Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

This is what I do. iPad it’s replacing is 8yrs old (original Air)

I keep an eye on stuff, but I like to be a bit behind the technology curve, let the early adopters deal with the bugs, and swoop in a year/ 18mths later when most of it's been sorted. I'll be keeping it for a good few years as long as the batteries good, so it needs to be solid.
Last laptop i had, served for 9years, ipad mini has been going for 7yrs now and is on it's last legs, but no point currently in replacing it, as I don't use it that much, and though the desire to buy new is strong, I've been okay (touch wood) buying refurbished (laptop) and second hand (iphone) so I'll continue down that path..

Any recommendations on a pen to use on an iPad. I’m led to believe that the Apple pen is expensive and there are others which work adequately.

Thanks all.

I recently dug up my apple pencil which got lost in a box during one of my GFs tidying sessions and stayed there for the last few years. could have actually used it now as i'm doing more design stuff but after trying to charge it, it was completely useless, dead as a doornail, apparently if you don't charge it every few weeks the battery will just die and never work again. no chance of repairing it just "thanks for the £100 you mug now off you pop to go buy another one"

total and utter bullshit.

Thanks for the info. I’m not exactly sure what to do now.

My head now hurts. I had a look at the apple website and it seems a new iPad is due out on 24th Sept.
Can anyone please explain, in simple terms, the difference between an iPad Air and the new iPad.
My daughter wants an iPad, apple pen and keyboard. It seems the Air is more expensive than the new iPad but I may be getting confused.

The iPad Air is the mid range model between the basic "iPad" and the iPad Pro. The Air has thinner borders, a bigger better screen, faster processor, better cameras, etc, even compared to the new 2021 iPad.

https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/?modelList=ipad-9th-gen,ipad-air-4th-gen

New iPad is a new base model, but have to admit it looks pretty awesome and can sense it’ll sell loads at that price point (£319 for 64GB model).

The iPad Air will work with the newer Apple Pencil and the new Magic Keyboard case, and also has a slightly bigger screen (10.9” instead of 10.2”) that’s maybe better to look at (Liquid Retina instead of Retina) and a newer chip (A14 Bionic instead of A13 Bionic) - it’s also £579 for the 64GB model…

I bought the Air in April and don’t regret it at all, but for a ‘casual’ device that new iPad model looks a lovely little purchase.

Just ordered an iPad air & gen 2 pencil. It’s replacing a mini I got in 2013, which completely gave up on life finally last week.

Am looking forward to playing with the pencil…. Anyone have drawing app recommendations for the air? Will it run the Ai app?

Illustrator on iPad is fine but I don’t use it for much beyond light edits of existing files so no idea how good it is at the heavy lifting. I use linea sketch for doodling; tried concepts for a bit which I think is a better app overall but I couldn’t get into it.

Cheers for the info!

I’m not really a fan of traditional desktop based illustrator, but I think using it on an iPad with a pencil will help me make it work better with my way of thinking. Will have a look at concepts too.

Thanks for the info. Next questions -
Difference between new and old apple pencils?
Difference between the two keyboards?
Thanks for your patience - I’m sure you have guessed that I’m clueless.

Been sent this:

Apple has released macOS 11.6 Big Sur, iOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.8, watchOS 7.6.2, and Security Update 2021-005 Catalina to fix "a PDF-related security issue" and a Web browsing vulnerability: “Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.”

These are the software holes exploited by Pegasus spyware to target Bahraini activists, among others. It completely takes over your device and can be used to extract any and all data. Whereas Pegasus spyware is mostly used by government agencies against specific individuals, the exploit mechanism is now known and will soon be on sale on the dark web, if it's not already.

If you're using Big Sur or Catalina, stop what you're doing and install these, please. This one is urgent. On iPhones and iPads the update is in Settings/General/Software Update. On the Mac, go to System Preferences/Software Update, where the update will appear after a few moments. If you're on Catalina and offered Big Sur, click on the blue text "More Updates".

If you're still using an older operating system it's time to consider getting up to date. If you don't you'll probably be had by a malicious phishing iMessage or email sooner rather than later.

Got a pristine 2nd gen one I should sell. Bought it intending to take notes, sketch, look trendy. I did none of those things and it’s sat in the box untouched.
They’re £120 new, want it at £90 posted?

Thanks for the offer. Leave it with me until I work out what I am doing.
There is a post above relating to the pencil dying when the battery dies, do you know if yours is working?

The first gen Pencil charges by jabbing it into the Lightning port and has nowhere to live.
The second gen Pencil magnetises onto the side of the iPad where there are charging nodules.

iPads are compatible with one or the other, not both. There is also a thing called a Logitech Crayon which is cheaper and compatible with both. All other third party styluses are elaborate finger simulators.

The more expensive keyboard has a trackpad so you don't have to jab the screen.

Just checked

1 Attachment

Thanks for that info.

That’s class. Thanks for checking. I may be in touch.

Anyone looking to offload an apple watch?

Insurance - phones. Daughter broke her screen (again) and we have Three Rescue. Replacement is £90 for a new iPhone 11. £90 is the excess. This was a surprise as it didn’t used to have an excess.
Anyway, has anyone any info on phone insurance - particularly insurance which covers all electronic devices. I’m sure I have seen an ad for this somewhere. We have four iPhones, three laptops and a couple of iPads ( I think) so I’m thinking that a group insurance may be best.

Ours arrived today - John Lewis have the light blue 256gb for a good price so just went for that

Would I be out of my mind getting an iPhone 12 today? I don't want/need a 13, but do new iPhones historically reduce the price of the previous model?

Found a use for my good condition but software-useless old iPad mini! It plays the YouTube web app. Thank you Google, sorry Alphabet, for not leaving old devices behind, I knew you weren't completely evil!

They keep the old model in their lineup for another year with a price drop (£679 vs £799).

The 12 Pro is discontinued. Maybe you'll be able to get a deal on old stock.

Though not sure it's worth it for such a small relative saving. You get less storage for one thing (64 vs 128 GB).

I nearly ordered a iphone 12 last week but have gone for the 13 instead. For what I was looking at (256gb mini) it was £50 more expensive but the better chip and bigger battery