Good point - power users really don't seem to be their target market anymore. If they were, it wouldn't have taken 3+ years to announce it'll be another 12-18 months before they get an update
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Apple Says It Has No Plans for Solely ARM-Based or Touchscreen Macs
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Good point - power users really don't seem to be their target market anymore. If they were, it wouldn't have taken 3+ years to announce it'll be another 12-18 months before they get an update
.Good, I hope people stop complaining about not having a touch screen on your laptop. It is clumsy, not very intuitive and the screen just becomes a magnet for fingerprints and dirty hands.
If I wanted a touch screen i have got my phone or a tablet. The touch screen essentially becomes useless when you pair your laptop with an external screen , mouse and a keyboard.
To top it off, if they added a touch screen to MacBook Pro - add another $250 to the price tag.
If apple wants a to add a touch screen add it to the MacBook and leave the pro series alone.
If I wanted a touch screen i have got my phone or a tablet. The touch screen essentially becomes useless when you pair your laptop with an external screen , mouse and a keyboard.
To top it off, if they added a touch screen to MacBook Pro - add another $250 to the price tag.
If apple wants a to add a touch screen add it to the MacBook and leave the pro series alone.
Speaking solely for me, I find my 9.7" iPad Pro with the Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil to be a perfect trifecta of technology. As an attorney, I never use legal pads anymore: all of my notes are written and saved in the Notability app and the keyboard is perfect for typing reports/emails. I save documents in various apps on my iPad and then I can access them perfectly, while pinching to zoom if needed. I use the iPad and an Apple TV when I'm on trial and that replaced the incredibly burdensome task of carrying boxes of documents to/from court for use during trial.
I would imagine that I am part of the target demographic for the "desktop replacement" iPad Pro. I understand that this may not be a professional device for other types of pros, but for this professional attorney, it is perfect.
Going forward, I wonder how many OSX traits, if any, Apple intends to crossover to iOS in future iterations. Obviously, a folder system and the ability to run several apps on a home screen, in a traditional desktop sense, as opposed to the adequate multi-tasking capabilities of the current version of iOS, would be welcome by the likes of me. But for now, I completely understand why Apple is hesitant to dip its figurative toes into the touchscreen desktop/laptop waters.
I would imagine that I am part of the target demographic for the "desktop replacement" iPad Pro. I understand that this may not be a professional device for other types of pros, but for this professional attorney, it is perfect.
Going forward, I wonder how many OSX traits, if any, Apple intends to crossover to iOS in future iterations. Obviously, a folder system and the ability to run several apps on a home screen, in a traditional desktop sense, as opposed to the adequate multi-tasking capabilities of the current version of iOS, would be welcome by the likes of me. But for now, I completely understand why Apple is hesitant to dip its figurative toes into the touchscreen desktop/laptop waters.
"Apple Says It Has No Plans for Solely ARM-Based Macs".
Great. Because Intel x86 inside is a must for true compatibility with the rest of the world. Or else we will switch to Windows. A shame for all.
Great. Because Intel x86 inside is a must for true compatibility with the rest of the world. Or else we will switch to Windows. A shame for all.
Lack of macOS on iPads is a feature, not a bug. The people clamouring for a desktop operating system or legacy PC features like a file manager on a tablet are the minority. They just don't know it yet.
But remember, you are talking about something that, if done RIGHT, is so deeply-entrenched in the OS that you end-up more-or-less forcing EVERYONE to use it, like it or not; and let's not forget that EVERYONE will end up PAYING for a feature that only 10% (if that much) will actually find useful.
It's not like a good candidate for a BTO option. You either have an OS and Applications that are touch-based, or not. See, e.g. the clusterf*ck that is the current Windows OS with TWO, (count 'em!) TWO completely separate UIs. OMG!!!
No. If you want the experience of a Touchscreen Mac, get an iPad Pro to go along with your iMac, and use a purpose-built app like "Duet Pro". Your arm will thank you, and the rest of us' bank-accounts will enjoy not having to subsidize your need for "touch".
https://www.duetdisplay.com/pro/
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Now, let's compare your "Next Big Thing" track record to his...
This. On Windows machines and Chromebooks this is very often an option. Are you fine with 1080p resolution? Good, pay a low price. Want 4k / retina:ish resolution? Cough up $200 more. Want touch on the screen you selected? Add another $100 (prices pulled out of my a**, but you get the idea). I get that most people don't use touch and don't want to pay a premium for it, but I do. With all the options available for macs, having a touch option wouldn't be a major undertaking. Let's hope they will come to their senses in the near future.
Of course, if Apple did come out with a touch-screen Mac, the cleaning rag would not be included ... but you would be able to purchase the iRag (which won't be available on launch day)...
Good on them for sticking to their guns with the no touchscreen Mac approach. Touchcreens for laptops and desktops have revolutionized nothing IMO. There are definitely areas where I wish Apple wasn't so stubborn, but this isn't one of them.
Now bring back the glowing Apple logo
Now bring back the glowing Apple logo
Because nobody wants an ARM based computer. Even in the world of PC where anything goes at least once it has been a no go.
As for touchscreen computers, Apple is dead wrong. My vaio canvas is the best computer I have ever owned as a designer. The idea of going back to Not Drawing my comp Right on the screen and working on Photoshop/vectors without a built-in digitizer is crazy now.
Packing a wacom tablet is like my pops packing his layout markers back in the day - Obsolete. Well unless you own a mac laptop.
As for touchscreen computers, Apple is dead wrong. My vaio canvas is the best computer I have ever owned as a designer. The idea of going back to Not Drawing my comp Right on the screen and working on Photoshop/vectors without a built-in digitizer is crazy now.
Packing a wacom tablet is like my pops packing his layout markers back in the day - Obsolete. Well unless you own a mac laptop.
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That is a virtual certainty (the first part).
Remember, the ADB Apple Extended Keyboard of yore cost $169, and people loved that thing! I think that an Apple "Pro" keyboard with TouchBar would probably be around $150. Maybe as low as $129; but likely not lower than that.
If they're smart, it might also have conventional Fn keys as well as the TouchBar, to satisfy certain Applications that rely heavily on those.
And Apple is generally Smart.
Duh. I've only been saying this for years anytime the topic comes up. Switching to ARM would require A) recompiling every single app you currently use to run on that architecture, or B) running an emulator for x86 apps to run on similar to what Apple did with Rosetta when it moved from PowerPC to Intel chips. It wasn't an issue back then because Pentium chips were ridiculously more powerful than PowerPC chips and so emulating them wasn't an issue, but the same cannot be said for ARM chips versus x86 chips today. All of that said, why make the switch if it required repurchasing every single app you own, assuming an ARM version is released at all?
There may come a time when RISC based ARM chips replace CISC based x86 chips, but realistically speaking we are a long way away from that point despite the marketing hype and all the best wishes of Intel haters that never got over Apple abandoning the PowerPC.
There may come a time when RISC based ARM chips replace CISC based x86 chips, but realistically speaking we are a long way away from that point despite the marketing hype and all the best wishes of Intel haters that never got over Apple abandoning the PowerPC.
1. Price
2. Power Consumption (battery life)
3. Apple gets to control their own "Roadmap" and Timelines; rather than being beholden to Intel and AMD/nVidia
4. Did I mention Price? Go check out what Intel wants for CPUs, and what nVidia wants for GPUs. It's really outrageous!
2017 HP Spectre x360 - i7 Kaby Lake, 512GB SSD, 15" 4k Touch + pen display. 16GB RAM, decent battery life and great performance with 1x old USB poer, 2x USBC with Thunderbolt 3. $1500. Compare that to a high end 15" MacBook Pro and tell me where the $1000+ "value" is.
Lenovo also has a similar priced option in the Yoga 910 with similar specs.
It costs next to nothing to add this as an option or even a standard feature!
But remember, since Apple has an "Architecture-Class" license from ARM (and more ARM experience than almost anyone else on the planet), they could possibly build an "x86-emulator" INTO the ARM itself! Before you scoff, keep in mind that EVERY modern "x86" CPU, EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Is actually EMULATING x86 behavior. That is NOT what is happening down at the Microcode level in the CPU. Seriously.
So, the idea of an "ARM that can run x86" is not NEARLY as far-fetched as you might think.
And if anyone can do it; it's Apple. And even if they don't get that working right away, they are also the absolute MASTERS of "Fat Binaries", and since macOS is already quite Processor-Agnostic, I would be VERY surprised if Apple doesn't have macOS running NATIVE on ARM right now...
I've got the first machine on that list and it's not half-assed. I was very surprised but it's extremely Mac-like and has been very reliable in the 3 months I've had it. I don't miss my Mac much at all.
I think Tim wouldn't know the next big thing if it bitch slapped him upside the face. Apple has half-assed plenty over the past few years. The new Macbooks are the most recent in a long list.
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Besides being able to keep a laptop communicating with other devices while turned off of closed, the only other Apple-like reason to have another processor in a MacBook is to replace the already huge glass trackpad with a touchpad. It would essentially make the screen touch based in a way that doesn't look dumb, because your finger is already on the touchpad so all you would need do is look down on it to use it as a touch screen. Something easily done with a laptop. Just a thought considering how much Apple likes to turn everything in their systems into an Apple exclusive item. They also like to find any way they can to justify their higher prices instead of just selling them at competitive prices. So adding outlandish tech like this isn't too far fetched.
Having used OS X on touchscreen displays extensively, we have found that when working in creative applications, it is very, very natural and often the most efficient way to interact with your work piece.
That said,
1, OSX on a touch display diminishes in usefulness as the size of display reduces. Wacom 27" (or iMac 27") good, 24 and 21" pretty good, 13" portable waste of time.
2, upright touch displays are not ergonomic to operate for long. Horizontal to about 25 deg, such as a wacom cintiq (or apples recliner iMac) good, laptops waste of time. You don't draw on a wall, you draw on a desk with a slight incline.
3, touch is only useful because your other hand is holding the precision input device, such as the stylus (or Apple Pencil), and as you draw or brush or model or edit, your passive hand is maneuvering the workpiece, instead of using your dominant hand to both draw or edit AND fumbling around (and comparatively, it is) operating the various applications inconsistent view commands with a remote cursor and a typewriter. The old way is a kludgey mess and always has been. Not inspiring that Schillers team can't comprehend what everyone in graphics and design has known for decades.
If Apple were to make a notable leap in their product lines functionality, it wouldn't be adding a touch strip to the bloody keyboard, it would be building the reclining touchscreen iMac they patented in 2010, with an active digitizer and Apple Pencil. That's the configuration that provides the biggest leap forward, and is easily the most efficient and natural feeling of all Mac configurations to work in.
However, for them to do it, they'd have to actually feel a need to spend some money on innovation for the apparently tiny percentage of their user base that uses their Mac for more than text editing.. As long as they're content raking in cash while coasting, we'll still have the option to pay $6000 for our Wacom-eqipped touchscreen Mac Pros & Imacs. Or just bite the awful bullet and get a surface.
That said,
1, OSX on a touch display diminishes in usefulness as the size of display reduces. Wacom 27" (or iMac 27") good, 24 and 21" pretty good, 13" portable waste of time.
2, upright touch displays are not ergonomic to operate for long. Horizontal to about 25 deg, such as a wacom cintiq (or apples recliner iMac) good, laptops waste of time. You don't draw on a wall, you draw on a desk with a slight incline.
3, touch is only useful because your other hand is holding the precision input device, such as the stylus (or Apple Pencil), and as you draw or brush or model or edit, your passive hand is maneuvering the workpiece, instead of using your dominant hand to both draw or edit AND fumbling around (and comparatively, it is) operating the various applications inconsistent view commands with a remote cursor and a typewriter. The old way is a kludgey mess and always has been. Not inspiring that Schillers team can't comprehend what everyone in graphics and design has known for decades.
If Apple were to make a notable leap in their product lines functionality, it wouldn't be adding a touch strip to the bloody keyboard, it would be building the reclining touchscreen iMac they patented in 2010, with an active digitizer and Apple Pencil. That's the configuration that provides the biggest leap forward, and is easily the most efficient and natural feeling of all Mac configurations to work in.
However, for them to do it, they'd have to actually feel a need to spend some money on innovation for the apparently tiny percentage of their user base that uses their Mac for more than text editing.. As long as they're content raking in cash while coasting, we'll still have the option to pay $6000 for our Wacom-eqipped touchscreen Mac Pros & Imacs. Or just bite the awful bullet and get a surface.
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Yes, touch is the most intuitive and efficient input method for tons of creative tasks, but Apple have shown themselves to be lazy, uninnovative idiots without any creative vision, just lazily coasting along with 3-5 year old crippled and overpriced hardware and an OS that is rapidly losing its shine.
Meanwhile Microsoft runs circles around them with the Surface, which is exactly the kind of revolution that the old Apple would have produced. They even had a 2010 patent for that exact, perfect creative device. If only Steve was alive...
What's the 27" touchscreen you are using?
It's probably a UPDD driver based single-touch which just moves the mouse cursor? I don't want that.
I want real multitouch so I can move multiple music mixer faders and knobs at once. But only Windows offers that. And I am so close to switching because of Apple's laziness and retardation.
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Exactly. I've glanced at PC's for a while now - I really, really dislike windows, but the raw specs for the price is getting very attractive. Some, like Dell, even has hardware like this shipping with Ubuntu on them, which is the next best thing after OS X imo. And, there are github repos that are making basically one-click hackintosh installs with auto-update features for these devices as well, meaning you won't have to tinker for weeks trying to get OS X to run on them. While it's not 100% matured yet, I think getting hardware like this and run OS X flawlessly on it is pretty close. Can't wait.
Funny....
http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/8/1...s-full-windows-10-with-photoshop-on-arm-chips
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...rm-server-chips-threatening-intel-s-dominance
Microsoft is still making a heavy push into ARM on both the consumer/professional markets.
Who gives a **** what platform software runs on as long as it runs in the most efficient manner?