Increasingly Familiar Apple Lust Objects for 2016 and onwards

xps yeah the impression I get about the M1 is that it is a collection of good decisions, rather than any genius technical breakthroughs.

I know Intel CPUs don't have efficiency-optimized cores but it still seems like Big Sur could dedicate a couple cores to interactive processes ...

M1 vmic for Apple

if it works, it works

yeah not complaining. only question is if I can justify replacing my 2016 MBP which only feel sluggish in Lightroom.

If you’re using Lightroom Classic definitely wait till Adobe releases a Silicon-native version before replacing a 2016 MBP with an M1 one, I’d say.

I seem to have been particularly unlucky with my Rosetta 2 Adobe experience but I’m not the only one having problems.

I am actually using Lightroom 6, since it does what I need and it doesn't need a subscription. It works on Big Sur but can't be installed on Big Sur, so I'm probably going to need a change here.

Mac Mini Pro could be my ideal computer unless the RAM and SSD tax increases.

yup. that's all I ever wanted. I'm a monitor snob, about to finally buy an EIZO CS2740, already have other monitors to use as a secondary.

From work I have gotten used to using a macbook, so I will definitely way the price/power differences between a powerful mac mini pro and whatever the new macbook pros are gonna be.

any news on the M1 macbook pros?

Nope. Was expected sooner but I think there was some backlog due to screens. Last chatter was sometime between september and november.

I'm waiting to see when those hit, or a higher-end mac mini. I need a new computer for my new business/shop.

the lovely Emma B’s 6-year-old laptop needs a repair and i have convinced her to hold off buying a new one and do the repair instead.

i got a pair of airpod pros for my birthday and these are pretty fuckin great

Same. Bought them on a whim as they were heavily discounted and so far Im impressed. Just need to find a way to keep them where my 3 yo can’t reach them

the lovely Emma B’s 6-year-old laptop needs a repair and i have convinced her to hold off buying a new one and do the repair instead.

This is kind of where I'm at too - mid-2014 MBP15-Retina, 1100 battery cycles, is running ok but can't manage anything CPU-intensive when not plugged in to AC (shuts down). Runs Big Sur fine but won't support Monterey when it arrives. Battery replacement is a fair chunk of cash if this model gets no further OS updates (also: haven't taken it out of the house in 18 months, so being able to render video/photo edits off the battery hasn't been essential in a long time).

The funds all went on M1 MBA for elder daughter six months ago, which is fair enough, as she's got sixth form/college ahead of her (hopefully), an all-apps Adobe CC subscription through school, and may actually forge some kind of career/skill-set/rewarding creative practice out of this. Latest tech is wasted on 50-something hobbyists trying to fill the void :)

I'm not sure what to do because I want to buy a new MacBook and iPhone and I'm currently in the US, where if nothing else, Apple products are a lot cheaper (base MacBook Air is $999+tax, so $1082 here in New York, versus £999 in UK, which on current exchange rates is $1,389). I'm moving back to the UK in September, probably before the new Macs and iPhones are released, so I'd end up buying at the worst time. Probably still better than buying in sterling. Pleased to discover you can buy a MacBook with a UK keyboard here, though only from Apple I think, so that's another thing to weigh up – whether it's worth paying the extra to buy from Apple rather than elsewhere, where you can often pick up a discount.

any news on the M1 macbook pros?

are you waiting for the 16" version?

Historically, new apple stuff announced in q3-q4 is almost always done in the first half of September iirc

I was wrong, but most often September and almost never August

f hazel yes - not the current 13” one

Apple is selling refurb 256GB iPhone 11 Pro for $899. Feels like quite a good deal - I need something to replace the XR that employer will soon take away from me when I change jobs. Any thoughts?

$849, rather

I have an 12 pro and it’s the best phone I’ve ever had but then so was the original X so I think an 11 pro, especially at that price would be great. I’m not sure I’ve ever come close to hitting the limits of the 12.

i want touchid, but has anyone typed on this new external keyboard yet?

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/apple-begins-selling-touch-id-equipped-magic-keyboard-new-mac-pro-gpus/

I used one briefly when setting up my folks' M1 iMac, it seemed very like the previous wireless keyboard (with the Lightning charge port).

they're pricey but I really want one. Don't have an M1 computer though. yet.

$149 for the wired one, jeebus. And that's the one without the numpad!

well I guess it has to have an actual computer in it to process the fingerprint and deliver an encrypted unlock code, in addition to the matrix decoder and USB chipset.

down 15 and cant score....

People pay a lot more for keyboards and my last Apple keyboard lasted 10 years and still going, but yeah that’s a spicy price to be able to auth with touchid in clamshell mode.

i'm not even about clamshell mode! I just don't want to have to reach over to my laptop to use touchID!

i’ll get one for my mini, that’s for sure…

you have an m1 mini?

this is my twice-monthly apple thread post where i pop in to say that yes, i have a m1 mac mini, and i love it :)

I'll probably get an M1 Mini for my next Mac. The only thing giving me pause is the 16GB max on memory. The 32GB on my 2012 iMac has been worth every penny.

Ram hits different on the m1s or so I’ve heard

yup

my use cases are about as demanding as you can get without hitting the GPU, and at no point have i felt like ram was a bottleneck. (i got 16G)

i just bought a new magickeyboard (to replace the fucking butterfly hinge one my mac came with seven years ago) and an apple tv so that i can use my pods with it; i am fully on the ecosystem and ashamed.

my magic keyboard is an old one that uses batteries :( it doesn't seem "magic" when i have to replace the batteries apple

having the plug in option (along with a balky space bar) was the main reason i bit the bullet

however, i will say that i am currently looking at my MAGIC trackpad, which is rechargeable, and i cannot find whatever the cord is anywhere, despite having every usb/micro/firewire/thunderbolt/etc cord of all time

i think my realizable dream tech setup is that there are no cords, and that there is a big surface that just recharges everything and keeps it topped off, and it's all powered by my solar panels on the roof

and when the sun shines harder, my performance of the devices get even better

i don’t have an M1 mini. it only works on M1 machines?? lol oh well

Can someone recommend a good USB-C hub, not necessarily for speed but for charging lots of things. My monitor doesn’t have enough ports anymore.

the keyboard works, but the touchid bit doesn't on intel macs IIUC.

get the anker one that has the ports you need.

usual deciders are whether you need 1) unusually many (3+) usb-a ports 2) ethernet 3) sd reader. if you need one of these three you basically have to get one with all three of these three.

other thing to watch out for is power delivery. if you have an m1 this shouldn't be an issue (they draw like 30W) but if you have an 16" intel mbp then you'll need 100W.

e.g. one of these (there are others)

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerExpand-Adapter-Delivery-Ethernet/dp/B087QZVQJX/
https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerExpand-Ethernet-Delivery-MacBook/dp/B08C9HZ5YT/

is this steve jobs insult response of the highest quality?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeqPrUmVz-o

also, what is the quality of the insult?

not an entertaining response or insult, but he handled it pretty well

would've been easier to just go with "what the hell is going on with your pants"

I expect that was the highest quality response Steve Jobs ever gave to someone who tried to insult his representation of Java's level of integration into the concept of Open Doc during a public Q&A.