larz2112

racerhomie3 said:

randominternetperson said:

racerhomie3 said:

It’s sad to see Apple not putting SSDs or Fusion drives on these things as standard. Please those who are annoyed by this please send apple feedback & be respectful. I mean even the $800 Mac Mini now has NVMe SSD standard.
Apple.com/feedback

So you'd be happier if the lowest option they offered cost $100 more? Or you want them to lower the price of the iMac line by $100 and not offer a $999 version with a spinning disk?

Yes , I would be happier if it cost $100 more and had a 128GB SSD 

If you are willing to pay an $100 extra for a 128GB SSD, then just get the $200 upgrade to a 256GB SDD that is currently available. Most people wind up regretting getting a 128GB SSD as their main HD anyway because they quickly run out of room even though they thought it would be more than enough.

melgross said:

larz2112 said:

StrangeDays said:

6502 said:

StrangeDays said:

wizard69 said:

Soli said:

sirlance99 said:

hmlongco said:

sirlance99 said:

Standard isn’t always best when many cards have better rewards than 2%. Also, my standard purchases are extremely low compared to other categories. There’s practically nowhere that I purchase things that I can’t get at least 3% back and up to 5% on most things. 

Depends on how one defines "best", doesn't it? The Amazon Prime Store Card, for example, gives you 5% back... with a 28.24% annual APR.

Apple committed to a low (albeit unspecified) APR, with no fees, no late charges, and no penalties. Not to mention the not-so-minor fact that you get your rewards back daily as Apple Cash. Not at the end of the month, not when you redeem them. Daily.

Then there's the secure unique randomized card number per transaction. No number or signature to steal on the physical card. No tracking of purchases. No sales of transaction data.

I don't know about you, but there's a ton of value in privacy and security.

Fees and APRs don’t matter if you pay your balance in full. 

You realize that being able to pay off your cards every month isn’t the norm, right?

If you think the “norm” is being stupid then we have a problem.  By the way I learned this the hardway and have drastically changed my use of a credit card.    At this point I try to keep all card purchases beyond an emergency  at a level easily payable every month.   The average person can literally save themselves hundreds of dollars a year by doing so.  

Frankly it wouldnt hurt for our educational system teach students why being conservative in your use of money is so important.  

Whether you believe it's stupid or not is completely irrelevant. Most people cannot pay off their cc every single month, and use it to get by when they need to. It's not even a matter of intelligence, I assure you.

Maybe you shouldn't buy what you can't afford then. And, I doubt it's most people.

You're free to doubt whatever you like. I worked for Capital One corporate for years and will believe and share what I experienced. Again, it's not about your ivory tower morality judgements from on high. It's about the reality of the economy -- the once booming middle-class is being eradicated, and the segments that are growing are low-income, and the very-high income. ie, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. The middle-class and the promise of the American dream of my parents and grand-parents age where a single-earner need only show up and work hard to get that house and two cars is long gone. 

Bingo! The elitist and judgemental comments being posted, i.e. "Maybe you shouldn't buy what you can't afford then" is sad and only serves to illustrate how out of touch and/or ignorant some people can be. 

I agree that for several decades the middle class has been eroding, and as a result many more people are living paycheck to paycheck. I am fairly certain that the majority of Apple Insider readers, including 6502, Wizard69, and sirlance99, do not have to struggle with living paycheck to paycheck. 

Because of this, they probably don't understand how difficult it can be for those living paycheck to paycheck to avoid using a credit card to pay for major, unexpected expenses such as car repairs, emergency dental work, replacing a major appliance that suddenly died, etc.  And since they are living paycheck to paycheck, they can't just pay off the credit card balance in 30 days. Instead, it takes them months to pay it off, all the while paying interest, and all the while praying that another major, unexpected expense does not occur before they can pay off their credit card balance. Unfortunately for some, another significant unexpected expense occurs and pushes them deeper into credit card debt. 

So yeah, for those people no annual fee and a low APR matters a lot. 

Sooo, you think that people SHOULD buy what they can’t afford? Do you have any idea how many people get into such crippling amounts of credit card debt that they go bankrupt, and have to start over again—if they’re lucky?

his statement didn’t read as elitist to me. Just the opposite. I think to a certain extent, we’re on the same page here. A problem is that the easy availability of credit has caused problems. It hasn’t actually solved any other than allowing people to buy something before they have the money to do so. That’s normally fine. But too many people use their credit card as a loan, not understanding the almost extortionate interest rates they’re paying. Some people just get more cards, and max them out. There isn’t a good way for banks and card companies to check out their credit until they start defaulting on payments. Then things come crashing down.

A friend of my wife’s did that quite a while ago. She was crying that she couldn’t go and buy anything anymore because she had no credit, and they were heavily garnishing her salary. I didn’t feel sorry for her, to tell the truth, because we kept telling her to stop buying all that stuff, and pay off her cards. But it was like a drug.

"so you think that people SHOULD buy what they can't afford?"  NO, I didn't say or imply that whatsoever. The example of your wife's friend sounds like an example of someone with irresponsible spending habits. I know several people who have done the same thing, and I have no sympathy or empathy for them. My original point was that not everyone in credit card debt is an irresponsible spender, especially those who are living paycheck to paycheck. Those living paycheck to paycheck have no savings, so when a major unexpected expense occurs, they may have little choice but to use a credit card. And once that happens, it becomes much more difficult to avoid falling deeper into debt, especially since financial institutions tend to prey on those who can least afford to carry debt. So for those folks, a credit card with no annual fee and a low APR is important.

And when I seen comments that seem to imply "it's their own fault", in my opinion that is a bit elitist and judgemental. It's easy to view everything from within your own prism of experience, but I tend to find that to be a fairly near-sighted way to look at the world. For many it's not "thier own fault", but it's eaiser to think that it is. 

StrangeDays said:

6502 said:

StrangeDays said:

wizard69 said:

Soli said:

sirlance99 said:

hmlongco said:

sirlance99 said:

Standard isn’t always best when many cards have better rewards than 2%. Also, my standard purchases are extremely low compared to other categories. There’s practically nowhere that I purchase things that I can’t get at least 3% back and up to 5% on most things. 

Depends on how one defines "best", doesn't it? The Amazon Prime Store Card, for example, gives you 5% back... with a 28.24% annual APR.

Apple committed to a low (albeit unspecified) APR, with no fees, no late charges, and no penalties. Not to mention the not-so-minor fact that you get your rewards back daily as Apple Cash. Not at the end of the month, not when you redeem them. Daily.

Then there's the secure unique randomized card number per transaction. No number or signature to steal on the physical card. No tracking of purchases. No sales of transaction data.

I don't know about you, but there's a ton of value in privacy and security.

Fees and APRs don’t matter if you pay your balance in full. 

You realize that being able to pay off your cards every month isn’t the norm, right?

If you think the “norm” is being stupid then we have a problem.  By the way I learned this the hardway and have drastically changed my use of a credit card.    At this point I try to keep all card purchases beyond an emergency  at a level easily payable every month.   The average person can literally save themselves hundreds of dollars a year by doing so.  

Frankly it wouldnt hurt for our educational system teach students why being conservative in your use of money is so important.  

Whether you believe it's stupid or not is completely irrelevant. Most people cannot pay off their cc every single month, and use it to get by when they need to. It's not even a matter of intelligence, I assure you.

Maybe you shouldn't buy what you can't afford then. And, I doubt it's most people.

You're free to doubt whatever you like. I worked for Capital One corporate for years and will believe and share what I experienced. Again, it's not about your ivory tower morality judgements from on high. It's about the reality of the economy -- the once booming middle-class is being eradicated, and the segments that are growing are low-income, and the very-high income. ie, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. The middle-class and the promise of the American dream of my parents and grand-parents age where a single-earner need only show up and work hard to get that house and two cars is long gone. 

Bingo! The elitist and judgemental comments being posted, i.e. "Maybe you shouldn't buy what you can't afford then" is sad and only serves to illustrate how out of touch and/or ignorant some people can be. 

What Apple is attempting to do with the Apple TV Channels, and also Apple Arcade and Apple News+ is replicate the success they have had with Apple Music.  The goal is to have as much news and entertainment as possible pass through Apple distribution channels so that they can collect their cut. Apple wants to stick a financial intravenous needle into as many consumers as possible so that they have a steady and relatively reliable flow of revenue being sucked out of as many bank accounts as possible every month.

What does Apple TV Channels offer the end-user that they don't already have? I'm not sure yet either, but I really don't think I need or want it. I am not a fan of the whole monthly subscription model for music, software, movies, television, games, etc. Considering how many companies have adopted the subscription model, it must be a "win" for them, but as an end-user and consumer, I have found that my finances fair much better with as few monthly subscriptions as possible. 

I just bought a couple of USB A to USB C dongles that I am using with the Thunderbolt 3/USB C ports on my new Mac mini. Can such a dongle be turned into a malicious device? If so, is there a way to determine if the hardware you are using is "clean"? My guess is that the dongles are harmless, but it would be nice to know for sure.