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What to Expect From the 'Scary Fast' October 30 Apple Event
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“One new feature in macOS 15 Skid Row (our first mandatory update, all macs will be updated over the cloud [and through the ether if you try to get them off the grid]) is the ability we’ve given ourselves to underclock any mAC {the capital AC stands for the mandatory AppleCare+ now included for free in every mAC purchase (standard AC+ rates apply)} to allow even more devices to slow down soone— to allow more devices to upgrade faster, quicker!
Safari* sure seems snappier!
We think you’re gonna love it. I know I am!
Tim ekes out a smile; knows he nailed it, having practiced it in the mirror a hundred thousand times just last week
Oh… and just one more thing!
…
AirPods Max 2!! It keeps the same Lightning port you’ve grown to love, featured for the first time in a brand new Orange hue for Halloween!
conspicuously absent details on any technical upgrades whatsoever, each subsequent mandatory firmware update will lower ANC power by a factor of OS 10
Purple Max 2 featuring Lightning comes in 2025 start/end of 4th quarter-early/mid/late 1st/2nd quarter 2026, just before the Early Summer/Late Winter release of our visionary 2026/7 AirPods Max X!
What will the new AirPods Max X feature? We aren’t telling! But if you think we’re switching it away from Lightning… well, let’s just say Lightning might strike the same place… thrice.
I’m Tim Apple, thank you, and to our shareholders exclusively, have a safe and profitladen Halloween!”
———————————————
*Safari has been renamed Searchlock in macOS 15 to reflect our ongoing billion+ dollar commitment to Google
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There is strong rumors that one or more Japanese game studios will have announcements of games for macOS during the event, which will run during core business hours in Japan.
This is probably one of the very few events where nobody seems to have any clue whatsoever about what Apple might announce.
I think Windows has something similar with WSL, and it's very easy to install. No science degree required, no compromises or crashes.
What is Windows Subsystem for Linux | Microsoft Learn
Install WSL | Microsoft Learn
Some interesting notes from looking at the Apple Store just now: All iPad models are available to ship. The 14" M2 is a long delay for even the base model, but the 16" is available to ship. The base iMac is available to ship. My guess is no iPads tomorrow and we just get a m3 iMac, and a 14 and 16" pro.
"Cheap" is what you have in some retailers. I would call enterprise / business notebooks "low cost". And these low cost ThinkPads and HP business notebooks are very good, considering the cost. They undergo multiple MIL-STD-810 test procedures. It's nice to have high quality / low cost notebooks / PCs, don't you think?
Lenovo ThinkPad | Military-tested Rugged Laptops | Lenovo US
HP MIL-STD Testing Whitepaper
Besides CAD work, gamers require better graphics and avoid Macs. Windows machines are specifically sought out by gamers and graphic artists.
I do not think any company that is building its own chips and computers should turn a blind eye to these markets or any market. That’s not a good look for a computer company to avoid a market because your machine is not as capable as the competition.
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But to me that just begs the question: why have the event at all? Their stock price will be just fine without another event this year…won’t it??
The last part was snarky (I’m legally not allowed to own their stock), but in all seriousness that’s why this event is so intriguing to me. So many signs pointed to nothing more this year…
Does anyone think an updated Apple TV to align with their gaming push could happen? Maybe it would come with the A17 Pro?
Future proofing. I’m thinking up spec for any AI that may be coming down the pike.
It's really sad to see iMac being pulled away from a capable and versatile home computer, into a mediocre entry level one with no apparent CPU upgrades.
It used to be iMac is the Mac with best price/performance ratio, a middle ground of gaming PC and a true Mac computer.
Now it's a "toy" computer with entry level, old M chip, slowly forgotten, and just like the iPod Touch Apple will kill it unceremoniously.
It used to be iMac is the Mac with best price/performance ratio, a middle ground of gaming PC and a true Mac computer.
Now it's a "toy" computer with entry level, old M chip, slowly forgotten, and just like the iPod Touch Apple will kill it unceremoniously.
I'm thinking the whole event will shock people.
- Tim Cook appears on the screen and says "good evening, we've got an amazing new iMac to show you"
- A slideshow of stills is shown with all the new colors and a quick rundown of the incredible not-new M2 chip.
- A further still shows pricing starts at just $2099 for a 24" M2 iMac with 8GB RAM and a 256 SSD with optional stand.
- This is the best 2023 edition of the 24-inch iMac with M2 we've ever made.
- A huge 5GB of free iCloud storage is available to all new customers signing up for an iCloud account. We think it's the best place to securely store all your webcamography in the cloud.
- A couple minutes later Tim Cook wraps up the show by thanking everyone for tuning in, hoping viewers enjoyed seeing the incredible new iMac, and inviting people to place their orders tomorrow from 8am EST.
- I also have a feeling Tim may declare himself unable to wait to see what you'll do with the power of this truly remarkable new iMac.
When should they update then? Because the iMac is going on 2+ years without an update which is obviously too long.
Also, Macs have good longevity for computer equipment. Your Mac will be a solid machine for years to come. Although, the notebooks definitely deteriorate faster due to the battery.
It will be focused on the m3 chips and gaming related content etc maybe. Curious to see the graphs and charts coz you know vague comparisons will be there and mostly numbers shown for the high spec’ ed out machines.
Oh yeahhhh this could be. It’s just over a year out from release now.
I look forward to selling my current one on eBay and jumping ship to whatever the new one offers.
Midnight coating anyone?
sole new offering, Ethernet port removed
Oh my Dog it’s the return of Silent Hill!!! 😱 macOS Silicon and AppleTV exclusive!
Given collapsing memory and SSD prices, I do hope Apple will finally update all Macs to 16/512 base configuration, without (or with minimal) price increase.
Did this a year ago when M1 Ultra Studio came out, with similar (then) PC components and am so glad I did for the performance (tops!) and price (much more affordable). Still have a MacBook for mobile stuff though.
So the really strange thing is, it really didn't feature much performance either. The single core performance isn't far from the A16 (really even the A14) frankly and the Multicore performance isn't much higher either. GPU performance seems to have only improved in that it scaled up congruent to the extra core, that's hardly earth shattering. The main improvements we got are some AI speed improvements (hard to measure) and RT improvement (hardly super useful for a phone although I imagine those cores also help AI tasks and make more of a difference in macOS). All in all the A17 was super confusing. That said we all thought it's a phone the software is what's super behind not the hardware.
The issue is then do we get BETTER performance out of the M3s than we saw in A17pro or not. The M2 Ultra was not the competitive experience we hoped for against AMD. It failed to catch NVIDA or AMD gpu performance even with 2 M2 Maxes, and it is slower or about the same as the 13900k and the 7950x. The problem is those CPUs PLUS the highest end gpus (built into a system) are closer in price to the M2 Max studio not the M2 Ultra (A 7950x+7900xtx w/32gb of ram and 6tb is under 3k). Even worse, the Threadripper, Epyc, Xenon level chips, the kind normally seen in a Mac Pro, leave the M2 Ultra FAR in the dust. The last gen RTX 3090 is STILL ahead of the M2 Ultra and 4090 is on another planet. the only areas M2 Ultra competes well in would be the areas where apple has a special video encoder and overall video editing. Don't get me wrong the Mac Studio is still a beast and has perf/watt advantages but AMD is closing gaps there while exceeding apple in raw performance and apple needs show us that it has DESKTOP class chips and that it can compete at the high end. Jozwiak saying Nvidia has a good product makes me think apple may not want to compete at the high end but rather focus on perf/watt (for it's best selling Mac the MacBooks) and special encoders.
I will say that in terms of overall experience the MacBooks remain in a league of their own. However for portable (though not quite on the go) raw performance it's different story. Whereas the M1 Max launched highly competitive CPU performance with Solid GPU productivity performance (albeit middling overall gpu performance that was much closer to the low/mid range Nvidia laptop gpu), the M2Pro/Max line launched fairly uncompetitive products in RAW performance. Within months of their launch AMD had a CPU on the market that was in striking distance of the M2 Ultra, on a laptop. SURE you needed be constantly plugged in but depending on workflow that may not matter.
I still overall think we will be happy with the M3 Pro and Max as an overall experience but I am concerned stagnation. Especially as Qualcomm appears to be improving its products rapidly closing in on M-series chips. The shock of all shocks is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 destined for the S24 Ultra, is faster than the A17 pro in all but single core performance. Even takes lead in Ray tracing and this is still just from Qualcomm reference, Samsung and others often have better cooling and optimization/overclocking. Qualcomm's new laptop chip also seems to be competitive and the benefit to the wider market is apple is still perceived as niche and expensive to a lot of people and frankly if Windows on Arm improves like they say it will have M - series battery life but also be able to game.
All this wall of text to really say the M3 Pro and M3 Max will give us the best indication of apple's ability to lead in this segment. I won't say make or break but if they have another M2 level launch, I'm going to have a lot of tough questions to ask about how I want to outfit going forward, doubling down on the Mac ecosystem as I'm currently planning or gradually transitioning back toe PC Windows/Linux platforms where I can expect to benefit from AMD/Intel/Nvidia AND Qualcomm's more rapid advancements while maintaining broad compatibility with software.
I will say the timing makes me think it could be more interesting. I think they may be trying to appeal to games, so a later conference. I think gaming is high likely to be featured here, also possible some gaming aspects of the Vision Pro to generate hype rolling into early 2024.
Most likely the hardware will be the same and just chip updates bc it caught supply china by surprise. I WILL say I question the mbp14 and mbp16 rooms but everyone seems to be lockstep thinking it will be, however we're all expecting more of a chip upgrade cycle for a bunch of iPads+ M3 MBA, Mbp13, and MM. who knows. to say I'm not excited would be a lie. I'm excited but I won't be surprised if it's not AS exciting as many of us hope given the A17pro disappointment (minus RT performance)
