Apple Event - October 18, 2021

[RABid]

Happy about some things, confused about others. The 16" M1X MacBookPro was announced. $2499 so the base price held. I don't think they gave specs on storage or memory, only mentioning max storage and memory. According to the Apple website that gets you 16GB/512. Another thousand bumps it up to 32GB/1TB.

 

They announced 3rd generation Air Pods, in ear version. They showed the over ear Air Pods Max but never actually stated that they were upgraded to 3rd generation or if they already have all of those features. The web site also avoids that information. The basic Air Pods page says 3rd generation. The Air Pods Max page doesn't.

 

Have to say, I did like the music opening this time. Sampling sounds of old Macs, pods, etc.. and making music from it was nice.

[spokenward]

Have to say, I did like the music opening this time. Sampling sounds of old Macs, pods, etc.. and making music from it was nice.

 

 

I was in and out on the presentation. They started up the candy-colored iMac without using the accessory that I associate most with that machine. (Picture attached. I've been going through my folks things and I still feel guilty about putting them into that machine.)

 

I have a gripe that they talk video and color technologies with credible depth and sophistication but they buzzword and cheapen the language for audio technology. My teeth hurt when they said in minute 45. "Its sound ...deafening."

[analogika]

I was in and out on the presentation. They started up the candy-colored iMac without using the accessory that I associate most with that machine. (Picture attached. I've been going through my folks things and I still feel guilty about putting them into that machine.)

I had a bent-open heavy-duty paperclip in my utensil case for decades, but I don't recall ever having used it on my Bondi Rev. A iMac⦠Maybe to get out a stuck disk once or twice.

 

 

I have a gripe that they talk video and color technologies with credible depth and sophistication but they buzzword and cheapen the language for audio technology. My teeth hurt when they said in minute 45. "Its sound ...deafening."

Perfectly appropriate, I thought.

 

The difference is that the video hardware, including the screen, is perfectly adequate for pro-level work, while nobody in the audio business would even begin to consider working seriously with the built-in mics and speakers.

 

Hence "studio-quality" and "hi-fidelity audio" are market-appropriate qualifiers IMO.

[analogika]

They announced 3rd generation Air Pods, in ear version. They showed the over ear Air Pods Max but never actually stated that they were upgraded to 3rd generation or if they already have all of those features. The web site also avoids that information. The basic Air Pods page says 3rd generation. The Air Pods Max page doesn't.

 

This sounds very confused.

 

The AirPods are called "third generation" because they are literally the third version of the AirPods line brought to market. The AirPods Max don't say "3rd generation" because they are still the first revision of that line, and haven't been updated at all since they were brought to market.

 

All the functionality of the AirPods (3rd gen) â except for water resistance â is already available in the AirPods Max.

 

The new AirPods are basically AirPods Pro without the silicone tips and the noise cancellation.

[Anderton]

I was really hoping they'd announce a more "pro" Mac Mini but that's okay, it just means when it does come out, it will be that much more cutting-edge. I know there's a Mac Mini in my future, so now the only question is when. If they were this close to announcing something at the event, then it's probably not too far off.

 

I was disappointed in some of the marketing in their newsroom-type items, though (not at the event itself). When they compared MacBookPro performance to a Windows laptop, it was IIRC a $1,300 Lenovo using the previous generation Intel chip against a decked-out MacBook Pro that cost $3,100. C'mon, guys. The MacBook Pro is good enough on its own.

 

Of course now Intel will cherry-pick their benchmarks to say they're better, gamers will complain about the graphics technology being used in the MacBook Pro, etc. I guess it's all part of the game. Personally, I really didn't need to know more than insanely good battery life, really fast, better display...and can't afford it

[analogika]

I was disappointed in some of the marketing in their newsroom-type items, though (not at the event itself). When they compared MacBookPro performance to a Windows laptop, it was IIRC a $1,300 Lenovo using the previous generation Intel chip against a decked-out MacBook Pro that cost $3,100. C'mon, guys. The MacBook Pro is good enough on its own.

I suppose it makes sense to compare it to what else is available. The Lenovo is $1300, but it runs the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 8 x 3.2 - 4.4 GHz.

 

The graphics they compared to are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 in the MSI GE76 Raider high-end gaming monster "portable".

 

That's not unfair.

[Anderton]

The graphics they compared to are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 in the MSI GE76 Raider high-end gaming monster "portable".

 

That's not unfair.

 

I was only talking about the comparison re performance/speed. It's the gamers who are complaining about the graphics, not me.