The Apple Thread

[mrmax86]

I've been stuck in the Apple ecosystem for a while. My family all has iphones and my daughter gets really upset about green bubbles. lol.

One nice thing about the iphone is they support updates for a long time. The iOS 15 that came out recently still supports devices that are 6 years old.

Do you just have the phone and the air pods? No other apple devices yet? How do you like the air pods pro? I really need to update my old airpods that I've had for a while. The battery is starting to show its age.

I have the iPhone 12 Pro Max, AirPods Pro, Air Tags, the M1 Macbook Pro, and the Magsafe Battery Pack.

I can't do hard plastic earphones, so I had to do the Pros, because they have the mushroom "tips". The active noise cancellation is pretty cool too.

 

[mrmax86]

Very long post to get to the nuts and bolts. You finally broke down as the green bubble guy

LOL, that was probably 0.01% of my choice, but you may be correct, it could have been the straw that broke the camel's back!

 

[mrmax86]

I'll send photos of the setup with the orange foam tips (see below) when they all arrive.

Here's the setup with the orange buds and the dark mode case:

 

[ButchPlz]

Let us know how she likes it. The performance looks incredible, as does the display.

We got her the 14" one this morning. She still hasn't opened it up yet since she had to go out for some work but she's super excited.

 

[SDV]

We got her the 14" one this morning. She still hasn't opened it up yet since she had to go out for some work but she's super excited.

Mine isn’t supposed to arrive for a couple of more weeks

 

[ButchPlz]

Mine isn’t supposed to arrive for a couple of more weeks

They had 3 left at Best Buy this AM. She'd been noodling on it for a week or so and decided to go for it today.

 

[MEDVOL]

Just got an M1 MacBook Air. Was trying to hold out for the new Pro, but our current Macs were giving out on us. One was a 2009 MacBook and the other a 2012 MacBook Pro. Same thing was happening with our phones so also got 2 new iPhones. A 13 Pro and a 13. Switched to AT&T and have a better monthly price now. Thus far, happy with all the upgrades.

 

[kiddiedoc]

My son wants a MacBook, and he is a senior in high school. Any advice on what to get him? I'm not an Apple guy.

 

[BenGrimm]

The new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro are pricey but would last him through college and maybe beyond.

 

[SDV]

I just bought this one with 1TB.

Buy 16-inch MacBook Pro

I’ve been using Macs since 2006 and they are unbelievable computers. I know that the computer nerds out there, that can build their own computers will argue differently. However, for normal people like me, they are very user friendly.

 

[VolNExile]

I just bought this one with 1TB.

Buy 16-inch MacBook Pro

I’ve been using Macs since 2006 and they are unbelievable computers. I know that the computer nerds out there, that can build their own computers will argue differently. However, for normal people like me, they are very user friendly.

I bought a Chromebook that I hoped would work as a sub for my beloved 2008 MacBook Pro that is circling the drain, but I think I might have to break the piggy bank and get a real computer again.

 

[VolNExile]

I just bought this one with 1TB.

Buy 16-inch MacBook Pro

I’ve been using Macs since 2006 and they are unbelievable computers. I know that the computer nerds out there, that can build their own computers will argue differently. However, for normal people like me, they are very user friendly.

SDV, why did you go for the 16-inch/1TB version? Mine is a 15”, and I like the real estate, but why do you think/feel that the one you got is worth $500 more than the 14”?

—and by the way, do you partition the drive to emulate Windows, or do you put up with the craptastic Mac version of Office? (You can see how out of date I am.) Or something else entirely? I’m getting heartily sick of Google Docs and Sheets.

 

[SDV]

SDV, why did you go for the 16-inch/1TB version? Mine is a 15”, and I like the real estate, but why do you think/feel that the one you got is worth $500 more than the 14”?

—and by the way, do you partition the drive to emulate Windows, or do you put up with the craptastic Mac version of Office? (You can see how out of date I am.) Or something else entirely? I’m getting heartily sick of Google Docs and Sheets.

I just like the bigger screen that’s all. I have a 15 inch MacBook Pro now and like the size. Didn’t want to go smaller. I use Microsoft Office now and it works great. It’s much better than the old school Mac version of Office that you refer to.

 

[VolNExile]

I just like the bigger screen that’s all. I have a 15 inch MacBook Pro now and like the size. Didn’t want to go smaller. I use Microsoft Office now and it works great. It’s much better than the old school Mac version of Office that you refer to.

Oh, good to know. The dumbed-down Mac Office made me foam at the mouth.

 

[SDV]

Oh, good to know. The dumbed-down Mac Office made me foam at the mouth.

Yeah it’s way better now

 

[Freak]

My son wants a MacBook, and he is a senior in high school. Any advice on what to get him? I'm not an Apple guy.

There are four base choices, unless you want to get into custom configurations:

Macbook Air, Macbook Pro 13, and the newer Macbook Pro 14 and Macbook Pro 16 that just released.

The M1 macbook air is the best value and most portable (in my opinion). It's not as sexy or quite as powerful as the new Macbook pros that just came out, but it has plenty of power for 95%+ of people


***The linkshows $929 but it's actually $899 at amazon right now. Costco sometimes has this one in stock for a similar price.

There's also the previous model of the macbook pro 13-inch. It's slightly more powerful than the Air.


Both of these have apple's new M1 chip -- and that's the most important thing. Don't buy any older Mac with an Intel chip -- they're not making them anymore and they don't preform nearly as well.

If you want to look into the new macbook pros, they are a bit more powerful and have a larger screen. The 14-inch starts at $1999 and the 16-inch at $2499. The 16-inch would probably be too big for a student to carry around. These machines are really Apple's return to the macbook Pros being more geared towards the prosumer, who needs more power.

Any of the above devices are solid, as long as your son isn't editing multiple streams of 4k video. It ultimately comes down to how much money you want to spend. The new 14 and 16 inch are cool (except for the notch) but in my opinion you aren't getting near the bang for your buck, imo.

 

[Freak]

SDV, why did you go for the 16-inch/1TB version? Mine is a 15”, and I like the real estate, but why do you think/feel that the one you got is worth $500 more than the 14”?

—and by the way, do you partition the drive to emulate Windows, or do you put up with the craptastic Mac version of Office? (You can see how out of date I am.) Or something else entirely? I’m getting heartily sick of Google Docs and Sheets.

You're not able to emulate Windows on the new mac chips like you could on the previous intel based macs. They are based on a different architecture now. At some point you'll probably be able to install windows for ARM, but not right now.

Like SDV said, most people are perfectly happy with the mac version of office. Also Pages, Numbers and Keynote are Apple's free office/work applications and are solid apps for most people who don't need to use Microsoft office.

 

[Freak]

The new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro are pricey but would last him through college and maybe beyond.

I think this applies to any of the machines available right now. Apple's new M1 chip was such a step up in performance and battery life over Intel when it came out last year, all of these laptops are super fast and efficient compared to previous models using intel processors. It was a generational leap in technology.

I've been buying macbooks for the family for a long time. Most of them still work years later and get passed around the family. My 2014 macbook pro recently got passed down from my daughter to my wife. The battery wasn't quite holding up as well for my daughter who's in college, but works fine for my wife who uses it at home mostly, as a second computer. It still does everything she needs it to. Even still, Apple will replace the battery out of warranty for like $199, I believe, had I decided to go that route.

 

[Freak]

Just got an M1 MacBook Air. Was trying to hold out for the new Pro, but our current Macs were giving out on us. One was a 2009 MacBook and the other a 2012 MacBook Pro. Same thing was happening with our phones so also got 2 new iPhones. A 13 Pro and a 13. Switched to AT&T and have a better monthly price now. Thus far, happy with all the upgrades.

You can't beat the Macbook Air in terms of bang for the buck. The 14-inch screen and 16 gigs of ram on the new pro is nice, but it's more than double the price right now.

 

[Tin Man]

I've been stuck in the Apple ecosystem for a while. My family all has iphones and my daughter gets really upset about green bubbles. lol.

One nice thing about the iphone is they support updates for a long time. The iOS 15 that came out recently still supports devices that are 6 years old.

Do you just have the phone and the air pods? No other apple devices yet? How do you like the air pods pro? I really need to update my old airpods that I've had for a while. The battery is starting to show its age.

When my wife finally relented (All mobile phones are evil! There will be none in our house!), the daughter commanded that I get iPhones for us both. The idea was that I would learn iPhones and help her teach her Mom how to use them. That was ~10 years ago.

 

[kiddiedoc]

Thanks all, esp @Freak . That's great info.

*merged with the Apple thread, missed that last night

 

[BenGrimm]

You're not able to emulate Windows on the new mac chips like you could on the previous intel based macs. They are based on a different architecture now. At some point you'll probably be able to install windows for ARM, but not right now.

Like SDV said, most people are perfectly happy with the mac version of office. Also Pages, Numbers and Keynote are Apple's free office/work applications and are solid apps for most people who don't need to use Microsoft office.

I have Office for Mac and use it when necessary but for basic use I prefer Pages and Numbers. The interface is much better. You aren’t going to do anything terribly fancy but writing a simple report, making a flyer, simple spread sheet, etc they work fine. They don’t export to Office very cleanly if you have to share documents though.

Keynote puts PowerPoint to shame.

 

[VolNExile]

There are four base choices, unless you want to get into custom configurations:

Macbook Air, Macbook Pro 13, and the newer Macbook Pro 14 and Macbook Pro 16 that just released.

The M1 macbook air is the best value and most portable (in my opinion). It's not as sexy or quite as powerful as the new Macbook pros that just came out, but it has plenty of power for 95%+ of people


***The linkshows $929 but it's actually $899 at amazon right now. Costco sometimes has this one in stock for a similar price.

There's also the previous model of the macbook pro 13-inch. It's slightly more powerful than the Air.


Both of these have apple's new M1 chip -- and that's the most important thing. Don't buy any older Mac with an Intel chip -- they're not making them anymore and they don't preform nearly as well.

If you want to look into the new macbook pros, they are a bit more powerful and have a larger screen. The 14-inch starts at $1999 and the 16-inch at $2499. The 16-inch would probably be too big for a student to carry around. These machines are really Apple's return to the macbook Pros being more geared towards the prosumer, who needs more power.

Any of the above devices are solid, as long as your son isn't editing multiple streams of 4k video. It ultimately comes down to how much money you want to spend. The new 14 and 16 inch are cool (except for the notch) but in my opinion you aren't getting near the bang for your buck, imo.

OK, an Air does make more sense for me these days, I guess. I just weighed my venerable Pro (bought in 2009), and it weighs 5 lbs 4.5 oz. I don't need that again.

For whatever reason, I can never view Amazon links here. My iphone just shows the Amazon logo, and my chromebook shows as below.

What are the speed and memory on these two? thanks

 

[GVF]

My son wants a MacBook, and he is a senior in high school. Any advice on what to get him? I'm not an Apple guy.

Mine has used both. Has a gaming desk top and has had a windows laptop in the past. But always has had an iPhone. We bought him the Mac Book Air for graduation from Electronic Express (refurbished but like new). Good price. Not the M1, but pretty hefty performance already. It only has the "C" ports on it. He just bought the adapter that has all the HDMI and USB ports in one compact plug in. My liking for those type apple products is that this machine is built very well and sturdy. Has some weight to it even for the Air.

 

[Freak]

OK, an Air does make more sense for me these days, I guess. I just weighed my venerable Pro (bought in 2009), and it weighs 5 lbs 4.5 oz. I don't need that again.

For whatever reason, I can never view Amazon links here. My iphone just shows the Amazon logo, and my chromebook shows as below.

What are the speed and memory on these two? thanks

View attachment 408847

Link1

Link2