Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

2nd hand LG 4K?

You can get a lot for that budget. My BenQ 32inch was £400 and work got me a Phillips 27inch for less than £300z obviously they are not top of the range and i wouldn’t use it for professional design / photography work but for day to day use they are decent.

I'd go retina. I'm working on a LG 5K screen and have a pc hooked up to a normal rez dell ultrasharp next to it. It's night and day, the retina screen is a game changer for the eyes

Question for the Mac Heads…

Is the Apple TV any good if you don’t have the Apple TV+ subscription?
Not sure it’s worth upgrading from my Roku and relegating the Roku to the garage to use with the turbo?
Mainly going to be used for iPlayer, Eurosport and other streaming from an iPad or MacBook.

Depends on what you value ... for me I like that it is all in one box and not handing all my watching data over to anyone (I keep the TV disconnected). And the apps tend to be snappy as the box is so overpowered as a simple YouTube or Netflix device.

The quality of 4K seems to me to be much higher on Netflix and Prime Video on the Apply TV than the in-built apps on my LG TV. I have it hooked up to a pair of Homepods I got cheap, so the sound is astoundingly good too.

Also, you get 3 months of TV+ when you buy one, so you can always see their shows (there aren't many) as well. For All Mankind is bloody good.

That’s petty much what I’m after, one box to do everything.
I’ve just moved back to apple with a new MacBook air so they gave me 5 months free Apple TV+ and I’ve been pretty unimpressed with it so far. In fact all the subscription services seem to be pretty poor from what I’ve seen so far.

Looking for an iPhone 11 or similar if anyone has something they're looking to sell?

Far from a mac head. But I set one up for my old flatmate a while ago and thought it was great. Can only imagine they're better now. If I was in the Apple ecosystem I'd get one.

A while ago I asked about a replacement for my dad's aging iPhone 6 and people helpfully suggested the SE. Then covid hit.

Now checking out options again for him and wondered if there was a better alternative?

In reality I'm sure all his needs would be met by a budget Motorola, so looking to steer him away from dropping £k's on the new one.

Cheers.

Got my mum a (renewed) 6S plus one or two years ago, looking back it was a good choice - instead of getting her / spending a lot more on a more recent model, as well as getting her a bigger ("plus") model instead of a smaller one - her eyes are still fine but she really enjoyed having bigger screen / larger keyboard and longer battery life).

So my suggestion now would be a refurbished / renewed 7 or 8 plus.

Cheers. I'll have a look at what the refurb store has.

God the choice is bewildering. IPhones used to be so simple.

I would avoid the 7 if possible, mine was very buggy and from what I've seen (since) it is generally considered the least desirable of the iPhones.

If he likes the size of the 6, then the SE is still the best best in my opinion. Will last longer than an older model refurb too.

I have it hooked up to a pair of Homepods I got cheap, so the sound is astoundingly good too.

The original big HomePods or the new smaller Homepods?

And if it is the big ones, how does it sound? As good as a normal soundbar?

The original ones. My non expert opinion is that they sound way better than any bar I’ve used before.

Looking into it the SE is a slightly updated 8. And there's not much price difference between a refurbished 8 and an SE.

All the newer refurbs are more and I don't think he needs any of the features of the newer ones. Things like battery isn't an issue as he plugs his phone in All. The. Time.

Although Fwiw the refurbed X looks to be quite good value from Apple if you need high storage capacity. Idk how the prices stack up vs ebay tho. Or if features of the 11 in 64gb make it a better option. Just thought I'd say.

Thanks again for all the help.

So this is going to sound a bit #1stworldproblems but here goes. I have a Chomebook Duet tablet thing, which is quite nice but damn it's slow. ChomeOS still doesn't work right and really all I want is a tablet to read comics, occational websites and watch videos on.

I'm a bit underwhelmed with the iPad choices right now. Obv. the iPad pro has issues with the OS it's using (and way over kill for my needs). I was hoping the iPad refresh would come with an A15, or A14 at least, but they slapped a years old A13 in it. Then there's the mini, sure state of the art hardware but fucked up screen and I think it would be a bit small for comics....

There is the iPad Air 2020 which looks pretty good, but worry that it's just about to be replaced

Do I just suck it up and keep using the 10" chromebook or maybe just get the iPad ?

Not in the spirit of the Apple thread but there's also the Surface Go which is surprisingly good. Much better with a keyboard attached but usable without if it's just media consumption. I've been using my original one (they've just released the third generation) for comics (on top of web browsing, a bit of office and lots of video watching) and it's good.

hah I've seen them, considered one for work, but I think a pure tablet is more what i'm after

Daughter got an iPad Air this week - she’s very pleased with it. Not sure that info is of much use though!

ChomeOS still doesn't work right

This seems really odd. Would it be worth a reinstall? Or checking forums for any settings adjustments?

For similar use to yours (no comics but occasional kids drawing games) we have a toolbox'd Fire 8 HD+ and it's fine. So would have thought that yours would be more than up to the job.

+1 on the Apple TV. Don't have Apple TV+ but it's really good for everything else

Yes, it's more the laptop end of the tablet scale.

The A13 is still going to trash anything that's in the Chromebook Duet.

Been impressed with the iPad Air - wife just uses it for similar activities. The new shape and screen looks and feels great