New iMac and Magic Accessories Tidbits: 'Then and Now', Automatic Pairing, Fast Charging and More

[redfirebird08]

$200 to upgrade to a 256 gig SSD and $500 to upgrade to a 500 gig SSD. Been waiting many years for this to change. I have a late 2009 iMac with 500 gig 7200 RPM spinning hard drive. Hopefully Apple will finally become more reasonable on their SSD pricing some point. Bought a 128 gig thumb drive recently for less than $40.

 

[RockSpider]

Time will prove you right or wrong about Apple.
If you feel you are somehow better off with the money you are saving, be happy.

I'm always happy when saving money, sad when I'm ripped off. It's amazing what you can do with money you've saved, you can travel around the world, buy new cars, buy good food, you know, stuff you can't afford if you don't look after your money.

 

[Mac'em X]

I have no idea how people use the magic mouse. It is the least ergonomic thing I have held.

To each his own, but I have to admit I'm always surprised to see that. The Magic Mouse is the best mouse I've ever used. All the normal functions of a two-button mouse, plus scrolling in all directions, swiping, Mission Control access... I guess for for some people, it's simply an uncomfortable shape?

 

[username:]

I'm always happy when saving money, sad when I'm ripped off. It's amazing what you can do with money you've saved, you can travel around the world, buy new cars, buy good food, you know, stuff you can't afford if you don't look after your money.

Yes. Occasionally I spend money on improving my experience with computers.

 

[redheeler]

Then and Now -- Apple has published a new "Then and Now" page that compares the 1998 iMac G3 with the 2015 iMac, showing the progress that has been made over the past 17 years. The new iMac has 14 million more pixels, 62,000 times faster graphics, 366 times more processing power, 1,000 times more RAM and 750 times more storage.

Looking at that page, I realized they're comparing a $1,299 (in 1998) iMac with a 27" that now costs over $2K! Very sneaky Apple...

Here's what a fair comparison with the 21.5" iMac (non-Retina) at the same price point would look like:

• 1,305,168 More Pixels
• 125x More Storage
• 250x More RAM

Not quite as astonishing as the figures Apple used.

 

[mixel]

To each his own, but I have to admit I'm always surprised to see that. The Magic Mouse is the best mouse I've ever used. All the normal functions of a two-button mouse, plus scrolling in all directions, swiping, Mission Control access... I guess for for some people, it's simply an uncomfortable shape?

That's exactly it.. It causes my hand to seize up after a while. For whatever reason it's the least comfortable mouse I've used since the 80s.. It's not from holding it wrong or anything either, it just doesn't work well for some people.

It's also pretty imprecise compared to other mice, offers no support* and is useless for gaming or anything that works best with standard amount of buttons (blender etc.) it's ergonomically dubious and puts extra strain on fingers. I have trigger finger.. Anyone with a chance of RSI or related conditions needs to seriously think about alternatives before this thing makes matters worse.

 

[George Dawes]

The ironic thing about that comparison is the old original iMac was arguably much more attractive than the boring silver square we've got now

Maybe we could have some colour back ?

 

[MiniMe77]

Wow, at the moment there is nothing from their product range that I am interested in. The price of that trackpad is ridiculously high at 149 Euro. I'll stick with my original trackpad and original magic mouse.

The drive is a bad joke. I am all for Apple being known for higher prices due to their aesthetics etc. but offering such an obsolete drive and soldered ram is a really bad move in my opinion.

Even the iPad Pro, which I had been looking forward to for ages, doesn't seem compelling enough to make me want to buy it.

Oh well, just have to wait and see what they come up with next year.

And I CANNOT believe they are still selling that ancient thunderbolt display for that price?!

Instead of feeling I am getting a high-quality, beautiful functional superior product, I am just starting to feel ripped off. :/

 

[DJIZZLE]

MacRumors Forums AKA Bitch Forums response:

"Wow, laptop specs? 5400 RPM? What a scam! Apple owes me an update to the Mac Pro which is still 10 times more powerful than Dr. Krabs's 2008 era gaming PC with 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a Core 2 Quad that can still play GTA 5! Grrr, me angry! Apple are huge cheapskates!!!!!"

You guys seem spoiled enough that you'd still be buying the Fusion Drive option anyway. Once there's an SSD, the speed of the hard drive is irrelevant. Or you can also stop and think about how the iMac isn't the professional Mac. The iMac is a casual use Mac that is consumer-oriented. Buy a Mac Pro if you want a powerful desktop.

This is easily one of the stupidest statements I have ever read on here.

Exactly what "consumers" do you think are casually buying 27" retina iMacs? Excluding stupid people.

 

[Roadstar]

Wow, at the moment there is nothing from their product range that I am interested in. The price of that trackpad is ridiculously high at 149 Euro. I'll stick with my original trackpad and original magic mouse.

I was also interested in the new trackpad until I saw the price. Apple's "screw you, Europe!" campaign continues.

Instead of feeling I am getting a high-quality, beautiful functional superior product, I am just starting to feel ripped off. :/

You're not alone with that feeling.

 

[iMcLovin]

What an underwhelming update for the Keyboard and Trackpad and Mouse. No lit keys on the Keyboard, same eject button nobody needs anymore, and even if charging batteries are good for the environment it is less convenient (Right now I put new batteries in my keyboard like ever 3rd month)....The butterfly keyboard tech apple has is really not as nice as they claim it to be, Ive never experienced any inaccuracy when pressing keys on my current keybard, but on my Macbook I have definately experienced less comfort from the short distance travel for the keys....If they were a b it more innovative, replacing the eject button with a Touch ID key or something would have been nice, for login. And keep selling the old keyboard for those in need of an eject button.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Including a 24GB SSD in the Fusion drives to save money (when SSDs are cheaper than ever and therefore a Fusion drive should have MORE storage on the SSD side, not less) SAYS IT ALL. Apple is no longer about innovation and putting the best products into the hands of the people so they can be creative and do great things (Steve Jobs' mission) and now about one thing and one thing only and that is PROFITS. (see stock buybacks, splits and dividends; things Jobs never supported; see the lack of truly state-of-the-art machines we saw 5-7 years ago replaced by "pretty" machines with outdated hardware like an iMac 5k with a 5400 RPM hard drive, soldered in memory and a GPU that can barely get out of its own way for prices that are comparable to an entry-level Mac Pro from back then! And that just scratches the surface of the negative changes in Apple).

I think Steve Jobs picked the wrong guy to take over as CEO when he died. Tim Cook is a business man, not a technical innovator and Jony Ive is an ego-maniac that is too short-sighted to see the forest for the trees these days. Apple was a wholly different creature under Steve Jobs and Scott Forestall. It's getting to the point where I don't recognize the company any longer and I'm having serious doubts about whether my next computer (desktop or notebook) will be from Apple. I love Logic Pro and I loved the lack of Malware, but that only gets you so far (i.e. as long as my old MBP runs Logic fine, I can just upgrade its drive and hold onto it for Logic).

 

[robertosh]

Magic Mouse -> bluetooth,
Magic Keyboard -> bluetooth
Magic Trackpad 2 -> bluetooth 4.0.

I hate this things.

 

[rctlr]

I already a Wireless keyboard on my iPad - just wondered if The new Magic one did too (it's bluetooth after all)

 

[George Dawes]

Including a 24GB SSD in the Fusion drives to save money (when SSDs are cheaper than ever and therefore a Fusion drive should have MORE storage on the SSD side, not less) SAYS IT ALL. Apple is no longer about innovation and putting the best products into the hands of the people so they can be creative and do great things (Steve Jobs' mission) and now about one thing and one thing only and that is PROFITS. (see stock buybacks, splits and dividends; things Jobs never supported; see the lack of truly state-of-the-art machines we saw 5-7 years ago replaced by "pretty" machines with outdated hardware like an iMac 5k with a 5400 RPM hard drive, soldered in memory and a GPU that can barely get out of its own way for prices that are comparable to an entry-level Mac Pro from back then! And that just scratches the surface of the negative changes in Apple).

I think Steve Jobs picked the wrong guy to take over as CEO when he died. Tim Cook is a business man, not a technical innovator and Jony Ive is an ego-maniac that is too short-sighted to see the forest for the trees these days. Apple was a wholly different creature under Steve Jobs and Scott Forestall. It's getting to the point where I don't recognize the company any longer and I'm having serious doubts about whether my next computer (desktop or notebook) will be from Apple. I love Logic Pro and I loved the lack of Malware, but that only gets you so far (i.e. as long as my old MBP runs Logic fine, I can just upgrade its drive and hold onto it for Logic).

Firing Scott Forstall will be shown to be the biggest mistake Apple made since firing Steve Jobs.

 

[vladi]

To each his own, but I have to admit I'm always surprised to see that. The Magic Mouse is the best mouse I've ever used. All the normal functions of a two-button mouse, plus scrolling in all directions, swiping, Mission Control access... I guess for for some people, it's simply an uncomfortable shape?

Don't take this the wrong way but you are probably used to it so much that you don't feel the stress you are exposing your wrist to anymore unless you are one of the few that actually hold MM properly and that is to grip it with your proximal phalanges so your fingers are laid straight on the surface instead what many people do to get grip by using their thenor to get leverage just like using normal mices with "humps". Basically MM requires you to keep your hand flat right on it with minimal flex in the wrist.

The other problem is crappy and laggy Bluetooth connection. Why didn't Apple go with some rock solid proprietary is beyond me. My high end VAIO from 2003 (before Apple brought their A game to laptops) uses some proprietary RF connection for their mouse and I had to connect it only once and now its being going for 12 years without a sing;e reconnection required I swear to god.

For those people who do not like MM and feel uncomfortable using it but love the gestures its a great combo to have some other mice like Logi's MX in one hand and Apple track pad to use with other just for gestures and horizontal scroll. Good stuff. Or a 3D mouse like original SpaceNavigator

 

[AleXXXa]

The keyboard looks nice, and I like the charging via lightning. Much better than exchaning batteries every so often.

Changing batteries takes 1 or 2 minutes every few weeks/months.
Integrating the battery is stupid. Once the battery is old and can't hold a charge you'll have to buy another keyboard/mouse.
Planned obsolescence at its best.

 

[mattopotamus]

To each his own, but I have to admit I'm always surprised to see that. The Magic Mouse is the best mouse I've ever used. All the normal functions of a two-button mouse, plus scrolling in all directions, swiping, Mission Control access... I guess for for some people, it's simply an uncomfortable shape?

Yeah, it is the shape. It is not wide at all and very low profile. A totally different feel than pretty much any other mouse on the market. I just cannot be precise with it. Years of using a traditional mouse has ruined me! It just feels awkward to try and move the mouse to point at things and also use the gestures. A mac is the only place where I prefer a track pad to a mouse.

 

[maflynn]

To each his own, but I have to admit I'm always surprised to see that. The Magic Mouse is the best mouse I've ever used. All the normal functions of a two-button mouse, plus scrolling in all directions, swiping, Mission Control access... I guess for for some people, it's simply an uncomfortable shape?

Agreed, I really like my Magic Mouse but not at 89 dollars. I'm happy with the generation I have with replaceable batteries. I do think the current mouse is over priced.

 

[insomniac86]

I would consider the keyboard if it lit had backlighting.

And I think the Bondi iMac is the best piece of iMac industrial design.

The keyboard would have been a purchase for me if it had back lighting and touch ID. But well.... Apple don't seem to innovate anymore... well ok, i'm sure there is a backlit version with touch ID in their R&D room right now. But Tim boy would have told them to stagger the release of that over the next 5 years for maximum profit.... Jerks....

 

[MrGuder]

Only a 512k SSD?

I'm surprised they make them that small these days.

lol I meant 512GB and that was several yrs ago

 

[insomniac86]

Couldn't even keep the 128GB SSD in fusion drive, had to cut all the way down to 24GB for a few extra bucks. Sucking pennies dry like this at the expense of user experience is why I'm beginning to dislike Apple.

Yeah same, they are driving the company into the ground by being MASSIVE tight asses... Lets re-cap:
5400 RPM drives in a 4k iMac in 2015.
16GB iPhone that does 4k video recording. (This is just hilarious)
1TB fusion drives change from 128GB SSD to 24GB SSD.
Increased the price of the 20GB cloud storage plans so force people to spend 50c more for the 200GB plan (At least in Australia).
Released a new very plain boring keyboard (No backlight, no touch ID) call it Magic 2 and charge more for it.
Release a $200 AU trackpad.
New Apple TV with no 4k support.

Anyway, i'm part of the problem, i will still be buying a new Apple TV :/

 

[MiniMe77]

Yeah same, they are driving the company into the ground by being MASSIVE tight asses... Lets re-cap:
5400 RPM drives in a 4k iMac in 2015.
16GB iPhone that does 4k video recording. (This is just hilarious)
1TB fusion drives change from 128GB SSD to 24GB SSD.
Increased the price of the 20GB cloud storage plans so force people to spend 50c more for the 200GB plan (At least in Australia).
Released a new very plain boring keyboard (No backlight, no touch ID) call it Magic 2 and charge more for it.
Release a $200 AU trackpad.
New Apple TV with no 4k support.

Anyway, i'm part of the problem, i will still be buying a new Apple TV :/

Agree with most of that. It seems like instead of releasing 'great stuff' they are deliberately content to release 'just good enough' and in some cases it's not even 'just good enough'! It's just making them look increasingly stingy rather than clever business decisions.

I wish people (ie more magazine/internet reviews, interviewers etc.) had the guts to directly challenge Apple on some of the above, especially the 5400rpm drive, the 16GB iPhones, the reduced fusion drives and the overpriced accessories (not just the new trackpad).

 

[woody74]

The problem is that Apple have got themselves into position where the majority of their consumers don't want to hear bad reviews and worship Apple not for the products but for their brand. You only have to go into any Apple shop to see people blurry eyed almost stroking the products. These people don't want to hear that the products are actually bit technically crap. This allows Apple to get away with producing devices with shoddy tech specs to say the least and wrap it all up in fancy names and technical jargon. I love the way Apple products work but the tech specs are just become a joke.

What doesn't also help is that Apple hold so much power now and are the biggest tech company in the mainstream media coverage that no one in the tech press is willing to critics them as they know there is the risk that apple will ban them having review machines or from press conferences. This for a tech publication would be a massive loss so they criticise the products a little bit but rarely slate them completely like they do with other companies.

It annoys the hell out of me that for just a few $ more Apple could sort all of these tech issues out so easily. They could even charge more as it is not like Apple customers are price conscious. More and more what they are producing is technical junk in a fancy case. Since when did anyone want a retina display that gets better and better but is hooked up to a laptop that runs at a snails pace. Love to see how editing a 4K 1hr movie would work on an Macbook Air with only 4gb. The beach ball would be spinning constantly. If rules not allowing you to instal OS on other hardware got overturned in the courts Apple would be screwed.

 

[Roadstar]

Seems like Apple thinks our wallets aren't thin enough yet.