Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

Meh, I don't think this current pro will replace a laptop/desktop, I'm just thinking whether it worth the upgrade with the A9x chip and new additional speakers.

the pros are significantly more dorrar and the air 2 is still snappy by current standards. I'd just be happy with a freebie.

This is my initial thoughts, just wondering if it was better to get a 128gb or is 32bg good enough?

Most phones fill up with photos. Hence 16GB iPhones being too small. Tablets tend to get used as web browsers for the bog. 32 should be fine.

Still using an iPad 2 16GB as a kitchen screen.

Most phones fill up with photos.

And apps too, some apps can be over 500mb (especially if you play games).

just keep everything on icloud

IMO all it is is a trend... people love knocking Apple and the new MacBook. I'm pretty sure I will end up buying one because comparing it to the Surface book and the Dell thing, even when I didn't wan't to choose it, it was the best option. Build quality far surpasses the other two, the Microsoft thing look nice in pics but the keyboards feel cheap in real life, same with the Dells "Carbon".

Specs wise, which is another area where the MacBook as received a lot of flack, and I may not be 100% correct, but they all use the same i7-6700HQ (the top end models) CPU. The Radeon Pro 460 is on par with a GTX 950 Desktop or a 960/965m Mobile, which are the GPU's the Dell and the Microsoft come with (Dell might be getting an upgrade to a 1050 I think?).

Price wise, they are not worlds apart either once you spec them all up, maybe a few hundred quid or so, but once you are over 2k who's really counting the coppers right?

Touch screens on laptops have a great "wow" factor but their real world usage is limited, whereas the touch bar is surprisingly practical, although when I first saw it I thought is was bollocks.

Jan 4 Apple Inc has removed the New York Times Co's news apps from its app store in China, following a request from the Chinese authorities.

via

Guardian story on Apple vs Surface

Spoiler: He still buys a Macbook...

Touch screens on laptops have a great "wow" factor but their real world usage is limited

Not true. I use the touchscreen on my Pixel all the time. Occasionally when using my work laptop (it's normally plugged into a docking station) I paw helplessly at the screen like a hapless dog trying to use the internet, before I remember it's not touchscreen.

My finger is my default way to scroll up and down webpages and I tend to use the touchscreen for a lot of navigation, pressing buttons etc. because it's faster and easier. I hardly use the trackpad (which is a good one).

For me, the Pixel's touch screen plus excellent keyboard is the best laptop/tablet form factor going. Non touchscreen laptops just seem daft now...

Interesting... horses for courses then I guess! I can't see a touch screen being at all useful in my line of work but I really liked the idea of one and can appreciate the scrolling uses...

Not true. I use the touchscreen on my Pixel all the time. Occasionally when using my work laptop (it's normally plugged into a docking station) I paw helplessly at the screen like a hapless dog trying to use the internet, before I remember it's not touchscreen.

Exactly (you and I have the same Pixel), maybe it's because of the ChromeOS, but I find touchscreen even on conventional laptop a complete joy to use, especially with the pinching and zooming.

I genuinely think Apple missed the boat not having it on their latest MacBook.

Even the desktop iMac it would be amazing.

I was in a shop today and had a play with the surface book and having had 1 in my hands decides it for me - gonna push the fucking boat out and max out the specs on a 15inch MBP... The surface book does feel pretty cheap and the keyboard and touchpad reminds me of the old plastic Macbook some years ago... and the screen looks quite dull especially looking at it side by side to a Mac...

Agreed with @chrisbmx116 about the touch bar, obviously not have 1 under my name yet but had a little play with it last week and I am already sold to the shortcuts Adobe has to offer... give it another few months, once other apps catch up with the touch bar, I think it will be even more useful...

Everyone in the office think I am crazy spending over £2K on a laptop, well a similar specs surface pro is about £21oo (with discount) and a dell would set me back just under £2k plus vat, so surly £2480 for a top specs Mac is not so crazy?

Apple isn't missing out on the boat with the touch screen on a laptop, I don't think. If they put a touch screen on their laptops, would anyone still but their 12inch ipad pro? I doubt it. I am pretty sure this is the reason why they do what they do. Of course Apple has the tech to put a touch screen on their computers. In fact, turning an iMac screen to a touch screen has been possible for a few years now via a 3rd party company. I can't remember the name, but I was going to set up my own studio about 6 years ago and had a very long chat with a business guy from Apple and the touch screen tech was already available with the Macs at the time. Whilst not directly offered by Apple, they would have been able to set me up with this 3rd party company. The price was also very reasonable too.

I wouldn't be able to see my work through the greasy fingerprints.

do other people not treat your screen as 'touch screen' anyway? I get really annoyed when people touch my computer screen hoping something will happen...

I don't know other people.

Eek. Just ordered a refurbished 2015 MBP with 16GB RAM and a 500GB SSD.

My top spec mid 2015 mbp is amazing. You will enjoy it immensely i think.

Super excited!

Ooh how much / where from? I'm still dithering about what to do...

Apple are committed to iOS as the touch screen operating system, the rules for apps are tailored towards touch screens. That's why the iPad Pro offers something very different from a touch screen laptop running OSx. I'm not sure you could combine the 2 or say that one outweighs the advantages of the other. Maybe a laptop with a touch screen that runs both iOS and OSx would render the iPad Pro redundant.

I've got a Chromebook with a touchscreen and weeks will go by with me only using the trackpad. When my girlfriend uses it however then all the scrolling is done via the touchscreen and a fair bit of selecting links, etc.

I've never really got into tablets which could be part of the reason why, I've only really used them for watching videos.

The Surface with the pen seems another way of working. Scribbling on PDFs in particular seems popular. A few of the partners at my place have them and they seem popular for sitting in a docking station for normal work most of the time and then taken out to take to meetings to show clients stuff easily.

^^I bought it from Apple in the end. Paid £1759 for with a year's warranty. They only had one 500GB SSD version on the site which I snaffled. There's a 256 one up for £1600. http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_pro/15

Plenty of used ones on the bay for £1,200ish and I've found a few 256GB versions NOS for around £1,600 too, but I wanted the extra storage headroom so was happy to pay a bit extra for the Apple refurb.

That's pretty good!