Some interesting direct comparisons in this one.
Just got MBA M2, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD. I’m impressed!
Sorry if this has been discussed, but in getting all setup I learned that on Apple Silicon lower buffer sizes lead to lower CPU usage and lower latency. See this page. What is this magic? Why would I not just set my buffer size to the lowest possible setting?
where did you get it from and what made you choose one of those over the MacBook Pro 14 16/512 that’s on sale at a $400 discount everywhere?
Got it from Apple. Got it because I wanted it.
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Currently debating whether to try and get a 14 inch m1pro with a bit of discount as it’s gonna be miles ahead of what I currently have anyway, so no need to wait on whatever is next.
My main concern is whether I could get my old 828mk2 interfaces to work with them tbh.
Lately, I think Apple have a very good strategy. A big leap, then a slightly better version. Slightly better version makes previous Gen look like a great deal, and why not it’s cheaper, which completely flushes out old inventory until they’re just sitting on the new stock at lower manufacturer order numbers, before the next bigger jump. Kinda like an S year iPhone.
I have a feeling we’ll see a quicker turnaround to the next cycle. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see m3 at WWDC next year. And MBP m3’s shortly thereafter. M2 is a stopgap to 3nm for my money, which is basically an overclocked m1 of sorts.
But I wonder if Apple wil leave it at the M2 Pro/Max for upgrades and that’s it, or if they’ll sneak in some other subtle improvements to boost sales - for instance Face ID or HDMI 2.1. Or maybe it’s a chip boost and that’s it?
I know if I was shopping for a new MBP the M1’s will definitely be a tempting deal when m2 drops, although it becomes hard to find build to order configurations at that point.
Apple just updated the iPad and iPad Pro models. One thing that stood out to me was that on the standard iPad, they finally moved the front-facing camera to the side, so you can use it when the iPad is in landscape instead of portrait, but they did not move it on the Pro models.
This one just seems like more of a spec bump on the Pro models.
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The iPad product line is a bit strange and saturated now.
The Air being more like a Pro Lite (effectively same size and weight as the Pro), and them also offering both the new/current and previous iterations of the base mode iPad… it’s all over the place.
Who knows what is going on.
I suspect they have a glut of A13 Bionic chips (also used in the iPhone 11, and SE2), and want to keep a lower priced offering in tact, to keep shareholders happy but profits up. And the new base model iPad has the iPhone 12’s A14 Bionic.
So, across the whole line they have the A13, A14, A15 (iPad mini), M1, and M2… all available new, concurrently. It’s pretty convoluted , and difficult for consumers when you’re usually just $120 or $150 away from the next model up.
I think they need to axe one or two models and make more clear delineations.
All that said, $329 is not much for a brand new iPad if one just wants to do email/web/shopping. And $799 for an M2 11" Pro isn’t half bad either! I was hopeful the Mini would get bumped up to M1. Maybe in the spring?
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Their product strategy is quite solid, the old school “ Great Product” approach as they are getting into each market segment by just simply updating a product without necessarily launching a new one and they are covering all the consumer needs, from the Apple fan that buys all the latest shit ( M2 12.9) to the consumer that is undecided between an ipad and a samsung and because iPad is cooler he ll get the Ipad with the A14 bionic. Every product is always a great product but does not need to be a new product
Even the ipad air is strategic, it is there to sell more iPad pro 11inch.
The M2 basic is quite affordable but if you start to max it out you reach the Pro 14 inch territory.
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What I am saying is they aren’t just in each market segment, they are also in the spaces between each market segment.
Not that I use one but its shockingly tight of Apple to only make that new iPad only compatible with the stupid old version 1 Apple Pencil
I posted this on the headphone thread, but I will mention it here as well. I have been shocked at how good the new headphone amp is in my 14" M1 Macbook Pro.
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This might be of note for those considering a move to ARM chips from an old machine. According to a relatively reliable leaker on Macrumors (essentially this person predicted the Mac Studio) The next updates to be dropped (potentially in November) are:
- Mac Mini M2, Macbook Pro M2.
- And the iMac M2 is not ready yet.
Perhaps more importantly for those on the fence in the EU and other areas, there’s an expectation that Apple will readjust prices in line with the strong dollar (similar to the recent iPad hikes.) So given that the speed bump between M1 and M2 for music is somewhat minimal, if you are waiting for these updates, choosing something at the current prices may give you slightly less power but significantly more bang for buck overall.
Conventional wisdom is to wait as long as possble and get the most machine possible. But I wonder if this time moving earlier is smarter financially. When the iPad range was updated, the iPad Air had an upward jump of 17% in price in the UK - but without a hardware change. Of course, this may not be indicative of the final moves Apple makes but it may give us an idea of how things will play when they update the Macs.
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I’m not ready for a new Mac yet but a price bump in the UK similar to that recently seen with iPads would be crazy. It’d put the cheapest new design MBP well over £2k!
It sadly feels inevitable to me though. There wasn’t much between the M2 MBAs and current MBPs when comparatively specced and it’s Apples way to pump prices to compensate I guess. If the MBAs get a price increase too though… ooft.
Not a good time to be an Apple fan really. As an aside, with the 15% or so increases across The board I can see many putting themselves at serious financial risk getting new phones, iPads, Mac’s, etc. folks just can’t resist the new shiny stuff.
The GBP has been steadily losing value since Brexit, given the whole inflation in the supply chain + a devalued currency you should expect prices (in figure amount) to raise on whatever is sold in GBP and not produced entirely in Britain.
Mac mini M2 will be interesting. Unless they are stingy on Ports (like the M1 version) it will be very competitive against the Mac Studio
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Of course this is true to some extent but you shouldn’t necessarily expect price changes for each revision nor for current product lines. The production of things like MacBooks are juggernauts and years in planning + manufacturing. We’re admittedly in unprecedented times (in the UK at least) but some forward planning should mitigate price hikes.
From memory, the last big MBP price hike was shortly after Brexit in 2016 with the introduction of the Touchbar. Sure prices shot up 20%+ back then but was “justified” via the extra gubbins included for the Touch Bar.
As for the exchange rate, other than the recent mini budget induced craziness in the UK, the value of the pound vs the dollar hasn’t changed all that much since the initial Brexit shock. Tends to hover around about $1.2:£1 which is still shit. Think it was about $1.4:£1 pre brexit (also a bit shit actually - bring back the $2.1:£1 days!)
Perhaps the most worrying indication with all of this is that this could be a pretty huge red flag in how a massive multinational expects the markets to go over the next 3-5 years - little UK recovery and much more chaos. Going to be a fun ride… 
You are not considering the increased risk exposure to the UK market. With such a shambles of a government, flapping around with not clear stability and direction, losing confidence of markets and credit ratings agency (as much as I believe those agencies are complete shit, they do analysis), all of that increases risk exposure.
Risk exposure costs money, it increases prices.
I mention that because I’ve lived enough time in 2 very different economies/societies: Brazil and Sweden. In Brazil the prices vary wildly not only due to fluctuations in exchange rate and wealth of society but a lot due to the inherent risk of participating in that market.
The UK is definitely very far from Brazil but on the spectrum of stability between Brazil-Sweden the country has steadily moved away from the Swedish pole towards the riskier side of Brazil and other such economies… The mini-budget and so on are just the epitome of it.
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i’ve never liked to spend too much for like, the top of the line laptop model. but these days thats pretty extravagent, like 8tb of ssd storage. usually, the base model or a spec bump or two above pretty much cuts the mustard. but today, the macbook air starts to become this thing that could actually be that laptop, rather than a pro. which is just a weird place to be.
i think that it could be i get priced out of the Pro line in future, it even feels like that now. i mean, its still doable, you can find deals. but the Air by and large does the job, performance and cost-wise. because otherwise, man, you really have to start spending bucks to get into like, M1 Max territory. it’s not cheap at all. its way beyond what i used to consider a reasonable price for a 15" macbook pro.
even still, my 2017 15" continues to surprise, various adobe apps opening in seconds and stuff like that. i still have the feeling to just keep it and keep rolling intel for now, heat, fan noise and all. i kind’ve agree that the costly nature of these things are going to be tough to sustain as the current economic environ plays out. i’d be pretty stoked if i could get another couple years out of the 15" MBP.
thats the funny thing about Airs - they just keep doing their job. Pro apps continually evolve and push systems as the years and generations go by, it seems like 5 years is about the lifespan of an MBP. But an Air, well, not much changes. I’m typing this on a 2012 Air - 10 years! 10 years on a laptop and it still flies and does all the basic stuff i want it too, and for an amazing price. Just makes me think that Pro stuff isn’t really a great deal anymore, but then it really depends on what you do.
the iPad stuff is pretty dirty. it just feels too spread out. i don’t buy into all the ‘customer confusion’ stuff thats being pedalled around though, customers are smarter than a few well marketed iPad specs. Whats sadder is the terrible design decisions Apple are making in order to balance the check book
Was interessting. At the 700€ Price point I got one myself. But if the y increase the mini aswel, one has to ask the price value relation. M2 is not so much faster than M2.