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New iMac and Magic Accessories Tidbits: 'Then and Now', Automatic Pairing, Fast Charging and More
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I'd advice you to avoid PNY, as well as any 500G SSD below $200. Their performance will degrade rapidly after 6 to 12 months. Especially PNY's SSD, their test score doesn't look good.
Anyway, I guess that your best bet is 1TB, No Fusion Drive, and iFixit hard drive replacement set. This is what I did to my Mac mini.
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It's not necessarily charging the battery any faster; The same charge would keep the mouse running many times longer than an iPhone.
I've known many, many PC users over the last decade who had a genuine interest in buying a Mac but couldn't relate to the all-in-one or the underpowered Mini. If you restrain things to just people on this site, then you're probably right about that but if you look out at the entire world, there are a lot of people who want a headless Mac.
That's a strange thing to assert when, demonstrably, a majority of people buy Windows PCs which involves "stuffing around with monitors." I don't think the rest of the world views it as quite the hassle you make it out to be. In fact, any Mac users who choose the Mini or the Mac Pro (or choose to mirror their laptop to a bigger screen) are in fact choosing to "stuff" around with monitors. Nothing personal, but you seem to suffer from a kind of Mac user tunnel-vision. Computer users are, overwhelmingly, not choosing all-in-ones.
I won't attempt to guess at that person's motive but I know no shortage of PC using friends who would have bought (or will still buy) a Mac if there were a reasonably powerful, headless, mid-range option. If you doubt that, ask yourself why the whole Hackintosh community generated so much interest so many years ago. There's a demand there that Apple has ignored for no apparent reason.
The iMac made a lot of sense when it first debuted. It differentiated Apple in a way that was striking and immediate. It was needed then. It's not now. Apple is clinging to its past and the only innovation their desktop machines have seen have been soldered RAM and needlessly thinner bodies. I think it's not too much of a stretch to say Apple is fumbling the desktops and, IMO, it's because they won't take the Steve Jobs-like move of clearing the table and starting over.
I mean, really, do you think a thinner iMac is "skating to where the puck is going?" I don't think it is.
1. Do you mean gamers?
2. I think you'll find there are a lot of people who want a CHEAP computer more than a headless mac.
3. Again, it's cost versus convenience.
4. There's obviously not a demand big enough, is there? Otherwise they'd be making one... And how big is the Hackintosh community really? Pretty, pretty, pretty small.
5. How could you possibly argue it's not needed now? SO what... there should be no iMac and only headless macs? I don't understand this. Why does it have to be one or the other? But hey, I think in the future it could go the way you're saying, but not for a while yet. Until we get screens that just roll out onto your wall etc and small cubes of massive computing power that sit like a paper weight on your desk and connect wirelessly to the screen, the ALL IN ONE is still needed.
6. Did you dig that up from 2012? Phil Schiller said that thinner was not the aim just the other day. So I think you're in the penalty box on that one!
1. None of the people I'm talking about are gamers.
2. A headless Mac would be cheaper because it wouldn't have the display built-in, nor would it have the additional engineering costs associated with getting all those components into one box. Exhibit A: the Mac Mini.
3. Again, most people in the computer market are not choosing iMacs or all-in-one PCs. You're arguing against reality. The market is speaking but Apple has never listened to it.
4. We'll never know how big the Hackintosh community could have been since Apple's lawyers shut down those startups offering BTO Hackintoshes. Don't you remember that? Several businesses saw the demand but it was killed. If there's no demand, why would Apple have cared?
5. The all-in-one was a great idea at one time but it's overstayed its welcome. People in 2015 are significantly more savvy about computers than they were back in 1998. I've worked in IT for most of that time and I've watched it happen. People don't need their hands held quite so much anymore and the technology in PCs and Macs have simplified things a lot. No more hinky connectivity like SCSI, little to no proprietary hardware, no more worrying about compatibility issues... it's greatly simplified nowadays and people understand things better. The iMac was like training wheels—not needed anymore.
6. Phil Schiller is a marketing guy. He's going to say whatever plays well. That's his job. The fact is that the primary advance with iMac over the last 5 years (and the thing highlighted most frequently at keynotes) has been the thinner form factor which, frankly, makes zero sense in a desktop machine. I owned a 2008 iMac (bulky by today's standards) that was great. It was thin enough. Its thickness was never an issue. Not once. Apple making the iMac thinner is solving a problem that does not exist. And they're doing that because they have no more ideas about what to do with the iMac. It's a clear sign that it's reached the end of the road.
Time to clear the slate and start over. Apple has a long history of doing that, even when a product is still popular. Remember the shock they generated by killing the iPod Mini and replacing it with a completely different design? They need to take that approach with their consumer desktop offerings.
Apple is not interested in making equipment for enthusiasts; power users. I'm still waiting for a REAL MacBook Pro with a 17" screen, real performance, and real capacity features.
Not backward compatible=not so good. There are still lots of MACs out there that can't run El Cap.
I appreciate your open minded and respectful response. /s.
Who other than stupid people? Are 50+ year old people who don't know what RAM is just stupid people? Apple makes the iMac for those types of people: people who want to get a good computer without worrying about anything else. There are people out there with enough money to buy a new 27" iMac while not being enthusiasts. Actually, why would a rich enthusiast buy an iMac over a Mac Pro? There hasn't been any retina iMac with impressive specs at all, and that's not even focusing on these new ones. Last year's model was a laptop inside as they still are. To suggest that anybody buying a 27" iMac is more than an average consumer is ridiculous. It's an iMac.
Do (or did) your parents know anything about what specs mean in any computers they ever used? Mine have no clue and if they had an iMac with a 5400 RPM hard drive and I told them it was worse than a 7200 RPM drive, they wouldn't know what I meant, let alone care about the difference.
People who do care would buy a Windows PC, which is how it's always been. There's never been a Mac that costed less than a PC of the same specs, and it's been that way for a decade. Don't tell me that Windows is too bad of an option, because that only proves my point that OS X is the reason for the price premium.
Don't tell me there aren't casual buyers of retina iMacs. You're not the only person in the world.
5400 RPM is a measure of rotational speed and by extension latency. It also saves electrical power and increases drive lifespan compared to 7200+RPM. The throughput of data, which is what matters, is a function of rotational speed combined with data density. I don't know the specs on the drive, but I suspect that actual data throughput is just fine as data density has increased a great deal in the last 15 years. This is like to clock speed arguments of the PPC era.
I've recommended a "green" drive to anybody interested in spinning platters for the past 5 years now as the power/performance/lifespan/price measurement is quite good. Green drives generally run around 6000RPM and try not advertise it because people freak out if it's not 7200 RPM. But if you like RPM, why not 10K? Why not 15K? I have some of those drives. Their major properties are that they are hot and expensive.
I like the low end fusion option. I can upgrade the components to be something way more awesome in 2 years without taking out a loan to buy the computer up front. I am way more offended by the soldered parts problem than the choice of hard drive.
Mate, you've obviously made your mind up and no counter arguments are going to sway you from your declarations. The fact that you don't accept that cost is a massive factor for the average user in buying a computer or why you can't understand why Apple wouldn't let the Hackintosh community go ahead tells me this.
BTW: I owned the 2008 iMac 24inch (BTO top model) and the late 2012. the latter is by far the superior machine at the 3 year mark for me. The design is much better, better speakers, better cooling, better screen, absolutely no troubles, still runs brilliantly after 3 years... the list could go on.
Anyway, enjoy the new hockey season and enjoy the MR boards!
They aren't wrong.
The (general) Apple consumer doesn't care about specs, never cared (you can say this about all product lines). Their definition of value is shiny aluminum with black fruity logo.
No reason to support Apple because i don't like their subpar peripheral updates? That's a bit extreme don't you think? I will be voting with my money and won't be upgrading my mouse and keyboard from them. But i still plan on purchasing other Apple products. Just thought i'd clear that up for you.
Not really, however, that's your choice. You speak with your money, but when you call someone a jerk because they are in it to make profit...that's kind of harsh, isn't it?
Haha, Sorry Tim, can we be friends? In Australia, jerk isn't such a harsh word sorry that made you upset.
On a serious note:
I think that Apple is getting a tad too greedy. When you are worth $733 billion it wouldn't hurt to give that little extra now and then to your loyal customer base. They have had the patent for touch ID on a keyboard back in 2007. That really should have been released already. That the point i was trying to make.
Ultimately Apple is a company and their goal is to make money. But it's a fine line to walk as it's easy to loose money by pissing people off. Apple are rich because customers pay them for their great products. If your products start loosing the "premium" tech and are still charged at premium prices, people will wake up on stop purchasing their products.
Remember, when your the top dog, there's gonna be a lot of other companies snapping at your feet.
Remember Blackberry, Nokia and even Microsoft (Though MS is catching up with a vengeance). All were dominate leaders of their packs. They all become too comfortable and lost their lead. The same will happen to Apple if they start turning into tight asses.
It's all good, buddy. Hope there is no hard feeling because i just wanna hear your side of the story. I totally agree with you. Honestly, it's hard for me to leave the eco-system, however, if they keep raising up the prices...then i have to consider alternative...window is the way to go for me...or buy older model of mac products. I would like to see how many people will actually wake up and leave Apple eco-system....I feel like people are willing to be punished or become enslaved to apple by giving in their hard earned money for little to none improvement of any products.
Cost is only a factor if you have to buy all the components of PC all over again. Most people have the keyboard and displays from previous PCs. That's the drawback with the all-in-one. iMacs are demonstrably far more expensive than a comparable PC. So I'm not sure what you're trying to say about cost.
And I didn't attribute any malice to Apple for cutting off the Hackintosh community. I simply pointed that out to show that they're aware that the demand for such a machine exists but refuse to acknowledge it. Please don't put words in my mouth.
I owned a refurbished 2008 27" iMac (just died a few months ago... damn good machine.) It appeared that the motherboard had failed. It pained me greatly to haul it off to recycling when I knew that the screen was still in fantastic condition and could have lived on with another machine had it not been part of an all-in-one.
To each his own but I think it's reasonable to say that the iMac has overstayed its welcome, just like the giant suitcase-sized Mac Pros had. I mean, look what they did with that. Completely do-over and the results are jaw-dropping. Imagine if they applied that kind of thinking to their consumer desktop line.
Thanks for the bolding, that decreased my dribble considerably haha.
I'm not someone that gets hard feelings over such superficial stuff so all good
I really enjoy the Apple experience. I'm on fairly good money and can still shell out more coin to keep on board. However, what is annoying me is that they didn't release a product with tech that imo should have been included and as a result increased the price. Using the new Magic gear as an example, Apple released a half assed update (Though sure, it's still an improvement) and charged a fair amount more for it.
In other posts i had listed what i believe to be a list of example of them getting cheap on us.
I guess the only thing that can put this to an end is healthy competition from other brands. This will hopefully force Apple into releasing upgrades that are more substantial.
In saying that, i feel that the iPhone 6S series is a very decent step up from the previous year. I'm enjoying 2GB's of ram etc.
Right on. I hear you loud and clear on those issues. I just wonder how much punishment can these customers tolerate with high pricing. By the way, I feel bad for international countries to be victimized with higher pricing. Whatever you choose, as long as you don't regret it..more power to you.Thanks for the bolding, that decreased my dribble considerably haha.
I'm not someone that gets hard feelings over such superficial stuff so all good
I really enjoy the Apple experience. I'm on fairly good money and can still shell out more coin to keep on board. However, what is annoying me is that they didn't release a product with tech that imo should have been included and as a result increased the price. Using the new Magic gear as an example, Apple released a half assed update (Though sure, it's still an improvement) and charged a fair amount more for it.
In other posts i had listed what i believe to be a list of example of them getting cheap on us.
I guess the only thing that can put this to an end is healthy competition from other brands. This will hopefully force Apple into releasing upgrades that are more substantial.
In saying that, i feel that the iPhone 6S series is a very decent step up from the previous year. I'm enjoying 2GB's of ram etc.
They may just need El Capitan for full functionality. (eg. lightning syncing, force touch)
Bring it in close...
Windows computers are really Cheap in comparison to iMacs. That's why most bog standard computer people buy them. It's really that simple (and brand loyalty to windows). That's what I'm saying about cost and it was obvious the first two times I wrote it.
As for Hackintosh. Yeah, I misread you. Sorry 'bout that. But do you really think one of the major factors in that wasn't cost as well? And obviously the demand for such a machine isn't big enough, otherwise Apple would make one. I think the special snowflake syndrome is at play here. Just because I want it and Apple doesn't make it, doesn't mean it's wrong.
And no, it's NOT reasonable to say the iMac has overstayed its welcome just because you think it true. Haha... that cracks me up!
Oh, and do I think these new extras are over priced? YES! Will I buy one? Not sure yet.
Is Force touch a game changer for using my computer?
Lots that can't?
These computers can run El Capitan:
- iMac: Mid 2007 or newer
- MacBook: Aluminium Late 2008; Early 2009 or newer
- MacBook Air: Late 2008 or newer
- MacBook Pro: 13-inch, Mid 2009 or newer; 15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or newer; 17-inch, Late 2007 or newer
- Mac Mini: Early 2009 or newer
- Mac Pro: Early 2008 or newer
- Xserve: Early 2009
I doubt there are lots of people using a Mac old enough to not run El Capitan.
Agreed, if your Mac is order than 7 or 8 years, you should probably upgrade. But i must admit i did expect Apple to port El Capitan for my Macintosh_II