entropys

I was hoping a new iMac would be released today. sigh.

Edit: that would have been a sign there was still a bit of the old Apple magic kicking.

k4ever said:

tjwolf said:

You mention the XPS has double the SSD storage - but you didn’t give any information about their relative performances.  Not all SSDs are created equal.  Personal example: started a new job last year and they gave me a super powerful Lenovo Windows desktop w. 64gb RAM and a 1TB SSD.  A complete build of our application  - very IO intensive activity -  took 15 seconds.  Very fast compared to my colleague’s hard disk based times (30+ seconds).   When I needed to replace it with a laptop, I got a 2017 15” MBP with 16gb RAM and a 512gb SSD.   It builds the same application in 7 seconds flat.  Because the SSDs in Macs are the fastest on the planet.

This is brought up a lot and, in my opinion, is one of the most uninformed issues on the planet when it comes to Apple devices. Apple DOES NOT MAKE IT'S OWN SSDs OR RAM! Apple purchases these components from the exact same 3rd party manufacturers as Dell and other Windows PC makers. The difference is that Apple charges more for the exact same SSD and then solders it in so you can replace/upgrade it. On almost ALL Windows laptops, including the XPS, you can replace/upgrade the SSD to whatever size and model you want -- to include whichever one the Macbook is currently using. Most of the time you can do this for less than what the exact same size and model SSD costs in the Macbook. Same with the RAM, although I think Dell solders the RAM in on the XPS line.

I had this exact same argument with someone in another Apple forum when the 2016 model MBPs came out. I chose to go with a mid-range Windows gaming laptop instead of the MBP. My laptop was faster and more powerful than the highest end 2016 MBP and cost nearly $2000 less: faster processor, faster (and upgradeable) RAM, and faster GPU. The only drawbacks were the battery life (speed comes with a price) and storage. My laptop had a 1TB HDD and an option for NVME SSD that was slower than the one in the MBP, which the other person made it a point to mention (ignoring everything else). I ordered the laptop without an SSD, then bought the exact same SSD as the MBP (the Samsung 960 Pro) for $100 less and installed it in my laptop. Funny thing is, I can upgrade my laptop to the same SSD as the 2018 MBP, which you can't do with a 2016 MBP. When the 2020 MBP comes out, I will also be able to upgrade to that SSD, as long as the NVME standard is still being utilized.

Sigh:  laptop magazine https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/2018-macbook-pro-benchmarks (reformatted table curtesy macrumors, but that is just an extract from laptop magazine). Apple has invested a lot in ssd controllers in recent years, a new file system and the algorithms that go with it.  The sum of the parts is much greater than it seems. 

Edit: in my view the only negs of this machine is the price, price and price, with graphics perhaps a distant fourth. Whether it is worth it though for the performance is up to the buyer and their needs.

ireland said:

wizard69 said:

supadav03 said:

Can’t wait to see this new iPad. Amazingly enough, after all these years I still don’t own one. May finally pull the trigger. Hopefully they offer a 12.9 inch iPad Pro with Face ID. I’d buy that no question 

Ive iwned three and sadly broke the last one.   I would have just purchased a new one but FaceID is such an obvious enhancement that ive held off.   In my case i see iPad as the perfect travel computer and in that regard the smaller iPads are ideal.   If you are using it for GPS the largers screen (than an iPhone) is great but it cant be too large for obvious reasons.  

To put it another way im really missing my iPad.  

I remember owning my iPad 4 thinking it was the best device Apple has ever made. Sadly, though, I needed to transition to a MBA at the time as the iPad wasn't meeting my overall needs and I additionally realised 9.7" was too small a size for me to watch a film on while travelling (which is crucial for me). The 13" MBA and it's superb battery life was the obvious choice. I also love that my MBA has a complement of ports built in, and at the time and even still, I didn't need or want to pay for a MBP.

Sorry to continue my off-topic bit, but I think if Apple do update the MBA this year, they need to keep at least 13.3" (or larger if they slim the bezels) and they should absolutely kill the MB one at that point, IMO. Keep the MBA name too. It's a better name than MacBook, and it helps to further distinguish it from MBP for the average consumer.

The MBA is the best Mac ever built.

I wonder if it was intentional, given most Apple TVs are probably directly connected to a TV and outputting sound through the rubbish TV speakers that would distort away at that level?

Well he does have a point, Soli. Apple users have very high expectations. For long periods macs were the best computers you could buy, so they tend to expect perfection.

But the Mac line is not really worth the list price at the moment. And I believe Mac sales are much, much less than they could have been.

I honestly can’t recommend one at present. I also desperately need a new machine for myself but am really hoping and hanging out for some decent choices ASAP, or I will regretfully have to move to the dark side, after more than thirty years of macs. I stuck with Apple during the dark days of the nineties, but it seems Apple hasn’t stuck with me. 

In the eighties, the last half of the nineties, and the first twelve years of Mac OSX machines, macs were the best machines available at the time. You can’t say that now.

While I don’t expect a redesign every year, at the very least keep them up to date graphics and processor wise.  It sticks in my craw to have to consider a full priced machine with a previous generation(s) processor.  To be honest, it’s a bit insulting. and if I feel insulted, am I going to recommend macs, get family and friends to switch to the Mac, like I have done most of my life?
And also, once switching to the dark side, am I going to recommend iPhones? Apple should think very carefully about that. Maybe I will be a jilted lover and bad mouth Apple every chance I get? I would hope I am more mature than that, but a lot of people aren’t.  And who are Apple’s greatest, most committed promoters? People deeply invested in the Apple ecosystem, or some temporary instant instagram influencing it girl? Perhaps Apple could just stop treating its oldest and greatest evangelists like shit.

Anyway, now that I have that off my chest, I am hoping for a Mac hardware event in the next month or so, at the Steve Jobs Theatre. I really expect hardware events to be there from now on.