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Latest predictions about forthcoming M1 Mac laptops


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Rumors are circulating about new M1 MacBook Pro models on the way; a couple of industry insiders (whose track records for predicting new products and features are very good) have predicted several improvements to the new machines, combined with a few critical design walkbacks.

 

First and perhaps foremost is the return of MagSafe. As someone who used to travel all the time before the pandemic and who anticipates getting back to it, one of my main objections to Mac laptops built over the past several years is that the wholesale adoption of USB-C has taken away the surprisingly life-saving MagSafe connector. The most reliable prognosticators, including Ming Kuo, have said that Apple looks like it will be returning to MagSafe, with a dedicated port that will allow much faster recharging than USB-C while also providing the beloved and much-missed safety feature. Anyone who thinks it's silly to get excited over this has never tripped over a cable on a crowded stage and yanked their laptop off their rig and onto the floor at high velocity.

 

There are also rumors that expanded connectivity will return to some or all of these models, including an SD card slot â who knew that people still needed to offload data from video cams and drones? â and possibly even a legacy USB-A port (although the latter isn't likely).

 

The well-liked scissor-switch Magic Keyboard action has already completely replaced the horrific butterfly-switch key design used in recent MacBooks, and a return to butterfly designs is about as likely as Apple throwing away the M1 and moving back to Intel. :)

 

Less important to most folks: at least one of the models is removing the Touch Bar, and it is possible that this technology will be entirely eliminated as a failed experiment. It simply never caught on, and the phase-out should have been obvious from the moment it was introduced â sales of the "cheap" MacBook Pro with no Touch Bar were huge compared to the new models, and there was no groundswell of support for something that combined unclear future improvements with immediately unpleasant working experience. The walkback began with the return of a physical Escape key on recent designs. The first M1 MacBook Pro still has a Touch Bar, but the new Air doesn't; it may be going the way of the dodo.

 

They're also talking about slightly larger 14" and 16" models, a slight case redesign, improved displays, and of course the faster "M1X" chips.

 

Best guess is that these new lappys will be introduced sometime this month, certainly well before WWDC in June. The primary problem with waiting for these new models is that with Apple, you never know the wait time until the products are officially announced. Sometimes they're shipping on the day of the announcement, sometimes they're weeks or months away. In this case the latter seems to be true; right now the best guess at shipping dates is Q3 2021. I plan to wait, as I want to vote with my wallet for all these sensible features.

 

Apple sometimes takes a while to admit it's screwed up, but it almost never doubles down on bad design decisions when evidence piles up that things need to be changed. In this case, there are some tweaks that are relevant to traveling musicians who rely on these machines, and overall, the era of Jony Ive crooning "amazingly thin and light" right before taking away much-needed features and functions is thankfully gone for good.

 

I hope folks find this useful.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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I'd treat all those rumours with caution.

 

First and perhaps foremost is the return of MagSafe. As someone who used to travel all the time before the pandemic and who anticipates getting back to it, one of my main objections to Mac laptops built over the past several years is that the wholesale adoption of USB-C has taken away the surprisingly life-saving MagSafe connector. The most reliable prognosticators, including Ming Kuo, have said that Apple looks like it will be returning to MagSafe, with a dedicated port that will allow much faster recharging than USB-C while also providing the beloved and much-missed safety feature.

I call at least partial bull.

 

"Much faster recharging" than 100W? Probably not with currently existing battery tech, and I find it unlikely that they'll build a power supply with substantially more than 100W. If the new machines charge faster, it'll be because they come with 97W power supplies but use significantly less energy.

 

Also note that iPhones come with "MagSafe", and it has nothing to do with the MagSafe of the old MacBooks except for magnetic docking. It's a puck that attaches to the back and charges significantly more *slowly* than the wired charging can. Nothing "Safer" about it either.

 

So it's just a trademark referring to a magnetic inductive charging port at this point. I wouldn't hold my breath for it to be a rebirth of the old MagSafe cable, and I definitely wouldn't count on it replacing USB-C charging.

 

There are also rumors that expanded connectivity will return to some or all of these models, including an SD card slot â who knew that people still needed to offload data from video cams and drones? â and possibly even a legacy USB-A port (although the latter isn't likely).

This is another weird one that makes no sense to me. I don't see Apple cluttering up their 'Books with a slot useful only to a subset of professional photographers so busy that they stand to gain a lot from swapping out cards rather than hooking up the camera directly via USB.

 

If this happens, I figure because they've found another use case. We'll see.

 

The well-liked scissor-switch Magic Keyboard action has already completely replaced the horrific butterfly-switch key design used in recent MacBooks, and a return to butterfly designs is about as likely as Apple throwing away the M1 and moving back to Intel. :)

 

I love my 2016 butterfly MBP keyboard and actually prefer it to the newer ones. *shrug*

 

Less important to most folks: at least one of the models is removing the Touch Bar, and it is possible that this technology will be entirely eliminated as a failed experiment. It simply never caught on, and the phase-out should have been obvious from the moment it was introduced â sales of the "cheap" MacBook Pro with no Touch Bar were huge compared to the new models, and there was no groundswell of support for something that combined unclear future improvements with immediately unpleasant working experience. The walkback began with the return of a physical Escape key on recent designs. The first M1 MacBook Pro still has a Touch Bar, but the new Air doesn't; it may be going the way of the dodo.

 

This would be a real shame. I miss the TouchBar whenever I'm in the studio and the 'Book is up on the siderack. I was really hoping for an external Magic Keyboard with backlight and a TouchBarâ¦

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Also, current state of the rumour mill is that the April event will be for iPads, AirPods 3, and maybe the new tracking tags called AirTags.

 

New MacBooks aren't really expected until WWDC in June at this point.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Perfect, I am hoping to buy a used Mac in 2023 or 2024.

I haven't really used the portability feature of my laptop yet so I have time to find out if it's just a smaller thingie that sits there.

If so, by then the Mac Mini might really rock or I'll go back to an iMac. Meanwhile, I'm getting by for now.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I'd treat all those rumours with caution.

 

First and perhaps foremost is the return of MagSafe. As someone who used to travel all the time before the pandemic and who anticipates getting back to it, one of my main objections to Mac laptops built over the past several years is that the wholesale adoption of USB-C has taken away the surprisingly life-saving MagSafe connector. The most reliable prognosticators, including Ming Kuo, have said that Apple looks like it will be returning to MagSafe, with a dedicated port that will allow much faster recharging than USB-C while also providing the beloved and much-missed safety feature.

I call at least partial bull.

 

"Much faster recharging" than 100W? Probably not with currently existing battery tech, and I find it unlikely that they'll build a power supply with substantially more than 100W. If the new machines charge faster, it'll be because they come with 97W power supplies but use significantly less energy.

 

Also note that iPhones come with "MagSafe", and it has nothing to do with the MagSafe of the old MacBooks except for magnetic docking. It's a puck that attaches to the back and charges significantly more *slowly* than the wired charging can. Nothing "Safer" about it either.

 

So it's just a trademark referring to a magnetic inductive charging port at this point. I wouldn't hold my breath for it to be a rebirth of the old MagSafe cable, and I definitely wouldn't count on it replacing USB-C charging.

Well, Ming usually gets his hands on design documents and parts orders, so his feature predictions tend to be more spot-on than others. However, considering what a complete dud iPhone MagSafe has been to date, I would be astonished if they tried to put that system to work on a laptop with a big battery. Also, it's vanishingly unlikely that they'll remove USB-C charging; this would just be a much-welcomed added option.

 

There are also rumors that expanded connectivity will return to some or all of these models, including an SD card slot â who knew that people still needed to offload data from video cams and drones? â and possibly even a legacy USB-A port (although the latter isn't likely).

This is another weird one that makes no sense to me. I don't see Apple cluttering up their 'Books with a slot useful only to a subset of professional photographers so busy that they stand to gain a lot from swapping out cards rather than hooking up the camera directly via USB.

 

If this happens, I figure because they've found another use case. We'll see.

This isn't for "a subset of professional photographers". This is for every amateur YouTuber collecting videos for anything and using gear with SD card storage. Use of SD has multiplied manyfold since the pandemic and shows no signs of slowing down; a Mac with such a slot will be acknowledging that Apple was too fast off the mark when it came to losing this feature and recognizes that.

 

The well-liked scissor-switch Magic Keyboard action has already completely replaced the horrific butterfly-switch key design used in recent MacBooks, and a return to butterfly designs is about as likely as Apple throwing away the M1 and moving back to Intel. :)

 

I love my 2016 butterfly MBP keyboard and actually prefer it to the newer ones. *shrug*

Shrug indeed. You're not alone; there are some people who adore the butterfly action and who haven't had keyboard failures. As someone who makes his living on a QWERTY, my personal preference is for something that lets me type rapidly, comfortably, and accurately for long periods, and the butterfly action made me want to shoot myself. Horses for courses.

 

Less important to most folks: at least one of the models is removing the Touch Bar, and it is possible that this technology will be entirely eliminated as a failed experiment. It simply never caught on, and the phase-out should have been obvious from the moment it was introduced â sales of the "cheap" MacBook Pro with no Touch Bar were huge compared to the new models, and there was no groundswell of support for something that combined unclear future improvements with immediately unpleasant working experience. The walkback began with the return of a physical Escape key on recent designs. The first M1 MacBook Pro still has a Touch Bar, but the new Air doesn't; it may be going the way of the dodo.

 

This would be a real shame. I miss the TouchBar whenever I'm in the studio and the 'Book is up on the siderack. I was really hoping for an external Magic Keyboard with backlight and a TouchBarâ¦

That's highly unlikely, considering the relative unpopularity of the Touch Bar and the tech involved in putting one on a keyboard with no direction to the logic board and graphics engine.

 

And as for treating the rumors with caution: of course we treat rumors with caution, if we're being sensible. They're RUMORS. But one can hope...

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Looks consistent with what I read here:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/02/08/buyers-guide-dont-buy-macbook-pro-now/

 

I took a look at that after buying the upgrade to Ableton Live 11.

 

I haven't had my own laptop since my Macbook Pro motherboard went kaput in 2013 or thereabouts. I replaced it with an iMac because I was tired of changing Macbook Pro batteries which wear out every couple of years. But now I'm jones for a laptop again.

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Looks consistent with what I read here:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/02/08/buyers-guide-dont-buy-macbook-pro-now/

 

I took a look at that after buying the upgrade to Ableton Live 11.

 

I haven't had my own laptop since my Macbook Pro motherboard went kaput in 2013 or thereabouts. I replaced it with an iMac because I was tired of changing Macbook Pro batteries which wear out every couple of years. But now I'm jones for a laptop again.

I love the complaint and response in the comics section:

 

"Why are you publishing a buyer's guide based on rumors?!"

 

"Dude, this site is buyersguide.macrumors.com."

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Looks consistent with what I read here:

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/02/08/buyers-guide-dont-buy-macbook-pro-now/

 

I took a look at that after buying the upgrade to Ableton Live 11.

 

I haven't had my own laptop since my Macbook Pro motherboard went kaput in 2013 or thereabouts. I replaced it with an iMac because I was tired of changing Macbook Pro batteries which wear out every couple of years. But now I'm jones for a laptop again.

I love the complaint and response in the comics section:

 

"Why are you publishing a buyer's guide based on rumors?!"

 

"Dude, this site is buyersguide.macrumors.com."

 

Man, that Ming-Chi Kuo guy gets no respect, heh. I can't recall a time that I checked Macrumors and didn't see his name.

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Laptops make me feel as if I'm trying to play on one of Ronaldo Lopes Teixeira's accurate mini-models of the CS-80. I bought several old-style Apple keyboards as reserves because the micro model they include now is a joke under my giant piano hands. I live by the mouse and I'll die by the mouse. :taz:

 

If I played live, I'd have to use a Mac Mini, because a laptop would bollix my multitasking gland. Its just a form factor thing for me. That and the madness over the batteries. A desktop still feels like the best middle ground. The battery won't suddenly explode, I can't drop it in the toilet and I can enlarge the view of most things by a notch to avoid squinting. Miniaturization doesn't wow me for its own sake. I prefer real estate. Bleary old synthesists get it. :D

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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I think primarily in terms of live work for laptops. I work on bigger machines in the studio.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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In the case of company-provided laptops, I was almost always provided with big monitor screens for use in an office environment. I was also provided with the necessary equipment to connect said monitors to the laptop.

 

That is the common way to get around the laptop screen being too small for one's liking.

 

I was also usually provided with a separate keyboard with numpad, and yes, the cables and whatever to connect said keyboard to laptop as well.

 

In case anyone asks, why did my employers tend to give me a laptop for work instead of a "full powered desktop"? Because it's a setup, that's why. Sets me up to be ordered by my boss to take the laptop home, so that when I get called at 4AM because of some emergency at work I can log on. Giving the employee a laptop allows the employer more control as far as configuring the laptop to connect to the company network with as little friction as possible.

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In the case of company-provided laptops, I was almost always provided with big monitor screens for use in an office environment. I was also provided with the necessary equipment to connect said monitors to the laptop.

 

That is the common way to get around the laptop screen being too small for one's liking.

 

I was also usually provided with a separate keyboard with numpad, and yes, the cables and whatever to connect said keyboard to laptop as well.

 

I have big screens for my laptop, must have item. I can get by with the keyboard but I do have a couple of full sized Apple keyboards that work if I want one.

I'm using a 27" LG monitor for my studio space. Found it at Goodwill for $30 works perfectly. There are better monitors but not at that price.

 

Still pondering the Mac Mini but I want them to offer more than 16 gigs of RAM. I have that and it's enough but not by much. 32 or 64 should do the trick for my needs.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Still pondering the Mac Mini but I want them to offer more than 16 gigs of RAM. I have that and it's enough but not by much. 32 or 64 should do the trick for my needs.

Kuru, there is not yet a real understanding of what "16 GB RAM" means on Apple Silicon, because the memory is so tightly integrated into the chip package. People are discovering that often 16 GB seems to behave like 32 GB or even 64 GB on an Intel package. I have heard from a couple of folks saying that even 8 GB is kicking ass where they thought they'd need much more.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Still pondering the Mac Mini but I want them to offer more than 16 gigs of RAM. I have that and it's enough but not by much. 32 or 64 should do the trick for my needs.

Kuru, there is not yet a real understanding of what "16 GB RAM" means on Apple Silicon, because the memory is so tightly integrated into the chip package. People are discovering that often 16 GB seems to behave like 32 GB or even 64 GB on an Intel package. I have heard from a couple of folks saying that even 8 GB is kicking ass where they thought they'd need much more.

 

Just one of many reasons why I am typically a "waiter" regarding jumping in with both feet on new computing systems.

Time substantiates where the good stuff is. If 16 gigs does it then I'm all in.

 

If possible, I prefer to avoid learning new things like "getting things to play nice and just work".

I've had enough of that getting the remote work station up and running. All is well now but...

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I have a few points.

 

I find it odd that people are saying things like, "next M1 Macs" when we don't know what Apple's naming and chip strategy is, but we do know what Apple generally calls them, Apple Silicon Macs. Who knows if the next batch of Apple Silicon Macs will be M1, M1X, or M2. (I did see someone say they were going to be A14X or something like that, and we know that is very unlikely. Apple has been clear about naming their Silicon based on where they use it, and the A-series processors go in iOS-based devices [that includes tvOS]).

 

As far as the SD card slot, iMac models including the iMac Pro have SD card slots, so I don't see that as out of the question for new MacBooks Pro at all.

 

I really like TouchBar in concept but it never really took off. OTOH, I hardly touch function keys either, and that's largely because I don't know what they're doing most of the time. I do use TouchBar for Music playback and control, so it is nice to see what's available to me when I look for it. I also like having TouchID to unlock the computer. I bet Apple knows how many people are using TouchBar at all and if it's truly worth keeping. I do think it's better than function keys.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I have a few points.

 

I find it odd that people are saying things like, "next M1 Macs" when we don't know what Apple's naming and chip strategy is, but we do know what Apple generally calls them, Apple Silicon Macs. Who knows if the next batch of Apple Silicon Macs will be M1, M1X, or M2. (I did see someone say they were going to be A14X or something like that, and we know that is very unlikely. Apple has been clear about naming their Silicon based on where they use it, and the A-series processors go in iOS-based devices [that includes tvOS]).

 

As far as the SD card slot, iMac models including the iMac Pro have SD card slots, so I don't see that as out of the question for new MacBooks Pro at all.

 

I really like TouchBar in concept but it never really took off. OTOH, I hardly touch function keys either, and that's largely because I don't know what they're doing most of the time. I do use TouchBar for Music playback and control, so it is nice to see what's available to me when I look for it. I also like having TouchID to unlock the computer. I bet Apple knows how many people are using TouchBar at all and if it's truly worth keeping. I do think it's better than function keys.

 

 

Never tried the Touch Bar but the only buttons I use in the top row are Escape and the On button, the ones on the ends. You got me looking at them though, There is a "rewind to start", "play/stop" and "fast forward to end (fraught with peril if you hit it on your DAW without trimming the end point first!!!!!". The rest just looks like a bunch of stuff...

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I have not used a Touch Bar Macbook, but I have used the function buttons on my workplace Macbooks with IDEs like Eclipse, Netbeans, to debug code.

 

Given my hit-and-miss history with touchscreens and the like, I am in favor of waiting for a non-Touchbar Macbook Pro, regardless of the name assigned to it.

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Less important to most folks: at least one of the models is removing the Touch Bar, and it is possible that this technology will be entirely eliminated as a failed experiment. It simply never caught on, and the phase-out should have been obvious from the moment it was introduced â sales of the "cheap" MacBook Pro with no Touch Bar were huge compared to the new models, and there was no groundswell of support for something that combined unclear future improvements with immediately unpleasant working experience. The walkback began with the return of a physical Escape key on recent designs. The first M1 MacBook Pro still has a Touch Bar, but the new Air doesn't; it may be going the way of the dodo.

 

This would be a real shame. I miss the TouchBar whenever I'm in the studio and the 'Book is up on the siderack. I was really hoping for an external Magic Keyboard with backlight and a TouchBarâ¦

That's highly unlikely, considering the relative unpopularity of the Touch Bar and the tech involved in putting one on a keyboard with no direction to the logic board and graphics engine.

Yeah, I know. At this point, it *is* unlikely, sadly. Had they doubled down initially, added a TouchBar to every machine and chopped off the left for a dedicated escape key to shut up the coders, and built a standard external keyboard with TouchBar, we wouldn't be having this conversation, as individual developers wouldn't debate the value of supporting it.

 

The TouchBar is really, really nice when it's supported. Scrubbing through audio/video, dedicated (and visually obvious) controls in MainStage (Hello Panic Button!) and Logic, context-dependent interfacesâ¦

 

Some of the basic things like Emoji or the smartphone-derived text predictions never really worked for me (text prediction? when I'm typing, I don't look at the keyboard. At all. WTH?).

 

Like 3D Touch on the iPhones, there are some contexts where it is genuinely really, really useful. I will miss it. As I said, I already miss it every day I'm in the studio and work from an external keyboard.

 

 

P.S.: Still hate that since 3D Touch on iOS was killed, there is no way to access phone shortcuts with a single press. It used to be force-press the phone icon â tap on favourite to call.

Now, it's tap on phone icon, stop to look which view is opened (dialler, call history, voicemail, favourites, or contacts). See if the desired contact might be visible already, if not, tap on Favourites, THEN tap on a favourite to call. GTFO.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Believe me, I really do miss 3D Touch! I still have an old iPhone 6S with it, just for those rare occasions when I want a multi touch controller that understands pressure.

 

As you say, there are always going to be some people who miss every feature, even if most folks don"t.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Everyone thinks we'll see new iPads. Almost everyone thinks that's going to be all we see. A few people, myself included, think there will be announcements of new MacBook Pro models. NOBODY thinks they'll announce a firm ship date for them.

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Clearly when Macrumors said the new Macbook Pros are coming later this year, they really did mean later this year - or at least, later than April 20, 2021.

 

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/02/08/buyers-guide-dont-buy-macbook-pro-now/

 

I missed this part

 

Release Date

 

Multiple sources have placed the new MacBook Pro's launch timeframe in the second half of 2021, with Kuo zoning in on the third quarter of 2021. This means that we could see the updated MacBook Pros arrive as soon as July.

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The iMac was actually a very nice surprise. I'd probably still go with a Mini, but that form factor is tempting. If only they made a wired keyboard for it. Sigh.

 

The new iPad Pro is kind of stunning if you consider what's in there and what it can do. Now we're talking major-league convergence...

 

I am still primarily looking at the new Air as my first USB-C iOS device, because I hate Face ID and the button-based Touch ID is terribly sweet. Also, the form factor is good for me, the Pros are a bit big. (Or I'll see what the next Mini looks like...)

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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I hate Face ID

Sorry if you've mentioned this before, but why?

 

Here's a trippy thought about these new iMacs. From Daring Fireball/John Gruber:

 

These new iMacs are just 11.5mm thick. How thin is that? Apple Watch Series 6 is 10.7mm thick. These new iMacs are less than 1mm thicker than a goddamned Apple Watch.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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The iMac was actually a very nice surprise. I'd probably still go with a Mini, but that form factor is tempting. If only they made a wired keyboard for it. Sigh.

They offer a full keyboard with number pad and Touch ID, and there is no reason not to keep it tethered with the lightning cable if you so desire.

 

It is, for all intensive porpoises, a wired keyboard.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Huh. I thought that cable was only for charging, not data. The more you know!

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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