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Report: Apple To Unveil New Macs At An October 27th Event In Cupertino (recode.net) 142

Posted by BeauHD from the shiny-new dept.
According to Recode's sources, Apple's updated Macs will be unveiled at an event in Cupertino on October 27th. Recode reports: The move had been long expected, given that the company released MacOS Sierra last month but had yet to introduce any new computer models sporting the software. It also comes just in time for Apple to have the new products on sale for the full holiday season. Apple has gone a long time without making significant changes to any of its Mac models, with most experts encouraging customers to hold off all but essential new purchases until the lineup was updated. Tops among the rumors have been reports that Apple will introduce a new MacBook Pro sporting a row of customizable touchscreen keys. The Mac event is expected to take place at or near Apple's Cupertino campus rather than in San Francisco, where the company held many recent events, including the iPhone 7 announcement.
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Report: Apple To Unveil New Macs At An October 27th Event In Cupertino More

Report: Apple To Unveil New Macs At An October 27th Event In Cupertino

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  • Including a Mac Pro tower, right? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sandbagger ( 654585 ) on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @05:04PM (#53103859)

    With PCI slots room for multiple video cards and several hard drive bays. You know, a proper workstation.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by kuzb ( 724081 )
      If it can't be made obsolete in 6 months, Apple probably won't build it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fyngyrz ( 762201 )

        No proper tower design Mac Pro, no buy. That's one drop not in their bucket.

      • Is this a serious comment or just downing some hateorade? Apple seem to support their hardware for a reasonable amount of time in my experience.

        • Re:Including a Mac Pro tower, right? (Score:4, Insightful)

          by kuzb ( 724081 ) on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @06:16PM (#53104359)

          In my experience their quest to make things sleeker means devices are inherently less upgradable, much harder to repair, and far more prone to failure. Ram is often soldered to the board, and in some systems (yes imac, i'm looking at you) you have to do retarded shit (like pull the glass out of the unit) just to replace a drive. Not to mention they go out of their way to use torx screws for everything just for the added /facepalm. Top to bottom, these things are engineered to be more frustrating than they need to be.

          While 6 months is a bit of an exaggeration, what isn't is the fact that apple stuff is purposefully engineers their technology to be prone to failure. There are tons of cases of ventilation issues with macs because airflow doesn't seem as important to them as the look of the machine. They'd rather throttle your already anorexic CPU than provide you with appropriate cooling. I don't know why people continue to buy their stuff. Sure a regular boxy pc may not be as attractive, but it'll be a lot cheaper, perform better, be infinitely more upgradable, and can be modified to suit your personal demands. With Apple, you'll pay out the ass for whatever they give you - and fuck you if you don't like it.

          • Re: Including a Mac Pro tower, right? (Score:2, Insightful)

            by Anonymous Coward

            What is your beef with torx screws? They don't strip out like Phillips. They've been around for decades. Spend $10 and get a set of bits and call it a day.

            You complain about hex bits from Ikea too?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by kuzb ( 724081 )
              Torx makes sense if you have very small screws or if you have screws which are heavily torqued on as they would be in some automotive parts. It doesn't make sense for anything else. The generic PC industry at large has been using phillips for decades with no difficulty. Often times it's a phillips screw with a hex head screw so you have two ways to remove it. The only time you encounter torx in larger computer parts is when someone wants to ensure it's that much more difficult to get in to. Everyone ha

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by Kjella ( 173770 )

            I don't know why people continue to buy their stuff. Sure a regular boxy pc may not be as attractive, but it'll be a lot cheaper, perform better, be infinitely more upgradable, and can be modified to suit your personal demands.

            Well you can take it out as same performance for less money or more performance for same money, I think for most it has "enough" though so it's really attractiveness vs price. As for upgrading most people are quite happy with laptops (stats from Norway age 16-65 says 30% use desktops, 80% laptops), I don't think they even consider it the same way I've never considered replacing the engine or gearbox on my car. It's not like any part will be outdated in two years anymore and if my needs radically change I'll

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by kuzb ( 724081 )
              Christ, I built a computer out of an old intel 920 with an intel DSOX58 board for about $350 used that outperforms all but the highest end macs. Their hardware is often inferior for what you can get dollar for dollar if you turn your own screws. When you buy mac, you're buying an aluminum shell that houses shit hardware in a custom configuration that is designed to fail.

              Weld your computer shut? Are you fucking stupid? Even if the hardware can go the distance, fan bearings fail. Thermal grease dries

          • I don't know why people continue to buy their stuff.

            I buy it because I need a Unix-based OS which just works. As a grad student and postdoc I used Linux for everything but as a faculty member I no longer have time to poke around getting it to work properly on the desktop plus I need access to commercial programs for various things (again partly as a result of not having the time to make OpenSource packages do what I need).

            That being said the recent trend with Apple is just getting ridiculous. They are selling a MacPro that is 3 years old; their support f

          • You could have just said yes and moved on. There are plenty of benefits that come with making things sleeker (and less upgradable.) but you ignore them all and went right ahead and exaggerating the issues it creates. Lets make a list: "More prone to failure" The opposite is actually true. "engineered to be more frustrating" for you? Many people (normal consumers) find the simplicity appealing. "Apple stuff is purposefully engineers their technology to be prone to failure" This is nonsensical. And rubbis

          • Re:Including a Mac Pro tower, right? (Score:4, Informative)

            by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @12:47AM (#53105827)

            I don't know why people continue to buy their stuff.

            Here's the reason: People buy Apple computers because they run Mac OS X.

          • I don't know why people continue to buy their stuff.

            The only reason some people buy a Mac (and not a Windows to be converted to Linux) is because iOS dev is only possible on a Mac.

          • You're absolutely right about iMacs.

            But I've had a Mac Mini for over five years and it still performs nicely. Swapping out the RAM chips is pretty easy, and using a torx wrench is no big deal. Haven't had to change the HD so can't speak to that.

            Relatively cheap too. Pickup a Mac Mini along with a monitor of your choice and a couple peripherals and you're set. Again, I'm five years in and still humming nicely. I mostly use it for writing code and running a development web server.

            Now Apple's software...that'

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

              Correction: swapping RAM was pretty easy. The latest Mac minis have on-board RAM and cannot be upgraded, ever. So if you do any serious work with your computer, you absolutely have to pay for the overpriced RAM upgrade directly from Apple when you buy the computer. You can no longer offset the cost of the computer on a few years by doing upgrades by yourself.

              Also, the presentation slide from 2014 said "SSD" as if all the minis now had that feature, but only the top model does. Totally misleading advertistin

          • You're a real dumbass.

            Torx screws have been in common use in the automotive (and many other) industries since the 1980s. They are used because they are far superior to Phillips in every conceivable way. You literally can't buy a screwdriver bit set or toolkit that DOESN'T include an assortment of Torx bits. So get over that one, willya?

            And the idea that Apple engineers their products for premature failure is laughable. You do realize, of course, that Apple actually has the opposite reputation. And it is

          • > I don't know why people continue to buy their stuff.

            You get the popular Windows Apps along with the power of Unix under the hood.

            i.e. Unix + Photoshop.

            e.g. MS Office on OSX gives me _both_ the ribbon bar AND menu bar. Best of both worlds because _I_ get to decide which one works for me.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kwerle ( 39371 )

      For both the folks that want one?

      It's sad, but what's the point? I know there are a few folks who want real machines - but it just doesn't seem likely they're going to cater to that small a market. Sure it doesn't help that they've pretty much abandoned it up 'til now - but I have to think that's because they can't justify the effort.

      You might think that they'd figure out that not having a full line of products is bad for each segment, but Apple's never been good at that.

      • The reality is that Apple makes more money servicing its products than from selling Macs [cnbc.com]. Macs are an also-ran inside the company, probably kept around for nostalgic and developer purposes only.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by amiga3D ( 567632 )

          Considering the ridiculous sums of money they get for a 5 year old design macbook pro I can't believe they want to actually lose that profit margin. Any other computer company in the world would love to make what Apple makes on it's hardware. I've got a 2011 Macbook Pro that I picked up second hand and it's essentially the same as the 13" Macbook Pro they're selling today. It was a nice system 5 years ago but today it's really not impressive.

          • Apple is no longer a computer company. They are a mobile devices platform company. They keep Macs and OSX around simply as a way to finance the development platform for iOS. When you make more from service contracts than from selling a product - that product is essentially irrelevant from a revenue standpoint. It's only value is the toolset needed to make iOS apps. That's why Apple essentially ignores the entire Mac line - it doesn't matter, financially.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by amiga3D ( 567632 )

              You think they don't care about a few billion dollars just lying around huh?

            • Re:Including a Mac Pro tower, right? (Score:5, Interesting)

              by amiga3D ( 567632 ) on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @06:55PM (#53104583)

              You know, just a little research tells me that Apple had over 25 billion dollars in revenue just from Macs in 2015. That's a nice chunk of change considering over 30 percent of that is profit. HP has to sell more than 7 windows machines to equal what one Mac brings to Apple. Why in hell do you think Apple would turn away from that? Particularly since they put so much work into making them work together so seamlessly.

              • And that revenue is around 11% of their total revenue, and less than their service revenue. It's low on the totem pole of where Apple's priorities lie. You don't need to look any further than where they put their efforts (iPhones, iTunes, App stores, services) to realize they turned away from it because it's lot as high of margin and compared to the other streams of revenue - it's small.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by amiga3D ( 567632 )

                  Nobody cuts 10 percent of their profit out. You're nuts if you believe that. Especially when they can use it to tie iPhone users more fully into the Apple Walled Garden. When your phone works together with your computer it makes life easy. No, it's not their main profit but that's a lot of money. Every single PC manufacturer wished they made what Apple makes on computers. A good friend of mine has an iMac and he loves how it works with his iPhone6. Every upgrade to iOS just makes it smoother as well.

                  • Revenue != profit. Macs are much less profitable than iOS devices. That's why warranty/repair services eclipse Macs in terms of profit.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by amiga3D ( 567632 )

                      I understand that. That hardly means they don't want the Billions of Dollars they get from Macs. Are you seriously trying to tell me that Apple doesn't give a shit about a measly 8 or 10 billion dollars? That they can't be bothered to pick that money up off the table? It's too much trouble? Just let HP and Dell have that chump change? Come on dude. Even Apple doesn't sneeze at billions of dollars in profit. I bet you don't run a business.

                    • No, I am saying they give a lot less of a shit about Macs as compared to everything else - and thus Macs are always going to be treated as the 2nd class citizen within the dev teams at Apple. Slower to release, less resources available for advances, etc.

        • Apple makes more money servicing its products than from selling Macs.

          That's only because you are a dolt who can't read.

          "Apple Services", which makes a lot of money, isn't "servicing" as in "repairing" its products. "Apple Services" is iTunes, App Store, everything that Apple sells that isn't hardware.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jedidiah ( 1196 )

        > For both the folks that want one?

        A proper workstation was part of their line-up for YEARS. It's how they accommodated their serious professional users.

        Suddenly those no longer exist?

        • Which, the workstation or the pro users?

          The workstation hasn't existed since MacPro5,1 was discontinued, and they fucked over Final Cut Studio. The pro users have been vanishing ever since.

          Why buy 3 year old hardware that was fairly "meh" when introduced, when you can get a Windows workstation with far more performance and actually up-to-date GPUs for the same price? Sure, you don't get OS X or Final Cut, but they fucked over their Final Cut users already (good job making Final Cut X not be able to open p

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

          A proper workstation was part of their line-up for YEARS. It's how they accommodated their serious professional users.

          Suddenly those no longer exist?

          And you know what the two worst-selling Macs are? The Mac Pro and the Mac Mini. The sales of those two models is pathetic compared to the laptops and iMac line.

          Apple's sales is easy to spot. The most profitable and popular devices are updated frequently, i.e., the iPhones. The less popular devices are updated less frequently. Given how frequently the iPads are

    • Define 'proper'. Even in the heyday of workstations, you had varying looks - from the beige looks of AIX or Ultrix workstations from IBM or DEC to the really colorful Irix workstations from SGI. And those sleek pizza boxes from SGI or Sun - I don't know that you could just toss in more drives - they came w/ as much capacity to begin w/

      The Mac Pro has substituted hard drives for PCIe based SSDs, so obviously, there won't be drive bays. Not sure how many videos you want to attach to it, but w// the migra

      • It has gobs of DRAM and storage

        IIRC, doesn't it also have some sort of wickedly-fast memory bus?

    • With PCI slots room for multiple video cards and several hard drive bays. You know, a proper workstation.

      Proper for you, maybe. Not "proper" for a lot of people.

      Last night I was watching a "60 Minutes" report on Apple that they aired last December (yeah, I'm slow on catching-up to my recorded shows. Sue me!). Part of the piece contained an interview with Jony Ive, and a (pretty guarded) peek at some of the people at work in his Design Group. It sure looked like the Workstations they were using with whatever CAD/CAM/CAE Applications they were using (VectorWorks? Inventor? Siemens PLM? Other?) were being run o

  • Yeah, because nothing says "consistent" UI like a bank of completely customizable keys.

    • Nothing says hater like whining about a rumored feature on an Apple product before seeing it or trying it. Classy

      • Nothing says hater like whining about a rumored feature on an Apple product before seeing it or trying it. Classy

        You must be new here...

    • You have to look at it from an apple perspective. This is a potential revenue source through key skins and stickers.

    • Yeah, because nothing says "consistent" UI like a bank of completely customizable keys.

      No, or almost no, Apple Software uses the F-Keys anyway. That's why they started using them primarily for intrinsic functions like Backlight, Audio Volume, Play/Pause, etc.

      I for one would love to have a version of Logic Pro or Photoshop that could put up custom "keytops" on the F-Keys. And if the rumors (probably untrue) about having e-Ink keytops on the REST of the keys are true, then that would be truly unique for a standard keyboard offering.

  • On one hand, I'll miss it.

    On the other hand, Apple can't make a cable to save its life and I'd much rather swap out a male-male USB-C cable when it inevitably begins fraying instead of having to buy a whole new power supply.

    • MagSafe is overrated anyway. It doesn't connect anywhere near powerfully enough. It's fine when connected to a Mac sitting on your desk (but then so is any other connecter), but it disconnects anytime you move if you have it sitting on your lap.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by _xeno_ ( 155264 )

        My experience with MagSafe is that it's terrible for when you want it to remain plugged in, routinely falling out as you use it.

        It also is terrible at what it's designed for, and is easily able to hook onto the power port just long enough to drag the MacBook to the floor before disconnecting if you trip over the cable.

        So, yeah, go riddance to the "doesn't stay plugged in" power adapter. It fails at everything it's supposed to do.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by seoras ( 147590 )

      That would not be good. I've tripped over my power cable far too many times and been grateful for having Magsafe.
      I had hoped Apple would find a way of continuing MagSafe with USB-C even though they didn't with the MacBook.
      Feels like a big step backwards.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Anyone know when the patent expires on magsafe? I'd like to see it on other laptops.

        I don't know how they even got the patent in the first place. Japanese kitchen appliance manufacturers had been doing it for years, so you don't yank the cable and spill boiling hot liquid over yourself. They were doing it around the time when Jobs was in Japan, which is where he also got the turtleneck uniform idea from, so I guess that's when he stole it.

    • On one hand, I'll miss it.

      On the other hand, Apple can't make a cable to save its life and I'd much rather swap out a male-male USB-C cable when it inevitably begins fraying instead of having to buy a whole new power supply.

      Stop pulling your cables out like weeds and you'l stop having problems. My six year old 30-pin "iPhone Dock Connector" cable is still perfect. My 2 year old Lightning cable is still perfect. My 3 year old Magsafe cable is perfect. Etc. Etc.

      You just don't know how to handle cables properly.

    • I've never had a problem with their magsafe cables. I can't even fathom what people do to cause their cables to fray in the ways I've seen. I have a power supply from 2009 which is still just as good now as it was then.

      Now MICE on the other hand.... IMO there needs to be emergency legislation that says it is illegal for Apple to make peripherals. A more unergonomic POS, I have never laid eyes on.

  • Logged in to post, no AC (Score:3)

    by felixrising ( 1135205 ) on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @05:47PM (#53104169)
    About Fucking Time. Typed from my new Dell XPS 15.

  • I've come to dread these events... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ecuador ( 740021 ) on Tuesday October 18, 2016 @06:38PM (#53104471) Homepage

    I've tried using MacBooks, but they always had issues for me, so I go with (not necessarily new) Thinkpads for the road, but I mostly use my desktops anyway, and that's where I have a Mac Pro and a Mac Mini, which are pretty solid machines. Granted, the Mac Pro was too expensive, if my job did not pay for it I had calculated that I would have built it for less than half the price, but if you're not on a budget it is a good machine.
    So, whenever there was new hardware introduced, specifically Mac Pro and Mac Mini I followed it, and if there was a good feature / speed increased introduced I would perhaps go for it (happened once with the Pro, twice with the Mini). But in 2013, it happened. They took their only "classic" workstation with multiple drive bays (I have 2 ssds and 3 hds right now), dual CPUs, PCI slots etc and "transformed" it into a cool looking yet useless to me cylinder.
    Then with the Mac Mini, first they took away the option of getting any graphics other than Intel, then in 2014 they soldered the RAM and took away the option for a quad core!!!
    So I dread the new announcements, perhaps a new Mac Mini single core. Or with an iPhone cpu... And a Mac Pro that is a cool black sphere... but you can't open it at all for stuff like adding RAM etc.

    • I feel this. I'm desperate for an upgrade for my 2010 model. If Apple fucks this up, I'll be torn between a refurbished previous model or an XPS 15 (which is pretty great except, well, Windows).

      Seriously, now that HP and Dell are making some decent laptops, Apple has got to start taking their computer line seriously again. Their tendency to take more away with each update, and then sleep on them for months and months while CPU and GPU tech forges ahead, has made for an excruciating experience. I apprecia

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sconeu ( 64226 )

        which is pretty great except, well, Windows

        There's always the XPS 13 developer edition [dell.com]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ncc74656 ( 45571 ) *
          Woot recently had the Latitude 7370 available, starting under $600 for a refurb. Near as I can tell, it's the same basic design as the XPS 13, but with Win10 Pro instead of Home and some more business-oriented features. (On closer examination, it also looks like it has a second Thunderbolt port instead of a second USB port.) I've not gotten around to installing Linux on it yet, but once secure boot was switched off, it ran SystemRescueCD and the latest Gentoo LiveDVD from a USB stick without any issues.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

          There's always the XPS 13 developer edition

          Which is far from a completed product.

          The first time we got it, suspend didn't work. You could suspend it, and resuming worked 50% of the time. The other 50% you had issues. A software update later fixed this.

          Then there's boot time. Most PCs with 14.04 pretty much get you to the login prompt within seconds. It took a couple of minutes, despite it having a super fast SSD and a fast processor. Again, software update fixed this later.

          The next time, the screen is high

  • Hopefully its not the same old mac with a row of e-ink enabled function keys. There hasn't been anything "pro" about the macbook pro line in just about forever.

  • *Finally* I will be able to customize my keyboard with an "any" key.

  • Let Dell or HP take over for the mac pro & servers.

    That way they can keep the pro workstation scene but don't have to be tied down be thin and looks in a market where it's not a big deal and shops are willing to pay 2K-3K+ for high end tools.

    Or they can let adobe make CS for linux (also the windows ver is not that bad) and let apple die in that market.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
      Forgive my ignorance, but what has apple got to do with Adobe not releasing a Linux version of CS, Isn't that Adobes decision?

      • Adobe not releasing a Linux version of CS, more or less one of the final death nails for apple.

        • Except that whether a Linux version exists for CS or not is irrelevant for Apple, since their OS is not Linux

  • While I would like a new MacBook Pro, it seems certain that the new ones will continue the trend of only offering SSDs which are hard to replace. My current Pro has 3TB of storage, I'll be lucky to overspend to get 1 TB out of the new one...

  • Mine is a 2011, and was due for replacement a year ago. I converted from Linux to Mac in '07, and am about ready to convert back. The hardest part will be replacing the iTunes files that are in m4a format. They may be DRM-free, but that doesn't mean players other than ipods can actually play them. Figure I can just buy the CD's I need, or download from Amazon MP3.

    Not the most expensive mistake I've made.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Yvan256 ( 722131 )

      As far as I know, iTunes music files are in AAC and the non-DRM'ed ones can be played on a lot of non-Apple devices. Copy them to an SD card and you can play them on a Nintendo DSi from 2009. So if you still have players that aren't compatible with AAC in 2016, it may be time to get something new.

  • So nice for it to finally occur to them that their desktop lineup sales are in freefall because of their inability to refresh their products. I've been waiting to offer Macs to employees who want to use them, but there's no way I'm going to pay premium prices for ancient technology.

    You wanna sell old hardware? Fine. Then price them accordingly FFS.

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