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Top 5 Apple Devices Overdue an Update
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Mr.Brossard
macrumors member
I'd snap up an M3 iMac, but only if it came in 27" or 32" and actually had ports.
asdfjkl;
macrumors 6502
There is such an obvious gap in Apple's lineup between the low-end mini and the Mac Studio. This basically equates to the high-end Intel mini. My best guess is that supply chain issues are holding things up. Otherwise the entire argument that Intel couldn't release on time is gone. An M2 Pro Mac Mini would be the ideal configuration to fill the gap.
Seriously, and I mean no disrespect, but how different can you make a tablet?
You can make it thinner, requiring stronger alloys to resist twisting and bending. You also have a challenge with speakers and charging port size, unless you go completely portless and have wireless charging only.
You can make the bezels smaller and push the display ever further to the edges, but then you need something you can grasp with your fingers without obscuring the display proper. Or do you go with something like Samsung's phone display that wraps over the edges?
But then you have square edges to maximize internal volume for hardware, so you won't be going back to rounded edges. How far can you miniaturize the internal components, particularly the battery to maintain a respectable battery charge?
Do you opt for a folding display and all the challenges of fabricating a flexible display that resists damage and display distortion due to the folding?
Design is more than just how something looks. You also have to consider what technology allows you to do as well as how to optimize using the device in practical terms.
Unless something truly radical comes along I foresee tablets simply getting thinner and lighter (to a point) and the bezels getting thinner (to a point).
Realityck
macrumors G5
For people that liked to do their own YouTube content editing that would have helped as M2 added something a bit closer to a M1 Pro capabilities with faster video encoding and more Ram, but Apple has purposely limited the choices you have M1 Pro/M1 Max, and M1 Ultra solutions as we all know.
I thought Apple would be smart and utilize the M1 Pro in a lot of desktop Mac's including the Mac mini, 24" or larger iMac.
Even if you think of the M1 Pro as old technology, the M2 is nothing to crow about as shown by the comparison in this earlier article.
M2 vs. M1 Pro Chip Buyer's Guide: Why M1 Pro Is Still Better
This month, Apple introduced the M2 chip – the second-generation custom silicon chip for the Mac. The M2 now sits below the M1 Pro chip in Apple's custom silicon lineup, but why is the M1 Pro, based on chip technology from 2020, still better than the latest M2? Apple says that the M2 chip...
www.macrumors.com
So in the absence of new products, we have these expectations of enhanced M2 SoC's and even some more energy efficiency with some M3 variant that is constantly wished for, but Apple has not divulged anything against where they are headed, only that this is all we offer currently for the rest of the year.
It's great for deals right now on existing AS Macs, but bitterly a drought rumorwise for people expecting more. Guess the pandemic stymied the progress we all expected for 2022. Perhaps 2023 will be a much better year, I hope so. 🙂
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ThisBougieLife
Suspended
I also think it's simply odd to create a mid-level chip, the M2 Pro, and have it relegated to only one product.
I think the absence of even an M2 Mac Mini is pretty good evidence that chip shortages held them back and they put the M2 in the best-selling entry-level products (the 13" MBP, the MBA, and the iPad Pro) and left it out of the desktops for now.
I have considered a Mac Studio insead of waiting for an upgraded iMac, but costing a Mac Studio with a decent monitor, keyboard and mouse is more than a spec'd iMac.
I also like the AIO configuration and I like the design of the current iMac.
I also like the AIO configuration and I like the design of the current iMac.
IllinoisCorn
Suspended
Love my AirPods Max, but I don't think I'd spend the coin on an updated paid. Now, if I can get them for like a $100 discount like I did with my pair I bought from Amazon, I will consider it,.
My mistake, I meant 2022. You're right, 2021 was a great year. You may have a point about employees, I'm just basing this off the following:
How Apple Stores Went From Geek Paradise to Union Front Line
Store employees helped create some of the most valuable square footage in the US. Now they feel more like regular salespeople—so they’re unionizing.
www.bloomberg.com
Apple Announces Upcoming Departure of Lead Product Designer Evans Hankey
Apple's vice president of industrial design Evans Hankey plans to leave the company next year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple confirmed the report in a statement, but her successor has not been named yet.
www.macrumors.com
Apple Losing Talent to Google Amid Push to Improve Spotlight and Launch Search Engine
Apple is seeking to improve Spotlight search, but is still years away from launching a search engine to rival Google, according to The Information. The paywalled report explains that Apple's search technology faces a setback amid loss of talent to Google. In 2018, Apple sought to bolster...
www.macrumors.com
Chazak
macrumors 6502a
Costs on Mac Studio are prohibitive if your not using it for professional use and can not expense it against income.
I have been looking forward to the M3 for a while now. 3 nm Apple Silicon on a laptop? Yes, please!
Realityck
macrumors G5
zorinlynx
macrumors G3
If Apple updated the AirPods Max and made them lighter and slightly more compact, I'd likely buy them. My biggest complaint about the APM is how heavy they are, which causes them to literally fall off my head if I move around too much or even lean back in my chair.
Please, Apple! I liked literally everything else about them.
Please, Apple! I liked literally everything else about them.
zorinlynx
macrumors G3
I've been using my work Macbook Pro on a studio display for my workstation at home, but I want to own my own desktop Mac again, and yeah, this. It's too much money, while the current Mac Mini is a bit underpowered.
I'm hoping for a Mac Mini update that fills this gap, at which point I'll jump on it. Even though I have full control over the work MBP (no MDM or anything) I kinda want a dedicated desktop machine at home again that's 100% mine.
You make a a good point. After reading some of the posts here I'm also sceptical.
I suppose nobody really knows whether Apple has kept the Intel version around because that higher end Mac Mini section of the lineup is going to remain a thing, or because as others stated there is a legacy use for Intel Mac Minis.
At least it'll be interesting to find out what they ultimately do.
cactus2
macrumors newbie
Seriously, Apple thought it was ok to release an updated magic keyboard and apple tv remote in 2021 and an updated AirPods Pro in Fall 2022 with lightning ports. We need them to stop and apologize for these atrocities and come to their senses before they update any more accessories.
iLondoner
macrumors 6502
Others may disagree but I don't see the 24-in iMac being an urgent upgrade. It's aimed at a more cost-sensitive part of the iMac market where all-out performance isn't essential, and in any case the M1 chip was such an uplift it's still a good solution right now. Where I'd like to see Apple putting in some effort is in a 32-in iMac—users' display aspirations have moved on since the original 27-in was introduced in 2009.
EdT
macrumors 68020
Depending on the specs and the number of ports, maybe. The Mini also has one of the same cost adders that the Studio has- you need to buy an expensive hi-res monitor for 4 or 5K resolution, which the 27 iMac had built in. A pro Mini that is $1600 is too close in price to a Studio Max, you would need to buy someone’s monitor as well, and probably doesn’t have as many ports. I’m basing the price on the current Intel based Mac Mini Pro which is about $1600.
A M2 or M3 based Mini with a decent hard drive and 16GB (or more) memory with better than standard Mini GPU capabilities for $1100-$1300 would probably fit a pro-sumer iMac. Still more expensive than 27” iMacs were 2-3 years ago (as a package) but it is new and better technology and prices go up because of time and improved performance.
EdT
macrumors 68020
They were forced into USB-C by the European Union saying charging ports have to be universal. Not saying that Apple shouldn’t have switched themselves years ago, or that they shouldn’t have made the Lightning port cheap and easier for other companies to adopt over the last 10 years but that’s all in the past now. They didn’t, and the EU instituted a universal charger requirement and didn’t pick the Lightning connector. This was visible 4 or 5 years ago to the public so Apple SHOULD have known what was coming and when.
freedomlinux
macrumors 6502
I agree that using devices longer is positive for the environment. Just because a new product is released every year doesn't mean that customers need to upgrade.
The one real issue I have with the M1 Mac Mini is that, if I am buying a Mac Mini NOW, I am getting a product that is already two years into it's lifecycle. This isn't a performance problem, but a Value problem - someone who buys M1 Mac Mini will presumably be getting 2 years less macOS support and need to replace it sooner in the future.
Just like the decision to sell the 2014 Mac Mini until 2018, it's not good for the customer's long-term experience.
I’m most excited to see what Apple Silicon can bring to the Mac Pro.
They’re easy to forget to charge and when you finally pick them up they’re dead. Earbuds at least have a case that keeps them juiced.
