They do : there's a new high end, single socket for Skylake-X (i7) and Skylake-W (Xeon, but the same). As opposed to supporting dual sockets or more. The Skylake-W will have 48 PCIe lanes. Thing is, it's for mid 2017, so this gonna be a long boring wait still unless Apple is first to the market launching with that CPU.
Before, I used to assume Apple would re-launch the Mac Pro with Broadwell-E, skipping the Haswell-E generation, but nothing came out.
Perhaps there wasn't enough performance improvement with the Broadwell E (wasn't Broadwell mostly about better GPU and power usage/control, neither of which mean anything to a Mac Pro)?
Good to hear about the Skylake-W, though. I think Apple was waiting for TB3 to come out, with a CPU with the PCI-e lanes to support it, before updating the Pro. Apple probably has Engineering Samples of those new Xeons at this point; so maybe it's a work-in-progress. Here's to hoping!!! But no one wants to suffer The Osborne Effect by pre-announcing a product under development too soon... I have heard they have "archived" the Support documents for the late 2013 Mac Pro; which is either a very good, or very bad, sign...
The new MBP is a powerful computer, and more powerful than its predecessor for sure. It looks forward several years in advance. The problem is that it is a hassle to use today if you travel between multiple locations: you either need a charger/dock at each location, or you need a bunch of dongles. The dongle issue was not solved gracefully by Apple at least offering a first party docking solution. This isn't a computer for my needs, and it isn't a computer for anyone in my family, stock be damned.
We will see what happens in March/April, but really these products are very old now.
Beyond hardware, you have the issue that the iPhone works very poorly with the combination of Outlook and GMail, and the system lacks cohesion now. It doesn't "just work." I didn't recommend Apple products because of my stock position... I recommended them because they worked and made life better.
The port issue is a false and very temporary bogeyman. It just is. The move to USB-C/TB3 is happening INDUSTRY-WIDE, (Google "laptops with TB3") with dozens and dozens of laptops sporting that port configuration. And guess what? Laptops by other industry-leaders such as Dell that have ONLY USB-C ports (even with and without TB3, I think) have started to appear. So, if Apple is inconveniencing users right now, so are other OEMs. The only thing that Dell did that was smarter than Apple was to include ONE measly USB-C to USB-A adapter "in the box". If Apple would have done that, maybe people wouldn't have whined so much... NOT!!!
I'm not sure what your problem is with your iPhone and Outlook and Gmail, seriously.
My Outlook Folders were created automagically on my iPhone, and my Outlook Calendar events, with reminders, automatically add themselves to my Calender on my phone. I did nothing to set that all up. It "just happened". And when my work switched to Office365, the integration got even better...
Similarly, I don't have any issues with Gmail on my iPhone. It also seems to "just work". In fact, especially considering neither of those are Apple products, I am quite amazed how well iOS integrates with those two services.
Yes, but in the Android ecosystem there's actually different manufacturers, leading to a choice. You don't have that in the iOS ecosystem.
...and as I have said before, they all follow Samsung (who follows Apple). So, in about 2 years, you won't be able to find a smartphone that you would want to buy that still has a 3.5 mm jack. Everything will be USB-C (including Apple).
- new hardware decisions make it difficult to use existing peripherals (music is a hobby - no way am I dropping a few grand on new audio interfaces just b/c I upgraded my Mac and need to support new ports)
This is your lucky day!
Yes, it is just a little odd; but you can daisy-chain two Adapters to achieve USB-C to FW800, for far less than a new interface would cost.
Mac pro got to thin and the lack of loop back cable system for TB like other pro workstations boxed them in.
The PSU does not have the power to run the system at full load and also the heat limits it as well plus only 1 cpu also limits the pci-e lanes to a point where they only have 1 storage port.
Right now getting TB3 in there will be hard with out adding more pci-e switches (with video cards taking an bandwidth cut down) / adding an cpu / cutting down to 1 video card (still needs an pci-e switch to feed out the pci-e from the X16 for 1 video card).
They should of keep the tower or even went bigger if just to hide the DP to TB card cables.
Or maybe, just maybe, Intel could get off their butts, and update the Xeon to have more/faster PCI-e lanes?
Well, yeah. Apple is the most profitable company in existence. R&D is an expense. So they could be spending a lot more on R&D. But then they would only be profitable and not the most profitable, which I guess is unacceptable to them.
If Apple's not careful, they can wind up as another Blackberry. Short term profits are nice, but can blind you to long term trends.
Actually, if the response to the 2016 MacBook Pro is any judge, the last thing people want is innovation.
TouchBar: "Wahhh! I want my generally-useless-in-MacOS-Applications-F-Keys-Back!"; "Wahhh! Emoji Bar", "Wahh! Gimmick".
USB-C/TB 3 Ports with 80 Gbps of multifunction I/O and the ability to drive FOUR external 4k, or TWO external 5k, displays: "Wahh! I don't want to spend $2.50 on a USB-C to USB-A Adapter!" "Wahhh! Apple wants to make money on DONGLES!" "Wahhh! I want my Ethernet Port Back, even though I haven't used anything but WiFi for the past 5 years!" "Wahhh! I want my SD Reader Back, even though I haven't used it but once!"
Industry-leading SSD: "Wahhh! It's SOLDERED, I can't stand that, even though I haven't Upgraded a Drive in a Laptop in the past TEN years". Same for Soldered RAM.
Loss of MagSafe: Well, I'm with ya on that one...
So, with the fact that we're essentially done with Moore's Law at this point, until someone comes up with a new form of Physics, true innovation is getting harder and harder to come by in the computer-field in the past few years.
But when Dell, Lenovo, MS, HP, et al, churns out the same stuff, year after year, nobody bitches; because we don't EXPECT them to INNOVATE. But Apple is EXPECTED to keep on wowing the crowds with ever-faster performance (when the underlying technologies out of their control are running out of grow-room), unique and innovative features (but simultaneously never remove or replace ANY of the old stuff!), and release products that are all things to all people (which I submit the new MBPs come pretty close to being, at least in the I/O department), every single year.
You supply email in text and HTML format because people who do real and meaningful work on desktops and laptops want to see the text, not HTML. these are the same people who still use real F keys, a real escape key, and consider removing the headphones from a cellphone a form of jackassery, not bravery.
Nice way to embrace change, Luddite.
Oh, I forgot: Self-Righteous, Egotistical, Luddite.
Not everyone cums when they caress a Model "M" keyboard; nor thinks that the 3.5 mm headphone jack is the pinnacle of engineering excellence, and dare not change. Ever.
Anecdotal as it may be I know of several people who were waiting to upgrade their iPhone when 7 came out and decided to get a Samsung device because of the headphone jack.
Boy will they feel foolish next go-round with Samsung...
Pithy example, but my company switched to iPhones (back in the day) because of me, our sole Mac user; Apple no longer makes a computer well suited for my personal needs. This leads to erosion in core markets over time, and is hard to recover from.
Exactly. I switched my entire family, and all my in-laws, from PCs to Macs years ago. There are thousands of stories like yours, where one or two people on the upper end of the user bell curve led an entire community or company to switch by proselytizing the Apple experience. If Apple stops manufacturing laptops and desktops that those power users want to buy, the drop in Apple's marketshare will be increased by orders of magnitude.
So, whip out those proselytizing skills to show your family why the 2016 MacBook Pro is better (much better!) than its predecessors.
So, sure... there is no profit to be had in a better Mac Pro, or a laptop that has built in Ethernet, or whatever.
The only thing that they can do right now with the Mac Pro is make it join the USB-C/TB 3 crowd (which I expect they will do this year), and possibly upgrade the GPU and SSD. From what I understand, there really ISN'T a better Xeon CPU than it already has, which of course isn't Apple's fault; but yet the blame gets laid at Apple's feet.
As for the MacBook Pro, in Apple's "mind", they did upgrade it, quite significantly, even over the 2015 model, to wit:
1. Much better thermal management, meaning that the CPU can run faster for far longer than in the 2015 model.
2. Fastest SSD in the industry. Benchmarks show faster than any other SSD.
3. Unique 5k Internal Display, with the Unique ability to drive TWO additional 5k, or FOUR additional 4k, External Displays. No other laptop comes close.
4. 80 Gbps of Raw I/O bandwidth in four identical, interchangeable, multifunction USB-C/TB 3 Ports. No other laptop comes close.
5. Unique-in-the-industry multitouch input device. No other laptop has it.
6. Touch ID.
Say what you will about these changes, they are decidedly not "fluff". They are hard-core, engineering improvements over the previous model.
While most computers don't get monumental improvement gains anymore
That is only true for the CPU not the GPU which has seen huge improvements over the past 4 years. Since the Mac Pro comes with its GPUs soldered to the board the ONLY way to upgrade them is to buy a new machine. A quick google (which admittedly did not return the most reliable looking of pages!) suggests that a single 1080 today is 50% more powerful that both the Mac Pro GPUs combined which, if true, would mean that a dual 1080 machine would have about three times the performance of the current MacPro. I'd call that a significant performance increase.
I thought the GPUs in the Mac Pro ARE Upgradeable. Well, the Graphics Cards ARE replaceable (theoretically); but no one has produced an Upgrade.
Your best bet at this point is to use an external Thunderbolt-connected Graphics Card. The TB 2 in the Mac Pro should be fast enough, I would think. Afterall, that was what TB was supposed to be for, at least partially...
It isn't that far off from the x device haters where who are asking for feature X, Y, and Z. without sacrificing features J, V, and L.
I mean my old Palm Pilot 3 had a serial port where I can connect to a Modem and do a PPP connection to the internet. Why can't I do that with my iPhone 7?
Um, because your iPhone already HAS a MODEM (actually several) in it. They just connect to the internet in a slightly different fashion...
I'm thinking ubuntu-phone esque convergence of macOS and iOS, if I understand this Galaxy S8 correctly.
Probably delusional. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when the touch screen macbook pro meeting turned into the touch bar macbook pro meeting for fear of self-cannibalizing.
I'm relatively sure that that hypothetical meeting occurred not in 2016; but rather around the time that Apple filed the Touchscreen iMac Patent (that MS blatantly ripped-off) in 2010. Look familiar? BTW, that's why I have to chuckle when people say of the MS Surface Studio "That's what Apple should have invented". Well, guess what?...
And it was actually TWO meetings: One in 2010, where they demo'ed their Touchscreen MacBook and Prototype Touch-OS X (and decided they didn't like it), and another in 2015, when they demo'ed the TouchBar Prototype MacBook.
If any product was in danger of cannibalizing sales, it is the iPad Pro. But, IMHO, they are intentionally not revealing their internal Port of macOS to ARM right now; so that product has kind of a "too big for its britches" feel to it.
Interestingly enough, I read that when they were first considering the iPad, they were deciding whether to make it a "big iPhone" (iOS), or "a little Mac" (OS X), so Jobs supposedly assigned two teams to "horse race" the two concepts. Interestingly, Jobs actually favored the "little Mac" approach; but after the Demo, everyone agreed that the "big iPhone" concept was better.
AptX is its own proprietary CODEC and transport protocol that allows for low latency (40 msec typical). It is backwards compatible with standard Bluetooth, but you need AptX on both ends (sender and receiver) to be compliant and benefit from the low latency and higher audio quality.
Apple pays an actual AptX license on every chip that is sold into the Macbooks - I'm sure they do that with full knowledge, it's not a "standard library" that you can use. You buy the licenses from CSR (now Qualcomm) - just like you do in the MFi program.
I didn't mean to imply that Apple didn't know they were paying to license AptX. Just that they really don't give a shit about it. In fact, the "Tech Specs" for the new MacBook Pros just say "Bluetooth 4.2 Technology". No "Click for Details" or anything. That's it. And searching for "Aptx" on Apple's Support site returns NO relevant results whatsoever.
In fact, apparently, you have to use a third-party App to force AptX to be used. Or apparently, there is a Dev. Tool by Apple that allows AptX to be used and verified more easily. So, with all this in mind, I'd say AptX is an afterthought on macOS.
So, if you know that AptX can have a backwards-compatible transport-protocol that offered superior latency to standard BT, then why did you state that Apple's W1 chip was bound by the 100-600 ms latency of BT 5, without knowing that to be a fact (and likely not a fact, BTW)?
The free market gives us a gift every once in a while.
Apple has supported Bluetooth keyboards (and I think even mice) on iOS for like, ever. And you can do Lightning to HDMI, or use AirPlay for the video out, if you have an AirPlay compatible Monitor/TV or an AppleTV box handy.
And with VNC/RDP Apps like "Jump", etc., you can use your iPhone/iPad as a Remote Terminal for a "real" computer, which is where it actually becomes somewhat practical.
Slashdot Mirror
They do : there's a new high end, single socket for Skylake-X (i7) and Skylake-W (Xeon, but the same). As opposed to supporting dual sockets or more. The Skylake-W will have 48 PCIe lanes. Thing is, it's for mid 2017, so this gonna be a long boring wait still unless Apple is first to the market launching with that CPU.
Before, I used to assume Apple would re-launch the Mac Pro with Broadwell-E, skipping the Haswell-E generation, but nothing came out.
Perhaps there wasn't enough performance improvement with the Broadwell E (wasn't Broadwell mostly about better GPU and power usage/control, neither of which mean anything to a Mac Pro)?
Good to hear about the Skylake-W, though. I think Apple was waiting for TB3 to come out, with a CPU with the PCI-e lanes to support it, before updating the Pro. Apple probably has Engineering Samples of those new Xeons at this point; so maybe it's a work-in-progress. Here's to hoping!!! But no one wants to suffer The Osborne Effect by pre-announcing a product under development too soon... I have heard they have "archived" the Support documents for the late 2013 Mac Pro; which is either a very good, or very bad, sign...
The new MBP is a powerful computer, and more powerful than its predecessor for sure. It looks forward several years in advance. The problem is that it is a hassle to use today if you travel between multiple locations: you either need a charger/dock at each location, or you need a bunch of dongles. The dongle issue was not solved gracefully by Apple at least offering a first party docking solution. This isn't a computer for my needs, and it isn't a computer for anyone in my family, stock be damned. We will see what happens in March/April, but really these products are very old now. Beyond hardware, you have the issue that the iPhone works very poorly with the combination of Outlook and GMail, and the system lacks cohesion now. It doesn't "just work." I didn't recommend Apple products because of my stock position... I recommended them because they worked and made life better.
The port issue is a false and very temporary bogeyman. It just is. The move to USB-C/TB3 is happening INDUSTRY-WIDE, (Google "laptops with TB3") with dozens and dozens of laptops sporting that port configuration. And guess what? Laptops by other industry-leaders such as Dell that have ONLY USB-C ports (even with and without TB3, I think) have started to appear. So, if Apple is inconveniencing users right now, so are other OEMs. The only thing that Dell did that was smarter than Apple was to include ONE measly USB-C to USB-A adapter "in the box". If Apple would have done that, maybe people wouldn't have whined so much... NOT!!!
I'm not sure what your problem is with your iPhone and Outlook and Gmail, seriously.
My Outlook Folders were created automagically on my iPhone, and my Outlook Calendar events, with reminders, automatically add themselves to my Calender on my phone. I did nothing to set that all up. It "just happened". And when my work switched to Office365, the integration got even better...
Similarly, I don't have any issues with Gmail on my iPhone. It also seems to "just work". In fact, especially considering neither of those are Apple products, I am quite amazed how well iOS integrates with those two services.
Even with more pci-e lanes still stuck with small case now with 2 cpus then apple can have like 10 TB 3 buses with 2 video cards and 2 storage cards.
Wonder how much taller/fatter it would have to be to fit in that extra stuff?
Yes, but in the Android ecosystem there's actually different manufacturers, leading to a choice. You don't have that in the iOS ecosystem.
...and as I have said before, they all follow Samsung (who follows Apple). So, in about 2 years, you won't be able to find a smartphone that you would want to buy that still has a 3.5 mm jack. Everything will be USB-C (including Apple).
- new hardware decisions make it difficult to use existing peripherals (music is a hobby - no way am I dropping a few grand on new audio interfaces just b/c I upgraded my Mac and need to support new ports)
This is your lucky day!
Yes, it is just a little odd; but you can daisy-chain two Adapters to achieve USB-C to FW800, for far less than a new interface would cost.
Apple's USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter ($29.00) specifically states it can be used with the Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter ($29.00). This will give you USB-C to Firewire.
Until someone does a USB-C to FW adapter, that's your best bet. And it is an "approved" combination; so it should work.
Mac pro got to thin and the lack of loop back cable system for TB like other pro workstations boxed them in.
The PSU does not have the power to run the system at full load and also the heat limits it as well plus only 1 cpu also limits the pci-e lanes to a point where they only have 1 storage port.
Right now getting TB3 in there will be hard with out adding more pci-e switches (with video cards taking an bandwidth cut down) / adding an cpu / cutting down to 1 video card (still needs an pci-e switch to feed out the pci-e from the X16 for 1 video card).
They should of keep the tower or even went bigger if just to hide the DP to TB card cables.
Or maybe, just maybe, Intel could get off their butts, and update the Xeon to have more/faster PCI-e lanes?
The funny thing is with all the cash they have on hand Apple could easily fund R&D and innovation without impacting profits at all.
Ahem. They spent $10 BILLION on R&D last year. It wasn't ALL Hookers and Blow...
so Apple is stuck doing nothing
Only if you ignore the things they have done over the past five years.
Or even in the past ONE year...
Well, yeah. Apple is the most profitable company in existence. R&D is an expense. So they could be spending a lot more on R&D. But then they would only be profitable and not the most profitable, which I guess is unacceptable to them.
Apple spent something like $10 BEEELION on R&D last year alone. A 30% increase Year-over-Year I might add.
How much do you think Dell, Lenovo, HP, Asus, Acer, etc. spend TOGETHER on R&D?
If Apple's not careful, they can wind up as another Blackberry. Short term profits are nice, but can blind you to long term trends.
Actually, if the response to the 2016 MacBook Pro is any judge, the last thing people want is innovation.
TouchBar: "Wahhh! I want my generally-useless-in-MacOS-Applications-F-Keys-Back!"; "Wahhh! Emoji Bar", "Wahh! Gimmick".
USB-C/TB 3 Ports with 80 Gbps of multifunction I/O and the ability to drive FOUR external 4k, or TWO external 5k, displays: "Wahh! I don't want to spend $2.50 on a USB-C to USB-A Adapter!" "Wahhh! Apple wants to make money on DONGLES!" "Wahhh! I want my Ethernet Port Back, even though I haven't used anything but WiFi for the past 5 years!" "Wahhh! I want my SD Reader Back, even though I haven't used it but once!"
Industry-leading SSD: "Wahhh! It's SOLDERED, I can't stand that, even though I haven't Upgraded a Drive in a Laptop in the past TEN years". Same for Soldered RAM.
Loss of MagSafe: Well, I'm with ya on that one...
So, with the fact that we're essentially done with Moore's Law at this point, until someone comes up with a new form of Physics, true innovation is getting harder and harder to come by in the computer-field in the past few years.
But when Dell, Lenovo, MS, HP, et al, churns out the same stuff, year after year, nobody bitches; because we don't EXPECT them to INNOVATE. But Apple is EXPECTED to keep on wowing the crowds with ever-faster performance (when the underlying technologies out of their control are running out of grow-room), unique and innovative features (but simultaneously never remove or replace ANY of the old stuff!), and release products that are all things to all people (which I submit the new MBPs come pretty close to being, at least in the I/O department), every single year.
This looks like Sculley's Apple all over again.
Sculley's Apple gave us the Newton, which was a pretty forward-thinking product.
You supply email in text and HTML format because people who do real and meaningful work on desktops and laptops want to see the text, not HTML. these are the same people who still use real F keys, a real escape key, and consider removing the headphones from a cellphone a form of jackassery, not bravery.
Nice way to embrace change, Luddite.
Oh, I forgot: Self-Righteous, Egotistical, Luddite.
Not everyone cums when they caress a Model "M" keyboard; nor thinks that the 3.5 mm headphone jack is the pinnacle of engineering excellence, and dare not change. Ever.
Anecdotal as it may be I know of several people who were waiting to upgrade their iPhone when 7 came out and decided to get a Samsung device because of the headphone jack.
Boy will they feel foolish next go-round with Samsung...
Exactly. I switched my entire family, and all my in-laws, from PCs to Macs years ago. There are thousands of stories like yours, where one or two people on the upper end of the user bell curve led an entire community or company to switch by proselytizing the Apple experience. If Apple stops manufacturing laptops and desktops that those power users want to buy, the drop in Apple's marketshare will be increased by orders of magnitude.
So, whip out those proselytizing skills to show your family why the 2016 MacBook Pro is better (much better!) than its predecessors.
See my previous post in this thread for details.
As for the iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro, I would look for updates around March.
So, sure... there is no profit to be had in a better Mac Pro, or a laptop that has built in Ethernet, or whatever.
The only thing that they can do right now with the Mac Pro is make it join the USB-C/TB 3 crowd (which I expect they will do this year), and possibly upgrade the GPU and SSD. From what I understand, there really ISN'T a better Xeon CPU than it already has, which of course isn't Apple's fault; but yet the blame gets laid at Apple's feet.
As for the MacBook Pro, in Apple's "mind", they did upgrade it, quite significantly, even over the 2015 model, to wit:
1. Much better thermal management, meaning that the CPU can run faster for far longer than in the 2015 model.
2. Fastest SSD in the industry. Benchmarks show faster than any other SSD.
3. Unique 5k Internal Display, with the Unique ability to drive TWO additional 5k, or FOUR additional 4k, External Displays. No other laptop comes close.
4. 80 Gbps of Raw I/O bandwidth in four identical, interchangeable, multifunction USB-C/TB 3 Ports. No other laptop comes close.
5. Unique-in-the-industry multitouch input device. No other laptop has it.
6. Touch ID.
Say what you will about these changes, they are decidedly not "fluff". They are hard-core, engineering improvements over the previous model.
While most computers don't get monumental improvement gains anymore
That is only true for the CPU not the GPU which has seen huge improvements over the past 4 years. Since the Mac Pro comes with its GPUs soldered to the board the ONLY way to upgrade them is to buy a new machine. A quick google (which admittedly did not return the most reliable looking of pages!) suggests that a single 1080 today is 50% more powerful that both the Mac Pro GPUs combined which, if true, would mean that a dual 1080 machine would have about three times the performance of the current MacPro. I'd call that a significant performance increase.
I thought the GPUs in the Mac Pro ARE Upgradeable. Well, the Graphics Cards ARE replaceable (theoretically); but no one has produced an Upgrade.
Your best bet at this point is to use an external Thunderbolt-connected Graphics Card. The TB 2 in the Mac Pro should be fast enough, I would think. Afterall, that was what TB was supposed to be for, at least partially...
That is EXACTLY the name of THAT Game.
You FINALLY beat Adobe!!!
It isn't that far off from the x device haters where who are asking for feature X, Y, and Z. without sacrificing features J, V, and L.
I mean my old Palm Pilot 3 had a serial port where I can connect to a Modem and do a PPP connection to the internet. Why can't I do that with my iPhone 7?
Um, because your iPhone already HAS a MODEM (actually several) in it. They just connect to the internet in a slightly different fashion...
I'm thinking ubuntu-phone esque convergence of macOS and iOS, if I understand this Galaxy S8 correctly.
Probably delusional. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when the touch screen macbook pro meeting turned into the touch bar macbook pro meeting for fear of self-cannibalizing.
I'm relatively sure that that hypothetical meeting occurred not in 2016; but rather around the time that Apple filed the Touchscreen iMac Patent (that MS blatantly ripped-off) in 2010. Look familiar? BTW, that's why I have to chuckle when people say of the MS Surface Studio "That's what Apple should have invented". Well, guess what?...
And it was actually TWO meetings: One in 2010, where they demo'ed their Touchscreen MacBook and Prototype Touch-OS X (and decided they didn't like it), and another in 2015, when they demo'ed the TouchBar Prototype MacBook.
If any product was in danger of cannibalizing sales, it is the iPad Pro. But, IMHO, they are intentionally not revealing their internal Port of macOS to ARM right now; so that product has kind of a "too big for its britches" feel to it.
Interestingly enough, I read that when they were first considering the iPad, they were deciding whether to make it a "big iPhone" (iOS), or "a little Mac" (OS X), so Jobs supposedly assigned two teams to "horse race" the two concepts. Interestingly, Jobs actually favored the "little Mac" approach; but after the Demo, everyone agreed that the "big iPhone" concept was better.
And the rest is history...
AptX is its own proprietary CODEC and transport protocol that allows for low latency (40 msec typical). It is backwards compatible with standard Bluetooth, but you need AptX on both ends (sender and receiver) to be compliant and benefit from the low latency and higher audio quality.
Apple pays an actual AptX license on every chip that is sold into the Macbooks - I'm sure they do that with full knowledge, it's not a "standard library" that you can use. You buy the licenses from CSR (now Qualcomm) - just like you do in the MFi program.
I didn't mean to imply that Apple didn't know they were paying to license AptX. Just that they really don't give a shit about it. In fact, the "Tech Specs" for the new MacBook Pros just say "Bluetooth 4.2 Technology". No "Click for Details" or anything. That's it. And searching for "Aptx" on Apple's Support site returns NO relevant results whatsoever.
In fact, apparently, you have to use a third-party App to force AptX to be used. Or apparently, there is a Dev. Tool by Apple that allows AptX to be used and verified more easily. So, with all this in mind, I'd say AptX is an afterthought on macOS.
So, if you know that AptX can have a backwards-compatible transport-protocol that offered superior latency to standard BT, then why did you state that Apple's W1 chip was bound by the 100-600 ms latency of BT 5, without knowing that to be a fact (and likely not a fact, BTW)?
Having watched a lot of sci fi in my youth, I can confirm, most aliens in the galaxy speak English.
The only exception is the ones that control giant dinosaur like creatures, those aliens speak Japanese.
Thank you for putting an actual smile on my face today!
Yet, he could not speak their language... Source code must be universal.
Everyone knows the universally-accepted language for coding is English, sheesh! ;-)
Windows 10 has it. With upcoming update it will be able to run x86 apps on ARM platform. So platform with 1% market share will be more usable.
Mmmm. Sounds like as much "fun" as "VirtualPC" was, back in the Mac PowerPC days...
The free market gives us a gift every once in a while.
Apple has supported Bluetooth keyboards (and I think even mice) on iOS for like, ever. And you can do Lightning to HDMI, or use AirPlay for the video out, if you have an AirPlay compatible Monitor/TV or an AppleTV box handy.
And the Lightning to HDMI Adapter doesn't even "hog" your Lightning Port...
And with VNC/RDP Apps like "Jump", etc., you can use your iPhone/iPad as a Remote Terminal for a "real" computer, which is where it actually becomes somewhat practical.