Hardware-Free WWDC Sets Stage for Busy Second Half of 2016

[dj23andMe]

New Macs in 2017...

At Apple's 21 March 2016 press event, Tim Cook said: "This is probably the last product introduction in the town hall that you're sitting in today... Next year, in 2017, we're looking forward to moving to our new campus and our new theatre there. We expect we're going to have many, many opportunities to invite all of you to join us there."

 

[pragmatous]

Apple released a new macbook pro last year with force touch.

What the hell do I recommend to a college student looking to buy a Mac? Hard to recommend a 3 year old macbook pro...

 

[mantan]

I've had so many dud Dells and ATROCIOUS customer service including refusal of warranty service. I'd pay 10x Dell prices for any other machine. My Mac's monitor I'm viewing right now is a high-end 4k Dell... and has developed a glowing blob on the left side. Par for the course.

Of course, such a decision on Dell vs. Mac assumes that Windows and Mac OS are truly equally good...

We can all play that game. I just bought a Dell desktop that replaced a 7 year old one that was rock solid. Windows 10 runs like an absolute champ.

My daughter has her heart on an Mac for college, so I'll likely end up spending $1500 for a 2 year old laptop, something with a crappy keyboard or slightly less for one with a TNP screen. Oh and $200 in AppleCare for when something goes wrong.

Because as I learned with my iPhone 4 (broken proximity sensor), iPhone 5 (bad battery) and iPhone 6 (GPS has not worked correctly for 3 months- Apple Store geniuses acknowledge the problem, but can't fix it), Apple's reputation for 'quality' is INCREDIBLY overblown.

 

[Sandstorm]

I think you need to quantify that line of reasoning, because either you're full of crap, or smoking something really good...

My best guess is you now push your family and friends into the junk world of Windows and Android, in which case, they should be smart and stop listening to your advice, because all you're doing is making their digital lives more convoluted, less secure, and generally more stressful.

Actually I try not to advise anything to anyone anymore. But you clearly smoke "something good" if you think everything else except what Apple makes is "convoluted, less secure, and generally more stressful". Go ahead, live in your bubble, but it's my work (and hobby) to use all kinds of devices. And I honestly can say I've had more problems over the past few years with my expensive Apple devices than any others.

 

[MartiNZ]

Yeah I've had 3 Mac laptops that ended up in extended logic board replacement programmes; never had a problem with my Dell or Surfaces, for another perspective.

Could be brought back over if they just did an update. That touch panel mockup looks neat, but would prefer full touch screen, as most Windows offerings are now. A real shame there's no way I'm buying a year old product that was old at the time. Zero interest in iOS since 7 came out ... maybe I should just stop paying attention and see if that makes them do new things.

 

[dalthicks]

The Fall has, at least in recent memory, always been a hardware-heavy release period, and considering all the equipment* due for upgrades, I expect this Fall to be no different. Sometimes I wish their releases were more staggered though.

*The only possible exception I can foresee is yet again that ThunderBolt display since KabyLake scheduled for a late 2016 release, still doesn't support DisplayPort1.3, necessary for driving 5K displays via a single port.

Yeah there is no doubt that it's a hardware event this fall. However, I don't think anyone is "fired up" about the iPhone 7. The rumors are leaning towards a design similar to that of the iPhone 6/6s. Hell, there are more rumors about the iPhone 8 (10th anniversary) than there are the iPhone 7. Oh well.

 

[thekev]

Some of these specs don't make sense. None the less, I'm glad Apple didn't refresh the Macbook Pro because of a 400 day cycle. Sometimes hardware availability dictates release times. With that being said, there are a lot of new technologies entering mass production that would make for a HUGE upgrade to the Macbook Pro in the coming months...

1. Kabylake (entering mass production). It would be lame for Apple to jump on Skylake at this point
2. Samsung NVMe SSD. This would offer a a lot more room to make battery larger or chasis smaller.
3. Bluetooth 5 hardware. Double the speed, 4x the range - enough said.
4. AMD Polaris Graphics Card - As article states.
5. 5G cellular data chipsets - wildcard.

Of course they'll use skylake. Intel typically rolls out the higher performance chips last. You are unlikely to see anything appropriate for the 15" macbook pro for a long time. Right now it's still on Haswell, so it's likely that they will update to skylake.

 

[maknik]

I wonder if Apple has a social media analytics team. A plot of sentiment on MacRumors's Mac forums must look like a line going straight down over the last few years. Even after the happy old days were gone, there used to be die-hard Apple defenders in here. No more. And this is MacRumors, last refuge of the Apple lover! (Of which I am, or perhaps was, one.)

 

[Mactendo]

I wish they would bring back the 17 inch and put 64GB in it

Let's start a petition. With good coverage in the media it may have an effect actually, Tim listens to complaints.

 

[CWallace]

Apple seems as a company not to care anymore about the center core business - Macs - as the center core business are now iOS devices and watches.

Considering the revenue iOS devices bring in compared to Macs, iOS devices have been the core business for Apple for years.

When Apple does this kind of stuff.... it is pretty obvious they are hurting sales.

And yet Apple continued to sell more Macs year on year until the most recent quarter, when every product category - including the ones folks are carping on get too much attention at the expense of the Mac - fell. So it seems pretty obvious that this neglect, while real and frustrating, has not been hurting sales in general.

 

[doelcm82]

Apple released a new macbook pro last year with force touch.

Yes, but once you subtract what Apple does, they don't do anything.

 

[Rob_2811]

Let's start a petition. With good coverage in the media it may have an effect actually, Tim listens to complaints.

 

[Jess13]

All of Us: “We demand new Macs!”

Tim Cook: “We have iPad Pros. ”

All of Us: “Macs.”

Tim Cook: “Pencil comes separate.”

 

[cityboy-100]

Anyone found any hard analysis about what the volume of the next 13"/15" macbook pros will be? The rMB treatment sounds like a good indication of what would happen. How much volume and weight could they shed assuming we get the display, hinge, and terraced battery form the 12" rMB plus the new 35-45W Intel processors? I don't think they'll get much smaller, maybe 20% in volume.

How could Apple significantly miniaturize Macbook Pro given how much battery volume is required for they 35-45W chip performance for 10 hours? Perhaps that could shrink respectable macbook pros down too macbook air volume.

Any guesses? Is there any site doing really nerdy analysis like this? I'd certainly like to consume something like that.

 

[azpc]

Got a Dell catalog in the mail last night showcasing their latest laptops. They look really nice! Right next to it, they say "Will make any MacBook Pro user jealous" and well, they are spot on. My 2013 MBPR is still just as fast as the current model?? This is crazy. Apple's software bugginess reminds me of Windows anyway, so I could save some money and switch to a Windows machine.

Oh, and the Dells are almost half the price! Add in a 5K Dell display and it's still cheaper. Wow, so sad Apple. I guess once management gets money and some fame, they have no drive to do better than "average".

Unfortunately as Apple appears to be blowing it, Dell is coming to life.

These new Inspiron 15 7000 series laptops appear to be excellent machines. They come with 512gb ssd for less than $ 1,000.

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/inspiron-15-7569-2-in-1-laptop

 

[Razeus]

All that money they are spending on R&D since Tim Cook has taken over, and all we have to show for it is the Apple Watch collecting dust in my sock drawer.

Jobs spend damn near nothing on R&D and we got iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, and beautiful Macs.

Tim Cook is robbing Apple blind. Jobs would have never gone for what he's doing.

All these share buybacks are just juicing his stock options due to the increase of the stock that results. Gee I wonder why he's doing this? Oh, because most of his money comes from stock options. This is pure market manipulation that seems to be normal business practices these days.

Jobs on the other hand, produced real products and we got real results financially. The stock performed beautifully.

Tim Cook is playing Wall Street's game. Short term decisions are going to bite them later. Cook is a crook. He's produced nothing and yet reaps all the financial gain. This is what Crook's do.

 

[manu chao]

New Macs in 2017...

At Apple's 21 March 2016 press event, Tim Cook said: "This is probably the last product introduction in the town hall that you're sitting in today... Next year, in 2017, we're looking forward to moving to our new campus and our new theatre there. We expect we're going to have many, many opportunities to invite all of you to join us there."

Town Hall is pretty small, any iOS device introductions have to be held somewhere else. Whether it is big enough for a Mac-only presentation is a good question. Have there been any Mac-focussed Town Hall events in the last couple of years? The last I remember was in 2010 with the Back to the Mac event when Lion, iLife'11, FaceTime for Mac, the Mac App Store and the second-gen MBA (ie, the 11 & 13" SSD-only models) were announced.

 

[jmgregory1]

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with certain industries, then. As 3d renderers are advancing to either rely on GPU or both CPU and GPU simultaneously, those speed gains are massive. For some of the renderers for the users of Cinema 4d, the acceleration is significant. I'm talking about renders that took 40 minutes now taking 3.

That does transform one's ability to get work done... if you do what these people do.

When two major rending engine developers, Otoy and Chaos group, have flat out said that mac users are going to be left out because of Apple's abandonment of Open CL, it's a big deal (and pretty clear) to some. These are very, very talented people. They are smart enough to be inventing this tech... and some of them even got the the point of trying to create what Apple did not provide, then finally gave up and told their users about it.

Of course there are industries and markets that will always demand the very latest and greatest, which I understand, but it's clear that Apple is no longer chasing after the specialized markets they once ruled. Where once Apple could make money and support low volume niche products (because that was in effect their business model), those days are long gone and they now focus on hitting the volume, lowest common denominator for computer needs, side of the market. It's hard to blame them for the shift, as it's really tough trying to be all things to all people.

 

[s15119]

I'm fine waiting till the machines are ready. In the meantime, these are some nice software upgrades which will take advantage of the new hardware that will be released, when it's time.

This "I have to have it now, or apple is doomed" mentality is getting old quick.

 

[Ankaa]

What about the MacPro....????? Any new refresh on that Cylinder of UBER Power!! ?

I have been waiting three years now for an update... what is going on with Apple... FFS!!! We deserve the attention and respect also... OK... we are not a massive consumer electronics market.... but we were the only money making side of the business until the iMac came along in all it's colours.... come on Apple... looks after the PROs also...

Wait, you've been waiting THREE years for an update on a machine that has been updated THREE years ago? What were you doing three years ago???

 

[American Hero]

Agreed. I thought about doing the math on just how inflated the profit margins are on these MBP's running such old parts at premium prices, but I'm in enough pain as it is and didn't feel the need to twist the knife. If not for all money I have invested in software licenses at this point, I would have switched back to PC's in a heartbeat to avoid that Apple Tax burn if anything else.

I've already started investing in different software and hardware. Unfortunately it seems like Office is just a subscription option now, which ticks me off.

 

[oopsroger]

Apple postponed the introduction of new macs to make up for the lacklustre update for iPhones this year,

 

[Apple Corps]

Or they are working on it and don't want to rush out a product line before it's finished. Patience is going to be a virtue here as frustrating as it is, id rather have a new Macbook Pro announced when ready than have one rushed out.

You must be gulping gallons of Apple Kool Aid to make that statement.

 

[Miguel Cunha]

Or they are working on it and don't want to rush out a product line before it's finished. Patience is going to be a virtue here as frustrating as it is, id rather have a new Macbook Pro announced when ready than have one rushed out.

That being true, I wish they would apply the same philosophy to Mac OS, that has been rushed out, since Lion.

 

[Jack Burton]

Of course there are industries and markets that will always demand the very latest and greatest, which I understand, but it's clear that Apple is no longer chasing after the specialized markets they once ruled. Where once Apple could make money and support low volume niche products (because that was in effect their business model), those days are long gone and they now focus on hitting the volume, lowest common denominator for computer needs, side of the market. It's hard to blame them for the shift, as it's really tough trying to be all things to all people.

yeah, I feel the same way. But I'm frustrated because they spent R&D to make the new Mac Pro. while it was neat, why bother starting that up and going with a unique form factor that limited users?

I know that Apple could build a really simple, clean basic box that was user serviceable. Heck, the old was was exactly that! That could have been a small, but profitable, product for them to just keep going as a way to make a little extra cash and maintain a user base.

But really I'm grasping at anything. I want to come back to the mac, and I might be willing to give up on GPU rendering to do it. I'm hoping the next iMac update gets a bit more powerful. If they add thunderbolt 3, a GPU breakout box might be all I need!