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Plans.... probably its turn to be left comatose for 2+ years before throw a A1xX chip in it , add a touch screen (mate the 12.9" iPad Pro's screen for volume pricing on screen tech), flip the name to 'iBook' , and install iOS. Perhaps drop all but one of the colors as the sales slow down and tank during the comatose years.

Apple chops the price also down below the MBA floor of $999 to perhaps $699-799 and sell it as a high priced Chromebook competitor. Pragmatically, an iPad Pro repacked into an aluminum clamshell.
There wasn’t much of an option this year to upgrade the MacBook. It could have gotten Amber Lake, but that’s just Kaby Lake overclocked a bit (and people would have been complaining that the Air is “slower than the MacBook with an i7). My guess is Apple is waiting for Cannonlake next year for a proper refresh including Touch ID and maybe Thunderbolt.
 
They have Smart Folio (without the keyboard) also. Looks like the only difference between Smart Cover and Smart Floio is the folio now covers the back of the iPad.
I’ll really miss the Smart Cover. What is the point in thin if you need a bulky cover on the front and back? Covering the front was perfect. Bummer. At least I’ll save around $70.
 
MacBook Air has replaced the MacBook. Apple had to pick one, and they liked the name of Air.
[doublepost=1540948589][/doublepost]I fear I'll buy a 2017 Air. Power cord. Glowing Apple. I really like details.
Just know, the 2017 Air is really the 2015 Air with 100 more MHz. Same 5th gen CPU. As a Touch Bar MBP user for 2 years, the lack of MagSafe is not a problem, and glowing logo does not matter. Don’t waste your money, go with the new Air.
 
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I was impressed by today’s offering. iPad Pro is a beast, and will sell like hot cakes, even at the higher price point.

The current Mac lineup is adequate.
[doublepost=1540954526][/doublepost]
Just know, the 2017 Air is really the 2015 Air with 100 more MHz. Same 5th gen CPU. As a Touch Bar MBP user for 2 years, the lack of MagSafe is not a problem, and glowing logo does not matter. Don’t waste your money, go with the new Air.
Glowing Apple does matter.
How else will people know you’re rocking a shiny Mac?
 
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I need an iPad mini because its size means it can go everywhere I go, and any moment I have a minute of free time, the display is just large enough to sketch and do some graphics or spreadsheet work on. An iPhone is too small, and the next size iPad Pro is too big to be tucked into a jacket pocket or back pants pocket. The mini is the right size, it’s just running on a what 4 year old chipset & is woefully lacking pencil support. To hear Apple describe it as the budget iPad indicates they don’t even understand its strengths any better than the people who mistakenly assume an iPhone is a capable replacement for it, or that it’s the most popular iPad because it’s cheap. There are already cheap iPads. We don’t need it to be cheap, we need it to be capable.

Give it newer chips, and pencil support, sell a trillion of them.


You are correct in that they don’t understand who buys and uses the mini. They are like car manufacturers 20 years ago who thought people who bought anything but the largest model would not want or pay for luxury add-ons.
 
I just want AirPower. I don’t want anything else for Christmas. Please Apple, I would like to buy a few to put in various rooms around my home.
 
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Apple won't get any money from me for their iPad line until iPad Mini update is released. The first gen 12.9 pro I have still has no issues running the OS and other random stuff I do.
 

AirPower and AirPods

There was some speculation that Apple could still debut the AirPower charging mat and compatible AirPods at its October event, but that didn't happen.

airpower-airpods-800x642.jpg

We have no idea when we might expect to see the AirPower launch, if it is indeed still in the works, nor when Apple will launch updated AirPods. At this point, it looks like we may not see these products until sometime in 2019.


I'm not surprised. And still disappointed. But, I admit, it is a very difficult feat. Also, trying to not think about Steve.
 
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iMac Pro equals no iMac. Mac Mini will replace the iMac basic. Offers more flexibility then an iMac, the iMac Pro meets the needs of All iMac users with the option of the Mac Mini to fill in the product line. Will see how it goes.
If that is the case I need to start looking for a refurbished iMac Pro... the mini does look pretty nice, but I just love the 27” iMac
 
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I really wish they would bring back the leather full body covers the used to have....
But those won’t work with the magnet attached pencil now, or not with a separate back like before. I think they did the Smart Folio because most people that want backs, want covers too. Because of the square sides, covers will be more difficult, so Apple made a magnet attachment for the Smart Keyboard. Since the magnets are there anyway, why not keep running with the “flat attach” feature with the Folio style?

I agree you had to go to the accessory page before Apple even mentioned the Smart Folio covers and there’s only three colors. I’d definitely like to see a cheaper and more colorful lineup like in the past. These look easier to swap out so maybe people would do that more?
 
And the AirPods page still is the only one on Apple’s site that has a reference to AirPower. I expected them to even remove that last reference and pretend that they never announced it.
 
And the AirPods page still is the only one on Apple’s site that has a reference to AirPower. I expected them to even remove that last reference and pretend that they never announced it.

Pretend? Why would Apple need to pretend? Apparently they ran into some kind of technical snag and it's not ready.
 
And the AirPods page still is the only one on Apple’s site that has a reference to AirPower. I expected them to even remove that last reference and pretend that they never announced it.
Lol. Has Apple done that in the past?
 
Sometimes people unrealistically hope for things at an event, like expecting a bunch of hardware at WWDC, so there's no real reason to be disappointed. But this time there was no part of me that thought there wouldn't be an iMac at this event. I thought it was a sure thing. So I was pretty disappointed when 35 minutes in, they were already done with the Mac portion of the event. :( Oh well. Back to waiting.
Years ago Apple had no problem refreshing the iMac at least once a year, sometimes multiple times in a year as needed to maintain current hardware. Same for the Mac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and even the Mac mini (though a couple times the mini fell behind by six months to a year, which back then was enough for people to speculate it was being discontinued). But in recent years the Mac lineup has been severely neglected with inconsistent and infrequent refreshes. A Mac mini from 2014 being sold alongside a MacBook Air from 2015 being sold alongside a MacBook Pro from 2018.

I started watching this event expecting to see Apple finally working on improving the frequency and consistency of Mac refreshes and the Mac lineup. We would get iMacs with 8th generation hex-core CPUs, and a Mac mini with 8th generation CPUs at the same time. The MacBook would be discontinued to prevent confusion, non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro refreshed with 8th generation CPUs, and a new Retina MacBook Air introduced to replace the MacBook and embarrassingly-outdated 2015 hardware at the same time. The only severely-outdated product left would be the Mac Pro, set to get a refresh next year.

But after the event, the portable Mac lineup is instead more confusing now than it has ever been at any point during the last 20 years. Different processor generations, different screen sizes, Touch ID or no Touch ID or Touch ID + Touch Bar, and plenty of overlap with the intended audience of each model. As someone who is more knowledgeable when it comes to Macs, I still need a guide to sort through this. Just can't imagine what kind of decision a novice user would be faced with here, especially a novice user on a budget faced with the higher prices of the new MacBook Air almost going into MacBook Pro territory.

On the desktop side, the iMac is still using processors from a year and a half ago. I simply can't recommend it to anyone when even the Mac mini offers better CPU performance with 8th generation hex-core i5/i7, but still has its own compromises (poor GPU performance, and of course no 5K display). Apple has had a year to engineer a new iMac with adequate cooling for the 8th generation CPUs, and already had the iMac Pro to start with, so there's really no excuse for not having some kind of refresh ready for the iMac by now. And $799 is not an inexpensive computer, why does the new Mac mini come with a low-end i3 processor when Apple could've made the i5 standard and i7 the next model up?

Tim Cook can brag about the Mac adoption numbers all he wants, but I just don't see Apple's commitment to the Mac returning to where it once was. Yes, the Mac mini and MacBook Air both got much-needed refreshes, which I was happy to see. But the continuation of inconstant refreshes and confusing portable lineup show the Mac is still being mismanaged and neglected by modern Apple.

(Sorry for the long post. Just hope I managed to get the point across.)
 
You are correct in that they don’t understand who buys and uses the mini. They are like car manufacturers 20 years ago who thought people who bought anything but the largest model would not want or pay for luxury add-ons.
The problem is that phones got bigger, and the mini isn’t that great a size for the Pencil. I say this even though I have a mini 4 from 2015 that I still use since it’s great for reading books or viewing web sites.
 
Pretend? Why would Apple need to pretend? Apparently they ran into some kind of technical snag and it's not ready.
I mean, there's the fact that they literally removed every other reference of it on the site at the iPhone event... :rolleyes: And also the fact that they haven't even acknowledged it at their keynotes, not even a "oh, we're delaying the release to 2019 while we work out some issues."
 
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