
Can't see why anyone would bother versus Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks like the new Asus S7....
Brace yourself fanbois: it looks like Apple is about to release a new range of souped-up MacBook laptops into the wild. A series of part codes leaked out of Cupertino by a Mac mole appear to indicate that the fruity firm will use next week's WWDC, an annual fanboi love-in, to unleash a new range of refreshed laptops. Stock of …
>Can't see why anyone would bother versus Windows 8 touchscreen ultrabooks like the new Asus S7....
Adobe (and many other) productivity applications don't scale well on Win 7/8 laptops with very high dpi displays, according to reviews of the few Win laptops that boast 'retina'-like screens. (See Toshiba Kirabook)
Windows 8 outperforms Mac OS-X for graphics, so I would assume they were comparing Intel on CPU graphics, which perform less effectively than a dedicated card. But all other things being equal, Windows 8 would be faster for GPU heavy work...Even Ubuntu outperforms OS-X....
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu1304_apple_osx1083&num=1
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_ultrabook_winlin7&num=2
Well based on my experience with my Mac Pro if you buy Apple the hardware build quality is awesome but count on Linux and even Microsoft (via Boot Camp but Apple is even trying to get rid of that) supporting your Mac far longer than Apple will. Forced obsolescence is the name of the game for Apple who are a hardware maker first and only do software to sell their hardware.
My biggest criticism of Metro (in a tablet / phone) is its fine when you have a few tiles, perhaps no more than 2 screens worth. After once you have 3 or 4 screens of tiles it becomes a major drag to hurl the screen around.
I think if iOS were to be revamped it could still learn something from it though, especially the concept of live tiles (or widgets in Android). Let a user construct a home screen and personalize the experience more. iOS is starting to look pretty long in the tooth compared to its opposition in some basic ways.
While I can appreciate you may have requirements for an optical drive, the vast majority of users don't need one on a regular basis.
Might be nice however if they supplied a firewire/usb optical drive in the box. But it's Apple. So you'll have to buy one. When they're available in three months time.
If they are leaving optical drives out because they think most people don't need them, it would be plain stupid to then include an external drive with every macbook - most people wouldn't use them and it would push the price up for everyone.
Can you buy a generic external optical drive or do they have to be Apple? Is there anything special?
> and it would push the price up for everyone.
Are you kidding? Really? This isn't Dell we're talking about.This is a "luxury brand". Leaving things out because of some need to cut corners is really not consistent with the usual Apple propaganda.
It could be a useful option.
That space could also be used for other interesting things like a 2nd hard drive.
Not everyone is some iPad wielding granny.
Apple have been selling their SuperDrive for Macbook Airs since 2009. Works fine with my 2012-vintage retina Probook.
It's a standard Apple accessory: looks cute, rather more expensive (cough, you want *how much* for a USB DVD-RW?) than the competition, most non-Mac folks don't know it exists so insert foot in mouth when polled on subject.
(In this SoHo business we have two Airbooks, a Mac Mini Server, and a rMBP, none of which have built-in optical drives. We get by quite happily with a single SuperDrive between us -- in fact, it spends most of its time gathering dust in a drawer.)
Have a 2012 Macbook with no optical drive. Haven't missed it much really. I have a 20 quid external drive available for the occasional time it's needed. Other peoples mileage may vary but given the instances of Superdrives packing up, the external option is actually cheaper and easier to fix if something goes wrong (i.e. hurl it in the bin and order a new one from Ebuyer).
..........managers are already at their desks.
Well old chap, I have to say that those of who have managed to develop a bit of maturity understand that not everyone who disagrees with us is a villain or a shill. Suggest you try harder.
A fanboy doesn't need to go AC.
Optical drives are good to have if your hard drive borks or you want to install a heavyweight piece of software. Well, it shouldn't be necessary to go into details on this website. Taking Apple's enthusiasm for minimalism and feature-removal to its logical conclusion, we'll end up with Apple Pis where you pay a premium for the nice cover and then a premium for a stack of boxes hanging off the side.
I really, really hope they upgrade the non-Retina MBP range. I dislike non-upgradeable hardware, and is the main reason why I didn't go for the Retina stuff.
The optical drive is something I rarely use, but it is still good to have it there. It also gives me the option to add a second HDD if I ever need to do that as well.
To be fair, his fingerprints are definetly going to be all over any new Macs because designing them is his job, that would be a bit 'Pope confirmed as a Catholic' as headlines go though*
*Or is he?, Athiests can be good? bears using portaloos[citation required], it's starting to look a little end of the world is nighish
"Apple is currently placing component orders for iPhone volume manufacturing to ramp in the August timeframe, suggesting they're on pace for a late September launch"
Which translates as Apple are ramping up production, ready to have millions of the things sat in Chinese warehouses, in time for the launch. At which point they'll ship 3 to each CPW and Phones4U shop, who will then wheel out some poor manager to say they sold out of all of the new iPhones "in seconds".
Then, a month or two later, you'll be able to pick up your cool shiny at any Argos, Tesco or Asda.
Little advice for the fanbois... if you can buy your cool phone at the same time as toilet cleaner potatoes... it's not cool!
quote
Little advice for the fanbois... if you can buy your cool phone at the same time as toilet cleaner potatoes... it's not cool!
Then it ain't cool to be able to buy the latest Samsung 'shiny-shiny' device at Tesco's then? They are on sale at my local one (As of Monday)
I guess that buying any phone at Tesco's is a sign of being uncool then.
Mines the one with a Nokia 6310i in the pocket.
Yes please, I've been hanging on to my old one for yonks now waiting for a new one, none of the other machines they sell are practical for me and wouldn't want to move away from OSX and the software I use.
Sort it out Apple, there has to be a pro market left that is of suitable size to be interesting.
With the talk that 10.9 is to be aimed at 'power users' maybe it'll launch with a new Pro.
"Last years' iMacs will hold their value for some years to come."
Never managed to find a value much above low. Price, yes. Novelty, yes. Value, no.
But good luck with them holding it. You know, until we see the marketing innovation again. If we do. The trouble with basing a business on fashion is that things go out of it. Every chav on the underground and every gangsta in the playground seems to boast an iPhone these days.
Paris for the iCandy.
> Several studies, made in different ways (ie event monitoring software, returns to manufacturer, customer surveys) suggest that Apple computers are fairly reliable.
I don't need "studies". I have owned several Macs.
A little firsthand experience cured me of any clueless admiration I might have had for Apple or it's products.
It's hard to get a real evaluation of their stuff since it is expensive and vendor locked and pretty much anyone that's bothered to own their products are already drinking the kool-aid. You might as well ask a Jesuit what he thinks of the pope.
I did once. Turns out that Jesuit doublethink means that you can simultaneously (a) have fanatical support for the office of Pope and (b) believe the current incumbent is a ghastly mistake.
That is the problem I had with Apple products right up till I definitively stopped buying them after yet another motherboard failure, while my elderly NT file server just kept chugging along.
In the past I've bought top of the range Windows notebooks from various manufacturers, and they just keep going, with the letters worn off the keys and perhaps stuck on Windows 7 32 bit because of the age of the motherboard.
Touchscreens in the vertical plane are wrist-achingly bad for anything other than very brief use, unless you're standing up. I'd be very surprised to see macbooks with touchscreens, especially as the multi-touch trackpad is brilliant (and far better than any implementation in the Windows world). Now, if they don't release a 13" Pro that can take more than 8GB of memory, I'll be very annoyed....
I'd like to see keys on the keyboard with built-in vibrant, colour OLEDs, so they can be contextual to the application, not just QWETY.
Maybe a trackpad cum touchscreen would be good, and the image could display things such as jog and shuttle wheel or sliders as summoned by the application.
>I'd like to see keys on the keyboard with built-in vibrant, colour OLEDs, so they can be contextual to the application, not just QWETY.
You can have it, but at a high, high cost: (roughly $1000 USD)
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/
There maybe some games controllers that might suit your needs, though.
>Maybe a trackpad cum touchscreen would be good, and the image could display things such as jog and shuttle wheel or sliders as summoned by the application.
All iDevices have had wireless MIDI baked in from the beginning, so what you describe is already well supported amongst desktop digital audio applications.
However, I would like to be able to offload Photoshop (for example) tool palettes to a secondary touch-screen! I was tempted by a 7" USB-powered and driven monitor, but they seem pricey compared to either cheap 7" tablets or 21" monitors.
My mate has just bought a Korg Kaosillator... whilst it can function as a stand-alone noise making thingy, it can also place it's real hardware controls (X Y rear-illuminated touch-pad, sliders, nice heavy jog dials, colour-changing trigger pads) at the disposal of a connected computer. It's pricey, though!
"Another expected change is the much-anticipated move to Intel's Haswell processors, which offer lower power use and could allow Apple designers to shrink the size of batteries."
There's nothing wrong with the size of the current batteries, how about using the power saving to give people longer running times? Not that I use a Mac but since all other high end computers are copied from the mac design I need Apple to release computers that I would like so that I can then by them with a proper OS from someone else.
It gives them more choice... longer battery life or slimmer lighter machines or more space for other stuff. Given the way things are going, I thing Apple would rather make the MacBook Pro fit inside an Air housing and that would be pretty cool from a pure tech point of view... but I'd rather one I could use solidly all day without looking for a mains socket :)
Unless Apple do something drastic to their Macbook Pro range of laptops. I would expect the release to be a bit well meh.
I have a late 2010 Macbook Pro 13inch and other than Retina I haven't seen much improvements really. I'll keep on using mine for another year or so and then contemplate if I'll get another or move back to a Windows laptop.
The conversation at the Reg HQ:
Reportard #1: What?!? Tim Cook farted??
Reportard #2: Yes, I heard that. Someone leaked it.
Reportard #1: Yeeehoo!!! Lets put an article on the Reg. Lots of clicks, lots of revenue, massive beer party this Friday!
Reportard #2: Yes, Yes, Yes...also lets put Jony Ive's name in it!
Reportard #1: But did Jony fart too??
Reportard #2: No, No, No, No, No....Jony's name...double number of clicks, double revenue, double party...hehehehe!
Reportard #1: But, but...what do we say in the article??
Reportard #2: Nothing much, just say in the title "Tim Cook farted, massive leak...Jony Ive has a finger in it"...hehehehehe!
Reportard #1: hehehehehe!