tenthousandthings

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tenthousandthings
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  • A new Mac Pro is coming, confirms Apple exec

    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings
    I’ll also add, on the good news side, that the these two interviews, taken together, also point to the M2 Mac Studio sooner rather than later.

    Shimpi’s remarks about “cadence” combined with the way Borcher addresses the product line (“from the MacBook Air to all the way up to the Mac Studio”) could indicate those are the products that will get every M-series iteration. So leaving the Mac Pro off that list could indicate it won’t be on the same regular cadence as the rest of the Mac line. 
    programmerwatto_cobras.metcalf

  • A new Mac Pro is coming, confirms Apple exec

    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings
    “We have a clear goal to transition fully to Apple Silicon. ... and that's something we intend to do.”

    Maybe it’s best to take this at face value. Most of the takes here (including my own) and elsewhere, positive and negative, are reacting to things not said.

    But what if “and that’s something we intend to do” means exactly that: they haven’t succeeded, but they are working on it. Anand Shimpi also alluded to something like this, when he said, “If we’re not able to deliver something compelling, we won’t engage, right? ... We won’t build the chip.”

    Both of these statements are about as close as we’re going to get to Apple saying the M1 Extreme wasn’t built because it wasn’t able to do what the Mac Pro needed it to do. The jury is still out on whether the same can be said for the M2 Extreme, but we’ll know that soon enough. Taken together, these two interviews seem to suggest the rumor may be true, and the Mac Pro will have to wait for the M3.

    Neither suggests, however, that Apple has given up on building Apple Silicon for the Mac Pro. Both explicitly say the opposite. 
    programmerwatto_cobra

  • A new Mac Pro is coming, confirms Apple exec

    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings
    mfryd said:
    I think the author of this article is reading too much into Bob Borchers' statement. While Apple may very well be working on an Apple Silicon based Mac Pro.  I don't think Bob Borchers' statement speaks to that issue.

    "Taking the entire product line to Apple Silicon" might mean that any Mac model with an Intel processor will be discontinued.  This doesn't seem to be a statement that every Mac model will survive the transition.

    Consider that taking the iMac to Apple Silicon involved dropping the 27" model.   


    Except isn't the Mac Pro the only remaining Mac that isn't fully on Apple Silicon? He clearly refers to this as a goal that has yet to be accomplished.
    I think that's what India Today concluded: "Apple is committed to complete its Apple Silicon transition, says Bob Borchers. This means Mac Pro powered by Apple Silicon will be a reality soon."

    Borchers emphasized the point, "We have a clear goal to transition fully to Apple Silicon. ... And that's something we intend to do." If the Mac Pro were dead, I don't think he would be talking that way. It's been less than a year (March 8) since John Ternus explicitly mentioned the Mac Pro: "... making our transition nearly complete with just one more product to go, Mac Pro, but that is for another day."

    Borcher's remit was to talk about Apple Silicon, to reinforce the message about how Apple isn't a chip company, they are a device company. This is the same message Anand Shimpi was talking about a few weeks ago. He probably wasn't allowed to say "Mac Pro." Shimpi didn't say it either. Because that opens up questions about what they are doing with the M2 Ultra+, questions Apple obviously doesn't want to answer. 
    techconcwatto_cobraAlex1N

  • Qualcomm's M2-beating chip probably won't arrive until after M3 drops

    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings
    Makes sense, timing seems about right. Apple’s focus on the end product is a big advantage here, as seen in the way the Qualcomm executive had to hedge after saying “September, October,” to clarify that actually means sometime next year with regard to products not only being announced at CES but then also being released with, you know, availability and pricing.

    That said, it’s also true that Qualcomm is coming at it from the same direction as Apple, so the same advantages in efficiency will also apply. These products will likely perform well on battery power. It’s doubtful they can catch Apple, but they don’t need to. 
    radarthekatmuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra

  • Massive auction has nearly every vintage Apple product up for sale

    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings
    JP234 said:
    JP234 said:
    Doesn't look like they are testing anything. It's hard to know what kind of condition any of this is in. Despite the sales pitch, I don't see many signs that he maintained his collection (he died in 2015). Note also, the Macintosh (which appears to be without accessories) has a 220-240V power supply. A lot of the other items also look like they may be European editions, and thus require 220-240V power.

    The Bell & Howell Apple II Plus is interesting. I didn't know it existed.
    Who cares if they work or not? They're useless in 2023. You buy them to collect or hoard, not use.
    ? Collectors care, and people reselling them to nostalgia buyers on eBay care. A working machine is worth a lot more than a non-working one. The reason that Lisa sold for $50K recently was because it was a working original 1983 machine that had never been upgraded. 

    The Lisa in this auction still has the original floppy drives, so if they can show it is working, or at least that it has all its parts in good condition (so it can be repaired), it will sell for more. Most of them were upgraded (Apple did it for free), so intact non-upgraded machines are rare.

    For what’s worth, I have a working Macintosh 512K — the floppy drive (and external drive) work but I don’t stress them, instead I use a Floppy Emu with it, so I can transfer files via SD card, no problem. Floppy Emu also works with Lisa and Apple II machines:

    https://www.bigmessowires.com/floppy-emu/
    Still doesn't answer the question, why does anyone care if it works? Your 512K "Fat Mac" is obsolete and useless for anything practical. Unless you consider playing "pong" on it practical.
    I didn’t say it was “practical.” Why does anyone collect anything?

    Regardless, it does matter to collectors and hobbyists. That’s just a fact. For various reasons—for me, I guess it’s about preserving knowledge and history, and reviving shared experiences, which can be educational and, for those who were around at the time, nostalgic. Is it so hard to see value in the physical experience of using an early Mac? Sure, you can use an emulator for the software, but it’s not the same. 
    watto_cobra