New Stuff From Apple

we have had another round of announcements from Apple. This time Apple has upgraded several items as well as introducing a new iPad Mini to the line up. Now if only Apple can ship all this stuff before Christmas and in enough quantity to fill demand. I am really entertained that Apple would announce all these products and not have them to ship. The only devices Apple had ready to ship were the new Mac Mini and the Retina Display MacBook Pro 13 inch. The iPad Mini (WiFi version) will start shipping November 2nd and the cellular version will follow two weeks later.

13 iNCH RETINA MACBOOK PRO

In reading about the 13 inch Retina Display MacBook Pro, I was amazed that the upper level $1999 unit has the same processor as the $1699 model. This seems a little strange to me as the price of SSD hard drives has been coming down. Although I agree that the screen looks great on the Retina Display, I’m not sure it’s worth the extra $500 when you are giving up a large standard hard drive of 500GB, SuperDrive, Ethernet port, and FireWire to get it. For those of you who need a small laptop with an exceptional display and who have a flexible pocketbook, it may be the machine for you. Just don’t forget to add on the extras that you may find you need; like Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter, Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter and possibly a USB SuperDrive to load any DVD/CD ROM software you may have purchased.

iMAC

On to the iMac changes and what they mean to you. There are many good things about the iMac upgrades so I will cover these first. The Ivy Bridge processor chip brings the iMac into line with the rest of the Mac line. This means USB 3 support as well as NVIDIA video cards and faster processor speeds. The super thin design lowering the weight by 10 pounds makes this a very lightweight machine. Now the minuses. The minimum installed RAM is 8GB rather than the old 4GB as in past models. However on the lower 21.5 inch machines you can no longer upgrade your RAM after you purchase the machine. The cost for the base model goes to $1299. The 27 inch models now start at $1799 and have a RAM door that allows you to change the RAM. Missing from the new iMac are the DVD/CD ROM drive and the FireWire ports. I can understand Apple trying to do away with internal DVD/CD ROM drives but the FireWire Ports from a desktop? Really!? Apple has left the SD card reader port in the machine but it is all the way in the back of the monitor. Not very easy to get it but at least it’s still there.

MAC MiNi

The Mac Mini gets the Ivy Bridge processor and USB 3 with the low end model having a dual-core i5 2.5GHz chip, while the upper level model gets a quad-core i7 2.3GHz. Both come with 4GB of RAM and the Intel HD Graphics 4000 on board. The upper level model loses the stand-alone video card but gains a 1TB hard drive and, wonder of wonders, this unit has FireWire and Ethernet. Of all the updated machines, this one rates on the top of my list.

iPAD MiNi

I’m sure the iPad Mini has a market. Many folks wanted a smaller, lighter weight model that could be slipped into a coat pocket, and this should fit that bill nicely. I will have to play with one before I make up my mind about the screen size. It would have been more interesting at a lower price point but Apple seems to think it will sell, and who am I to disagree.

The iPad Mini seems to be well received by most reviewers. Many have made the comment that the size and the weight feel very good in the hand. One thing that has really been commented on was the fact you can use any iPhone charger

to charge it. Remember the iPad requires a 10W charger and the iPhone is only a 5W charger. The charger that comes with the Mini is the same as the iPhone 5W charger. Once again the main problem is how fast this device sold out and how few were sent out to third party stores.

iPAD 4

The big surprise was the iPad 4, which none of us expected. This new full sized iPad has the A6X chip which is twice as fast as the old model according to Apple. Combining this with the ultrafast wireless for fast uploads and down loads of data should make this a nice improvement over the third generation iPad if you were planning to buy one. On the other hand, if you already have an iPad 3, this offers little reason to move up.

CHANGES AT APPLE

It had to happen sooner or later— power plays at Apple is what I’m talking about. Tim Cook just proved to the rest of Apple management that he will only take so much before he fires people. Scott Forstall was fired for not apologizing for the bugs in Apple’s Maps program, but he was also the head of the Siri voice which also has problems. However the real reason may be Jony Ives, who refused to meet with Forstall unless Cook was there. It seems Ives really disliked Forstall’s approach, which was confrontational and uncooperative in meetings. Cook also fired John Browett, who was making changes in the retail division by running the stores based on revenues, not customer service. That was not the way Apple climbed up the retail chain ladder. So now we see how things sort out as Apple sets new goals with new leaders.

I will try my best to update this blog more often