wizard69

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  • Wistron found to be committing violations of labor laws in Indian iPhone assembly plant

    wizard69wizard69
    GeorgeBMac said:
    It happened here in the U.S. at the turn of the 19th century where industry and government colluded with each other and government failed to protect the lives, rights and well being of its people.

    That is what happened here:   A company took advantage of the fact it was operating in an environment where it had impunity from government oversight -- so workers had little choice but to either accept the worker abuse or to take things into their own hands -- just like American workers did in the violent strikes and riots through the 20 years before and after 1900.
    I’m not convinced there is strong evidence of collusion here.  Maybe coming third world corruption at some level but it is pretty obvious here that the government has investigated here and apparently agrees with the workers.    It just looks like Apple and Wistron thought that they could get away with the same crap that is normal in China.  
    spock1234elijahg

  • Wistron found to be committing violations of labor laws in Indian iPhone assembly plant

    wizard69wizard69
    Apple needs to be held accountable here.   It’s bad enough that they are using slave labor in China, that will not be tolerated in a freer country like India.  Beyond that the wages highlight just how low Apple will go to enhance margins.   Exploitation is exactly that no matter how much you try to distance yourself.    I really don’t think Cook grasps how bad his behavior is in this regard.  
    chemengin1JWSCelijahg

  • M1 MacBook Air review: nearly as transformative as the original

    wizard69wizard69
    Here are a few comments after a couple of weeks with an M1 based MBA:

    1.   I bought the machine due to the idea that it would be a better machine than an iPad for the types of usages that I have in mind for an iPad.   Basically an iPad with a keyboard nad an OS that doesn't suck.   In this regard the MBA has been a huge success.
    2.   In many ways I'm not really surprised at performance, if people have taken a serious look at iPad they would have realized that performance would be very good on an ARM based Mac.   So all of the noise about performance seems to be a bit artificial to me, we are getting pretty much what one would expect knowing what iPads have been doing.
    3.   The big surprise is how well Rossetta 2 works.    So far that is pretty satisfying as not everything is native yet.
    4.   Not everything is native but on the other hand we are getting native apps pretty quickly and they are generally pretty impressive.
    5.   Absolutely silence operation.  

    As to what I'm expecting from a refactored MBA in 2021:
    1.   They will get rid of the heat spreader and mount the processor directly to the case so that it functions as a heat sink.   This might require redefining what is the bottom of the case is vs the top but a case mounted processor will sink heat to atmosphere quicker and more efficiently.   This will lead to better performance in a fanless machine.
    2.   I don't expect a lot more ARM cores, maybe two if they can get below 5nm but rather improvements to the GPU.   An improved GPU would likely serve the needs of a greater range of MBA users than a lot more ARM cores.   If there is a place where M1 under delivers it is with respect to GPU performance (yes I know it is good but it should have been better).
    3.   With the same reason as in #2 above, I'm expecting Apple to put a lot of focus on Neural Engine and other AI/ML accelerators.   Still not sure how they will proceed here, but I suspect that Apple has a lot of plans in this area including morphing Mac OS into an AI power operating system.   Just imagine ML performance advancing as fast as Apple advanced its ARM cores.
    4.    Built in (optional) LTE support.   Seems like a no brainer to me, I'm not sure why iPad gets it while the MBA doesn't.
    5     Wireless charging.   This would make the two port MBA far more usable.    Many of us still need ports and this is perhaps the MBA's greatest shortcoming if you want to use if for technical work.   For me I have a desktop so I don't expect to do much of that on the MBA but just maybe for field work it could pass if charging had a separate avenue.   On the flips side I don't see the battery going dead out in the field during a normal work day.   Maybe more user experience is needed here.

    I otherwise don't see a need to upgrade the MBA physically.    The form factor is great, I don't use the web cam and the new keyboard is far better than the old crap from a couple of years ago.    More performance is always great and better heat sinking through the case would do much for that.   So any case refactoring would likely be to enable better thermals, not to enable new "design" as that does nothing for the user experience.  

    In any event M1 based MBA's are game changing as they have promoted Apple to a value leader which is odd on its own.
    Detnatorwatto_cobra

  • M1 MacBook Air review: nearly as transformative as the original

    wizard69wizard69
    bageljoey said:
    What is the word on compatibility with the Adobe Suite applications?  My son mostly uses those for his video and photo work. He has been limping along with a handed down Air.  Maybe it’s time to get a new machine. But I don’t want to go there if it’s going to introduce issues into his workflow...

    It would be smart to wait.    Two reasons here.   1. it will take awhile for Adobe to get everything converted and stable.   2. There is a good possibility that sometime early in 2021 we will see the true pro models arrive.   For the type of  work he is doing more performance will always be welcomed.    An uprated MBP would be great for somebody in his business.

    I currently own a MBA M1 and can say with out reservation they are incredible machines.   However if you really want to benefit from M1 you need native software and I think it is fair to say that even if I''m not in his industry.   So yeah don't jump if your work flow isn't native.

    As for native software I've been using Mac Ports and it literally gets better everyday.   So open source is coming along at a good rate.    As for apps from the Mac App Store, they are also coming along at a good rate and I've already have gotten updates.   As for Apps that aren't native but still run on M1 performance is generally good.  

    So what I'm trying to get at is that generally there are not many problems with owning a M1 based machine right now.   However if your core software isn't native it is just a good idea to wait.  
    jdb8167williamlondonwatto_cobra

  • Apple Silicon M1 Mac delivery times slip into 2021 for higher-end configurations

    wizard69wizard69
    Demand is extremely high for what I can see and frankly the product lives up to expectations.    I went down to the Apple store the Friday after release and most of the machines where sold out all ready.    I felt lucky to get a 16 Gb machine.    They literally had lines in front of the store earlier in the week.   There hasn't been a PC this hot in years, maybe a decade and this is the introductory machines.   

    I can't wait to see what the new machines in 2021 look like.   It will especially be interesting to see which technology avenue Apple goes down for the high performance chips.    Many expect an M1 diriviative but I would not be surprised to see something entirely different.   As has already been state they are going to produce a family of chips and I don't expect every member of that family to be a carbon copy of previous chips.


    Fidonet127watto_cobra