But with yesterday’s announcements, which include the powerful and port-rich Mac Studio and a new monitor that costs a fraction of the price of Apple’s previous attempt, Apple is now consistently doling out consumer-friendly features its fans have been calling for.
Apple’s focus on the pro markets is definitely commendable: with the Mac Studio, MacBook Pro, and forthcoming Mac Pro, it’s clear that they take that audience seriously. But I’m hoping the prosumer story has more to it than just “M1 or bust.”
It’s not that the M1 Ultra required a beefier power supply (which isn’t an unfair assumption) or that the fans are powerful enough to push down the scale, as one Twitter user joked. It’s that it’s got a heavier metal — at room temperature, copper is 8.96 grams per cubic centimeter, whereas aluminum is a svelte 2.70 grams. That means that, if the design of the heatsinks is exactly the same, the copper version would be over three times heavier than the aluminum one.
That has led some users to wonder what happens, if anything, when a fourth-generation iPad Air or iPad mini 6 is connected to the Studio Display. Apple has now confirmed to MacRumors that these two devices output to the 5K-capable display in a downscaled 1440p resolution.
Apple’s site says that its new 27-inch, 5K Studio Display is compatible with a wide range of Macs (and even some iPads), but the company has also told The Verge that it should also work fine when plugged into a Windows PC. There are a few caveats, of course, but if your PC is capable of outputting to it, the Studio Display should act like any normal monitor with a built-in webcam and speakers.
Then, in 2017, at the age of 82, Ms. Wakamiya wanted a game app in which “seniors could beat young people.” And a high tech executive encouraged her to do it herself: She learned to code and launched Hinadan, a game featuring traditional Japanese dolls that users must move – puzzle-like – into positions according to roles. It has been released in five languages.
Ms. Wakamiya says she’s realized that in Japan’s culture of perfectionism, many people are simply so afraid of failure they won’t try something new: “There are no such things as failures. To just start something new is deemed a success because you still learn in the process.”
As rumors point to a new redesigned Mac mini coming soon, 9to5Mac has learned from sources that Apple is developing two new versions of it: one with M2 and one with the M2 Pro chip.
Perhaps this is a trap that Apple's deliberately set, in a subtle bid to upsell me the iPad Pro when I set out knowing it was probably too powerful for my everyday usage habits. But I find it weird that I've ended up here just because I just want an average amount of storage. The flashier features of the iPad Pro have always appealed to me, but I was happy to do without them for a well-priced 128GB iPad Air that turns out doesn't exist.
The new PopSockets JumpStart is a portable battery charger that comes as one of the firm's famous pop-out grips for an iPhone.
MLB’s deal with Apple, and the forthcoming one with Peacock, are an indication that MLB may have found a replacement for that sweet, sweet RSN money—streaming services. Does this mean that we may enter a period where you’ll need multiple streaming services to see your favorite team? Probably so. Just like you need multiple streaming services to watch all your favorite shows.
I imagine this will all shake out eventually, and fans of a particular team will be able to buy a single product and guarantee that they’ll see every single game, no matter whether they are in that team’s market or outside of it. But it’s going to take years, and the winding down of a whole lot of RSN contracts, before things clear up.
But let’s talk about the $30 number because it’s the one that keeps popping up. $30 is how much extra you had to pay for a 5G-equipped iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 if you didn’t buy it from the right carriers in the US. It’s also the price increase from the $399 non-5G iPhone SE in 2020 to the $429 iPhone SE in 2022, and it’s estimated to be the premium Apple has to pay to put 5G into those phones. It’s almost as if Apple is simply just passing on the additional cost of building a 5G phone directly to its customers.
It’s not like Apple has a lot of choices, either. When it comes to 5G modems, Qualcomm is one of the only real options around, and everyone knows it.
And that’s when I realized, maybe these machines shouldn’t be wrapped in anonymous aluminum. Or colorful candy shells. Maybe Apple should use this moment to bring back an old idea—an idea from 2000—and make them clear. Maybe Apple should celebrate the maximalist hardware lurking inside these machines, rather than hiding it away.
No, I'm not buying anything from Apple this time round. I'm not a studio kind of person that can afford a studio kind of money. I'll wait and see what's next for the Mac mini. Hopefully, it's not just a simple boring replacement of the M1 chip with the M2.
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Thanks for reading.