What Do You Want to See From Apple in 2017?

[The_Martini_Cat]

Updated Mac Pro. Updated iMac. C'mon Apple, let's show a little tech hustle. Don't be the last on the block with the new parts. And make it reliable enough to buy when it first comes out. Maybe releasing hardware product updates more frequently would help with this? Make the music app usable again on the devices? I'm not gonna sign up for Apple Music I'm just not. And back to hardware, can we shift the engineering tradeoff of thin/upgradeable-expandable back over to the upgradeable-expandable side of things for the Macs? Maybe Tim Cook would like to visit a Maker Faire and help the mac get its mojo back instead of hobnobbing with the politicos and losing his mojo. It's all about the mojo don'cha know?

 

[4jasontv]

Steve didn't have to deal with any of your issues. He introduced gen 1 of consumer products and then left us all. You cannot upgrade iPhones and iPads and ATVs. They are designed to last 3-5 years and they do that. No manufacturer supports products as long as Apple does. Ask any Android customer. That's partly why those devices are cheaper.

So don't release an update that breaks the device. Just stop supporting it. The flipside is that app support for older Android devices remains for longer because they have a larger userbase of people who can't upgrade.

Apple is in a transitional phase right now and the tech industry is always in a transitional phase so asking for all devices to use the same port all at the same time is just not reasonable.

So why doesn't the iPhone 7 use USB C thunderbolt 3 like the MacBooks do? Is it because Apple licenses the "Works with iPhone" and they thought that the lighting adapter would hurt sales of the MacBook and they couldn't make as much money if they supported USB C on the iPhone? Probably. I don't buy that it's a transitional phase. The iPhone 7 would have been the time to make that transition.

I don't know what problems you have with iCloud syncing and other devices working together but I do not have them.

Lucky you. Maybe you can help fix my account because Apple can't. If you can't, that's cool, because DropBox found a solution. Apple won't refund my subscription because "it syncs eventually".

I have bought every Apple product (minus a few Macs under Scully) since Apple II alongside many family members and friends. I do not hear about the incompatibility issues across the board the way you make it sound.

What is there to hear? If you have them you should see it. Forget about chargers, try using your Apple Pencil on the newest iMac. What about the new Magic Trackpad? Surely the pencil works with that if its been out for years Of course not, because Apple hasn't updated that hardware in a long time so therefore there is no expectation to support it. By staggering their releases over years you can endlessly defend that something is to new or to old to support something else. That is exactly my point. Apple knows what is in their own pipeline, and they could easily support hardware they intend to release later. I think it's a fair tradeoff based on their markup.

Are there problems and dongles and changes to standards I run into every few years? Of course. I cannot remember an Apple that didn't suffer from that since 1979.

LOL - So your defense for why they don't update their product line regularly is that they haven't done so for nearly 40 years?

That would be a great ad. They should show a family who goes to the apple store and gets a new apple watch, iPhone, and MacBook. All recently just released! Cut to them at the Las Vegas airport waiting in line cause the airline lost their luggage. Then show a montage of them going to the Apple store three times to buy increasingly more expensive chargers to power up all of their devices. Finally show them sitting broke in a hotel lobby surrounded by people having fun while they play Vegas inspired apps. Mom can fist bump dad when she hits the jackpot on the virtual slot machine.

 

[crcaudle]

Update the MacPro. Please.

 

[Uofmtiger]

You're making my point.

Remember when Apple was targeting the market with the iPod - you could plug it in to any computer and "it just works".

Now you cannot even plug your iPhone into a new Macbook pro without buying a different cable.. and the Macbook Pro is in the Apple EcoSystem on its own.

It's a complete joke.

Should be interesting to see what kind of cable is in the next iPhone box. I bought a USB to USB-C adapter, so I can plug in anything from the last generation of USB. I paid about $9 for the privilege. I think Apple should have included one in the MBP box like they did with the headphone adapter and the iPhone, but they didn't, so I just considered the adapter as part of the price of upgrading.

I think Apple would be better served to come out with a new Mac Pro that is state of the art. It would quiet a lot of the discourse in the "pro" community. I know this group is miniscule in comparison to the general population, but the people in that community have very loud voices. You can't turn on ATP (podcast) or MacBreak Weekly without hearing 30 minutes of complaining about it.

Personally, I would love to see Macs eventually added Pencil input. I don't need the entire interface to be touch friendly, but being able to use the Pencil with Photoshop and other art/note apps would be very nice to have rather than needing to use a Wacom.

 

[DJ Ti-99]

How about not insulting us with useless garbage like the touch bar in an attempt to distract us from the two year old processor technology they are using. Instead, get back ahead of the performance curve. Oh yeah... and how about a new Mac Pro?

Does anybody from Apple read this and take it to heart, or do they simply ignore their professional users in favor of hipsters who use expensive machines to read their email and post to Facebook?

This is a real warning. If they don't get performance back as a top priority, I will be forced to switch from Logic Pro to Windows and Pro Tools.

 

[Uofmtiger]

How about not insulting us with useless garbage like the touch bar in an attempt to distract us from the two year old processor technology they are using. Instead, get back ahead of the performance curve. Oh yeah... and how about a new Mac Pro?

Does anybody from Apple read this and take it to heart, or do they simply ignore their professional users in favor of hipsters who use expensive machines to read their email and post to Facebook?

This is a real warning. If they don't get performance back as a top priority, I will be forced to switch from Logic Pro to Windows and Pro Tools.

I don't think a company with their resources should have to favor one over the other. Maybe a new management structure would make sense. A lot has been written about how Apple runs like a small company and it might be beneficial to the wider user base if they ran it with more segregated divisions.

 

[LordVic]

2017:

Clean up the product lines. Right now they're a bit allover the place:

iPhone Lineup:
iPhone 8
iPhone 8+
iPhone 8 Mini (SE)
and the only thing different should be size. Stop segregating out features by size. 5" phone users don't want a 6" phone, but would like some of the features of the plus.


Bring back the headphone port: I Will never buy a phone without it until a suitable analogue universal standard port comes along that is better (hint, it hasn't)

iPad lineup:
Drop the "pro" naming as it's really meaningless. the lineup should be
iPad mini (7")
iPad (10")
iPad Pus (12")


Mac Lineup:
Finally kill the MacBook Air

Drop the price of the rMacBook to fill the gap that the MacBook Air previously sat in ($999 entry price, not $1500)

Drop the price of the new MacBook Pro's. the 13" non touchbar should be the same price as the 13" macbook air. The 15" touch bar shouldn't be costing several hundred more than the existing pros. Make the device 2mm thicker and add back battery. and figure out a way to get a physical escape key back into the keyboard.

Overall, the Mac pricing is out of whack with reality right now. Apple computers were already a premium priced product, the new price points REEK of profiteering and not actually trying to provide additional value for those increased prices.

Refresh the Mac Mini with a suitable quad core Kaby Lake chipset. No more of these ridiculous ULV 2 core CPU's in a desktop machine. the 2012 Mini's could easily handle the 28w quad cores and there was absolutely no reason other than to lock down upgradability, and increase margins to go with the 2014 setup.

the iMac's just really need a refresh of internals. Hopefully the Kaby Lake's improved heat efficiency will mean that the desktop grade CPU's no longer need to throttle in the iMac Chassis. On top of that, Better GPU as well (AMD 480 at minimum should be option)

Mac Pro needs to go back in time to a cheese grater style tower.

the nMac Pro should be redesigned to be the "mac Tower", with desktop class parts, and kept more up to date, with a significant price cut (seriously, if it were aimed at gamers, it would likely sell great with a Kaby lake i7 and dual radeon 480's. also, keep updating the parts so that there are upgrade options to swap CPU/GPU's. the "trash Can" mac pro would be excellent for a portable gaming desktop

iOS:
Now with the ability to delete default apps. Apple needs to allow for other 3rd party Apps to be set as defaults.

and personal for me: Fix the notification system, it's horribly cludgy and a mess in iOS10.

Encourage more professional App developers to make higher end, professional grade programs to leverage the power of the new ipads and iphones. great CPU performance is often hindered by just not enough functionality of programs. Convince Adobe to port a full Lightroom/Photoshop for example and give them the toolset to do so.


Other Products:
Tone down the rhetoric on the watch. It's a nicely built gadget, but it is not "high fashion". stop talking about it constantly like it's the "next big thing". wearables are a niche market, and Apple seriously overstretched here.

Expand Apple's "Beats" music to include other stations with more variety. Everytime I listen to Beats, it's Popular music, or rap. As a heavy metal / hard rock fan, Beats music is absolutely useless.

Make a web based UI for Apple Music (like Google's / Spotify). Not everywhere allows you to install iTunes. And iTunes in Windows land is a nightmare. it's buggy, slow, and suffers from memory leaks.

Focus more on QA. 2016 was a year that I felt Apple released some of the buggiest software I can remember. Yes everything is buggy, But when you look at the list of some of the bugs we had,some of them were quite embarrassing.


Overall:
Apple's woes in 2016 seemed to stem from a "feeling" that they were focusing too much on how the financials looked, and improving profit margins (when they're already one of the most profitable companies in the world), rather than providing products that actually met people's expectations. The notion of "thinner = better" also needs to be dropped for a while. Will products eventually become thinner? of course, but at some point, fi you're designing first for a look and compromising everywhere else just to achieve that look, it might not be time yet to go "thinner". They also spent too much time having to explain their decisions to people, because those decisions weren't generally founded in reality. The executive team often places really appeared to be out of touch with reality during many many cases during the year.

I'd like to see Apple speak less and perform more. You can only say "best pipeline we've had" over and over again, before people start asking where it is. Because in 2016, we still didn't get any product that revolutionised anything. We got good products, But to go around to every interview saying how great their pipeline was, then only releasing products that were slight upgrades from the ones before, doesn't impress anyone.

I also think that Apple is way past the point that they can operate as the small business metnality Job's put in place. With 90,000 employees worldwide, and dozens of products and services, it can no longer operate where only a small handful of people can make any design / decision. They're spread to thin to the point that they're actually taking focus away from some products to focus on only a small few. This could be seen as "putting all eggs in one basket" and thats generally a bad idea. Apple has enough money to hire enough department heads of high quality to ensure that all departments can fire on all cylinders without Ive, Cook or Schiller making all the decisions.

 

[malexandria]

Don't remember when Final Cut Pro used to cost $1,000?

Adobe used to charge thousands and now has that stupid cloud stuff. By comparison $300 is reasonable.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Should be interesting to see what kind of cable is in the next iPhone box. I bought a USB to USB-C adapter, so I can plug in anything from the last generation of USB. I paid about $9 for the privilege. I think Apple should have included one in the MBP box like they did with the headphone adapter and the iPhone, but they didn't, so I just considered the adapter as part of the price of upgrading.

I think Apple would be better served to come out with a new Mac Pro that is state of the art. It would quiet a lot of the discourse in the "pro" community. I know this group is miniscule in comparison to the general population, but the people in that community have very loud voices. You can't turn on ATP (podcast) or MacBreak Weekly without hearing 30 minutes of complaining about it.

Personally, I would love to see Macs eventually added Pencil input. I don't need the entire interface to be touch friendly, but being able to use the Pencil with Photoshop and other art/note apps would be very nice to have rather than needing to use a Wacom.

That's basically all I am saying - there should 100% be a cord in the iPhone box, iPad box, or Macbook Pro box to connect your iPhone. Jobs would be rolling in his grave if he knew you could not connect two products in the Apple Ecosystem together without purchasing things separately. The draw to get people to move to the mac was ease of use - not complicating the process.

 

[SaltSpring]

We've covered what we expect to see from Apple in 2017 based on the rumors that are circulating so far in our recent What to Expect post.

On the horizon are a new iPhone 8 with a radically redesigned body and an edge-to-edge display, a revamped iPad Pro also potentially with an edge-to-edge display, long-awaited iMac updates, and new software, but there's always the chance there's a wildcard update or new product in the works that will surprise us all.

A redesigned Apple TV, a new home hub, and augmented reality smart glasses are all products that are rumored to be in the works with no prospective release date. We want to hear from the MacRumors community -- what are you expecting or hoping to see Apple release in 2017?

Are there specific features you're hoping Apple will implement in iOS 11, tvOS 11, watchOS 4, or macOS 10.13? Popular wishlist items from last year included a dark mode for iOS, home screen widgets, and a customizable control center.

Let us know what you want to see in the comments, and make sure to check our our What to Expect post for the latest rumors. Apple's plans for 2017 will likely become more clear in the early months of the year, and as always, we'll be covering all of the rumors in-depth here at MacRumors.

The MacRumors forums are also always a rich resource for talking about upcoming products and rumors, and with the biggest iPhone change in years set to happen in 2017, our forums are the place to be for lively discussions.

We'd also like to thank all of our readers and our forum members for making MacRumors the absolute best source for Mac news and advice on the web. We wouldn't be here without you, and we look forward to another rumor-packed year.

Article Link: What Do You Want to See From Apple in 2017?

[doublepost=1483657574][/doublepost]

We've covered what we expect to see from Apple in 2017 based on the rumors that are circulating so far in our recent What to Expect post.

On the horizon are a new iPhone 8 with a radically redesigned body and an edge-to-edge display, a revamped iPad Pro also potentially with an edge-to-edge display, long-awaited iMac updates, and new software, but there's always the chance there's a wildcard update or new product in the works that will surprise us all.

A redesigned Apple TV, a new home hub, and augmented reality smart glasses are all products that are rumored to be in the works with no prospective release date. We want to hear from the MacRumors community -- what are you expecting or hoping to see Apple release in 2017?

Are there specific features you're hoping Apple will implement in iOS 11, tvOS 11, watchOS 4, or macOS 10.13? Popular wishlist items from last year included a dark mode for iOS, home screen widgets, and a customizable control center.

Let us know what you want to see in the comments, and make sure to check our our What to Expect post for the latest rumors. Apple's plans for 2017 will likely become more clear in the early months of the year, and as always, we'll be covering all of the rumors in-depth here at MacRumors.

The MacRumors forums are also always a rich resource for talking about upcoming products and rumors, and with the biggest iPhone change in years set to happen in 2017, our forums are the place to be for lively discussions.

We'd also like to thank all of our readers and our forum members for making MacRumors the absolute best source for Mac news and advice on the web. We wouldn't be here without you, and we look forward to another rumor-packed year.

Article Link: What Do You Want to See From Apple in 2017?

You asked for feedback from your readers.

I am desperate for an upgraded Mac Mini to replace my clunky 8 year old machine.
I need a moderately-priced desk top to handle the basics (no games, no graphics, no photo-shopping etc - just e-mail, web surfing, photo storage and Microsoft Office for Mac) so would be reluctant to upgrade to an iMac as I just don't need all those features. Nor do I need a new monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Fingers crossed. I hope Apple will not discontinue the Mini.

You asked for feedback from your readers.

I am desperate for an upgraded Mac Mini to replace my clunky 8 year old machine.
I need a moderately-priced desk top to handle the basics (no games, no graphics, no photo-shopping etc - just e-mail, web surfing, photo storage and Microsoft Office for Mac) so would be reluctant to upgrade to an iMac as I just don't need all that power. Nor do I need a new monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Fingers crossed. I hope Apple will not discontinue the Mini.

 

[groove-agent]

My selfish wish list:
* refresh and simplify the mac product lines
* bring back antiglare screens (I just can't do glossy screens)
* watches that actually look like watches - not a big fat 80s calculator watch
* removable and replaceable hard drives
* apple cinema with GPU, or thunderbolt 3 GPU/ docking station
* OSX as a viable gaming platform!
* replace mac pro with something more like the original mac pro that can be expanded and upgraded internally

 

[otternonsense]

I want to see Apple overcome this pathetic Ballmer-Microsoft-maintenance mode that's seeped into all of its product lines. The only way is to rid the whole vain complacent lot of Cook, Ive, Cue, Schiller, Ahrendts et al, and replace with seasoned designers and engineers.

 

[SlyBriFry]

A much thinner laptop. I would gladly exchange ALL ports and battery life for a tinfoil-thin design.

 

[The Game 161]

Cook shoved out the door.

Which won't happen unless people stop buying apple products which obviously isn't going to happen

 

[wigby]

So don't release an update that breaks the device. Just stop supporting it. The flipside is that app support for older Android devices remains for longer because they have a larger userbase of people who can't upgrade.



So why doesn't the iPhone 7 use USB C thunderbolt 3 like the MacBooks do? Is it because Apple licenses the "Works with iPhone" and they thought that the lighting adapter would hurt sales of the MacBook and they couldn't make as much money if they supported USB C on the iPhone? Probably. I don't buy that it's a transitional phase. The iPhone 7 would have been the time to make that transition.



Lucky you. Maybe you can help fix my account because Apple can't. If you can't, that's cool, because DropBox found a solution. Apple won't refund my subscription because "it syncs eventually".



What is there to hear? If you have them you should see it. Forget about chargers, try using your Apple Pencil on the newest iMac. What about the new Magic Trackpad? Surely the pencil works with that if its been out for years Of course not, because Apple hasn't updated that hardware in a long time so therefore there is no expectation to support it. By staggering their releases over years you can endlessly defend that something is to new or to old to support something else. That is exactly my point. Apple knows what is in their own pipeline, and they could easily support hardware they intend to release later. I think it's a fair tradeoff based on their markup.



LOL - So your defense for why they don't update their product line regularly is that they haven't done so for nearly 40 years?

That would be a great ad. They should show a family who goes to the apple store and gets a new apple watch, iPhone, and MacBook. All recently just released! Cut to them at the Las Vegas airport waiting in line cause the airline lost their luggage. Then show a montage of them going to the Apple store three times to buy increasingly more expensive chargers to power up all of their devices. Finally show them sitting broke in a hotel lobby surrounded by people having fun while they play Vegas inspired apps. Mom can fist bump dad when she hits the jackpot on the virtual slot machine.

We're never going to agree. The only thing we can agree on is that Apple knows things about their product pipeline future we both could not possibly know. You choose to believe Apple is turning the screws on their user base to make an extra few billion dollars. I choose to believe that Apple (and every single tech company in existence) abides by some basic laws of technology and progress. If they can make a tech experience work seamlessly for a few hundred million customers but not perfect for another few hundred million customers, I'd still argue that they're ahead of their competition. I'm looking around for the next Apple but just don't see it. That should tell you that while we don't agree, I'm not exactly in love with Apple myself. But I also don't see anyone taking their place as premium hardware + software integrators in the near future. Do you?

 

[4jasontv]

We're never going to agree. The only thing we can agree on is that Apple knows things about their product pipeline future we both could not possibly know. You choose to believe Apple is turning the screws on their user base to make an extra few billion dollars. I choose to believe that Apple (and every single tech company in existence) abides by some basic laws of technology and progress.

Wow. Stop right there. Are you talking about Moores Law? You know that isn't really a law right? You do realize that progress takes years of R&D? Successful companies are working on developing their next line of products when the current ones launch. There is no fundamental aspect of nature that stops Apple from releasing products that work together. Your mysticism isn't a defense for not updating a product line to support new protocols, nor is it a defense for releasing software that cripples existing hardware.

If they can make a tech experience work seamlessly for a few hundred million customers but not perfect for another few hundred million customers, I'd still argue that they're ahead of their competition.

As long as they refund those it doesn't work for. Sure. Otherwise they are no better.

I'm looking around for the next Apple but just don't see it. That should tell you that while we don't agree, I'm not exactly in love with Apple myself. But I also don't see anyone taking their place as premium hardware + software integrators in the near future. Do you?

Tesla. Nintendo. If you stay in their ecosystem, Samsung S platform works really well. If the S8 went left Android for Tizen it would be better. Having both, last years Surface Pro 4 is better integrated than my MacBook Pro. Apple is known for it, but they aren't the only company doing it.

 

[SunsetDistrict]

To have the option to upgrade an Apple laptop or Mini with additional storage and memory, and as Applications and OSX require more resources.

 

[DeepIn2U]

My wishlist:

Hardware:
1. A new Mac Pro that is not the cylinder design with a full choice of workstation graphics cards from either AMD or Nvidia; along with Skylake Xeons when they become available.
2. A new Mac Mini that can be upgraded, two slots for internal SSD or HDD, and a high end mini similar to the new HP Z2 Mini.
3. iMac's with matte screens and a case design that does not require throttling the processor because it is so thin. Real desktop graphics cards and not mobile versions.
4. Thunderbolt 3 Display in 4K and 5K and matte.
5. Bring back the 17" MacBook Pro. After the new MacBook Pro 2016 debacle, Apple owes us to bring this back.
6. An Apple TV that supports 4K HDR. (Yes I have a 4K HDR TV, so it is not a wasted feature for me.)
7. Please stop the obsession with thin. Form should not override function. The design team should not have more power then the engineering team.

Software:
1. A macOS that doesn't look like it was designed by first-year art students who worship Picasso's blue period. (We now have the sharpest resolutions ever on any display whether it is retina or 5K, but the main look in the OS is "blur" and "transparent" effects with icons that are flat and lifeless; is Ive and his gang just trolling us here?!)
2. Photos Pro or Aperture reincarnated.
3. Better faster disk encryption. (I have always had so many problems with a Mac under FileVault that it is unusable for me.)
4. More security and more privacy.
5. Take iWork apps seriously or just hand it off to the FileMaker subsidiary.

Developer:
1. The ability to offer app upgrade pricing in the App Store for users who already own a previous version.
2. Please kill off Core Data and replace it with Swift Data, in fact all of macOS should be rewritten in Swift.
3. The ability to respond to user comments in the App Store.
4. A better App Store that helps users discover new apps.

Apple as a company:
1. Actual grown-up communication. Leaked comments from internal Apple employee comment boards about whether or not Macs have a future, or cryptic prophecies from favored analysts is not how one of the world's most valuable companies should communicate.
2. Someone tell Angela Ahrendts that Apple is not a luxury brand, it is a premium brand, and the luxury pricing of products is alienating Apple's most devoted people.
3. Eddy Cue needs to stop spending all day watching sports and goofing off, and get serious.
4. Jonathan Ive has too much power over other departments and it is obviously creating bottlenecks across all the product categories.
5. Please fire Alan Dye the vice president of User Interface Design. The flat minimalistic lifeless, often colorless, ultra thin user interface has all the charisma of government road signs. Additionally, it is difficult to use and understand what does what.
6. Tim Cook needs to stop being such a nice guy. His executives and vice presidents are either not doing their job or are lying to him.

Here here!

Beat post in a week!

 

[Type4O]

I want Apple to read the MacRumors forum and spend some time making their OSes the products we actually want and deserve (given the price we pay and the loyalty to their products we have shown).

 

[August West]

I'd like to see the Mini updated. Since I still run a desktop as my main platform the late 2012 mini I currently have is getting a bit long in the tooth. While it still meets my very modest needs I'm sure in the not too distant future it will be put out to pasture and not longer receive updates. If that happens I'd be forced into a decision between staying with Apple or making the move back to a PC that is still supported by Microsoft.

My fear is at some point Apple will abandon the desktop market entirely to focus on the more profitable mobile market abandoning the desktop users. The trend lately certainly is pointing to that. With no updates of most of the desktop products, abandoning the router market and the half-assed effort on the new Macbook Pro things don't look promising. I guess I just need to come to grips with the fact that Apple is a smaller company that just doesn't have the resources to focus on the limited desktop market.

 

[wigby]

Wow. Stop right there. Are you talking about Moores Law? You know that isn't really a law right? You do realize that progress takes years of R&D? Successful companies are working on developing their next line of products when the current ones launch. There is no fundamental aspect of nature that stops Apple from releasing products that work together. Your mysticism isn't a defense for not updating a product line to support new protocols, nor is it a defense for releasing software that cripples existing hardware.


As long as they refund those it doesn't work for. Sure. Otherwise they are no better.


Tesla. Nintendo. If you stay in their ecosystem, Samsung S platform works really well. If the S8 went left Android for Tizen it would be better. Having both, last years Surface Pro 4 is better integrated than my MacBook Pro. Apple is known for it, but they aren't the only company doing it.

No one said anything about Moore's Law. I'm simply talking about technological progression and common sense. For example, in 2017, most Apple devices will adopt BT 5.0. Do you expect all of your older devices to support the BT 5.0 features that your newer devices don't? Do you expect Apple to keep supporting your older BT 4.1 devices once their features outgrow BT 4.1 capabilities in a few years? There are dozens of examples just like this that either prevent Apple from supporting or prevent them from progressing until more users adopt newer devices or more tech pieces fall into place. That is why we will never have parity across all devices and all features from a company that makes hardware and software. The only way we could get parity is if Apple stopped innovating long enough for all products to slow down so they can all adopt the same I/O standards and connectors. Or Apple could make a clean cut from all legacy products and introduce and entirely new line of devices that all work perfectly together. Neither scenario will ever happen because they are both terrible for business.

 

[cablecartman]

I would like them to finally release a small form factor computer that isn't underpowered. Something half the height of the Mac Pro while keeping the width and depth mostly the same. That would allow them to use a desktop mainstream CPU and a desktop GPU inside.

The more things they keep standardised the cheaper it will be to procure the parts and that will result in a more affordable mid range offering. The Mac Mini is incredibly proprietary, underpowered and overpriced. The Mac Pro is proprietary and while fast (for 2013 when it was released) is also woefully overpriced when compared to competitor systems of the same specification.

They should of course focus on innovating form factors where it makes sense (laptops, phones, tablets) but in the desktop space it really should just be a box holding standard sized parts, that makes it easy to upgrade, procure parts, design chassis and sell them to the public.

The Mac Pro and Mac Mini are great examples of what happens when you try to design everything yourself, it takes forever to upgrade them. Had they kept things simple they could have upgraded them several times already.

True, but increasingly I get the impression Jony only cares about designing works of art that people will look back on in fifty years time and admire. And Tim seems to care more about where the puck is going (iPhone) than where it has been (Mac). Combined, I increasingly feel lower volume (but higher profit) items like Mac Pro just aren't going to get love. As much as it pains me to think, I feel like they might discontinue it soon (as well as the mini) and just leave us with iMac. Steve never wanted anybody to do what he'd have done, granted, but I think he'd be pretty upset to see his beloved Mac desktops being left to rot like this.

 

[throAU]

#1 feature I want to see on both iOS and MacOS is legacy support so all my old software can run on the new hardware. I don't tend to buy new hardware because I have a lot of old software I still need to use that won't run under the new OSs. There are a lot of people in the same situation. This is costing Apple hardware sales.

Lion and upwards can be virtualized in VMware Fusion, Parallels or Virtualbox.

Unfortunately 10.6 can not. I really wish Apple would open the license for that, there's no technical reason you can't do it (other than a little hacking to circumvent the very minimal level of protection)

 

[tubular]

A much thinner laptop. I would gladly exchange ALL ports and battery life for a tinfoil-thin design.

If you can't see through it when you hold it up to a light, then Ive has failed.

 

[tywebb13]

Lion and upwards can be virtualized in VMware Fusion, Parallels or Virtualbox.

Unfortunately 10.6 can not. I really wish Apple would open the license for that, there's no technical reason you can't do it (other than a little hacking to circumvent the very minimal level of protection)

You can if you use the server version. I have made a vm of 10.6.8 server and it works pretty well in vmware fusion. And no hacking required.