Apple News From WWDC and iPhone 5 Rumors 683
First time accepted submitter zer0point writes "Apple has just announced the next-generation Macbook Pro with a retina display. Starting today you can also order a MacBook Pro upgraded with Ivy Bridge CPUs, and Nvidia graphics. Mountain Lion got some various updates, and as expected iOS 6 was announced. In rumor news, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a note to investors, 'Based on the release schedule for iOS 6 GM, there is a very good chance iPhone 5 will start shipping also in early September.'"
no 17" laptop??? (Score:2, Insightful)
People do need bigger screens and have walk round with a laptop + display is a hard and you need to power that display as well.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:5, Insightful)
Ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) laptop.
Face it wifi is not all over the place and Ethernet is faster, has more security, work better in some places, ect.
I was just in a hotel with in room cable modems hooked to the tv system with Ethernet and Poor wifi in room.
Yes, added cost, but consider that you're buying with that extra cost a thinner laptop (because it didn't have to be included) and the option of NOT carrying it around. I've found that I almost never need either the display adapter or the ethernet adapter, so I don't have to carry them around if I don't need them (I have an Air). For me, the thinness is worth it. You could just as easily say that the base model, with no dongle, gives people who don't need the dongle(s) the opportunity to buy a slightly cheaper Macbook - thus, it is a price discount for them, rather than an extra cost for us.
Not everyone likes this, of course, but that's why you have the option of buying other notebooks.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll take an ethernet dongle and smile if it's attached to a 15.4" laptop with a 2880x1800 screen.
Nice specs...but.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:2, Insightful)
Your argument is flawed. The argument was that the added value of a thinner computer outweighs the value of the ethernet port and the cost of the adapter for a lot of users. Just because it doesn't fit your use-case perfectly doesn't mean it's useless.
Re:No Classic or Rosetta (Score:5, Insightful)
You seriously think "the only reason" for dropping Rosetta (PPC emulation layer for those who don't know) and Classic (Mac OS 9 compatibility layer) is greed?
How about you maintain your own legacy compatibility layers then? Unless maybe doing so is actually something that requires a lot of extra effort for very very little good reason since by now the vast majority of users have moved away from both PPC and OS 9.
Seriously, Rosetta I can almost understand that a handful of people still haven't gotten completely free from but Classic? That means you have been running (most likely) unsupported software on a deprecated platform for 10+ years without figuring out how to move away from the software and platform at hand to something slightly more modern...
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:4, Insightful)
Ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) laptop.
Face it wifi is not all over the place and Ethernet is faster, has more security, work better in some places, ect.
I was just in a hotel with in room cable modems hooked to the tv system with Ethernet and Poor wifi in room.
I don't know too many frequent travelers that don't carry around an AirPort Express or other pocket-sized wi-fi device of their own for those hotels that either haven't or can't upgrade to pervasive wi-fi. Your hotel Ethernet is not going to be "faster, more secure, or work better" than if it was plugged into an AirPort Express anyway.
For lab use, you probably wouldn't get the dongle but rather the whole docking station and connect the monitors, ethernet, keyboard, mouse, everything via that one port.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:5, Insightful)
WiFi isn't everywhere. But it's at a hell of a lot more places than ethernet. Last time I used ethernet was 2009.
Are you saying that Laptop should be held up thickness wise, at the point where the body can accomodate an RJ45?
The minority of people that are still ufing ethernet for laptops need to carry an ethernet cable with them anyway. It's no hardship to them to take a cable with a dongle in instead. Meanwhile the majority who use WiFi now get a better laptop.
Is it truly expensive? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who else on the market is doing that?
Let alone in the same form factor
and only 4.4 lbs?
The display beats my 27 inch iMac which has 2560x1440!
I am really curious how well that Nvidia chip can push 5 million plus pixels in a game because you know games will/have gone there.
I was fully expecting a 2499 entry price, the 2199 is an amazing price for what they have packaged.
Granted your going to be buying an external optical drive if you want for around a hundred, a three year warranty for at least 250 or 350 more... so it will quickly hit 3k
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:2, Insightful)
The cost of an ethernet or display dongle and the cost of carrying around a built-in versions, pales in comparison to the cost of not having the port or dongle when you need it. We had a convention recently and one of the presenters forgot to bring his display dongle for his Mac. We spent a few minutes scrounging around for one while someone worked on copying his presentation over to a PC. 3 minutes * 150 guests = a cumulative 7.5 hours of wasted time. (And for you Mac fans who don't like how I'm counting time, it's how Steve Jobs thought of saving time [folklore.org].)
That's the problem. People are starting to think of laptops as fashion statements foremost, rather than as tools. It's fine to want good aesthetics (a good-looking laptop is nicer than a bad-looking one), but one should never give up functionality for the sole purpose of aesthetics. If you're never going to present or plug in, then there's no problem. Any costs associated with forgotten dongles or lack of ports are yours to bear alone. But if you do stuff which might ever externalize that cost, you need to factor that into your decision of functionality vs. aesthetics. (For our part, we're going to have to buy a Mac video dongle for the projector to make sure this doesn't happen again. We're paying for the Mac users' aesthetic tastes. But at least it's damn cheaper than making 150 people wait.)
Re:Shut up and take my money! (Score:5, Insightful)
To all the naysayers, duh, Mac's have always been more expensive "then the rest", but then they are not marketed to people like you so get over it.
This is impressive, a lot of tech in a very small package and you can't even find that tech in ANY of the competition yet. While I know there is significantly better values out there if you just want a new computer, when you start building a Dell or HP laptop with any where close to the same tech in something no where near as well engineered as the new Macbook, you are paying close to $2000 anyways.
Someone said they can build 3 desktops for that money, then what? Have 3 unused boxes of crap lying around?
Same as always, Macs are never going to be the average joe's computer, I find it difficult to imagine the average joe requiring 2880 x 1800 displays anyways. This is squarely marketed to video editors, graphic designers, developers where the added screen real-estate will be welcomed. The fact that this thing isn't $3000+ because of the Retina display (which is not a commonly stocked component ANYWHERE), it is surprising they are selling it for so cheap.
So, don't worry you can't afford or don't want to buy this new MacBook Pro. Your comments are useless. This product is not marketed towards you and if you don't get it, then no worries. Wait for Dell's cloned version of this and while it might be cheaper, it won't be the same, but you will feel happy for 1-up'ing a Mac fanboy.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:5, Insightful)
Thinner => Lighter / Smaller => More portable
Seems like a reasonable thing to want in a laptop. If I wanted a machine that did everything at any cost.. I'd get a desktop.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:5, Insightful)
It'll force all the PC companies to quit bundling shitty displays with their laptops because they're "HD". I'm working on a Dell right now that has a 1366x768 display. It's 15.4". Before the "HD" craze my 17" Dell came with a 1900x1200 display. Now the 17" displays are all 1080p. Hell you can get a cheap 24" display that's only 1080p. Why the hell would I want a 24" display if it's only 1080p?
Just like as soon as Apple came out with the integrated webcam and back lit keyboards they magically started to appear on Dells and other PC laptops I bet within a few months Dell loudly starts rolling out their "SUPER MEGA PIXEL HD" Displays on their laptops.
Re:No Classic or Rosetta (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple dropped Classic 3-4 years ago? And Rosetta 2+ years ago? And everyone knew that this day was coming since OSX first shipped over 10 years ago?
If you're just now worrying about legacy transition plans, I suggest you prepare your resume because you're about to get fired. You should have been doing this work incrementally. Now you're screwed because you won't be able to legally acquire the intermediary software and hardware.
And I speak from experience, I forced the issue and managed a project to finally get a $250,000 transition plan through a year ago for a primarily Mac office. It only cost so much because the previous admin thought the way you do and let us get into such a state of arrears. If it had been done incrementally over time, it would have been a lot less expensive, AND we would had all the productivity gains over the past 5 years that new hardware and software would have given. That lost opportunity is an enormous cost if you actually sit down to calculate it.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:5, Insightful)
Your post reminded me of some stuff people were saying when the iMac came out and was missing features people claimed were essential at the time.
seth
Re:no 17" laptop??? (Score:4, Insightful)
I doubt that it'll be back next year. By all accounts, it was a poor seller. All of the non-retina models, with the exception of the 17", just got updates and will be continuing to be sold alongside the new retina model. The 17", meanwhile, is nowhere to be found. That's a good indication that it's a dead product and won't be making a return. Demand for an Apple laptop that large simply isn't strong enough.
Re:Shut up and take my money! (Score:5, Insightful)
I find it difficult to imagine the average joe requiring 2880 x 1800 displays anyways
That's not the point of this display. It's to provide extremely high-quality images and text at roughly the same size (in e.g. inches) as on the 1440x900 display.
Go to Best Buy and look at the difference between the iPad2 and the iPad3 (or New iPad or whatever.) Go to a webpage and look at the text. If you see a difference, that's what they're talking about. If you don't see a difference, then the "Retina" display probably isn't for you.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:5, Insightful)
The thing is, other than the screen, the Macs tend to be worse spec-wise than that half-priced PC.
Bullshit.
They also tend on average to last 3 years, with the Macs lasting (if the propaganda being believed) 3-5. This means after 5 years, I have a much newer laptop with far superior specs at the same price as that one Mac
Pardon? You're trying to paint the longer useful life of Macs as a negative?
They also keep their value better, so whereas you'll be junking that 3 year old Wintel, you'll be getting a decent price on eBay for a 3 year old Mac.
not to mention not carrying around a gigantic thief-magnet.
Yeah. Were back to the Kia vs BMW again. Your recommendation seems to be buy something that's undesirable, so that no one will steal it. How can I say this. No. Things that are desirable are desirable for a reason. You can keep the crap.
You have to admit: Apple nailed it once again. (Score:5, Insightful)
Them weaving the golden cage more and more tightly every day creeps me out just as much as the next geek, but you have to admit, these guys are fucking amazing.
Remember how shitty smartphones were before the iPhone?
SJ said: No Flash and no carrier software on the iPhone.
And thus endeth the era of Flash and crappy carrier scamware on phones.
Btw., as a Flashdev I'm actually reorienting myself because of exact same incident.
Remember how abysmally sad and sorry tablet computers were before the iPad?
Along came Apple and sold 14 million of them tablets in the first 3 quarters. 14 fucking million!
Thus endeth the era of Bill Gates half-assed vision of bizarly overpriced and unwieldy tablet computers.
And now this. ... Just wait for the MB Pro rippoffs poping up in about a year or so, just like the Ultrabook stuff.
Notice how these days every geek worth his salt is bickerin about stagnation and retreat in laptop display resolution? We had a story on this here just a week ago or so.
BAM! New MB Pro. Ahead of the pack at least 1,5 generations, hitting every other vendor on the planet on the back of their head with a Louisville Slugger Class cluestick in terms of laptop screen paradigms and a few other things.
Just plain awesome, I have to say.
Apple is burning more and more Karma with me each day, but they sure to make quite a bit of it up in spades at times. Today is such a time I'd say. Cudos to them, and respect.
My 2 cents.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:4, Insightful)
That's hardly going to break the budget for a top of the line $2,199 laptop buyer.
It has never really been about the price of the dongle. It is about the availability of functionality when I need it.
If I walk into an office that doesn't have wifi, they'll invariably point me to a wall jack and hand me an ethernet cable. They won't have a dongle. If I didn't bring mine, or forgot it, or lost it. Then I'm pretty much fucked.
A $2200 laptop where I have to carry around a separate bag of "parts" to restore the functionality that every other laptop has built in is a joke. The display adapters situation was bad enough.
Re:Nice specs...but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's how everything holds its value.
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:2, Insightful)
"Separate bag"? Your laptop bag doesn't have a pocket for extras such as a PSU? If you're carrying a PSU, an ethernet dongle isn't going to add much to size or weight. And what it does add is more than saved by the thinness and light-weight of the new MBP.
Apple has launched the word's most advanced laptop today. Retina display, SSD, 7hours battery life, and so very thin. And you think it's a joke because its too thin to house a built in RJ45? How moronic is that?
Re:ethernet dongles (likely at added cost on $2k+) (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, saving that few grams and the 0.1mm savings in profile height
Retina MBP: 2.02kg, 1.8cm [apple.com]. Non-Retina 15: MBP: 2.56kg, 2.41cm [apple.com]. Perhaps 540g is "a few" to you, but 2410-1800 != 0.1.
Apple fanbois: lack of a feature is a feature!
Rational people: lack of a feature that some particular person doesn't use much, in exchange for something they deem an improvement in other matters, is a net feature - e.g., the lighter weight might, for some people, reduce annoyance enough to more than compensate for what annoyance comes from the lack of an Ethernet port.
Now, some other person might use the Ethernet port all the time, and not care as much about the weight. They should, err, umm, buy the other model of MBP.
(But, hey, "some people might quite rationally find A better than B, and others might quite rationally find B better than A" isn't nearly as much fun as hotly and loudly arguing the total rulitude of {A, B} and the total suckitude of {B, A}....)