Apple Oct. 22 event: We Still Have A Lot To Cover

[Eug]

There are some *very* good deals on the apple store for refurb 4th gen units...

How important is that A7 chip?

Extremely important. It's way, way faster.

Plus the new one is much, much lighter.

 

[saratoga172]

Got a 120GB Samsung drive all ready to go. Was actually just waiting for Mavericks to come out.

Trying to convince my GF she needs to be migrated to an SSD. All my systems has them and she always uses my desktop but she insists her MacBook (late 2011) doesn't need it. It'd rock. Has solid specs otherwise. Oh well, I rarely use it.

 

[KeithP]

The new mini isn't as light as the iPad Air. I really don't get why they did that. Stupid.

Your right, the Mini isn't as light as the Air... it is lighter, by a quarter pound (1lb vs. .75lb).

-KeithP

 

[JAG87]

I'd say it has slowed down considerably since then lol. I started the download about an hour ago and I have yet to see the progress bar move past 5% or so.

Protip: don't wait until everyone else finishes eating din din and is probably doing the same thing you are.

 

[hellfire88]

Yes, buy it so I can buy it from you on fs/t in 2 weeks lol.


no seriously man, you are a professional trader or a professional gadget whore. not like there's anything wrong with either.

Hahaha, didn't know someone noticed. Yea I'm a professional gadget whore alright. If I can sell my cMBP 15" (or new Alienware 14 or Dell Latitude E6540) there's a good chance I'll spring for the new rMBP 13".


EDIT: By the way, how important is it really to have a quad-core CPU for setting up a home VMware lab (using something like AutoLab) for learning? I've been wanting to do this for awhile and have been focusing on laptops with quad-core i7's (thus limiting me to 14"+ laptops for the most part). But if you think for learning purposes, a dual-core i5 haswell (with hyperthreading) and 16GB of RAM would cut it the new rMBP 13" may be the perfect laptop for me (for now anyways lol).

 

[boomhower]

There are some *very* good deals on the apple store for refurb 4th gen units...

How important is that A7 chip?

I typically always buy year old Apple refurbs to save money but with how big the update is this year I'd get the new one. New body, much lighter, and much faster.

 

[ControlD]

I typically always buy year old Apple refurbs to save money but with how big the update is this year I'd get the new one. New body, much lighter, and much faster.

Yes, the new iPad is much faster on paper. However, when the iPad2 is still a relevant product how much of that speed are you actually going to need in day to day use? I am guessing the app developer's performance target is still more for the iPad 2 than the Air. From what I have seen so far the only thing the extra muscle is needed for is actually running iOS7. Most (non Apple) apps seem to still run fine on older hardware.

 

[Oyeve]

Yes, the new iPad is much faster on paper. However, when the iPad2 is still a relevant product how much of that speed are you actually going to need in day to day use? I am guessing the app developer's performance target is still more for the iPad 2 than the Air. From what I have seen so far the only thing the extra muscle is needed for is actually running iOS7. Most (non Apple) apps seem to still run fine on older hardware.

This is my thought also. Apple has the latest horsepower but when will we see it? I'm guessing a long time from now.

 

[Koing]

Got a 120GB Samsung drive all ready to go. Was actually just waiting for Mavericks to come out.

Last year I got the Samsung 830 Pro 256GB on my 2008 Macbook. System feels so much more responsive.

No Mavericks for me as my Macbook is too old

Koing

 

[Illusio]

Apple made iOS 7 so ugly I don't think the advantage is there anymore IMO.

Disagree. I think iOS 7 looks way better than 6. I like the more modern design.

 

[Eug]

Last year I got the Samsung 830 Pro 256GB on my 2008 Macbook. System feels so much more responsive.

No Mavericks for me as my Macbook is too old

Koing

The good news is that Safari 6.1, which is compatible with OS X 10.6, gains the speed improvements that Safari 7.0 in Mavericks has.

That said, I'm still going to try to get my wife to ditch that white MacBook 2.4 GHz from 2008. While it works fine and quickly (with 4 GB RAM and SSD) for what she needs it to do, whenever I watch a 1080p video on it (YouTube or otherwise), the machine goes into vacuum cleaner fan mode. Irritating. I'd like to get the new MacBook Pro 13" Retina, and give her my 2009 MacBook Pro 13". 1080p barely stresses the system, because of the GPU assist, and it has Mavericks too - useful for whenever I need to troubleshoot another machine with anything from 10.6 through Mavericks. I can't use the MacBook to test any install above 10.6.

Disagree. I think iOS 7 looks way better than 6. I like the more modern design.

Agreed, for the most part. There are a few places that I'm more ambivalent though, and there still needs to be some cleanup in terms of consistency and UI bugs.

 

[Tyranicus]

That said, I'm still going to try to get my wife to ditch that white MacBook 2.4 GHz from 2008... I can't use the MacBook to test any install above 10.6.

A 2008 MacBook won't have a good enough GPU to run 10.8 or 10.9, but it should be able to run 10.7. Before I gave my mother my old MacBook Pro last year, she was using a late 2006 Core 2 Duo MacBook running Lion.

 

[Drekce]

I've been waiting patiently for months for a Mac Mini update. The fact that it didn't come led me to spend about $800 extra last night on an iMac... I couldn't bring myself to buy the old Mini.

Apple: 1
Me: 0

 

[Eug]

A 2008 MacBook won't have a good enough GPU to run 10.8 or 10.9, but it should be able to run 10.7. Before I gave my mother my old MacBook Pro last year, she was using a late 2006 Core 2 Duo MacBook running Lion.

Yeah, you're right.

Maybe it's time to upgrade the machine to Lion. Hmm... Not sure if I will bother though.

I might use Mission Control, but my wife never uses that stuff, and neither of us ever uses Launchpad. I also don't like the Resume feature of Lion, and the way Lion handles external monitors, although I would rarely use an external monitor on the thing anyway.

Are there any important apps out there that require minimum 10.7?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

A 2008 MacBook won't have a good enough GPU to run 10.8 or 10.9, but it should be able to run 10.7. Before I gave my mother my old MacBook Pro last year, she was using a late 2006 Core 2 Duo MacBook running Lion.

My 2008 Macbook Pro runs 10.8 and 10.9 just fine. You don't need a massive GPU to run an OS...

 

[Eug]

My 2008 Macbook Pro runs 10.8 and 10.9 just fine. You don't need a massive GPU to run an OS...

I was talking about a 2008 MacBook (and so was he). It doesn't run 10.8 or 10.9. I mistakenly thought it doesn't support 10.7 either, but it does.

 

[boomhower]

Yes, the new iPad is much faster on paper. However, when the iPad2 is still a relevant product how much of that speed are you actually going to need in day to day use? I am guessing the app developer's performance target is still more for the iPad 2 than the Air. From what I have seen so far the only thing the extra muscle is needed for is actually running iOS7. Most (non Apple) apps seem to still run fine on older hardware.

I don't disagree but I guess my point is if you can comfortably afford it I'd go with the new one, for me the weight and size reductions are more important. My daily driver is an iPad Mini which is essentially an iPad 2 and have no performance complaints running iOS 7.

 

[gevorg]

Yes, the new iPad is much faster on paper. However, when the iPad2 is still a relevant product how much of that speed are you actually going to need in day to day use? I am guessing the app developer's performance target is still more for the iPad 2 than the Air. From what I have seen so far the only thing the extra muscle is needed for is actually running iOS7. Most (non Apple) apps seem to still run fine on older hardware.

Retina display. I would pay extra $100 just for that.

 

[ControlD]

Retina display. I would pay extra $100 just for that.

My original quote was in reply to the iPad4 vs the iPad Air. Both have retina displays but the iPad4 can be had for $379 right now.

 

[Eug]

US only, and doesn't include the iPad 2, but for you Americans:

Best Buy will give you $200 for your old iPad through Nov. 9

The electronics retailer will offer the minimum credit for all working iPads and iPad Minis released after the iPad 2.

The iPad for trade-in must power on to be considered working. Any tablets with cracked screens or water damage are ineligible for the offer.

 

[gevorg]

My original quote was in reply to the iPad4 vs the iPad Air. Both have retina displays but the iPad4 can be had for $379 right now.

Oh, in that case I completely agree with you.

 

[Sunrise089]

New 13 MBP is almost the perfect machine. And 1399 with edu discount for 8gb and 256ssd is not bad. I am just afraid of Iris being kinda laggy.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? I've even had a tough time finding Iris (non-Pro) benchmarks online.

I have an old C2D Macbook Pro work machine I need to replace. I don't travel much so the size advantage isn't too meaningful, but the $500 difference between the 8gig 13" and the 15" is. Since screen size vs portability is a wash, my only real concern is the CPU difference plus lack of -Pro GPU. I do zero photo/video work, just a lot of general office stuff where I'm grabbing a lot of files, so snappiness matters a lot. I'd like to be able to use this as a part-time gaming machine when traveling however, so I'd like to get a sense of the jump from Iris 5100 to 5200.

 

[Tyranicus]

My 2008 Macbook Pro runs 10.8 and 10.9 just fine. You don't need a massive GPU to run an OS...

Every 64-bit MacBook Pro will run 10.8 and 10.9 because the early models all had discrete GPUs. Early MacBooks and Mac Minis with Intel GMA 950 and X3100 integrated GPUs will not run 10.8 or later.

 

[Smartazz]

Mavericks is amazing. The graphics lag is pretty much gone when you force the computer to use the integrated GPU.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Thanks for the free upgrades Apple - OS X 10.9, iWork 9 programs, and iLife 11 programs.