since 1985.