Apple 30 October 2018 Event thread

Welp. That’s that, then. Hackintosh it is. I think I see my own divergence. MAYBE I buy some other MacBook a few years down the road for mobile use, office work, and media consumption, but video editing, storage, graphics work, etc will be in the Hackintosh. Not too long after may see me move entirely to Linux. I’ve always been in the prosumer category, but the truth of the matter is, my creative needs haven’t changed nearly as quickly as the technology. I just don’t need these kind of top tier, excessively fast systems anymore, but I do need modularity/bay access.

Example, while I am now working in 720p and 1080p rather than 480p, this was done in Adobe Premiere 6.5 in 2010. Not CS6.5, certainly not CC. Original 6.5. And most of my work while higher resolution isn’t nearly this demanding (this had like 20 layers of masking and animation). My needs (and indeed my skills) have not kept up. At this point we are probably to the point where the main driver of my needs is what is supported by the latest macOS and the standard peripherals. I’m not a prosumer anymore, I guess.

No - they offered quad core CPUs in 2012, but then went backwards after that to dual core. 2012 was the last year of the quad core. It was stupid of Apple to do it. In 2014, I actually bought the 2012 model as it was faster.

Our good friend Decryption has pointed out that you can get an Intel Nuc configured pretty much the same as a Mac Mini for half the price, and it’ll even run Mac OS.

50% premium for the pleasure of using macOS :thinking: https://twitter.com/decryption/status/1057457685501636613/photo/1

For internal PSU, T2, 3 extra TB3 ports, no hacking and no finger crossing every time there’s an update. Sounds fine to me. Macs have always been more expensive than raw PC components - and I’m ok with that continuing. Also, that PC doesn’t have an OS at all (Windows 10 Pro = $150ish i think).

I dunno, recycling existing material rather than having to source it should surely be cheap. Apple’s spending on the enclosure would be very low. I’m fairly sure the processor is usually the bulk of the cost and they’re using pretty low end processors - a class down form the old MacBook Air.

The Air should be cheaper than the original one as costs have dropped. The 2010 Air had 64GB of SSD standard, yet 8 years on they’ve only doubled that? The new Air has a lower classed processor as well.

It will probably make Apple a lot of money, but they again missed the point of why the Air was so popular. The standard 2 port MacBook Pro is almost the same thing yet it hasn’t quite been a run away success. If this Air was what people wanted then that Pro should have been the best seller for the last 2 years not the aIR.

Mac Minis are meant to be the entry level model. The intended market (well the old one anyway) would prefer slightly lower disk speeds with more storage. Apple seems not to be able to do middle grounds. Either it’s a 5400rpm HDD as the base or they near double the price and put in insanely fast SSDs.

Watch as the T2 means the Hacintosh becomes impossible.

Plenty of finger crossing after Apple drops support after 5 or so years. There has always been an Apple Tax, but double the price is insane. Either the base Mac mini should have been $150 USD less than it is, or the base should have been i5 with 256GB SSD, or at least a socketed SSD.

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Talk about a company that does not have a sensible long term product range, they seem to make it up as they go. Hardware models, numbers and suffixes that change every year or two. At least there’s no confusion with Apple system software.

Where does the Macbook fit into the Mac range now?

What will the 2019 iPhones be called?

…yes, which is why I said “may see me move to Linux.” I’m starting the transition now. I’m dual-booting on my MBP, and I’ll be putting it on the Mac Pro here soon. I’m on Linux on the MBP right now. It’s time to see the writing on the wall. I’m going to eventually be locked out of macOS.

They could have done this:

  • MacBook (New MacBook Air)
  • MacBook Air (Current MacBook)
  • MacBook Pro 13
  • MacBook Pro 15

And if they’d put a better class of processor in the Air (eg the same as the last model).

They should get rid of the 2 port MacBook Pro.

Alternatively,

  • MacBook Air 12 (Current MacBook)
  • MacBook Air 13 (New MacBook Air)
  • MacBook Pro 13
  • MacBook Pro 15

Just something…

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Maybe I should look into Linux… I won’t be able to afford a Mac that matches my non Retina Pro when it dies…

Here’s my work so far modifying it for the 2015 Retina MBP (which is a bit different that how it works on the 2008 MacBook). A fair amount of tweaking still to be done. The icons don’t yet have perfect HiDPI support, but I was told it is coming in the 19.1 update.

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Damn! That’s what I thought you meant, but I was hoping . . . . . . .

I’m now leaning toward getting the base MacBook Pro instead of the new Air. The 256gb variant comes in at $1,529 after vouchers are applied, and I may even do better with a 10% off sale/negotiating. Better specs for the same price.

I think this is wise. This Air refresh sort of throws the whole alignment of the line-up out of whack. If I had the kind of credit and negotiating power you seem to, and I wanted something from the currently available models, I’d do the same.

My father kicked in some money for my birthday I used to purchase the 2015 from @jaysee and we looked at the line up before the event, obviously, and easily discounted the old Air and the current MacBook for my needs. Since the rumours were pretty on-the-spot for the refreshes, that meant the MacBook Pro, and for what I wanted out of the MBP, the 2018 was way too underwhelming for the price. This is why I’m grateful Jaysee offered up the 2015. I’m very satisfied with it.

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Thanks. Does anyone want to kick in other thoughts on the MBA vs MBP option?

At this stage I think I’ll wait until Wednesday, head to the fruit shop and compare the two side-by-side. Then head to JBHiifi to buy.

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I would agree, except the base MBP is 7th gen as opposed to 8th gen, and has the second gen butterfly keyboard as opposed to the third gen in the mBA. On the other hand it has a U series chip rather than the power limited y series in the MBA.

Might be best to wait and see what benchmarks say. Also, the 15 inch MBPs are about to get a GPU upgrade. Might be worth waiting for that.

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Definitely wait until you have a play with one.

Hey, you could always do an Anthony, buy it from Apple, try it out, if you don’t like it, take it back.

Dumb question and I should have a look but do they both have headphone sockets?

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I could do that :slight_smile:

Both have the same ports - 2 x USB-C and 1 x 3.5mm

Both models have a headphone jack.

Here is an Engadget speculative discussion about the pros and cons of choosing the MacBook, new MBA and base MBP.
In summary, the MBP is probably the most powerful, but the new MBA
won’t be far behind despite the “Y” series chip. Really should wait for benchmark comparisons.

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I see this is where the iPhone will be, and maybe not too far away.

An all-in-one for device for most (some will still go for a more powerful unit). Sit in down in some sort of dock/hub for a more PC-like experience with keyboard, mouse and monitor.

The short-lived Ubuntu phone was on the right track, though a bit ahead of its time.