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Did you see Tim Cook's other email? The one that talked about Windows computers?

"They're not good. They have problems, and they're bringing their problems with them. They have viruses, they have BSODs, and some of them, I assume, are good systems."

Sounds like we need to build a firewall.
 
I foresee Apple doing away with the Air and keeping only the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines around. It's just a matter of waiting for the MacBook to match the Air in terms of price and specs.

So to answer your question - not a chance.

Practically every day I use my MBP with/without Ethernet, with/without keyboard and mouse, with/without power, with/without high-res external display, and, usually at least one other item, sometimes two, such as USB connection to iPhone, external hard drive, etc. The MBP either needs the ports or, equivalently, a lightweight, portable, USB-C-powered docking station equivalent.
 
Practically every day I use my MBP with/without Ethernet, with/without keyboard and mouse, with/without power, with/without high-res external display, and, usually at least one other item, sometimes two, such as USB connection to iPhone, external hard drive, etc. The MBP either needs the ports or, equivalently, a lightweight, portable, USB-C-powered docking station equivalent.
Isn't that what a thunderbolt dock is for?
 
I'd wish Tim wasn't simply committed, but rather passionate about the Mac as he is about the Watch and iPhone.
Make the product line whole again. If Intel was the reason, fine, we understand.
But once the chips are available, make it right.

Don't nickel and dime us, or cripple systems.
Give us back 128gb Flash storage in the Fusion drive in the 4K iMac.
Give us back target mode while you're at it too.
Give us back the ability to upgrade the RAM.
Give us back quad-core Mac minis again (or at least BTO)
Give us a retina MacBook Air display (if you're not discontinuing it)

And this list is just for starters. I actually hope Apple innovates and goes beyond playing catch up.
Tim, we're staying tuned. Show us you mean what you say.

I suspect the future is more Mac mini 2014, as opposed to iMac 2009. Ones crippled , the other you can upgrade most parts.

I really miss target mode.
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Isn't that what a thunderbolt dock is for?

Sure is. There needs to be a cost effective alternative though. Thunderbolt docks....as they are mainly used by Mac users , come with premium pricing. PC users got plenty of ports and don't need them.
 
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What Apple has removed with the 3.5mm jack is an implementation detail, not its functionality. Users can still listen to audio over wired headphones without buying anything extra, while Apple's engineers have freed up space for other opportunities ...

The argument isn't that a workaround doesn't exist, but that it wasn't a good trade-off, given the practicality of the 3.5mm port. Sure, I can easily use that adapter... even leave it attached to my ear-buds cord, etc. Or, I can remember to bring it along, so I can plug it into the car audio system when I go for a drive.

But, it isn't, IMO, an equivalent port. I very often have the device in my pocket with wired ear-buds plugged in, so I can listen to podcasts, etc. while I work in the yard or around the house. Others put it in their backpack or elsewhere while they listen. The problem with this is that there's a pretty big mechanical difference between a 3.5mm and Lightening.

When a 3.5mm jack gets stressed (especially over and over), typically it fails where the cord bends. When a Lightening connector gets stressed, it may very well do damage to the connector or port on the device. I don't know how much it costs to replace the Lightening connector, but I'd rather not find out.

Ok, I'll bite: Why? The AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4096 MB on my iMac 5K works perfectly.

I think for many, it's because nVidia supports CUDA, and AMD's stuff has had a poor failure track record in Apple's devices, especially laptops. I'm not sure why they keep going with them over and over. Also, in most of the tests I've seen, nVidia usually has a speed edge over AMD.
 
Does anyone seriously think Apple will forever continue to neglect the Mac or even kill off the Mac?

How else are developers going to write apps for iPhones, iPads, TV, Watch etcetera etcetera?

Mac's future is secure. Send through all the new speeds and feeds Apple and unviel what's new and in fashion regarding the device materials and colors.
 
The argument isn't that a workaround doesn't exist, but that it wasn't a good trade-off, given the practicality of the 3.5mm port. Sure, I can easily use that adapter... even leave it attached to my ear-buds cord, etc. Or, I can remember to bring it along, so I can plug it into the car audio system when I go for a drive.

But, it isn't, IMO, an equivalent port. I very often have the device in my pocket with wired ear-buds plugged in, so I can listen to podcasts, etc. while I work in the yard or around the house. Others put it in their backpack or elsewhere while they listen. The problem with this is that there's a pretty big mechanical difference between a 3.5mm and Lightening.

When a 3.5mm jack gets stressed (especially over and over), typically it fails where the cord bends. When a Lightening connector gets stressed, it may very well do damage to the connector or port on the device. I don't know how much it costs to replace the Lightening connector, but I'd rather not find out.
But, once it breaks, you'll still have that great new "Stereo" sound.

Crank it Up!
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How else are developers going to write apps for iPhones, iPads, TV, Watch etcetera etcetera?
I thought you could do everything on a mobile device.

I may just have to ask myself: "What is a computer?"
 
Looked at Hackintoshes last night, it seems all the hardware individually is great, e.g. cheap 6 core processors but it still doesn't all work smoothly together. E.g still problems with bluetooth, wifi, audio, usb3, Intel Iris not working after sleep, iMessage and Mac App Store not working, cant get dual mini display port motherboards. That Intel NUC skull thing looked almost perfect for hardware but has some major incompatibilities, and theres issues around using Sata, mSata or pcie SSDs. Just not straightforward enough, and with Sierra just coming out theres probably going to be loads more work needed.

Mackintosh's are not nearly as tough as you might think... I've made a couple and I barely know what I'm doing. Only issue's I've really had are with Audio.
 
Tim said he was committed to the Mac Pro and then Apple produced a laughable trashcan that few pros needed or wanted, either moving to Windows or clinging to their superior Mac Pro towers.
 
Isn't that what a thunderbolt dock is for?
serious people mist ignore this post since super down voting isnt an option. You propose a $250 add on when they can install a few extra ports for a cost of probably $2.50 for them per unit. please.
 
serious people mist ignore this post since super down voting isnt an option. You propose a $250 add on when they can install a few extra ports for a cost of probably $2.50 for them per unit. please.
The point of a dock is precisely so you can quickly connect and disconnect all the peripherals you need with just one cable. How many ports there are in the laptop is immaterial.

It's an expensive luxury no doubt, but I am using one with my MBA despite having enough slots to plug in my stuff manually, so the lack of ports isn't the main limitation here.
 
Listen, Apple sold a billion iPhones in the past decade; they probably didn't sell a billion iMacs or Mac Pros.

iPhones are cheap and cheerful in comparison to an iMac ... especially since most are subsidized by carriers.

iMacs on the other hand are very expensive, especially with the new retina display. The strong US dollar has also made the iMac very costly for foreign buyers.
 
serious people mist ignore this post since super down voting isnt an option. You propose a $250 add on when they can install a few extra ports for a cost of probably $2.50 for them per unit. please.
The cost of the electronics and other materials related to a port is not the cost of the port itself. The cost of the port comes in the many design trade offs that must be made by reorganizing the internals in order to make them fit.

Maybe excluding ports is for marketing reasons, maybe it's not. But, there isn't a lot of room in these computers so something else would have to be given a lower priority if you want more ports. Personally, if I am going to be out and about with my laptop, I am not going to have four or five different things plugged into it.
 
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The problem, still, is that Apple seems to insist on dumbing down Mac application software to make it more iOS-like, rather than taking full advantage of the much more expressive environment of a desktop platform. Case in point, Phill Schiller last week showing photos being edited using Lightroom on an iPhone. Does he understand how ludicrous it is to edit a 12 megapixel image on a 4-5 inch screen? In the meantime, Apple's photo editing software on the Mac continues to stagnate, with the abandonment of Aperture and the amateurish abilities of Photos.
 
Because he’s not a Millennial. That’s how adults were taught to type.

This. When I took typing (almost thirty years ago) it was on computers but they were still double spacing after periods. Honestly I didn't even realize that single space was recommended until pretty recently. At this point it's muscle memory, I doubt I could stop even if I wanted to. And even if I could it probably wouldn't be worth the effort.
 
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The problem, still, is that Apple seems to insist on dumbing down Mac application software to make it more iOS-like, rather than taking full advantage of the much more expressive environment of a desktop platform. Case in point, Phill Schiller last week showing photos being edited using Lightroom on an iPhone. Does he understand how ludicrous it is to edit a 12 megapixel image on a 4-5 inch screen? In the meantime, Apple's photo editing software on the Mac continues to stagnate, with the abandonment of Aperture and the amateurish abilities of Photos.
That's just Phil being "Courageous" again.

Letting Aperture languish, so they have to resort to an Adobe product, rather than use "Photos" is an even better question, may just be more of that "Courage' stuff.
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Tim said he was committed to the Mac Pro and then Apple produced a laughable trashcan that few pros needed or wanted, either moving to Windows or clinging to their superior Mac Pro towers.
Yeah, when Tim says he loves you, head for the hills.
 
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The Air is still not retina, so we'd like a portable laptop that isn't crippled with only one port which you cant even power and use an external display at the same time when at work. They shouldn't have even bothered with that Macbook and focused on updating the Air and taking some weight off the pros.

The truth of the matter is that the "pro market" is about $2 billion a year tops. A lot of money, but now less than 1 percent of Apple's total revenue.

For the people on MacRumors who have said that they are walking away for good...it is a loss, but...even if these posters are say...even a representative sample of 1,000 other professionals and prosumers, it's a loss of a few hundred million dollars of business. Not entirely insignificant...but it is not hard to see why the bulk of Apple's resources are on phones and services — that's what makes the money!

Computer sales are flat...actually the ones having flat business from year-to-year are doing better than most...Intel no longer has incentive to pump out (significantly) faster processors, they're competing against themselves. VR is kind of interesting, but there isn't yet the next killer thing that will make computers a priority again...and certainly not the money the phones and services are making for Apple.
 
Does anyone seriously think Apple will forever continue to neglect the Mac or even kill off the Mac?

I now do (given all the indications I've seen). I don't think it's going to happen tomorrow, or even next year. And, it won't likely happen suddenly. Machines will continue to disappear to the lineup, while we'll be urged to move to other products (iOS). And, it seems, macOS will keep getting dumbed down to be more like iOS (and iOS will get more macOS-like) until we're at a more productivity-neutral stance between them.

BTW, that's not what I thought Apple was initially doing. The two platforms, two UIs, shared data, is the much better model. But, unfortunately, I think Apple either shifted or the former was part of the plan all along, and what I initially thought was just the baby-steps to try to keep me from rebelling immediately.

Mackintosh's are not nearly as tough as you might think... I've made a couple and I barely know what I'm doing. Only issue's I've really had are with Audio.

I think you meant Hackintosh (dang auto-correct!). One of my friends has built a few, and I'm pretty much steering clear of it (as tempting as it is). He's been down for periods of time and seems to have a bit too much work from each software update. I can't afford that time, even if I can technically handle it.

iPhones are cheap and cheerful in comparison to an iMac ... especially since most are subsidized by carriers.

You do realize you're paying that 'subsidy' and then some, via the carriers, right? The cheapest place you're going to get an iPhone is usually from Apple . com. And, they aren't that much cheaper than iMacs anymore. :(

The truth of the matter is that the "pro market" is about $2 billion a year tops. A lot of money, but now less than 1 percent of Apple's total revenue.

There's a big difference between profits/revenue and value.
 
IYou do realize you're paying that 'subsidy' and then some, via the carriers, right? The cheapest place you're going to get an iPhone is usually from Apple . com. And, they aren't that much cheaper than iMacs anymore. :(
The new 7 maxed out, runs close to a grand.

I'll bet the margin is better than on an iMac.
 
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