atonaldenim

A use case for this that I’ve encountered is wired game controllers. For the least amount of controller lag one might want a game controller that plugs in rather than a wireless bluetooth connection. All iPhone compatible game controller grips such as the Razer Kishi or Backbone One only have lightning connections, none come with a USB-C connector. The ones that do have USB-C are only compatible with Android, not iOS.

A year ago I spent about $10 on an Apple Pencil adapter they sold when iPad switched to USB-C that has a female lightning port and male USB-C port. After shaving down the plastic to fit a normal lightning cable into it (the Pencil’s lightning port is extra long) I found the pencil adapter completely failed to pass data for any device I plugged into it, controller or otherwise.

This new Apple adapter promises to pass data as well as power from a Lightning accessory to a USB-C device, which is actually a first. The existing adapters you can buy on Amazon will only pass power, not data.

For the game controller use case, of course you couldn’t use a Kishi or Backbone style grip on your new phone without some creative cable management, the adapter is too big for that. I’m excited to see some iOS-compatible USB-C game controllers hopefully hit the market, and crossing my fingers one of them will finally support an iPad Mini size device, which I’ve owned with a USB-C port for two years now. Of course we can use a regular PS5/Xbox controller with a USB cable, but I like the all-in-one idea. I want my iPad Mini to work like the new Playstation Portal handheld remote play device. We’ll see…

hmm since this is an Apple site, how well does this keyboard work on an Apple computer in MacOS? is it possible to program the G# keys at all? does the volume control knob work? do the meta keys work as a standard Apple keyboard or do you have to manually switch the Option / Command buttons in MacOS settings as if it were a Windows PC keyboard?

I’m not a mechanical keyboard enthusiast so maybe the answers are obvious to someone who is, but I’m left scratching my head by the passing mention that the software isn’t available for MacOS and no further discussion of how it functions within MacOS. is the target audience for this review people who exclusively run Windows on Apple hardware?

interesting, but I’m pretty sure Apple TV+ already has many films that would qualify for Oscar consideration under these new rules. they have been among the most theatrical-release-friendly of all the streamers.

I agree with the analysis that this was "the best they could do" this year, and they needed to keep the Apple Silicon transition rolling. Definitely it's a disappointment compared to how impressive the 2019 one was in its time. (Still, was criticized then for not having PCIe 4.0, not being Threadripper, etc. Nevertheless a huge leap from previous Macs.)

This second shredder Mac Pro is clearly marketed at audio creatives, and Pro Tools for example only released an Apple Silicon-native version three months ago! These pro software vendors, Avid in particular, are notorious for dragging their feet with new hardware/OS compatibility. They have little incentive to invest in migrating to Apple Silicon if their users are all still on Intel Mac Pros, and can't even buy an Apple Silicon Mac Pro if they wanted to.

It looks to me based on Hector Martin analysis and Mark Gurman reporting that they planned for the Jade-4C Die aka "Extreme" chip to be the top of the line, but were not able to make it happen for M1 or M2 generations. Gurman on Discord last night said he imagines that they will keep trying to make Jade-4C happen if they can. It sounds like Apple has had a good amount of brain drain on the Apple Silicon design team, which may be part of why they haven't been able to finish the job yet on the complex Jade-4C, the desire for massive RAM expansion, or discrete GPU expansion. 

I share the hope that M2 Ultra Mac Pro is a stopgap, that getting Vision Pro launched was the engineering focus this year, and that future Mac Pro generations will go well beyond this one!

chadbag said:

The previous Intel Mac Pro used the “shredder” design that the new AS Mac Pro does.  Not sure why you're bringing ancient devices into this. 

Yes my feelings exactly. The "cheese grater" nickname was already used for the Power Mac G5 through Mac Pro 2012 era of case design. That's what I meant by "the old tower design" and by "the new design" I meant "the current design" from 2019 to present.

We need a new nickname for this new generation, when Mike wrote "It's still got the signature 'cheese grater' front and back" that to my ears is "bringing ancient devices into" the conversation, as you said. 

We already had the "cheese grater", the "trash can", and now our current design should have its own nickname, I vote that it should be called the "shredder"!