TEAMSWITCHER

Apple is really starting to bother me.  First, Mac updates simply do not happen with enough frequency - regardless of the product. Second, Tim Cook's "Upgrade Fun House", to get a 1TB SSD or more ram is DEFINITELY NOT how I want to buy a computer.  And now, making a "MacPad" (an iPad that can run macOS) seems like low hanging fruit, but Apple doesn't want to do it.  Apple used to enter existing product categories, innovate them, and be more successful than those that created them.  Now .. they have a CEO touting the benefits of "staying in lanes."   Apple ... You've become a boring company. 

I can't stand the 16x9 screens on the XPS line.  That aspect ratio makes a 15" screen look like a 13" screen, and a 13" screen smaller than the 12" screen on Apple's MacBook.  Then, adding insult to injury, they put the webcam below the screen so everyone gets to stare up your nose.  

SMH... More Fusion drives on the entry SKUs? Why on Earth can't Apple transition these EXPENSIVE machines to solid state like the rest of their line up? This isn't even amusing anymore... Apple is hocking an old design that could be dramatically improved with a few simple changes to improve cooling. And still hopelessly stuck on AMD Vega graphics, with no ability to choose. I've said this before, I'll say it again... Tim Cook is the absolute worst thing that ever happened to the Mac. The Mac is dying.

We already have a solution for this problem.  Apple's bean counter mentality, with regard to the Mac, has simply become un-acceptable.  This year, in lieu of upgrading desktop iMacs, we will be swapping them out for PC workstations with nvidia graphics.  Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs .. He appears to be willing to force Mac users into accepting lower quality hardware to make a miserable few more dollars.  Every single Mac that has failed in our shop over the last few years had an AMD graphics solution.  In addition, the state of AMD drivers on the Mac is pathetic at best - we have code that works great on even Intel graphics but fails on machines with AMD graphics.  We are simply done with this.

He should have spent more time on the contents of the script, than it's security.  The movie wasn't very good in my opinion.  I don't care how this Trilogy ends now - I will RedBox the last movie.

Or better yet ... look for a great deal on the Early 2015 13" MacBook Pro.  Best Buy was selling them for $300 off a couple weeks ago, making the 256GB and 512GB model $100 less than the new MacBook.  But you get lots of ports, a Retina display, and way better all-around performance.  The ONLY downside is that it's heavier.  All things considered - I think it's the best balance of power, connectivity, and portability ever achieved.  I can't wait to see what Apple does with the next 13" MacBook Pro!

It's kinda fun to think these threats will have some kind of impact, but... great gaming has moved away from computers.  Go check out the metacritic.com scores for most PC titles and you'll find something quite disturbing - not very many titles score into the 90's.  The PC suffers from an abundance of "meh".  And PC games have lots of bugs - it's the nature of the platform .. to much disparate hardware and lots of sketchy drivers.  Game companies can't make good titles...  For some reason this has spilled over into the XBox One too..
 
For gaming I strongly recommend two consoles ... the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4.

On the Switch, The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild is probably the best game ever made.  It has many finely tuned game systems: Physics, Time, Weather, Floral & Fauna, Meticulous sound, and the most immersive open world gaming I have ever experienced.  I'll hop in to kill 10 minutes and spend two hours.  It's not perfect ... nothing is ... but it's the closest thing to a Masterpiece the gaming world has seen thus far.

On the PlayStation 4 you have many great titles.. "Grand Theft Auto V", "The Last of Us Remastered", "Uncharted 4", and the new "GOD of War" title.  Plus all the best games ported from the PC.  It's probably the best console to get for PG-13 gaming on up..

Microsoft Surface is overrated. You realize this the moment you try to use the device on your lap.

wood1208 said:

Wov! no 14",no WiFi 6. Minor spec-bump upgrade. Nothing to be excited about. Base model looses 2 TB ports, no 10th gen processor option; Could have released at the same time as Macbook Air. Will wait for the next upgrade with 14",ARM,WiFi 6.

That's the problem with Apple's "We don't talk about unannounced products" philosophy.  Other people do talk about it, and then these expectations get set in the mind of the consumer.  Then when Apple updates the products, they don't match the expectations.  I wonder if there was a problem with the 14" screens, or was this the plan all along.

So they raise the pricing on the MacBook tiers $200 - $300 dollars across the board. Then look like Angels From Heaven because they gave you a $10 break on a USB Type-C cable. Even Steve Jobs at his most brilliant wasn't capable of this powerful new kind of Reality Distortion Field.