[chucker]

We might see what they've been doing with iPhones — i.e., the MacBooks Pro, Mac Pro, 30-inch iMac, instead of Grey™ and Slightly Darker Grey™ now come in Grey™, Greenish Grey™ and Golden Grey™ and, the year later, Blueish Grey™.

Like Paul, I don't think we'll see quite the colorfulness as in consumer products.

(I wish they'd unify that at least a little. Maybe next year's iPad Air will have the iMac's colors? Maybe this year's iPad mini will? I might be into that. OTOH, hard to pick just one color )

[drewprops]

I have a custom vinyl applique on my 2014MBP made by Dbrand, and probably will again with a new machine, unless they do something crazy.


...

[chucker]

Their configurator is fun!

[psmith2.0]

Is that the outfit that also made those black bezels for the 24” iMac.

[709]

The iMac skins look to be discontinued now. I wonder why?

[psmith2.0]

I bet they didn’t sell well enough to be worth the effort/expense? While I can see a legit desire for the black bezel, the coverings for the entire face and body seemed a little pointless and “who’s truly asking for this?!”

I do think that silver 24” iMac looks really nice - better, even - with the black bezel. But the colored models do look better stock, with the white.

I bet they didn’t sell 15 of those things.

Adding black around those repeats the iPhone 5c thing. Those phones should’ve had a white face frame with those candy/ice cream colors. The black was a bad mismatch IMO. And it looked just as iffy around these colorful iMacs.

But, as usual, nobody at Apple, dbrand, etc. is asking/checking with me on any of this stuff, so…

[709]

I'd nearly forgotten all about the 5c! Adding insult to those were the weird "Connect 4" cases Apple made for them. Truly ugly.

[psmith2.0]

“Mix and match the most hideous color combinations imaginable!”

Yeah, they were smoking dope on those things, all around…the phones, those hole-y cases, etc.

I did get my nephew’s yellow 5c to act as a 4-5 month filler/stopgap between my iPhone 5 and SE back in late 2015/early 2016. It’s still in my nightstand. It’s the color of a banana.

I truly think Apple peaked with the whole color thing wayyyy back in 2000, with the Indigo, Ruby and Sage iMacs. Everything they've done since just kinda looks like crap on a biscuit, IMO. They just don't work, to me, the colored aluminum (or opaque plastic of the iPhone 5c). They never looked as good as they did on glossy, translucent, curvy plastic. It's just not the same. Stuff now - the phones, 24" iMac, the various shuffles and nanos over the years, etc. - just always look spray-painted or something. Just kinda flat, lifeless and "yeah...so?" when it's opaque and applied to the flat, minimalist planes of the current products, compared to those luscious iMac DV models in 1999-2000 (the five fruits and then the three above). They officially lost their mind/went off the rails with Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian and that's when I was like "okay, I think we're done here. You've pushed it about as far as it needs to go...knock it off and gather yourselves, Steve and Jony. You're not Fisher-Price/Mattel, ffs". And I've not really been interested in colored Apple stuff since. Had I not been around during that glorious initial iEra, and saw colors done so cleverly and lickable, maybe I'd feel differently. But colored aluminum/metal has just never held any appeal for me. I can do that with a can of Krylon.

[chucker]

I dunno. I thought the 5c was a fun change from other iPhones of the time. Like, yes, the 4/5's design was perhaps the best iPhone design of all time (and I'm glad the 12 returns to it), but… ¿Porque no los dos?

Those cases though? Yeaaaaaaah those were a bit much.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by chucker ¿Porque no los dos?

Does this mean I have to go through a German-to-Spanish translator, or can I just skip to the latter?

And 104% "yes" on the iPhone 12. Those little bastard 6/7/8/X/SE 2/Xr/11 models practically try to fly out of your hands every time you pick one up. That straight edge of the 12 (iPhone 4/5/SE) feels very secure in one's hand. And that metal band just looks so nice. A nice improvement over the 11 and others.

[kieran]

For the power that the MacBook Air now has, I could easily go down to it instead of the MBP if I wanted to make a change for color's sake.

The MBP only used for email, spreadsheets, and web browsing. It's strictly "do client work" on it, so I could easily handle the drop in performance, which isn't much now when you consider they're all using the same chip.

I will alway save the iMac if I need anything heavier.

I'd be hard pressed not be do this switch if there is a tempting color in the MBA.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Does this mean I have to go through a German-to-Spanish translator, or can I just skip to the latter?

If you’re serious: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/why-n...t-we-have-both

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 And 104% "yes" on the iPhone 12. Those little bastard 6/7/8/X/SE 2/Xr/11 models practically try to fly out of your hands every time you pick one up. That straight edge of the 12 (iPhone 4/5/SE) feels very secure in one's hand. And that metal band just looks so nice. A nice improvement over the 11 and others.

Yes!

I still have an 11, and… boy, am I looking forward to the return of grippier phones. (No, I do not want a case.)

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by kscherer You mean Apple gets to sell you two devices. Apple still hasn't convinced me why I need an iPad at all.

Yep. I haven't jumped on the iPad bandwagon also.

My MacBook Air has its problems, but until there's a way to read books on [tablet] screens without eyestrain, I don't need another device.

Originally Posted by chucker We might see what they've been doing with iPhones — i.e., the MacBooks Pro, Mac Pro, 30-inch iMac, instead of Grey™ and Slightly Darker Grey™ now come in Grey™, Greenish Grey™ and Golden Grey™ and, the year later, Blueish Grey™.

The Pro Macs, now in 15 shades of Grey.

[psmith2.0]

I refuse to use a case. I may if I get a SE 2, but it’ll be clear/barely visible. I can’t stand them.

PS - I’m never serious.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by Frank777 The Pro Macs, now in 15 shades of Grey.

< E. L. James's ears perk up >

[psmith2.0]

Those Macs come with titanium handcuffs and a ball gag (autographed by Phil Schiller).

[psmith2.0]

I guess this fits here as well as anywhere. Isn't worth a dedicated thread, but it sure is funny.

It seems to fall squarely under the "solution in search of a problem" banner. Just buy a damn mouse.

[chucker]

Absolutely no way they'll do that.

Paul: Dave?
Dave, Paul's manager: Yeah?
Paul: What if we made one of the laptop keys removable?
Dave: Come again?
Paul: What if you could pop out a key and, once removed, it doubles as a mouse?
Dave: Interesting.
Paul: …we're not doing that, are we.
Dave: No.
Paul: Can I do a paper on it?
Dave: Tell you what. Write it up, make it sound like a great idea, and we'll hand it in as a patent!
Paul: Ooh, so then… wait. Then nobody will ever make it. — Oh…
Dave: See? We're totally on the same wavelength. Get it done by tomorrow. Bye!

(Sorry; the inventor is literally credited as Paul.)

[psmith2.0]

Of course not. At least not as that drawing shows.

I can only imagine the cost to replace it after you lose it on day two of owning it.

$179, minimum.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 "solution in search of a problem"

Pretty sure that one is a problem in search of a problem.

[psmith2.0]

I always get a kick out of some of these patent drawings. They're not meant to be precise or give away any actual hardware design or look, I realize this. But sometimes they go so far over to the "nondescript and generic" that I always get a chuckle. Especially when they're paired with a true goofball idea.

[psmith2.0]

Interesting tidbit out today...

The upcoming 14" and 16" MacBook Pros may see a price increase - the 14" model, anyway - but both should perform the same, so you're pretty much just having to buy on size.

No performance penalty for preferring the smaller model, for once?

If this is true, that'll be a nice first. The 12" (and then 13") PowerBook G4 and MacBook Pro models have always lagged a bit behind their 15", 16" and 17" big brothers in muscle/specs. They're acting like this may no longer be the case. Would be cool to have the full power/performance in that smaller model.

We'll see.

[chucker]

Plausible. Maybe they’ll go back to the PowerBook way, where the largest laptop was a fair bit thinner (because you can spread the components out more).

[709]

A friend of mine called last week looking for some machine advice now that he wants to get his crew back into the office next month. He'd been looking at the M1 iMacs since he wants to hit the ground with the latest and greatest, but wasn't happy with being forced to get the smaller size since the larger ones aren't ready. These guys each already have their own favorite assortment of mice and keyboards and very nice widescreen (second) monitors so I advised him to go with a half-dozen Minis and just sell them when better machines come out next year. He was like "oh no, they'd never go for that, we're high end." I'm "Dude, they're the same machine. All the new M1 stuff, pretty much the same guts and speed across the board." He genuinely didn't know - it just wasn't confusingly-Apple enough, I think.

So, there's a lot of that M-series confusion out there still, even within the design and Mac-centric crowds that ostensibly should know.

[psmith2.0]

That price increase talk is a bit deflating, but if that 14" model can hold its own with the 16" and truly wear the "pro" name, maybe that's a good thing. They still need to figure out what to do with those $1,299 and 1,499 models.

I imagine they'll keep selling them as a 13" M1-based MacBook. Which is fine, but just ditch the "Pro" part of the name.

I don't think I'm gonna get my wish from yesterday's drawing/graphic anytime soon.

[Frank777]

I've been telling people just to wait for the fall event and see how the lineup shakes out.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by 709 A friend of mine called last week looking for some machine advice now that he wants to get his crew back into the office next month. He'd been looking at the M1 iMacs since he wants to hit the ground with the latest and greatest, but wasn't happy with being forced to get the smaller size since the larger ones aren't ready. These guys each already have their own favorite assortment of mice and keyboards and very nice widescreen (second) monitors so I advised him to go with a half-dozen Minis and just sell them when better machines come out next year. He was like "oh no, they'd never go for that, we're high end." I'm "Dude, they're the same machine. All the new M1 stuff, pretty much the same guts and speed across the board." He genuinely didn't know - it just wasn't confusingly-Apple enough, I think. So, there's a lot of that M-series confusion out there still, even within the design and Mac-centric crowds that ostensibly should know.

Yeah, we're just, once again, in that middle of that transition period where half the lineup is the old way and the other is the new. And it's a bit of a jumbled mess of different architectures, products named the same thing but really aren't, etc. I'm thinking (hoping?) that by this time next year, the entire lineup is AS-based and that there are distinct tiers/positioning of Macs and that everything is all a bit more obvious and easy-to-research/figure out.

I'm having to tell people I know - people who do what I do - about the M1/Apple Silicon stuff. I had a friend, just last month, buy an Intel-based MacBook Air from some retailer. She had no idea she could get the fanless, more powerful/better battery M1-based model. I opted to not even say anything because she was happy.

People just aren't doing their front-end research. But Apple probably isn't doing all they can to ring the bell either.

I just have word out to all my friends and family who may be looking to get a Mac in the coming months...TALK TO ME FIRST!!! So they don't make an iffy buying decision, sinking money into something that's on the way out and doesn't run as cool or as long as what they could be getting. None of these people require Intel (the Windows thing, high-end software that hasn't been M1-ified yet, etc.). No reason any of these people shouldn't be on an M1-based Mac, but they'll go into a Best Buy or somewhere and end up buying God-knows-what. Like my friend did last month.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Frank777 I've been telling people just to wait for the fall event and see how the lineup shakes out.

Absolutely.

"You've gone this long...don't buy anything right now, too much is up for change. If you absolutely can't wait another 1-2 months, then get with me and we'll figure out what makes the most sense for your specific needs/budget/situation. But if you can, hold your horses for a bit. You might be happy you did."

Even if they don't get a new 14" or 16" Pro, it could affect pricing on those $1,299 and 1,499 models, and it'll certainly alter the pricing on current-general M1-based 13" MacBook Pros. Like I said...too much is up for change and, if you're patient, you might be able to save some $$$ and make a smart purchase.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 That price increase talk is a bit deflating

Yeah, but read the article. The "price increase" only mentions the high-end 13", and says nothing of the 16". It just kind of gets conflated in the article, I think. And, it says "High-end 13" models without discussing whether or not it is referring to the 13" M1 models, or the 13" Intel models. Since the 13" M1 is very close in performance to the 16" Intels, and since the 13" Intels are still available, it's hard to tell what they mean by "high end". "High end" in 13" performance is the M1, but "high-end" in price is the Intel.

In other words, the article drums up more questions than answers, and then doesn't even bother to answer the questions it knows the answers to.

[psmith2.0]

I assume they're talking about the $1,799 13" models (the higher-end, beefier ones compared to those two $1,299 and $1,499 models), but yeah...it's a bit of a confusing article. It seems to imply/suggest about 2-3 different things, all canceling each other out.

Wish they'd write it a bit clearer.