sevenfeet

emoeller said:

Although there is no official way to force an update this worked for me for this update (did it in a few minutes

How to Force an AirPods Firmware Update

If you find that a new version of the AirPods firmware is available, but not yet installed, you can try forcing your AirPods to update.

To do so, put your AirPods into their Charging Case, start charging the case, and place it near your iPhone. Next, open the cover and then dismiss the on-screen battery display.

That seemed to work.  Left them next to each other charging for 30 minutes, came back and the AirPods Pro were at the new firmware.  Let's see how they fly...

rain22 said:

The new ones are very bad value for the money - and who are these for these days?

- Too expensive/limited as media servers and smarthome hubs.
- More expensive than iMacs when updated and total cost of ownership.
- iPads and Laptops are better option for light computing.
- Schools have fled the ecosystem.
- Medical offices are dropping them for iMacs.
- Students need mobile solutions.
- No expandability

I'm sure there are niche markets out there, people who just need the OS on a small form factor - but I think the time is coming to an end for this product range - unless Apple cuts the prices drastically. 

This isn't completely wrong but like always, it depends.  I intend to purchase one to replace the 2008 Mac Pro that has been my media server sitting in my basement for some time.  The 2018 i7 Mac Mini runs rings around it and has Thunderbolt 3 which matches to the external storage devices I have.  So is it expensive?  Yes.  But it's worth it to save me a lot of hassle to move it to something else.

Yes, iPads and Macbooks are better for light computing.  But then again, better to compete against yourself then to give money away to other competitors.

Schools are either Chromebooks, Macbooks, iPads or iMacs.  Some still buy Mac Minis if they are using external screens or televisions monitors depending on the application.  It's nice to have a choice.

My dentist has a whole office of brand new iMacs....all running boot camp to get Windows on them.  Sadly, physician practice management software is still largely PC.

They aren't meant to be expandable except for memory and 64 GB is pretty good for this form factor.

Fully configured with 28 core, 1.5TB of memory, maximum graphics and 4TB of flash checks in at $52K+.  Ouch.  And that's before the monitor.  With the monitor with non-etched glass and $1000 stand, the final price is just under $60K.  And that's assuming you only want one screen.

But I'm sure some movie and TV studios will pay that.  Time is money.

One interesting detail.....if you want 1.5TB of memory, the 24 or 28 core Xeon is required.

karmadave said:

I was working at Apple, in Higher Education Sales, when NeXT launched. NeXT was busy poaching Apple HE Sales Reps so on a moment's notice we were flown to NYC and wined and dined for a couple days. It was basically a big party to remind people why the worked, at Apple, and Scully even showed to give us a pep talk. He needn't bother as most of our customers found the NeXT 'cube' to be too expensive and under-powered to run the object-oriented NeXTStep OS. Many of these machines ended up running various internet applications (www was even 'invented' on NeXT) or as they say 'expensive doorstops'. NeXT had a big booth, at Educom, in 1989 and Steve was giving demo's dressed in an expensive Italian suit. Good times...

I was at Apple in Higher Education Sales at the same time working as a systems engineer (first job out of college).  I even went to the same Educom in 1989 and met Steve Jobs at the Ford Museum party.  Those were good times.

It's amazing how the current state of Apple wouldn't have happened if Steve Jobs hadn't been forced out.  If that hadn't happened, NeXT and its software almost certainly wouldn't have happened.  And while Apple nearly died in the intervening years, Jobs learned how to be a better leader as well as developing the software that was the direct ancestor to OS X, iOS, tvOS and now iPadOS.

Moof!