Apple October event, new iPad/Mac Mini/ MacBook Air/iMac

[TheJimi]

Aye, I considered the aspect of security and reliability being direct selling points of an OS with high degrees of sandboxing.

I just figured that was too obvious / simplistic and that I was missing another facet of how apple could monetise that approach to an OS.

[TameRacingDriver]

In my eyes the 5 things the iPad really needs to become a feasible laptop replacement are:-

1. Desktop class browser
2. Mouse support
3. File system
4. The ability for the same app to run more than once (I.e. so one can have 2 office docs open in split screen without employing silly workarounds)
5. Multiple user accounts

Without those things it can only ever really function as a secondary device IMO.

[akirk]

TameRacingDriver said:

In my eyes the 5 things the iPad really needs to become a feasible laptop replacement are:-

1. Desktop class browser
2. Mouse support
3. File system
4. The ability for the same app to run more than once (I.e. so one can have 2 office docs open in split screen without employing silly workarounds)
5. Multiple user accounts

Without those things it can only ever really function as a secondary device IMO.

I understand it is different for everyone, but for me (and I am def. a 'power user' having been in IT for 30+ years and running a company in that space):
1 - no issues with browsers available on an ipad
2 - don't want a mouse - esp. with the pencil, easy to use as a mouse
3 - yes, it would be nice if this was more integrated, but with dropbox (as mentioned above) and apps like FileBrowser which give me access to my internal NAS systems, I don't really have an issue with files
5 - understand the need, but not sure this defines laptop replacement per se - it has nothing to do with the actual capability once in... so not an issue

for me - the one big issue is the lack of desktop software on the iPad - and with photoshop coming to the ipad as a full package in 2019, this issue is gradually going away - for now, I can hook into my PC / Mac laptop as an extra screen and run photoshop that way, but I am expecting it to be transformational to have full photoshop on an 11.9inch iPad with the pencil for editing... it is pretty good already as a dumb extra screen...

Is it therefore really not that far off my macbook pro - it has double the internal storage, and USB-C is a more useful method of connecting than lightning, so I suspect it will get easier and easier to see it as a replacement...

[Zod]

craigjm said:

HorneyMX5 said:

I do a fair bit of photography and bits of trackday video. Lots of raw files and 4K video is not cloud friendly from a cost perspective.

Depends what you define as “cloud” buying storage from Apple and the like then no but creating your own cloud with a NAS then yes.

Apple are on a crusade to move people away from device storage and to make everything wireless. Upsetting a lot of people along the way but I guess within about five years we will just see it all as normal.

2TB costs £7 a month from Apple. That's enough for more than 30 hours of 4K video. You need more than that?

[Bullitt Five-Oh]

TheJimi said:

Bullitt Five-Oh said:

craigjm said:

HorneyMX5 said:

I do a fair bit of photography and bits of trackday video. Lots of raw files and 4K video is not cloud friendly from a cost perspective.

Depends what you define as “cloud” buying storage from Apple and the like then no but creating your own cloud with a NAS then yes.

Apple are on a crusade to move people away from device storage and to make everything wireless. Upsetting a lot of people along the way but I guess within about five years we will just see it all as normal.

Apple love locked down ecosystems, since that's how they make more money,

I'm trying to work out how a locked down operating system equals more money being made.

Is it really a business decision? Or is it more to do with the company's philosophy?

TheJimi said:

Aye, I considered the aspect of security and reliability being direct selling points of an OS with high degrees of sandboxing.

I just figured that was too obvious / simplistic and that I was missing another facet of how apple could monetise that approach to an OS.

If users have no access to filesystem users can't side load applications (unless you jailbreak). If users can't side load applications all applications have to come from Apple's app store. Apple take a 30% cut from each app bought there. Not only do they make more money you also become their bh because you don't own your apps, you simply license them.

macOS is slowly heading in the same direction. It started from not having any restrictions to this



now it looks like this



The only difference between this and iOS is the second option. Obviously, they do it for your safety not to make more money (as can be seen in the first picture, lolz).

[survivalist]

Bullitt Five-Oh said:

TheJimi said:

Bullitt Five-Oh said:

craigjm said:

HorneyMX5 said:

I do a fair bit of photography and bits of trackday video. Lots of raw files and 4K video is not cloud friendly from a cost perspective.

Depends what you define as “cloud” buying storage from Apple and the like then no but creating your own cloud with a NAS then yes.

Apple are on a crusade to move people away from device storage and to make everything wireless. Upsetting a lot of people along the way but I guess within about five years we will just see it all as normal.

Apple love locked down ecosystems, since that's how they make more money,

I'm trying to work out how a locked down operating system equals more money being made.

Is it really a business decision? Or is it more to do with the company's philosophy?

TheJimi said:

Aye, I considered the aspect of security and reliability being direct selling points of an OS with high degrees of sandboxing.

I just figured that was too obvious / simplistic and that I was missing another facet of how apple could monetise that approach to an OS.

If users have no access to filesystem users can't side load applications (unless you jailbreak). If users can't side load applications all applications have to come from Apple's app store. Apple take a 30% cut from each app bought there. Not only do they make more money you also become their bh because you don't own your apps, you simply license them.

macOS is slowly heading in the same direction. It started from not having any restrictions to this



now it looks like this



The only difference between this and iOS is the second option. Obviously, they do it for your safety not to make more money (as can be seen in the first picture, lolz).

When was introduced, just the latest version of OSX I assume? If that is the case it makes me a bit reluctant to upgrade.

[RammyMP]

Had a walk down to the Apple shop at lunch time, had a chat to one of the sales chaps about whether a MBA or a Pro is better, I’m still left unsure. The Air looks better being the newer model but the Pro is more powerful. I might get a refurbished Pro and save 15%.

[Leithen]

RammyMP said:

Had a walk down to the Apple shop at lunch time, had a chat to one of the sales chaps about whether a MBA or a Pro is better, I’m still left unsure. The Air looks better being the newer model but the Pro is more powerful. I might get a refurbished Pro and save 15%.

Do you need power or battery life?

[TheJimi]

Also bear in mind that -

A) The non-TB Pro uses the 2nd generation keyboard, which is potentially problematic and subject to a replacement scheme by Apple


B) The 2018 Air & Pro uses the 3rd gen (latest) keyboard, apparently having fixed the issues.

[RammyMP]

Leithen said:

RammyMP said:

Had a walk down to the Apple shop at lunch time, had a chat to one of the sales chaps about whether a MBA or a Pro is better, I’m still left unsure. The Air looks better being the newer model but the Pro is more powerful. I might get a refurbished Pro and save 15%.

Do you need power or battery life?

Power. Not that bothered if the battery will last a full day.

[Bullitt Five-Oh]

survivalist said:

When was introduced, just the latest version of OSX I assume? If that is the case it makes me a bit reluctant to upgrade.

It would have been dumbed down to 2 options a couple of versions ago (same time they started calling it macOS instead of OSX IIRC).

[kev1974]

I see from teardowns that are starting to appear, that the memory and SSD storage in the new Macbook Air are both collections of chips soldered directly to the logic board, the same board that has the processor and the T2 chip and pretty much all the rest of the electronics.

Which is a bit annoying, because upgrading the SSD was a pretty simple process in the old ones since it just plugged in to a connector, the new ones are completely non-upgradeable.

[Monty Python]

kev1974 said:

I see from teardowns that are starting to appear, that the memory and SSD storage in the new Macbook Air are both collections of chips soldered directly to the logic board, the same board that has the processor and the T2 chip and pretty much all the rest of the electronics.

Which is a bit annoying, because upgrading the SSD was a pretty simple process in the old ones since it just plugged in to a connector, the new ones are completely non-upgradeable.

And if you take you MacBook to an Apple store you'll get fleeced for "repairs".

[tim0409]

RammyMP said:

Leithen said:

RammyMP said:

Had a walk down to the Apple shop at lunch time, had a chat to one of the sales chaps about whether a MBA or a Pro is better, I’m still left unsure. The Air looks better being the newer model but the Pro is more powerful. I might get a refurbished Pro and save 15%.

Do you need power or battery life?

Power. Not that bothered if the battery will last a full day.

You also need to factor in the screen; I've owned both the new MBP and MacBook (which has the same screen quality as the new Air) and the MBP is significantly better especially when viewing photographs. The Pro has a brightness of 500 nits v 300 nits, and P3 wide colour gamut (don't ask me what that means but it makes a difference).

[DoctorX]

He’s clearly not a fan but this is a good comparison of the MacBook range:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/201...

[TheJimi]

Monty Python said:

kev1974 said:

I see from teardowns that are starting to appear, that the memory and SSD storage in the new Macbook Air are both collections of chips soldered directly to the logic board, the same board that has the processor and the T2 chip and pretty much all the rest of the electronics.

Which is a bit annoying, because upgrading the SSD was a pretty simple process in the old ones since it just plugged in to a connector, the new ones are completely non-upgradeable.

And if you take you MacBook to an Apple store you'll get fleeced for "repairs".

I generally hear more good things than bad about Apple customer service - Inc foc repairs etc.

[13aines]

survivalist said:

When was introduced, just the latest version of OSX I assume? If that is the case it makes me a bit reluctant to upgrade.

You now go there and press a button to allow that particular app. If that still fails, Right click/Ctrl-click the program and select Open, and it should launch.

You can override that in the terminal to bring the Anywhere option back too.

[ChevronB19]

Bought an 11 inch iPad Pro to replace an old iPad mini 2 yesterday. Early signs are it’s bloody great. I got the pencil as well, the intention being to go paperless for meeting notes etc - I tried this with the mini and a normal stylus and it was useless. The pencil so far is incredible.

Ne thing I would say is that 75 quid for a bloody cover is utterly ridiculous though!

[Murph7355]

TheJimi said:

Monty Python said:

kev1974 said:

I see from teardowns that are starting to appear, that the memory and SSD storage in the new Macbook Air are both collections of chips soldered directly to the logic board, the same board that has the processor and the T2 chip and pretty much all the rest of the electronics.

Which is a bit annoying, because upgrading the SSD was a pretty simple process in the old ones since it just plugged in to a connector, the new ones are completely non-upgradeable.

And if you take you MacBook to an Apple store you'll get fleeced for "repairs".

I generally hear more good things than bad about Apple customer service - Inc foc repairs etc.

It was much better than it is now...

Don't get me wrong, the people are fine. But as the post you responded to notes, if anything goes wrong with one of the later machines, and they aren't inclined to repair FOC, you may as well just buy another machine. Which is poor compared to the old ones.

(The new ones also do not seem as robust in the first place IMO...the slide started with rubbish capacitors on iMacs a while ago ).

[AndyDubbya]

ChevronB19 said:

Bought an 11 inch iPad Pro to replace an old iPad mini 2 yesterday. Early signs are it’s bloody great. I got the pencil as well, the intention being to go paperless for meeting notes etc - I tried this with the mini and a normal stylus and it was useless. The pencil so far is incredible.

One thing I would say is that 75 quid for a bloody cover is utterly ridiculous though!

And it doesn’t cover the corners. Mine’s now in a drawer, replaced by a £10 Amazon version that will protect the iPad a bit if I drop it.

The iPad itself is great, although I’m struggling a bit with face recognition: I use mine landscape, and my thumb covers up the camera when I’m holding it. I guess I’ll get used to it.