roundaboutnow

I've sent or received files via AirDrop to people that aren't in my contacts on a few occasions. I usually have my phone set to "contacts only" so I if I want to AirDrop but don't want to share contacts with someone or take the time to add a person to contacts right away, I'll temporarily set AirDrop to "everyone" then set it back to "contacts" when done. It's slightly inconvenient, but it takes longer to remember how to do it than actually doing it because I don't do it very often.

I have a suggestion for how to do one-time AirDrop transfers with someone you know, but not enough to add to contacts: When choosing the one-time AirDrop option, whoever the sender is would have a QR code come up on their screen to show the intended recipient. This forces a direct face-to-face contact so the request is known not to be from some unseen stranger. The recipient would then take their phone and scan the QR code to accept the transfer. (I admit that I don't know if there is something under the hood that might prevent this idea from working).

Edit: I just had another thought--if Airdrop is set to "everyone" but times out after 10 minutes that would seem to provide a small security benefit to help avoid inadvertently leaving "everyone" on. If there was a simple way to reset the 10 min countdown, that could work for those occasional connections too. China might not be too happy with the simple reset idea though...

dewme said:

DAalseth said:

dewme said:

The fate of the 27” iMac is anyone’s guess. At this point it’s a safe bet that we will never see a transitional version of the 27” iMac, i.e., where Apple shoves Apple Silicon magic into the same chassis the last Intel version 27” iMacs used. Personally, I think Apple will go in a totally new direction if they do a larger than 24” format all-in-one. They may not even call it an iMac and keep the current 24” iMac as the only iMac. I also think it may be a massive touch based device somewhat akin to Microsoft’s Surface Studio. Imagine a very large touch based all-in-one Mac with significant Apple Silicon based performance that can be used by itself but also be paired with a Mac Studio or Apple Silicon Mac Pro for extremely intensive 3D design, simulation, modeling, and tasks requiring unparalleled graphical performance capability. Of course this sounds like an exceedingly niche product, but as long as the Mac Studio and 27” Studio Display are still around, the music has stopped playing and all of the available chairs are already taken. The 27” iMac is the odd man out. 

Overall I agree with your analyses. I would doubt though that the replacement for the 27” iMac might be a touch screen. Apple seems to be very intent on keeping their touch devices separate from the Macs. If they ever do make a really big touch device I would expect it to run ipadOS. 

Yeah, it's a stretch.

Apple could seemingly do a quick & dirty Apple Silicon 27" iMac by putting the guts from a 14"/16" Apple Silicon MacBook Pro into a variation of the Studio Display. Would anyone buy it?

I would think that the quick and dirty approach could attract a lot of buyers. Well, maybe not "dirty." A clean, updated enclosure design along the lines of the 24" iMac shouldn't be a stretch...

...but with just a little more time, perhaps the 27" iMac turns into a 27"-28" M-whatever iMac with a 5.5K display.

Lots of people have suggested the next bigger iMac should be a 32" or some ultra-wide screen format. I would worry about the price of this approach. Those not wanting to wait, and/or that have the budget will pair a Mac mini or Mac Studio with a nice screen like the Studio Display or even the XDR (with the obvious added benefit of allowing CPU upgrade while keeping the display).

However, keep in mind that the 21.5" 4K iMac turned into a 24" 4.5K iMac. The value proposition of Apple's AIOs have always been quite good, especially with the 5K iMac, and so it is with the 24" iMac. AFAIK, you can't even get a separate 4.5K monitor anywhere, but somehow, Apple was able to put one in for a decent price. For that price, I don't think you could build an equivalent separate Mac/display. Yes, a mini with a 4K would be close, but to keep a similar pixel pitch as the 24" iMac, the 4K should not be larger than 24", and there are not as many choices on these. Don't get me wrong, the typical 28" 4K monitors are nice, but I guess I am spoiled by my 27" 5K iMac.

I suppose the economics going from 4K to 4.5K and going from 5K to 5.5K are not the same, so I won't hold my breath for a 5.5K iMac -- I just can't imagine Apple not coming up with some sort of replacement for the 27" 5K iMac in the near future.

"Apple chose a bad year to launch expensive iPads that aren't compelling"

hmm. Is there ever a good year to launch expensive iPads that aren't compelling? 
 

I get it, incremental upgrades aren't that exciting. I would think they mainly appeal to those that haven't upgraded in a while, and provide a bit of a nudge to do so. Don't most of us upgrade mobile devices after at least two years and often much longer? We can't expect major upgrades or new product/CPUs every year.

dewme said:

The biggest benefit of the Apple TV HD for me is the optical audio port. I have a DAC plugged into the optical audio port so I can listen to my Apple Music collection on my old analog receiver and speakers. It works great. I know you can buy an HDMI audio extractor to get back to optical audio but I always wonder whether those devices muck with the HDMI video signal in any way. I suppose Apple doesn’t worry about supporting these offbeat scenarios with 40 year old analog HiFi systems, but I’ll keep enjoying it for as long as I can and for as long as my ATV HD is around to serve my needs.

If one has an ATV with no optical output, I would suggest getting an HDMI audio extractor that has the analog outputs needed to connect to an old receiver. They're typically ~$20 on Amazon (unless you want 5.1/7.1 analog outputs--those are ~$130+). No reason to go from HDMI to optical to analog. The digital audio from either optical or the embedded HDMI audio is essentially the same format. The only "mucking" possible would be at the DACs themselves, which you have regardless. 

JP234 said:

ITGUYINSD said:

JP234 said:

So give up a Thunderbolt port on your Mac to get more thunderbolt ports? You had two, now you have three. And some USB ports, Ethernet, and an SD port.

I got a dock with HDMI,  Ethernet, SD, micro-SD, (2) USB 3.0 for $16.19 on Amazon.

Is this one really worth $300? Not to me. Maybe you.

Depends on what Mac you connect it to.  Worst case, the MBP 13 M1 has 2 TB ports.  One used for this dock, leaves me with 1 on the MBP and 3 on the dock.  4 Total by my count.  And it's not just "some USB" ports, they are 10Gbps each.  So yes -- if you just need some generic ports to plug in a mouse or a thumb drive, a $20 dock is fine

For those who need more TB4 ports and high-speed USB 3.2 ports plus Ethernet, this is good.  Expensive, but good.  There isn't much else out there like this.

Like M68000 said -- no HDMI is a big bummer.

Your math is just one port off: you have to connect one of those 3 on the dock to one of the TB ports on your Mac. That's a total of 3.

Thunderbolt is expensive tech, no matter who's producing it, and it's really only useful to a handful of professionals in the I/O intensive applications. 10Gb/s USB-C will do just fine for the other 99.99%. So will two USB-C ports, for that matter.

FTA: On the front of the dock is a Thunderbolt 4 host port, which connects to your Mac and can provide 96 watts of power delivery.