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256 will be an upgrade "option", 128 will be entry level.



Finally, the rumors appear to be making sense.

There was just no way Apple would release a 13" Retina MacBook at $999, cheaper than the 12" model.

My guess is that the 12" MacBook will be starting at $999, whereas the 13" MacBook will start at $1199.

IMO, the 12" MacBook has always been a $999 device. Small screen, limited performance and connectivity. Perfect for students who needs something portable and lightweight at a lower price point. If Apple finally manages to hit the $999, the product would actually make sense.

If the 13" does indeed ship with a Retina Display and Quad Core processor, as rumored, I think it would be a very appealing option. Could very well be my next laptop!

Let's just hope Apple once and for all eliminates the 128GB models.

256 and I'm in.
 
Taxation pays for the infrastructure and legal frameworks that enable These companies to operate. Apple’s employees get to work on I280. I don’t think Apple built the highway.
So you think Apple as a corporation need the federal government in order to do business? Last time I checked Apple (and most other companies) operated by making voluntary exchanges with suppliers, manufacturers, shippers, property lessors, utility companies, builders, and employees. Notice something missing from the list? The federal government. The only thing they do is raid the profits. They don't actually make or sell anything. I'm sure if you asked Apple they would've preferred to build the damn road themselves.
 
Apple's "product" is figuring out how to exchange something as cheap as possible for your $999.

The "product" is composed of psychology and marketing, not technology.

It’s a shame then that the best processor technology that Samsung has to offer loses out in speed to pure marketing fluff from Apple then.
 
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free market systems companies can decide what sandboxes they would like to play in for various reasons. Apple has chosen to


I was in Walmart the other day, and passed the laptop displays section... and was shocked to see so many pc laptops that actually looked nice for between $200-400. THOSE are entry level prices. As someone who’s been using macs for so many years, it’s disappointing to see Apple still charge such a large premium for outdated tech.
Bring out a $499-$599 entry level laptop (because they can, if they wanted to), and see how many new users they could acquire overnight!


They have no interest in playing in that 'plastic sandbox'.....they will leave cheap crap to other Windoze vendors.
 
It really needs to have a Retina display and starting price of $999, not $1,199 which is barely less than the current MacBook. I miss when Apple actually cared about good value-for-money MacBooks, today we can have current or reasonably priced but not both as was once the case...
 
Taxation is theft if it's taken from normal working class people that don't have much money, but big rich companies like Apple should be taxed. Isn't that how America was founded? Then the bankers changed it so even working class people had to pay tax.
Don't get your panties too much into a bunch. It is still the top 10% earners that pay more than 60 to 80% of all taxes (varies between different countries but that is the approximate range). That doesn't mean that those 10% pay their 'fair share', their effective tax rate might still be lower than that of middle class members. They just have such high incomes that it works out like that.
 
It really needs to have a Retina display and starting price of $999, not $1,199 which is barely less than the current MacBook. I miss when Apple actually cared about good value-for-money MacBooks, today we can have current or reasonably priced but not both as was once the case...

Those 2008-2010 MacBooks were pretty weak compared to the more expensive models if you compare the specs. Yes, the hard drive and memory was upgradeable but that’s it. You were still left with a weaker CPU and useless GPU.

The current prices are really nothing outrageous unless you want huge drives. Most people are fine with 512-1TB. External storage is really cheap. Even regular external SSDs. I think Apple still offers great value. The machines are much more stable than Windows and you don’t have to constantly waste time installing near daily patches. Several years of free OS upgrades are included and Apple ensures a reasonable level of performance over the life of the machine especially with their first party software Logic and Final Cut.
 
Mac Mini.

Give. Us. The. Mac. Mini!!!

Why is this so difficult for you to do, Apple?
Not difficult at all, just not a priority. Personally, I think Apple was waiting for the quad-cores they used in the 13” MBP released last month.

In any case, the mini will never be on a yearly update cycle like iPhone, iPad, the Watch, iMac and MBP. Like other niche products such as iPad mini, iPhone SE and HomePod, it’ll be more like 2-3 years. Sure it’s been almost 4 years since the last mini update, but then again the 28W quads have only been available for a few months.
 
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This all might be true, but Apple isn't going to keep on making the mini 4 just to suit your flying needs. They're only going to keep making it and/or upgrading it if and only if it's profitable for them to do so.

Do you want to talk about Apple's financial story?

Let me remind you that this thing called iMac has saved Apple from bankrupt. As Jobs once said, "people doesn't know what they want until you show them".

I want Apple back.
 
mind you this is rumor season and it does not make sense for apple to refresh or relasess any of the above . if apple listened to what devices their customers want, it indeed would be a fragmented mess . Thank God they have a stern vision of what products they want moving forward

lets face it, there will be no macbook air, there will be no ipad mini or any other old device people are wishing for . let it go and move on, apple has done that already

Apple produces what it wants to sell. The problem comes from when their goals become out-of-whack with consumer desires. Cases in point:
  • 12" Macbook—cool form factor, but no one asked for butterfly mechanisms, or a single port. Not priced to sell.
  • TouchBar MacBook Pros: Lots of compromises to make the MBP even thinner, which no one was asking for. A random decision to remove the iconic "lighted Apple" from the back of the notebook. Again, limiting ports for no particular reason. And more manufacturing defects than usual.
  • Final Cut Studio X — revised to appeal to non-pro users, and therefore occupying the "pro-sumer" market.
  • iPhone 7 and onward: headphone jack removed for no particular reason (Samsung can make waterproof phones with them, so what's Apple's excuse?)
It seems like Apple peaked at consumer focus around 2009 when new Macbooks were introduced with replaceable RAM and Hard Drives, plus a removable battery. iPhone-wise, it was the iPhone 4s. Since then, Tim Cook's Apple has focused squarely on "what works best for Apple" rather than "what works best for the consumer."

The iPad situation seems to be the only one where they're responding to consumer needs, aside from ignoring the Mini. I have a Mini 2 and aside from the abhorrent YouTube performance, it's a great little device. Give me some more meat on them bones and I'll be happy again.
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You mean a company that reduces their tax liability. Taxation is theft.
You're welcome to move to a country whose corporate tax rates better match your values. My research says the Bahamas are 0%.

Wikipedia said:
Based on the twin pillars of tourism and offshore finance, the Bahamian economy has prospered since the 1950s. Significant challenges in areas such as education, health care, housing, international narcotics trafficking and illegal immigration from Haiti continue to be issues.
Interestingly enough, the sort of things that taxes typically pay for.
 
I do. A 10 inch tablet is too large and too heavy for my purposes.
My 71 year old mother loves hers. It's the perfect size for her. She doesn't need a huge phone to hold and talk into either, so a big iPhone isn't a solution. Apple is dumb.
 
You’re saying that like there’s not a demographic or market for the iPad mini, when many want the iPad mini strictly because of the form factor and size for ease of use one handed. The iPad mini will probably be one of the most popular tablets ever made in the iPad line up for those reasons alone.

Im still using the first one, I was going to upgrade last year but don't see the value in buying such an outdated product. Hopefully a new one comes out soon.

And if it had pen support that would be the icing on the cake :)
 
The fact that Apple still can’t make a sub $1000 retina MacBook Air or MacBook is pretty laughable.

Do not confuse "can't" with won't.
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Who needs a iPad mini?
I do.
[doublepost=1534754891][/doublepost]
I really hope for new Macs a little bit more affordable.
I know that most of people posting here are from America and they don't care
about other markets outside the USA however the Apple success is granted thanks to what they call "scale economy", some products are possible to be made because they will be sold in huge numbers. The point here is that Macs are much more expensive compared to the USA even in countries where cost of living is cheaper. I believe that if Apple doesn't make cheaper laptops a lot of customers around the world will give up buying them. Personally I'm not a photografer, I use my mac a lot for my work but I can do my stuffs using a PC with no problems, I just prefer the Macs, I love the macs and I enjoy their ecosystem. However last Macs are too expensive, they are even 0% repairable (included the keyboard!) and I will not buy a new mac next time, unless I see something cheaper. I'm convinced that there are a lot of guys in the same situation and next step for them will be to stop buying iPhones and alla the rest of Apple devices. It's obvios! The main feature here is the ecosystem, but if I don't buy a mac anymore I will not need to buy iPhone too.

Excellent points and I agree.
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Beyond laughable. It's nothing but unpropitious greed. :apple:
Well said.
[doublepost=1534756881][/doublepost]
Interesting that we are pretty deep into 2018 and there has not been much new Mac Pro talk or rumors.
It has been 1,705 days since the last Mac Pro was released. Since then, nothing. They offer pros a computer that looks like a trash can and then do and say absolutely nothing. I am becoming convinced that apple really doesn't care anything at all about making computers anymore. Not unless they are computers that are the size of a phone.
 
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Let's hope the 12" Macbook gets Thunderbolt USB-C and Touchbar...
spect ratio of the Airs is bad... so even with Retina I'm not interested in those...

And, yes we definitely need a new Mini...

That's why I prefer the Mini... fits the pocket... if necessary even the backpocket of a jeans...
View attachment 776417 View attachment 776418

The iPhone X Plus will be the likes of 6.5", so it will serve as an iPad Mini replacement.
Surely, it going to be 2x as expensive, but spec-wise it will be much better. They might just leave the iPad Mini there for people who don't want to shell out X Plus money.
Furthermore, I think Apple reckon that if you need that kind of portability, chances are a phablet is a better option for you.
 
I think Apple reckon that if you need that kind of portability, chances are a phablet is a better option for you.

I'm just not one of those people who actually believe that apple knows better about what I need, than I do. And there are a lot of people who really do think that apple is some god-like company that really should be worshipped at every opportunity and never ever doubted or even questioned. And that is not just my opinion, that is an absolute fact.
 
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I want this product, so said company is somehow obligated to bend over backwards to make it for me.

I never said they are obliged to make one. If they’re not then clearly it just isn’t selling as well as the others. They are a business and should concentrate on their most popular products.

The point I’m making is that this guy is saying it’s pointless for him so it must be for everyone. This thread has shown that not to be true. I have absolutely no use whatsoever for a Mac or PC as my iPhone and iPad does everything I need for me. If I came out and said “who needs a laptop/desktop” on here I’d be crucified and rightly so. Just because I don’t need one doesn’t mean for other people it’s an essential tool for them.
 
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  • TouchBar MacBook Pros: Lots of compromises to make the MBP even thinner, which no one was asking for. A random decision to remove the iconic "lighted Apple" from the back of the notebook. Again, limiting ports for no particular reason.
Apple's laptops have been getting thinner with each major new generation for the last 20 years. I don't recall anybody ever asking for it beforehand neither. If Apple only ever did things users were asking for, we'd have lost out on lot's of things.

In regard to 'no particular reason' for the port changes: Replacing TB2 ports with TB3 ports has lots of good reasons (even if you need a new cable to connect mDP monitors to it). Allowing charging via TB3/USB-C has also lots of good reasons (tons of third-party chargers available, same charging brick for 'all' your devices). Removing MagSafe: Would you suggest that Apple have shipped MBPs with two charging bricks and cables (one USB-C based with all its advantages and one using MagSafe)? Having 'only' four TB3/USB-C ports, there aren't enough PCIe lanes for more of them.

Could Apple have kept some USB-A ports and SD card slot? Yes, those were dropped due to ulterior motives, but the other changes had good reasons.
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It has been 1,705 days since the last Mac Pro was released. Since then, nothing. They offer pros a computer that looks like a trash can and then do and say absolutely nothing.
First, they said something in early 2017 (announcing iMac Pro for later that year and new modular Mac Pro in the works). They also revealed the iMac Pro general specs in June 2017. In early 2018, they announced that the new Mac Pro would come out in 2019.
Second, they did something, they've released the iMac Pro in December 2017 which is an upgrade to the trashcan Mac Pro in most regards (major limitation: only one graphic card).

You have such a great case with the whole Mac Pro drama. Why can't you not leave well enough alone and feel the need to lie to make the situation appear even more dramatic? It just undermines your credibility as someone whose views should be taken seriously.
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Apple is dumb.
And you are quick to judge.
 
They would like to be. But outside of niche cases, they are wrong. Education needs keyboards and no detachable parts (like dongles).

Chromebooks are killing it in education for a reason. At the moment, as an educator, it looks like Apple has given up. They just don’t care anymore.

I still use a Mac in my office. But we are buying cart after cart full of laptops, and I cannot recommend Apple. Dell/HP or Chromebooks are the correct choice.

We keep one cart of iPads around if someone wants to do something special. It’s been a while since it has seen use.
I think education has a few distinct tiers. K-6 do not need keyboards at all. I would argue that chrome books are a huge mistake for younger children especially given that the world is moving away from old fashioned input like keyboard and mouse. For higher levels, there is room for touch input and traditional together. Apple has a long way to go to make something like iPad a standard in high school education since they are mostly fighting budgeting, not technology issues. But then in college, Apple still has a strong foothold with laptops without even trying simply because of the build quality and halo effect from their other devices. The problem with chrome books are that they are not desirable by anyone, they are just cheap and ubiquitous. I only hear students complain about the problems they have with these cheap laptops so Apple has a chance to win them over but it's unlikely given Apple's tendency to overprice hardware.
 
I think education has a few distinct tiers. K-6 do not need keyboards at all. I would argue that chrome books are a huge mistake for younger children especially given that the world is moving away from old fashioned input like keyboard and mouse. For higher levels, there is room for touch input and traditional together.

Debatable. I would argue that writing across the curriculum is a critical learning outcome even before grade 7, but your point is reasonable and I will concede it for the point of discussion.

Apple has a long way to go to make something like iPad a standard in high school education since they are mostly fighting budgeting, not technology issues.

They are losing on both issues. Yes, cost is cost. But iPads lack multiuser support for education. That's a huge issue! With Windows or Chrome OS I can set up the laptops so that 6,000 students can take one out of a cart and log in with their school credentials (LDAP or Active Directory). And then, boom (as Jobs would have said), they have access to their desktop, files, apps, and whatnot else.

With the iPads, they all have to be set up identical for all students with no personalization or file persistence. That's because Apple's multiuser model is unimplementably ridiculous! It presupposes setting up separate accounts for each classroom and the students within it. That's unrealistic, unless you're going to a rich, small, private school. And even there the organizational overhead of doing that every semester for every instructor/classroom might make it not worth it.

But then in college, Apple still has a strong foothold with laptops without even trying simply because of the build quality and halo effect from their other devices. The problem with chrome books are that they are not desirable by anyone, they are just cheap and ubiquitous. I only hear students complain about the problems they have with these cheap laptops so Apple has a chance to win them over but it's unlikely given Apple's tendency to overprice hardware.

They only have a strong foothold with students purchasing their individual machines. And even there the top model that students choose is the MacBook Air, which is comically out of date. Neither the MacBook nor the MacBook Pro are sensible specs for ordinary college students.

On the institutional side, which is the side that matters in education, Apple is loosing badly. 20 years ago you would walk through a university computer lab, and half of the machines in there would Apple computers. Today, it's a couple of iMacs in the corner for niche uses. iBooks and PowerBooks were good choices for laptop carts, because of their robust feature set and reliability. For example, their adoption of 802.11 was so much more reliable when that was new. Network printing too!

The worst compromise with buying Apple were the external floppy drives because they dropped support a little early. But that's an understandable compromise you could live with. We were trying to get students to quit floppys in the late 90s in favor of network storage anyway.

Apple has obviously lost the plot in education. They act like they don't care anymore. Like they have given up. Google is seeing that opening and exploiting the hell out of it. Whoever wins in education, wins an entire generation of userbase. Microsoft still understands that.
 
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Apple produces what it wants to sell. The problem comes from when their goals become out-of-whack with consumer desires. Cases in point:
  • 12" Macbook—cool form factor, but no one asked for butterfly mechanisms, or a single port. Not priced to sell.
  • TouchBar MacBook Pros: Lots of compromises to make the MBP even thinner, which no one was asking for. A random decision to remove the iconic "lighted Apple" from the back of the notebook. Again, limiting ports for no particular reason. And more manufacturing defects than usual.
  • Final Cut Studio X — revised to appeal to non-pro users, and therefore occupying the "pro-sumer" market.
  • iPhone 7 and onward: headphone jack removed for no particular reason (Samsung can make waterproof phones with them, so what's Apple's excuse?)
It seems like Apple peaked at consumer focus around 2009 when new Macbooks were introduced with replaceable RAM and Hard Drives, plus a removable battery. iPhone-wise, it was the iPhone 4s. Since then, Tim Cook's Apple has focused squarely on "what works best for Apple" rather than "what works best for the consumer."

The iPad situation seems to be the only one where they're responding to consumer needs, aside from ignoring the Mini. I have a Mini 2 and aside from the abhorrent YouTube performance, it's a great little device. Give me some more meat on them bones and I'll be happy again.
[doublepost=1534735167][/doublepost]
You're welcome to move to a country whose corporate tax rates better match your values. My research says the Bahamas are 0%.


Interestingly enough, the sort of things that taxes typically pay for.
So, if I have a problem with the rate of corporate or income tax in my country, my only option is to move. To the Bahamas. You must be great at parties.
 
Who needs a iPad mini?
The iPad mini was a great product but like all the best of Apple products they have been discontinued.
[doublepost=1534780045][/doublepost]
Mac Mini.

Give. Us. The. Mac. Mini!!!

Why is this so difficult for you to do, Apple?
Unfortunately Apple's focus seems to have shifted more towards the top end of the market.

It is highly unlikely Apple would have released a product such as the iMac Pro back in 2012 as in that time the Mac range was far more balanced of which I am certain Steve Jobs can be credited with.

In 2012 we had the last decent Mac mini release, superior 13" and 15" Retina MacBook Pros, 11" and 13" MacBook Airs not to mention the Unibody 13" and 15" non Retina MacBook Pros which were awesome for upgrading and we had only just lost the legendary 17" MacBook Pro.
 
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