Apple and Macs: New products, iMacs, iWork, iLife

[greggsand]

So, new macbooks & macbook pros are supposedly being upgraded:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=890167

So does this mean the current models are soon to be discounted? I am looking to buy soon.

[wco81]

You may find inventory of the current models at various stores. The Apple online store has some discontinued items but it's not a great discount. They also have refurbs, which most people say are flawless.

The new Pros are expected to have i5 or i7 mobile chips, so quite different from the Core 2 Duos on the previous MBPs.

[Diablo25]

iPhone 4.0 OS event today. Info will start rolling in around 1pm EST. Engadget has a blog page for the event. I hope there are some good tidbits thrown our way.

[dbdynsty25]

This event is comical so far to Android users:

Push Notifications
Background Apps/Multitasking
Folders on Home Screen
Background changing

Come on...Android has done that sh*t since day 1. LOL...can we get some innovation Apple.

More than one exchange account is a good thing, but who really would utilize that?

[dbdynsty25]

And please tell me why Mobile Advertising for applications is a "feature"? Please?

[XXXIV]

And please tell me why Mobile Advertising for applications is a "feature"? Please?

It is for the advertiser.

[dbdynsty25]

And please tell me why Mobile Advertising for applications is a "feature"? Please?

It is for the advertiser.

No...really?

I'm just shocked why they tout this as a feature when 95% of the word will just get pissed off about it. I like how they attacked Zune HD with their paid advertisements before their free games started, but now they are going to do it themselves. Hypocrites.

[XXXIV]

And please tell me why Mobile Advertising for applications is a "feature"? Please?

It is for the advertiser.

No...really?

I'm just shocked why they tout this as a feature when 95% of the word will just get pissed off about it. I like how they attacked Zune HD with their paid advertisements before their free games started, but now they are going to do it themselves. Hypocrites.

I was trying to say something to that effect bro

[wco81]

It's a feature for app. developers.

And I don't think you're forced to view any ads. You have to click on the ad for it to play. Today, you can ignore the ads or click them and have it load a web page.

On Zune, you didn't have a choice, it played while the app. was loading, kind of like DVDs where you can't skip past the trailers for other movies at the beginning.

But yeah, they should not tout it to users directly. Ad Mob founders stand to become very rich if the Google acquisition completes so someone is opting in to view ads in mobile apps.

[Sport73]

This event is comical so far to Android users:

Push Notifications
Background Apps/Multitasking
Folders on Home Screen
Background changing

Come on...Android has done that sh*t since day 1. LOL...can we get some innovation Apple.

More than one exchange account is a good thing, but who really would utilize that?

Yeah, because Android is so original... It didn't 'borrow' any ideas from the iPhone; there were dozens of phones with multi-touch, app stores, finger-sized icons, gestures for control, etc before the iPhone - the Android is the only 'original'.

[dbdynsty25]

Smiley face = sarcasm

Settle down and just swallow...it goes down easier if you don't gargle.

[Macca00]

Settle down and just swallow...it goes down easier if you don't gargle.

LOL

Sorry, I shouldn't laugh. But it is funny.

[JRod]

So I'm away from the laptop for a few days and it will be interesting to see just how much I need it.

And with a broken arm this will be a good test for the next for weeks. Right now the auto-complete typing if the iPad has been helpful in writing emails.

I have to say the I'd rather browse the web on an iPad then MacBook.

Last night I watched a netflix streaming movie and it was great.

The final thing is that it sucks that there isn't more good iPad apps. It's a wasteland of decent apps.

[dougb]

Well do it myself itouch screen repair was a complete disaster. Broke the replacement screen trying to clip it back into place and seem to have buggered up the lcd screen as well. Looks pretty easy on the videos but definitely much harder than it looks.

One thing for sure with this broken screen is that there's no way I would spring for an IPAD or any other electronic reader without some sort of reasonable policy on screen replacement.

Best wishes,

Doug

[10spro]

The new Macbook Pros are said to have a battery that lasts of up to 9 hours, that depends on what you use it for I assume, and I like the new video cards. I may just be in the market to replace my 4 year old MacPro with Apples's latest.

[dbdynsty25]

It's surprising they are only putting the i5s and i7s in the 15 and higher MBPs. I'd actually consider upgrading my 2.4 Core 2 if they actually put them in the 13s, but alas, they only gave it a slight speed bump to 2.66...so I'm stickin' with the trusty 18 month old version. Still runs as well as the day I bought it. I'm a believe in Mac laptops, that's for sure.

[wco81]

The claim is that if they put an i3 or i5 into the 13-inch, they couldn't have used the same GPU that they did. Or possibly they might have had to reduce the battery mass, to accommodate a faster CPU in that smaller enclosure.

[greggsand]

just bought a new macbook pro after being on a crappy thinkpad for 5 years. What's everyone's thoughts on iWork these days? It's def cheap enough ($37 on amazon). With work, I will have to deal with some Word & Excel stuff (basically opening & altering - nothing too crazy).

[wco81]

Congratulations.

On iWork, I heard there are some problems opening some Excel workbook files.

Probably similar issues with some of the more involved Word files as well.

If you want to guarantee full compatibility with Office, use Office (or maybe if you have the Windows versions but don't want to buy the Mac Office, consider using VM or BootCamp).

Of course, the price of Windows and Fusion or Parallels may be about the same as what Mac Office costs. Another option that I've heard about is http://www.virtualbox.org/.

[LAking]

just bought a new macbook pro after being on a crappy thinkpad for 5 years. What's everyone's thoughts on iWork these days? It's def cheap enough ($37 on amazon). With work, I will have to deal with some Word & Excel stuff (basically opening & altering - nothing too crazy).

You could always use Open Office or NeoOffice. Both are free. If all you are doing is occasionaly opening word an excel docs than those options may suite your needs.

[Rodster]

You could always use Open Office or NeoOffice. Both are free. If all you are doing is occasionaly opening word an excel docs than those options may suite your needs.

I second Open Office. I'm running it on Linux Mint and it does everything I need it to, so much so that I no longer use Microsoft Office.

[Leebo33]

I also recommend Open Office. I've been using it for a couple years on my Macbook Pro.

[wco81]

New MacBook Airs announced yesterday. Kind of strange line to tout at this point, considering how much of a hit the iPad is, while MacBook Air was never that popular because of the hefty price.

People seem to like the design but you're paying a lot for the small form factor and the all solid-state storage. They overlap the MacBook Pro prices a lot and those have faster processors, more RAM, more storage options (you could get more capacity for less money with a HDD or you can get SSD if you're willing to pay).

They gave a sneak preview of their next major OS release.

The thing that caught my eye was that they seem to have expanded the music lessons in GarageBand (part of iLife 11). So if you hook up a USB keyboard, you can play a piece and the screen will show you which keys to hit and track how many you missed. Kind of like Guitar Hero/Rock Band except presumably, you could actually learn to play music.

I guess you can't do that with a guitar, unless there some MIDI guitar interface?

[dbdynsty25]

Woohoo...1200 bucks for a netbook with shitty specs. Another Apple anal raping. Why does my 2 year old MacBook have better specs than a brand new "release" by Apple? Damn they have consumers fooled.

[Naples39]

Because people are paying for the form factor. For more and more consumers the super-lightweight is more important than the processing power, because they're just going to be doing basic computing but they will be carrying it around a lot.

Not that I have any plans to buy one, it just seems that is the direction laptops are going.