Apple to Introduce New Macs at October 27 Event

[Ojisan Seiuchi]

Very undecided about this, but trying to look at it objectively. Working off a 2011 MBA that is beginning to show its age, I'd like to upgrade. But I'm clearly not in Apple's target demographic. I'm old. I like my wired headphones, and have gotten to the point in my life where the constant "upgrade this, dongle that" is just one more thing to worry about. I suppose I'll wait and see what materializes; but I'll likely just pick up the current generation MBP and go for another 5-6 years. By then, USB-C will be obsolete and Apple will be onto the next hardware serial interface cable du jour.

 

[horste]

Hopefully they will show up with a new iMac, that fixes at least some shortcomings of the previous one.
I would like to see the SD-card and a USB3 slot on the right side to be really usable. But I fear they stick with their design paradigm "Make it thin, even if you loose functionality". The switch to USB-C is quite problematic, as people are using lots of USB3 stuff. It is a contradiction to the "all in one concept", if you need any adapters. What should also be changed is the poor repairability. Get rid of the glue stuff! It's really poor engineering to you use glue. Come on Apple you can make it better!

 

[leman]

As for SD being "not very reliable" you're going to have to tell that to the tens of thousands of images that I've taken with SD cards over the last 5 or more years. Sure, you don't want to use them as your ONLY backup medium but they are plenty reliable from my experience. In fact, I don't think I've ever had an SD card fail except for when it was physically damaged. There have been more than a few times when I've taken over a thousand images in a single day and it's hard for me to remember when I've lost even a single photo.

SD cards are great at what they were designed to do, which is shooting fotos. However, this usage scenario is very different from being a general-purpose computer storage. In particular, the amount of random writes is simply not comparable. I can see that an SD card can be useful if you just read the data the majority of time.

 

[Bacillus]

The only thing more exciting is the rumor that Tim would be running mate for [..whoever..]
Best thing for Apple (and soooooooo exciting for [..whoever..])

 

[bingeciren]

Welcome to the dongle carrying crowd.

 

[leman]

The switch to USB-C is quite problematic, as people are using lots of USB3 stuff. It is a contradiction to the "all in one concept", if you need any adapters.

Again, most USB3 (save sticks) devices, such as external drives, printers etc., use a separate, detachable cable. All you need is exchange that cable with one that has a USB-C connector at end. Those are dirt cheap. For the majority of the users, this won't be a problem. Problematic are external mice/keyboards and USB keys.

Right now, when I come to the office, I need to plug 5 cables into my MBP: network, audio, power, HDMI, backup disk. Should Apple switch to USB-C completely, I will only need to plug in a single cable - the one to a hub. Seems like less of a hassle to me

 

[RobCoenen]

BEST TWEET OF THE DAY

 

[loekf]

I am prepared not to be impressed.... I'm specially curious about the iMac changes:

- Will they have the guts to go full USB-C and TB 3.0. I wouldn't be surprised if they drop TB3 completely.
- Will the bean counters at Apple have the guts to drop HDDs for SSDs by default ? Please no more 2.5" 5400 RPM drives in the 21.5" models.
- I don't think they will change the housing.
- I would love to see basic VR support. However, I am currently very happy with my PSVR.
- What about the iMac Pro ? How the heck can they sell a computer without any update in 3-4 years ? Same for the Mini.
- Give me a Magic Pad or Magic Mouse with TouchID. Away with this Apple Watch nonsense to unlock your iMac. Why not even do it on an iPhone ?

 

[Chancha]

You shouldn't be having kernel panics just because you have a 2011 MBP.

Another Early 2011 MBP 13" user here. Check the plastic tabs on your RAM modules, mine happened to wear / soften overtime, the top RAM was then forced out by the spring far enough to lost contact upon impact on the machine. I sent mine in an Apple authorized repairer right before my AppleCare expired, where they replaced the whole mother board for me. But I suppose it was fixable by myself putting a certain padding to fix the RAMs in place.

 

[johannnn]

All I want is SSD by default. I know I can already upgrade it to have SSD, but I feel I shouldn't need to pay extra to Not have tech from the 80s.

 

[pratikindia]

IMO, there must be at least one USB-A port in MBP. Rest can be USB-C. The USB-A is not dead yet and most people have lots of devices. If the newer port only is used, they will be a mess of dongles. Please Apple, put a new GPU this time, not 2 year old one.

 

[fastasleep]

I bet you that AT LEAST the 15" pro will have a regular USB port.

I'll bet you a million dollars that it will not.
[doublepost=1476862833][/doublepost]

IMO, there must be at least one USB-A port in MBP. Rest can be USB-C. The USB-A is not dead yet and most people have lots of devices. If the newer port only is used, they will be a mess of dongles. Please Apple, put a new GPU this time, not 2 year old one.

Not going to happen. Get over it. USB-A is dead, thank dog.

 

[BoneDaddy]

I'll bet you a million dollars that it will not.
[doublepost=1476862833][/doublepost]

Not going to happen. Get over it. USB-A is dead, thank dog.

I'd bet that if I were a billionaire. Other than that, I'm certain it will. Apple wouldn't make the mistake of completely removing USB from the pro line. Get over it.

 

[Ankaa]

I love how artsy 'pros' (like photographers and film makers) seem to think that artsy 'pros' are the only kind of professionals that exist, and therefore losing an SD card slot spells the death of the Apple Professional.

Or are Engineers, Scientists, Programmers, Lawyers, Doctors, Teachers, etc. not professionals?

Spoiler alert: they're not.
Source: Macrumors forum comments.

I really wonder where that leaves me, as a scientist who also uses photographs as one scientific tool to make the bucks.

 

[dingdong]

I'm worried about all the ports that are gonna disappear from the Macbook Pro line... It's a given that this has happened i reckon.

 

[fastasleep]

I'd bet that if I were a billionaire. Other than that, I'm certain it will. Apple wouldn't make the mistake of completely removing USB from the pro line. Get over it.

TB3/USB-C covers everything. It's backward compatible with everything. The USB-A connector is gone. It's gonna rule.

 

[GeekGuys]

Again, most USB3 (save sticks) devices, such as external drives, printers etc., use a separate, detachable cable. All you need is exchange that cable with one that has a USB-C connector at end. Those are dirt cheap. For the majority of the users, this won't be a problem. Problematic are external mice/keyboards and USB keys.

Right now, when I come to the office, I need to plug 5 cables into my MBP: network, audio, power, HDMI, backup disk. Should Apple switch to USB-C completely, I will only need to plug in a single cable - the one to a hub. Seems like less of a hassle to me

I don't mean to troll but as a techy-nerd (and potential OCD candidate) I feel I must correct some confusion I keep seeing on these boards.

USB-C is a connector. The type of USB that is on most laptops today is USB-A. USB-B is the square one that you might see at the printer end of a USB cable.
USB3 is the hardware behind the port that controls the protocol and speed (among other things).

Therefore, you can have USB-A port, with USB1, USB2, USB3, USB3.1 etc etc.
Technically, you can have the same protocols with USB-C, as there is no standards agree for USB-C and Protocols to be used. Therefore, the cheaper (or slower) tech companies who adopt USB-C may well leave the protocol as USB 3.0, which is aging. USB3.1 Gen2 will give more than twice the transfer speed (upto 10GBps)

Sorry to rant. I feel better now.

Now, wifi vs broadband.......don't get me started on that one!

 

[Ankaa]

The worst part is, I don't see any future where Apple, goes, ok we messed up on the keyboard we're going back to the old ones, one thing about Apple, THEY NEVER GO BACK. They never admit outright failure an have to go back to an old design (yes I know the Apple Maps debacle but that's different, close but different).

Well, except they do.

Remember the speech-controlled iPod shuffle?
Or that non-illuminated keyboard of the second-gen MBA?

 

[BoneDaddy]

USB-C IS USB. It's backward compatible. The USB-A connector is gone.

I know that. I don't have to specify which USB for you to know which one I'm referring to. But USB-A, is not gone. Wether or not it WILL be, is up in the air until the 27th. On that day, you will think of me, and feel upset that you were wrong.

 

[fastasleep]

IMO, there must be at least one USB-A port in MBP. Rest can be USB-C. The USB-A is not dead yet and most people have lots of devices. If the newer port only is used, they will be a mess of dongles. Please Apple, put a new GPU this time, not 2 year old one.

Or you just buy a single USB-C hub for all your USB-A devices and call it a day...

 

[MrGimper]

Order of events

- Updates
- Pokemon Go released on the mac
- Mario released on the mac
- Drake doing something pointless (other than existing)
- #Courage
- End

 

[Steve121178]

I'd bet that if I were a billionaire. Other than that, I'm certain it will. Apple wouldn't make the mistake of completely removing USB from the pro line. Get over it.

The alleged leaked 13" MBP chassis had 4 USB-C ports and no USB-A ports. Hopefully that remains the case. Legacy ports can do one.

 

[fpnc]

SD cards are great at what they were designed to do, which is shooting fotos. However, this usage scenario is very different from being a general-purpose computer storage. In particular, the amount of random writes is simply not comparable. I can see that an SD card can be useful if you just read the data the majority of time.

Then I guess by that reasoning we shouldn't be using any kind of flash storage? Flash-based chip storage is the future and there is no reason why you couldn't make an SD card just as reliable as that SSD in your computer right now. The only real barrier is the cost and the size of the chips (or their capacity). To a large degree an SD card is just a form-factor and an interface specification and in a few years we could have SD cards that are every bit as fast and reliable as today's SSDs (at least in the mid and low range of costs). You certainly can't believe that we're going to be forced to carry around phone-sized (or larger) external storage till the end of time (or the end of Macs, whichever comes first).

Yes, data centers and high-end applications will probably stick with large form factors, but for the individual it may not be that long before something in the form of an SD card will be all that you need for external storage.

 

[pietrov]

As I wrote in the forum, everything points to an event on the 27th.
What is not convincing me at 100% is "With an event set to take place on October 27, media invites should be going out later this week."
Until I'm not seeing the invitation everything is a speculation...

 

[BoneDaddy]

The alleged leaked 13" MBP chassis had 4 USB-C ports and no USB-A ports. Hopefully that remains the case. Legacy ports can do one.

I wasn't aware of those. Although it seems that my argument has been shot to **** with these photos, I am holding on to my conviction that the 15" pros will have USB A. If I'm wrong, I will make a thread about how stupid I am. Considering my level of stupidity, you will have to read a lot.