Penzi

C’mon 12” MacBook…

If the PSU is an external unit, as it is on the M series iMacs, I will not be thrilled. Further, if it’s a proprietary connector I’ll be even less thrilled.

“Jelly scrolling is apparently still there, but it's just not something I notice, look for, or care about. Looking at the display with slow-motion cameras will show the effect, but that's not how I or anyone will ever view this display.”

That you can only see it when slow motion cameras reveal it to you is lucky for you. I see it without that and it’s why I don’t have one… I will be checking out the mini 7 in the coming days to see if I like what has been done to it or if I need to wait another generation.

I am writing this on my M4 iPP, which is my 95% computer. I would love to have a tablet that returns my use case to what it was with the OG and iPad 2, just a screen with a cover and the mini would allow for that… because the Pros are too unwieldy to do that for me.

This depends heavily on whether you consider a computer with any NPU to be an “AI PC” or whether, like Microsoft, you have put a baseline down. If you use Microsoft’s requirement for 40 TOPs, you get Apple selling exactly zero capable AI PCs… there is so much conflation and chest thumping going on in ML at the moment that it’s hard to get an idea of who makes what and whether (and how much) it matters.

Different strokes. I value the headphone jack at the back of the device. I use wired speakers, not headphones.

If things go well (ugh, politics, etc impact on pricing/availability) I’ll be in the market for an M5 Mac Studio, keeping my M1 generation MBPro for when a laptop is of benefit. I am looking forward to the desktop becoming my primary habitat for computing tasks, as it was for much of my life.

Dear Apple,

the 11” MBAir was the closest I’ve ever come to liking a laptop. I was hopeful that a 12” MacBook would be that sweetest of things but having firmed up my financing, you canned it. Please revive the 12” MacBook with A series chip. Guaranteed sale.

Yours,

Me

It seems Apple figured that since I wasn’t holding my breath anymore it would resolve a metric ton of my concerns in one release. Proof of the pudding and all that but in the end this is a hugely positive sign and step for the iPad in my use case hopes. 

My biggest outstanding complaints will probably be how locked down/controlled the experience remains. It is still quite frustrating to use many apps on the iPad compared to how I use them on my Mac or other systems (I run Linux and Windows as well as macOS) and that may continue to be the case: for example iPad apps as mere containers of websites.

I feel mildly less idiotic for having decided the iPad isn’t worth it and then buying an M4 iPad Pro anyhow… 

That is an interesting design exercise. Too bad about the USB-A. I have ditched almost all of that crap connector and am virtually USB-C only… let ‘em know!

apple4thewin said:

Hopefully that means Apple works with Steam to make a temporary Game Porting Toolkit native mod until developers decide to update their applications.

OMG that would be wonderful! I don’t see the business case from Apple’s end, though. I imagine they’re somewhere between unconcerned to gleefully embracing that Mac gaming should pass through the App Store and leave residues in their pockets… 

My clamouring for a more MacOS-like iPadOS is exactly that. I do not want the iPad to actually run macOS, I want iPadOS to become way more capable (iPadOS 26 seems very much to hit most of my pain points but we’ll see when I’m actually a daily user this autumn) and I’d want it to be more open and powerful (actual non-Apple browsers, macOS level apps but designed for iPad, etc). 

That said, Jason Snell had a fantastic suggestion a year or two ago: it runs iPadOS when gadding about town as a tablet but transforms into a macOS device when hooked up to an external display. Talk about overhead! But man, what a device that would be…