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Apple Expected To Announce iPad Pro With USB-C Next Week (bloomberg.com)
Bloomberg highlights all the big announcements expected to be made next week at Apple's October hardware event, such as an iPad Pro with a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port, a MacBook Air successor, and a new Mac Mini. From the report: The update to the iPad Pro will be the most significant in the product's history. The device was originally launched in 2015 in part as a counter-measure to Microsoft's Surface Pro, which gained a following with business users seeking large tablets with support for attachable keyboards and styluses. The iPad Pro models, which have larger screens, better cameras, and faster processors, are more expensive, which has sustained revenue growth. [Some of the new features, according to people familiar with the plans, include a nearly edge-to-edge display with slimmer bezels, a USB-C connector, Face ID, Animojis, a faster processor (variant of the A12 Bionic chip), a custom Apple graphics chip, and an updated Apple Pencil.]
For the Mac, Apple is planning its first wide-ranging upgrades since June 2017. The MacBook Air and Mac mini, a small desktop machine without a screen, have gone several years without notable changes. This, combined with interest in larger smartphones and competing PCs, led Apple to report the fewest Mac sales since 2010 in its fiscal third quarter. [Apple is reportedly planning a new entry-level laptop to replace the aging MacBook Air. It's expected to have a higher-resolution 13-inch screen, as well as slimmer bezels around the display. The Mac mini will have new processors and features for professional users. Apple's also working on refreshed iMacs, iMac Pros, and 12-inch MacBooks with faster processors, and at least some of these updates could be ready for the October launch.] The event's theme is "making," and it will take place in New York City on Tuesday at 10:00am EST.
For the Mac, Apple is planning its first wide-ranging upgrades since June 2017. The MacBook Air and Mac mini, a small desktop machine without a screen, have gone several years without notable changes. This, combined with interest in larger smartphones and competing PCs, led Apple to report the fewest Mac sales since 2010 in its fiscal third quarter. [Apple is reportedly planning a new entry-level laptop to replace the aging MacBook Air. It's expected to have a higher-resolution 13-inch screen, as well as slimmer bezels around the display. The Mac mini will have new processors and features for professional users. Apple's also working on refreshed iMacs, iMac Pros, and 12-inch MacBooks with faster processors, and at least some of these updates could be ready for the October launch.] The event's theme is "making," and it will take place in New York City on Tuesday at 10:00am EST.
This is WHY Apple leads! and the rest follow!
The product has been around less than three years. Does that really qualify as "history"? And isn't every Apple products new update the "most significant in the product's history"? How many times can Apple go to the well with that horseshit?
You are welcome on my lawn.
USB-C is just a trolling rumor, nothing more. What they are actually going to do is introduce a new faster proprietary dongle connector. It doesn't connect to anything directly, just dongles. This is the type of leading innovation that Apple excels at. Because courage.
The device was originally launched in 2015 in part as a counter-measure to Microsoft's Surface Pro
A fine example of how Apple's idea of "innovating" is copying from others and removing features.
ZenPad 3S 10 with USB-C. Already out for a year. Obviously, all mobile tablets and phones are going to USB-C, Apple only follows the herd.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
This is about Apple finally backing down from its proprietary connector and going with the same connector as everybody else. But I bet they will find a way to still be incompatible, this is Apple we're talking about.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
The Mac mini will have new processors and features for professional users.
If anything, this shows how out of touch Apple is. The Mac Mini by its very design goals is not meant to be a pro machine. It's small size it supposed to appeal to consumers who don't want a large tower, and that means considerations for thermal output at the expense of performance. It's not made to be easily user serviceable, does not offer discrete graphics, and it does not have any advanced expandability.
Judging by the current Macbook Pro, I don't think Apple understands what "a machine made for professional use" is. Apparently in a non-portable machine it's
"any computer that requires a separate monitor".
The MacBook Air ..., have gone several years without notable changes
Well, the notable change was that every Apple laptop is now effectively a MacBook Air. Soldered, nonupgradable RAM and SSD, crappy minimal-thickness keyboard, not enough ports.
So what would be a notable change now is a MacBook Pro that is actually aimed at pro users.
(typing this on a 2012 MBP that's festooned with upgrades, and may be my last Apple laptop if they keep going like this)
For the subcategory of software devs that run mainly on some other OS (Linux is also popular in the biomed research - mostly on workstations and servers/compute nodes. Windows is still king in some business settings and with gamedevs), but need to port and test code on Mac OS X (which is *also* popular in biomed research - mostly on on laptops, and some iMacs here and there).
The only legal way to run a licensed OS X (even virtual image) is to run it on Apple hardware (though the license doesn't require it to be the host OS).
Mac Minis are a cheap and simple way to have a legal way to test Mac OS X code, and use extra monitor inputs and/or console switch box and/or VNC to use the Mini alongside the regular workstation. (The expensive alternative way is to use an Apple workstation *as* your work horse)
So being more capable would certainly be appreciated (e.g.: could be easier to run multiple VirtualBoxes with the various versions of Mac OS X you target in tests).
But indeed, it's a very tiny subset of Apple's customers and that serie's intended user base.
Mac Mini were mostly targeted as a "gateway drug to the Apple world" for average PC users (keep all your USB- and HDMI/Displayport- peripherals and only plug a cheap Mini to quickly check if the grass is indeed greener on the other side of the (walled garden's) fence).
So being a cheap and light-weight machine is relevant for maybe 98% of its intended audience.
Most of which won't be interested by beefier specs.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I think I just wet my pants.
Signature deleted by lameness filter.
I hate the clicking keyboard on the Pro, and much prefer the feel of the Macbook Air. Why donâ(TM)t they give customers the option fir different keyboards. Plus the Pro has sometimes problems where it doesnâ(TM)t respond with some keys.
The rumour is based off a software find, not a parts leak. Adding support for USB-C over lightning is far more likely than changing the port. If Apple were going to switch connectors I think the would lead with the iPhone to force peripheral manufacturers to switch first.
Personally, I am glad the EU is looking at mandating connectors. USB-C is clearly the best for most applications.
Are there faster proprietary connections? Sure, but the amount of e-waste generated by all these stupid cables and chargers is just not OK anymore. It is just squandering resources. Especially since, while people love to pretend that they recycle these things, in reality, they don't. They toss it in the bin and then off to the landfill.
This is especially true now that China is no longer accepting the worlds garbage.
I wonder if Bloomberg is publishing these long-swirrling rumors as a news article as a response to Apple uninviting them from the event next Tuesday?
Presumably Apple uninvited them over their shoddy reporting of the fictitious hardware implants in Supermicro's motherboards and the unsubstantiated claim Apple data centers had been compromised.
PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools
My Windows Phone that's a few years old (Alcatel Idol 4S) is USB-C. Yay, Apple?
I don't respond to AC's.
Too little, too late.
My last ipad started dying, so I've already switched to a Galaxy Tab A. Same or better specs, at half the cost. ($205 online)
2GB RAM, 32GB storage (the T580 international version)
10.1" 1900 x 1280 screen (a bit bigger than the ipad)
Bluetooth, NFC, etc etc
And it comes with a normal micro-USB port, a normal headphone jack, and a memory-expansion micro-SD card slot (filled with a 64GB chip).
All that for $200 (plus $15 for a 64GB sd card). A basic iPad Air with 32GB is going to be nearly double that.
All in all, better than the ipad for less money, plus it's expandable and you can charge it from any USB port- no proprietary Apple cable required.
The only downside is that there's no equivalent for the Zagg Rugged Book keyboard/case. It's the best keyboard/case combination in the world at any price as far as I'm concerned. Super rugged case, awesome keyboard, simply the best I've ever seen hands down.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Wouldn't it be a kick in the pants if they show how well the iPad/iPad Pro have sold since 2015 compared to the experiment at Microsoft called Surface. Let that sink in and the stock holders figure out where that 50billion in R&D went.... LOL
For being so good at making business decisions in the 80's and 90's it shure look like Microsoft can't make something without wrecking it.
Your Average Joe
With so many accessories using lightning port, it would seem more logical to add a USB C port then replace the lightning port.
Can you name a Lightning port accessory that does not already have a "made for mac" equivalent? USB-C has been the only port on Apple laptops for some time now and this has led to the creation of a large number of accessories for them, many made by Apple itself. The only thing I can think of that Apple does not make both a USB-C and Lightning version of a dongle is the audio adapter, and that's easily rectified with introducing such a dongle. This would likely be the last straw on having a 1/8" headphone port on laptops.
Personally I would want mouse support so more apps can become more like their desktop counterparts. Otherwise I would buy a Surface Pro which supports full blown apps and mouse input or other input devices. If your going to call something "pro" Apple. It has to do a lot more then it does.
If you want a laptop with a touch screen then buy one of those. If you want a tablet computer then get one of those. I don't see how the Surface Pro is superior than the Apple since it also lacks both a Lightning port and USB-C.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
So much hate. So much retardation.
So now you will need an adapter to charge the goddamn "it's not a stylus we would never do such a thing" stylus
I thought the MB pro came wit 2 USB ports?
Both the 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros have FOUR USB-C/TB3 Ports. Those can be expanded to up to FIFTY-TWO "Legacy" Ports.
Do that with ANY other laptop.
Why would you need to? Most of those other laptops have fifty-two legacy ports built-in. :-D
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Why would you need to? Most of those other laptops have fifty-two legacy ports built-in. :-D
Really? Name ONE.
HDMI. :-D
Always be precise about what you're asking me to name.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
HDMI. :-D
Always be precise about what you're asking me to name.
Just one of the FIFTY TWO (Simultaneous) Ports you can have with a USB-C/TB3 equipped MacBook Pro.