Neglect of the peripheral lineup - what do you see as outdated?

Technically, apple is still selling laptops with an optical drives.


Also since they still sell external optical drives the eject button works with those as well.

Neglect indeed... peripherals I've replaced in 2014 (so far):

1. Thunderbolt Display, since I couldn't stand its fuzziness after using a 15-inch MBP Retina for a couple of years. Replacement: see sig.

2. Bluetooth keyboard because: too light (rattles while I'm typing), eats batteries, not enough key travel for my taste, no backlighting, drops key presses. Replacement: Logitech K811.

The Airport extremes are always outdated. These need to be as fast or faster than Asus for starters. Otherwise whats the point of the Apple reputation.

kwijbo said:

Agreed, after using a rMBP everything seems so fuzzy now. How do you like that monitor? I was eyeing that same model because of the high PPI.

The keyboard design is (if I'm remembering correctly) from 2007 or so. Its ancient in computer terms and there are so many little things that could be improved.



I've avoided the Airport products because there seems to always be a significant speed difference vs. other brands, plus the networking management capabilities seem to be dumbed down as well.

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AirPorts are great! Though you do not get the same speed as an ASUS product, they handle load very reliably and are extremely stable. Kind of like putting a Jeep Cherokee vs. a Pontiac Bonneville. The Jeep will always be running through anything no matter what but is a little slower than the Bonneville. The Bonneville could break down due to some designs. Granted, I put my routers through some pretty extreme usage so maybe I shouldn't be the testament of AirPort, !

kwijbo said:

Agreed, after using a rMBP everything seems so fuzzy now. How do you like that monitor? I was eyeing that same model because of the high PPI.

The keyboard design is (if I'm remembering correctly) from 2007 or so. Its ancient in computer terms and there are so many little things that could be improved.

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I'm actually glad we didn't get a new one with a "Like" button...even though a lot more people would use that.
I must say that even on my iMac - which has a DVD drive - I've not used that button more than a handful times - in six years.
Maybe it makes sense if you are a DJ, juggling CDs?

MRrainer said:

I'm actually glad we didn't get a new one with a "Like" button...even though a lot more people would use that.
I must say that even on my iMac - which has a DVD drive - I've not used that button more than a handful times - in six years.
Maybe it makes sense if you are a DJ, juggling CDs?

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With a tray-loading optical drive, the button is very useful, as most Apple computers of the past 10 years or so have been designed so that the case blocked the open button on the front of the drive. That problem went away with the Mac Pro redesign last year.

Of course, with a slot loading drive(as with the current external drive as well as ones built into laptops and iMacs the past few years) there's no need to open the drive and most of the time it's as easy to eject the disk in Finder or drag its icon to the trash(if you have your computer set up to show drive icons on the desktop) as it is to use the keyboard button.

All that aside, a tray loading drive can generally be opened with the F12 key on a non-Apple keyboard(or Apple keyboard without a media eject key) so it's still a bit redundant.

kwijbo said:

With Apple's focus shifting towards mobile devices there are several instances in the peripheral and computer lineup of outdated items which are due to be changed. Some examples:

Bluetooth keyboard - Eject button?? no Apple computers have CD/DVD drives anymore. Sure, it works with the Superdrive, but that's pretty much a relic at this point.

Apple Remote - The Mini is the only computer with IR and is beyond due for an update, so that leaves it working with just the Apple TV in the near future. Why not update the remote with Bluetooth so that it again works with the entire lineup?

Thunderbolt Display - this has been talked about much in this forum and is of course overdue, hopefully we see some sort of update in the next couple months.

What other things do you guys notice that are due for an update?

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I say bring back the old power button to replace the eject key. Also replace the cmd key with the key.

I would like to see the Apple keyboard support bluetooth 4.0 and perhaps be able to switch seamlessly amongst my various Apple devices like the logitech keyboard.

I don't see how you can make airport routers faster than the competition. Isn't this a function of your internet connection? I do know that the airport extreme does come with 512mb of ram though (not sure why they need so much ram), easily double that of most other routers.

kwijbo said:

Agreed, after using a rMBP everything seems so fuzzy now. How do you like that monitor? I was eyeing that same model because of the high PPI. [snip]

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...187 ppi for the Dell UP2414Q, as opposed to 108 ppi for the old Thunderbolt Display and 220 ppi for the rMBP. This Dell monitor needs a bit of tweaking once in a while after waking from sleep, probably because of the two MST streams needed for 60 Hz refresh rate. I get best results from just switching it off when I put my 2013 Mac Pro to sleep. I love this crisp monitor, but boy is it bright! I usually turn brightness down to about 30% at night. Nice colours when I'm playing my Trainz game... Apple would do well by incorporating the same panel in a new 24-inch 4K near-Retina TB2 display...

Abazigal said:

I would like to see the Apple keyboard support bluetooth 4.0 and perhaps be able to switch seamlessly amongst my various Apple devices like the logitech keyboard.

I don't see how you can make airport routers faster than the competition. Isn't this a function of your internet connection? I do know that the airport extreme does come with 512mb of ram though (not sure why they need so much ram), easily double that of most other routers.

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The router part is of course dependent on the internet connection.
Wireless performance OTOH isn't.
It seems (from various reports), Apple's lineup is a bit behind the curve there.

velocityg4 said:

I say bring back the old power button to replace the eject key. Also replace the cmd key with the key.

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Hey, I'm using an old white wired key. The Apple is there!!

Seems like there's less buttons, ports and anything else they can come up with to not include each year. Less, less, less!!

Hopefully, key commands with save us