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Anyone watch any of it? Impressed? Unimpressed? Couldn't care less?
Unsurprised - and pleased - that they're finally bringing some competition to the Amazon Echo and Google Home with the [url= https://www.apple.com/homepod/ ]HomePod[/url]. Disappointed it's not going to be here until December. Multi-room AirPlay2 looks interesting, if far from revelatory.
There was definitely a lot more focus on pros this time around, with a lot of talk about development tools (e.g. AR kit) and new "pro level" iMacs. That's not much interest to me personally, but they seem to have listened to the disenfranchised pro market who felt Apple had abandoned them.
Other than that, there were some nice new bits, but at a consumer level my overwhelming sense was of a load of incremental improvements and competitor catch-up and the revealing of not-very-well-kept secrets.
Not watched it yet but had a brief Google when my mate told me about the iMac Pro. I've always considered the iMac exceptional VFM, this could be even better (obviously dependant on spec/price!) so could be a real home run ([i]if[/i] you need the extra performance). Think I also saw they'll be refreshing the Mac Pro line also next year.
Hopefully this will persuade Oculus to develop software for the Mac, that would be cool!
Homepod looks cool, I take it at this point they're just playing catch-up with Google/Amazon so it was an essential release really.
Not watching it live this year, will do the catchup later this evening or tomorrow.
I like the look of the new iPad pro, but it still costs a grand if you want a pen & a keyboard to go with it.
far from revelatory
Well that is par for the course for Apple so no surprise there. I like their stuff - I like the way they're trying to simplify and take away the 'mystery' from devices and relegate them to white goods status. My concern are the price hikes. They've always been pricy, but justified through better apparent quality, but the prices are now just getting silly. But then again I'm currently getting to a point where all my devices are due a refresh.
i’ll possibly be in the market for an iMacPro but would have liked the option of changing/adding the ram myself. would much prefer a decent Mac Pro though as i really don't want the huge iMac screen plus another screen as my desk isn’t big enough. whatever they say about how wonderful the iMac screens are they are no match for an Eizo and not ideal for retouching/image work. good to have the option for an 8gb graphics card.
nobody seems to have mentioned the cheap 2015 era MacBook Pro that is in the apple store, wonder why they held onto that model?
glad they didn’t bump the ram on the macbookpro’s as i recently bought one but I’m starting to realise a lot of the issues i have with working on large files is the software not the hardware. Adobe really need to make improvements as do Davinci (resolve) whereas final cut X absolutely flies which goes to show how efficient software can be when its totally optimised for the hardware.
i guess the new OS thats coming enabling external GPU’s will be a good thing and help with mashing pixels around.
no idea about those little talking speaker things they are just toys for geeks.
They've always been pricy, but justified through better apparent quality, but the prices are now just getting silly.
I don't really agree that they are pricey compared to "premium" offerings from other brands.
I've got a new laptop from work, a Dell, which is admittedly small and shiny but only 8GB ram and an i5 with 256GB SSD - pricing on Dell website comes out at £1400 ish which is 13inch macbook pro money...
I think OS 11 looks like an excellent update, esp for a guy primarily trying to ditch the laptop for work completely and just use the wonderful 12.9 ipad pro. Many of the changes look like they will move me a big step toward that.
Agree that the pro level mac stuff is a great shift in focus, brilliant to see how this will drive further innovation.
Homepod? Seems a bit 'meh' and 'me too'. But I will no doubt get sucked in and buy one, then claim it to be the best thing EVER 🙂
That's what people said about iPads. Not much imagination for a creative professional! 😆no idea about those little talking speaker things they are just toys for geeks.
I haven't bothered for a couple of years, we'll get the bullet points in a few hours.
Sad to say it, but these days it's more of a case of "here's a white version of the same thing you've been able to buy for a couple of years now" "oh and it's costs twice as much".
Apparently they are selling it (homepod) more as a premium speaker, with siri as an afterthought. Personally I have always found siri to be pretty poor, and give up on it after 5 mins of failures to get it to do anything. So even as a bought up member of apples environment I just don't expect the speaker to be value for money against other established bt speakers.
any mention of offline siri?
well, the new iMac Pro is space grey, so you literally could not be more wrong. Thanks for playing, hope you had a great time. 😆but these days it's more of a case of "here's a white version of the same thing you've been able to buy for a couple of years now"
that would be great, even if it were more basic. Never had a problem getting Siri to understand me, so it's something I use all the time! Annoying though when you can't get it to play an album already on your phone, if you don't have internet at that time (i.e. when driving)any mention of offline siri?
Homepod looks a bit duff, will be Apple ecosystem only, so no Spotify etc.
I'm out....
I've got a new laptop from work, a Dell, which is admittedly small and shiny but only 8GB ram and an i5 with 256GB SSD - pricing on Dell website comes out at £1400 ish which is 13inch macbook pro money...
In which version of Earth is that £1400? Jesus.
I have, right now, on my desk an invoice for a 13" Dell Vostro laptop with an i5, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, it cost £490 + VAT.
I also have one for a top o' the range XPS 13" laptop, but that's an i7 with 16GB of RAM and a whopping 1TB SSD, that wasn't £1400 either.
I've got a new laptop from work, a Dell, which is admittedly small and shiny but only 8GB ram and an i5 with 256GB SSD - pricing on Dell website comes out at £1400 ish which is 13inch macbook pro money..
My work Dell laptop was about £2k and it's not even got a highres screen! 64Gb RAM and 1Tb SSD though...
[url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/06/apple_wwdc_hardware_and_os_announcements/ ]report on el reg seems to be 'meh'[/url]
adoption of steam is an interesting move though, to me at least.
I don't really agree that they are pricey compared to "premium" offerings from other brands.
I agree that is the case now. It wasn't a while ago but the success of Apple has made others realise that they can hike their prices too. We're not a savvy lot as a consumer society.
Comparing the price my basic MacBook was 8 years ago to one today there has been some serious price escalation going on - way more than labour and materials escalation so the premium we're paying is increasing. But I'm not blaming Apple for making a buck or two. The right price for a product is the price people are willing to pay. Like mountain bikes really. As long as people are happy to spend £5k plus on a bike they manufacturers will continue to push the price up.
But of course i'll replace my current Apple kit with new Apple kit! It's just so nice and shiny.
no idea about those little talking speaker things they are just toys for geeks.
For me, the lack of such a device was a huge hole in Apple's line-up that I'm delighted they've filled. Assuming the sound quality is good, I'd love one. I still have a big collection of vinyl and CDs, but most of my listening is done via Apple Music. It's a LOT easier to tell Siri to play something than searching and scrolling through an app, and now I'll be able to do that without using my iPhone. Can't wait. I've little interest in having the thing talk back to me.
A wireless keyboard with numeric keypad - finally.
£129 online and available now. Very expensive, but I'll still pick one up on Thursday...
iamtheresurrection - MemberA wireless keyboard with numeric keypad - finally.
£129 online and available now. Very expensive, but I'll still pick one up on Thursday...
My wireless keyboard and mouse were chucked in with my £280 laptop.
Oh how the other half live! 😆
Home pod is a joke! Three time the price of Amazon or Google and all it does is play itunes! Worlds most expensive bluetooth speaker.... still there will be plenty of suckers queing up to buy it because it has the right logo on it.
errr... no 😆and all it does is play itunes!
In which version of Earth is that £1400? Jesus.I have, right now, on my desk an invoice for a 13" Dell Vostro laptop with an i5, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, it cost £490 + VAT.
I also have one for a top o' the range XPS 13" laptop, but that's an i7 with 16GB of RAM and a whopping 1TB SSD, that wasn't £1400 either.
Yup - I don't think work paid that for it, that's what a punter has to pay if they want just one.
- I think this is it
The iOS 11 changes for iPad look good.
Especially updated multitasking, drag and drop and files.
They've been a long time coming though.
I think HomePod fills a significant and sizeable niche in the market:
- Those who have chosen to use Apple Music (and not one of the supported music streaming services on Echo, Google Home etc)
- Those who want a Sonos-style equivalent that has some AI rather than a smart(er) hub that plays music. I.e. for those for whom music is more important than the AI/smart stuff.
- Those concerned about the security/privacy issues surrounding the way Amazon and Google use your data for AI. This *could* play out to be a key strength for Apple
- and of course those who just want to keep everything Apple
These differences may be subtle. They may simply be clever marketing rather than objective advantages. However, they are marketable differences and I think they'll be lots of people who will snap these up.
If Apple hadn't have launched this yesterday, I probably would have moved back to Spotify and bought an Amazon Echo. If even a relatively small percentage of other Apple Music subscribers did the same, that's a huge amount of lost recurring revenue for Apple. They had to do this.
- and of course those who [s]just want[/s] are forced to keep everything Apple
Agree that the HomePod looks dull and to honest it all really hinges Siri. Currently she is terrible and get more wrong than right. She is also extremely limited compared to Alexa in basic form let alone with all the 3rd party Alexa skills. Apple first has to get Siri as good if not better than Alexa.
Its also a very dull looking product and not something that shouts out style in a loud or subtle way. Just looks like so many other bluetooth speakers on the market. I am sure they will sell loads but not sure is they will take that much market from Sonos. At the price that an Echo is if Amazon just incorporated multi room then it would still be top the the game.
Well Sonos sound quality is pretty pants (Sonus 1 at least) so it can't be any worse audio wise..
i have an apple music subscription so i guess i’m their target market but i have a dac hi-fi in the living room so I’m not wanting to replace that.
if it somehow acted as a bridge and sent data into the dac (usb or optical) and i could control the library via iPad then i would be interested.
as a siri plant pot for £350 i’ll give it a miss.
Same. If it can act as a voice remote or whatever for an Apple TV that would be fine. Although not £350 fine, so will wait till it comes down in price!!i have an apple music subscription so i guess i’m their target market but i have a dac hi-fi in the living room so I’m not wanting to replace that.
if it somehow acted as a bridge and sent data into the dac (usb or optical) and i could control the library via iPad then i would be interested.
Can't you just do that with a good old airport express?
Can't you just do that with a good old airport express?
didn’t realise they still made them.
i did use an old airport express years ago that enabled an optical signal out into the dac. this bypassed the inbuilt dac and sent data not music.
the new ones still do this so i’ll investigate. will see if i can ethernet it from the router and not have to create my own wireless network from laptop. i want to be able to stream/use the internet at the same time without being physically wired. i couldn’t do this with the old airport express i had 5 years ago when the iTunes library was on an airport time capsule (ethernet wired)
zilog6128 - Member
Not watched it yet but had a brief Google when my mate told me about the iMac Pro. I've always considered the iMac exceptional VFM, this could be even better (obviously dependant on spec/price!) so could be a real home run (if you need the extra performance). Think I also saw they'll be refreshing the Mac Pro line also next year.
The iMac Pro looks like a good machine. Though I'm quite curious how well the top specced version will cope with cooling an 18 core Xeon chip.
Currently she is terrible and get more wrong than right.
I agree that Siri can be infuriatingly poor and have sworn at him/her in frustration on many occasions. However, I do think Siri works well with Apple Music, or at least well enough to be useful.
Depends how much Homepod is. I have a Play1 and 3 Sonos and they are just fine. I'm not mad keen on the app, but it's better than the bollocks Apple have made of the Music app on iOS.
EDIT: £350?? Err .. no.
Can't you just do that with a good old airport express?
Yes you can. I've not tried it but the output is there, digital.
@Brassneck - Sonos 3 are £299 so similar ballpark to HomePod. Would you consider the HomePod if you didn't already have a Sonos 3?
Yes you can. I've not tried it but the output is there, digital.
for clarity its digital optical out through the headphone min-jack, i don't know if you can use the usb out on the airport express into the usb input on the DAC, you couldn’t do this on the old plug type ones.
i wish the new MacBooks still had the optical out via the headphone port, they dropped that with the toucher ones.
Homepod? Seems a bit 'meh' and 'me too'. But I will no doubt get sucked in and buy one, then claim it to be the best thing EVER
This.
MacBook Pro now six years old and getting very sloooooow so I suspect I'll be buying an iMac before long, and native QR reading on iOS is A Good Thing too, I think.
The whole case acts as a heatsink. The old chunky 27" iMacs ran red hot, the new ones run very cool, so I guess they've got the cooling sorted. Plus the Pro will have fans which the current ones don't.The iMac Pro looks like a good machine. Though I'm quite curious how well the top specced version will cope with cooling an 18 core Xeon chip.
Just installed Sierra on my dad's 2012 MBP... running super fast again now. Have you done that & also got an SSD in yours?MacBook Pro now six years old and getting very sloooooow
Anyone watch any of it? Impressed? Unimpressed? Couldn't care less?
I use a Mac for work and have one at home. I have two iPhones (work and personal) and several iPods of various vintage.
Since the 7 came out without a headphone jack I really couldn't care less. I even 'upgraded' to the latest OS, found various useful programs don't work with it, so restored the previous OS from back-up. When they do something genuinely useful I'll contemplate looking again, but until then - meh.
MacBook Pro now six years old and getting very sloooooow so I suspect I'll be buying an iMac before long, and native QR reading on iOS is A Good Thing too, I think.
Another vote for an SSD. Biggest positive difference in the performance of both aforementioned Macs.
zilog6128 - Member
The whole case acts as a heatsink. The old chunky 27" iMacs ran red hot, the new ones run very cool, so I guess they've got the cooling sorted. Plus the Pro will have fans which the current ones don't.
Nonetheless, to be able to deal with that amount of heat in such a thin design is really impressive. ECC memory + dat screen too 8)
WANT
Files and drag and drop on the iPad look like they're almost there at making a proper laptop alternative for casual users. Almost.
Shame my iPad is so old it's unsupported, looks like I'll get that surface pro instead.
Apple are saving the good stuff for later in the year > 10th Anniversary iPhone. There were sneak peaks here into iOS / P2P Apple Pay payments / AI / Home etc and what is likely to be released alongside the next iPhone / available to developers to build against. Interesting to developers more than consumers which to be fair is the point of WWDC.
Macbook Pro's are still terrible unless you want a weight decrease or to look good in the coffee shop. No ports, no esc key, the only good dock requires a PSU. That is why pro users are still buying the top spec 2015 model Grrrrr.
Apple are saving the good stuff for later in the year > 10th Anniversary iPhone.
What can they really do that is "the good stuff". It will just be more incremental improvements, the same problems facing all smart phone manufacturers now, it is a mature technology. Maybe someone can come up with a killer new direction for using mobile technology, but I doubt it.
I will be amazed if they come up with anything that tempts me to upgrade from my 6s.
A wireless keyboard with numeric keypad - finally.
hallelujah....hallelujah....hal.....lelu.....jah!!!!!!!!
(Now they just need to put the # key somewhere sensible and I'll be happy)
Macbook Pro's are still terrible unless you want a weight decrease or to look good in the coffee shop. No ports, no esc key, the only good dock requires a PSU. That is why pro users are still buying the top spec 2015 model Grrrrr.
Not just pro users - I want to get a 13" MacBook with a USB port, and after yesterday, I will now have to scour the refurb store for an old Air or Pro.
I want an updated mac mini with apple tv functionality and 4k content from apple, I want a bluetooth keyboard with integrated track pad to work said devices from the sofa, that's all 🙁
Nothing else really grabbed me, maybe iOS updates for iPad.
@MSP > Since the iPhone4 the innovations from a tech perspective have all been incremental / a tad disappointing. There has been little change to the form factor over 3x devices now so a major overhaul is expected. When you add up a few potential incremental innovations that have been held back, alongside the aesthetics it could get quite interesting. A lot of their user base are still on versions 5-6 with no real reason to upgrade.
* Wireless charging > Long range is a long shot but even if it is standardised (Apple has now joined the wireless power consortium/Qi) we could start to see standardised charging integrated into coffee shop tables / trains / plaines etc. Starbucks and other F&B business in the US are already starting rollouts.
* Improved battery life in combination with the above.
* Camera tech from the 7+ into smaller models with faster lens / optical zoom / stabilisation. Alongside more memory and battery they will eat more into the nonSLR digital camera market. Battery life alone is the only reason I'll take out my Cannon G if I don't want to carry an SLR.
* Core ML + ApplePay / Homekit and Homepod - Up to the Devs here but expect something of note from those close to Apple on launch. Imagine if Garmin and/or Strava/GoPro thrown some money into CoreML, or Apple throws some money to Garmin and/or Strava/GoPro to develop using this from an MTB perspective alone. ApplePay P2P alongside challenger banks in the UK. A lot potential here, looks interesting to me playing in this space.
Maybe I'm expecting too much 🙂
Just installed Sierra on my dad's 2012 MBP... running super fast again now. Have you done that & also got an SSD in yours?
On Sierra with 16Gb RAM. No SSD though.
Notice new it's ditches 32bit support. Iphone5 is obsolete along with ipad4. No new apps will work with them.
Its all a mit meh for me to be honest.
I've long thought its crazy to not be able to upgrade the basics of memory and and SSD in machines. Its a common comment made by lots of people. For a company that makes decisions based on energy savings, its hypocritical to chuck out a machine and get a whole new one for the sake of a simple upgrade.
Some more interesting stuff regarding new features in High Sierra on [url= https://www.apple.com/uk/macos/high-sierra-preview/ ]this page [/url]
Being able to have an iCloud storage plan for the family is very welcome 🙂
are apple doing Qi now?
something i really liked in my old nexus4
The iMac Pro looks like a good machine. Though I'm quite curious how well the top specced version will cope with cooling an 18 core Xeon chip.
It apparently has two large cooling slots in the bottom of the case and a pair of cooling fans inside the case.
be able to upgrade the basics of memory and and SSD in machines. Its a common comment made by lots of people. For a company that makes decisions based on energy savings, its hypocritical to chuck out a machine and get a whole new one for the sake of a simple upgrade.
Why would you need to chuck out the machine?
Either sell it, as anyone with a bit of nous knows, Apple kit keeps high second-hand value, or repurpose it; the place I used to work was using Macs from another place I worked at, including one that was built in 2001!
They were used as servers, or for other purposes.
For anyone other than an absolute spec obsessive, a five or six year old iMac is a perfectly usable machine for anything a regular user in prepress or design; I know, because I know, and worked with until very recently, people who were using such machines.
Notice new it's ditches 32bit support. Iphone5 is obsolete along with ipad4. No new apps will work with them.
Already starting to happen, although the greater majority of apps that don't get updated haven't been updated in ages anyway, and could do with being dumped; if the designer can't be arsed to keep an interest, then it's going to be worthless anyway.
One thing that's been noticed in the beta of I OS11, Apple has introduced the ability to play FLAC files in iTunes on the iPhone and iPad, I have the Onkyo HT music player app on my phone, it allows FLAC files to be played, but in order to do so it requires a digital feed, so it needs headphones or earphones with a Lightning connector; this will probably be the case with iOS11.
I'm using earphones with a Lightning adaptor, and not finding any issues with it, in fact it eases stress on the original 3.5mm jack, and I have ordered a new Shure cable with Lightning/CCMX connectors as used on the SE series phones for my MeeAudio Pinnacle P1 'phones so I'll be able to start playing FLAC music files.
Renders the 3.5mm jack effectively obsolete.
And about time, it's almost impossible to make a device waterproof with that sort of connection.
Why would you need to chuck out the machine?
Because you simply may only want to run with 1 ? My point really comes from notion that if you're a personal user and buy an apple machine today, its likely going to have 256gb amounts of ssd. Thats fine to a point, but with modern cameras and such, that gets filled up (don't tell me 'cloud' is an alternative for local space).
5 years down the line, the machine is still usable, but burst for space ... technology further down the line will have much higher density storage ... so why not be able to simply drop in a different SSD as an upgrade ... nope, total change of machine required. ( and similarly for failures of components )
I'm bumping my gums I know, but it is something that I find is a significant detractor to buying an apple machine at the moment. I like them, I want to want to buy one, but I just can't see that compared to other options out there, they are too restrictive further down the line.
[quote=CountZero ]
And about time, it's almost impossible to make a device waterproof with that sort of connection.
What do you mean? Sony, LG and Samsung managed to achieve IP68 with a 3.5mm socket.
That iMac Pro looks tasty. If they are putting that much into an iMac, i wonder how powerful the new Mac Pro will be!
Renders the 3.5mm jack effectively obsolete.
And about time, it's almost impossible to make a device waterproof with that sort of connection.
^ ha. quite. somone better tell sony that sports walkman that used to float around in the tub with me 25 years ago wasn't waterproof after all 😉
Didn't the Sports Walkman use some sort of rubber bung jobbie? Dunno, never saw the point of wearing the thing in the bath or shower, or wherever.
Not sure how they waterproof 3.5 sockets on 'waterproof ' phones, all I know is reading on a variety of tech feeds to Flipboard about it being very much easier to seal the body of the device using either Lightning or USB-C, which is why several other manufacturers had started doing it before Apple did.
What I do know is that I've had so many plugs break over the years on a variety of different makes, that it strikes me that something has to be better, and if it brings the benefit of improved sound quality, like being able to buy/RIP everything as FLAC files, then so much the better!
Capacity is increasing dramatically, the new 10.5" iPad Pro gets 256/512Gb of storage, the new iP8 will get at least 256, maybe even 512, which is more music than I've got in my Library, being able to use FLAC/Lossless with a direct DAC connection via the Lightning plug, which has one built in, surely [i]has[/i] to be a good thing?
Christ, I see so many people whining about the crap quality of MP3's, yet they seem to be prepared to lose the ability to directly play a superior digital format because they want to hang on to some crappy bit of forty-fifty year-old connective technology, otherwise they have to use a plug-in DAC box, which there have been a number of threads about.
Actually, it's 19th century, it was invented by the Victorians for telephone switchboards!
Isn't it about time we started to use something that functions better, and gives a better quality result when playing music?
MP3's have already been made obsolete, the foundation that supported the format has withdrawn support, and put it behind AAC/MP4, because it's better, the same should be done, over time, with jack plugs.
Or else we may as well go back to floppy disks, VHS video and SCART plugs.
It may be technically better, but that doesn't make it practically better. The 3.5mm jack works, all the time, every time, across all devices . As a generic end point connection its far better practically than dongles, DAC, etc etc....
There is no single digital connection to replace it at the moment imho. Maybe companies like apple should invest more effort into Thier dacs built into devices .
If practicality/backwards compatibility was always the priority we'd be about 20 years behind in technology than where we are now.
As for the Homepod, I think it's a pretty smart move (in terms of focusing more on the sound quality), sure partly forced on them as Siri is pants but even if Siri were amazing it would still be the right direction for them to go. Home assistants are far too limited at the moment to justify themselves in their own right for most people so playing music through them is key. Sure the quality in a £350 Apple speaker is never going to please an audiophile but I'm guessing it will be good enough for the majority. Presumably they'll also add better spec'd versions to the line up as time goes on.
Computers, smartphones and tablets are all limited to small incremental changes these days so wasn't expecting anything revolutionary. Easy to forget how far iOS has come in recent years though with lots of small changes. Everything they announced so far seemed good though if not hugely exciting in themselves.
Homepod is interesting, although more for the Airplay2 stuff behind it - if there's a good uptake of 3rd parties supporting it in their speakers then there could be a good apple-centric solution there. Have Sonos at home and generally it's a great solution for music, but what drives me nuts is podcasts. I have to either use an external service, or it can play them off my phone but has no awareness of where I am, or setting that it's been played. I just want to finish off a half-listened podcast while I'm making dinner and there's no good solution for it.
If in 6-12 months there's some decent airplay2 speakers out I'd seriously consider flogging my Sonos gear and moving over.
(Now they just need to put the # key somewhere sensible and I'll be happy)
Alt+3 (Our American friends call it the pound sign as a bit of a clue).