john f.

How can they say since 2009? In 2009 Apple hardly had any mobile phone market share. This is like trying to rewrite history. Apple earned their way to have mobile phone market share while other manufacturers faltered. Yes, the manufactures that held the market like Nokia and Blackberry eventually closed shop, and this is Apple's fault? So at what point did Apple market share become large enough for it to be considered a monopoly or its behavior monopolistic? Even now, Apple still has only small (23%) market share in Europe, and at any point this may get smaller due to competition. If anything, Apple has caused prices of apps to go down. The huge success of mobile phone apps on iOS since 2009 meant pricing of apps are far lower than before (2009). In fact, consumers have become price conscious and expect to buy apps for 99 cents. Apps for 0,99-4,99 EUR have become so low, in fact, that developers have to resort to subscription model to survive. How inflated can prices be if consumers won't pay more than 0,99-4,99 EUR for an app to begin with? Meanwhile game consoles are closed systems since forever with similar markups, and we don't hear anything about that. Never have. Let's sue game console manufacturers, but also for the length of their existence! Ha! Oh, but Apple is making an insane amount of profit, you say? Ah yes, that's despicable in a free market society, we should wring out some money from them.

Love Tom Hanks.

payeco said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep 1 or 2 high efficiency cores even on desktop class CPUs, or at least iMac and Mac Mini CPUs, just for extra power savings when PCs are sitting idle. In the aggregate the potential power savings seems like something they would want to tout from a green marketing perspective.

Now that I think about it, it would make sense for a desktop Mac to have a slumber mode and be able to do rudimentary Siri commands and even getting Mail on those efficiency cores, or control HomeKit setup, without having the computer be fully awake. That wouldn't use much power at all.

payeco said:

I agree. The lack of Thunderbolt is no doubt due to the fact that a couple years ago Intel moved Thunderbolt from being a discrete chip to being integrated into the CPU and no longer offering a discrete option. Apple didn’t figure it worth their time or effort to redesign the A12Z to include it when these kits are intended solely for software devs. The shipping ARM Macs will no doubt have Thunderbolt. 

I think so too. Thunderbolt support will come with USB 4.

Also, we'll see Mac specific CPU range, because Mac desktops don't need the high efficiency cores of the A12. If they just pack the new A14 based chip with 8 high performance cores, that thing would scream for the low end. The CPU with efficiency cores will probably be used for MacBooks, but even with only performance cores, the thermal envelope and wattage will still be far less than what Intel has offered and will be offering in the near future. Add to that an Apple GPU that would destroy any Intel integrated one, and the Mac mini will be more Pro than it has ever been, and might become a true trashcan replacement. I really hope the value proposition will increase with the switch, and that Apple will not cripple the low end by putting outdated A series processors in there.

godofbiscuits said:

apple ][ said:

The only bad thing I have to say about the original iMacs is the horrible hockey puck mouse that came with them. They were not ergonomic at all,

I was having terrible RSI issues at the time so I was flat-palming all mice.  Turned out that the iMac mouse was perfectly ergonomic for that:  rest palm on the mouse, using the cord to aim it (between fingers), and flex fingers at the knuckles to click.   I used the iMac mouse long after I stopped using an iMac.  

Yeah, flat mice are better for me personally. They let me rest my hand naturally on the table, instead of conforming to a large "ergonomic" mouse shape -- I get cramps when I use those mice. To me it is weird that people like big mice, but it's a personal preference, I guess.