This time, this title said it all: Peek = Studio Display, Performance = M1 Ultra.
We got more surprises in this Apple event than any in recent memory, both in terms of what we got and didn’t get. Tim started out fast with two things that weren’t on our prediction lists: live baseball coming to Apple TV+ and the two new color options for iPhone. There was no sign of a spec-bumped 13-inch MacBook Pro, no Mac mini update, and no introduction of M2. I don’t think any of us thought we’d see a new addition at the high-end of the M1-chip family (though, in reality, the M1 Ultra is the dual M1 Max package that we thought wouldn’t debut until the Apple silicon Mac Pro or at least in a new iMac Pro). And I felt that Apple Classical and another demo of Universal Control were locked for the keynote.
The iPhone SE and iPad Air upgrades are more about keeping pace with the onward march of technology. They’re good updates for people in the market for those products, but they don’t get me excited.
I did think it was interesting that they put an M1 chip into the iPad Air instead of the A15. Now it sits weirdly between the iPad mini and the iPad Pro in terms of design and features (on par with the mini) and performance (on par with the iPad Pro). That’ll make it more challenging to guide customers toward the right product. It would have been so much simpler to have the iPad Air and mini as equals in all but screen size. I struggle to see how they’ll differentiate the Air from the Pro line now, except for Touch vs. Face ID.
Storyboarding was added to iMovie, but still no Final Cut or other Pro app by Apple on iPad.
The Mac Studio with M1 Ultra is a powerhouse. Apple says it’s up to 80% faster than the top-of-the-line Mac Pro. If true, the cost savings with Mac Studio is staggering. I configured a Mac Studio with the specs that I believe Apple would have used for its testing (M1 Ultra with 64-core GPU, 64 GB of memory and 1 TBSSD) as well as a Mac Pro (28-core Xeon, similar RAM and SSD, a single Radeon Pro W6900X graphics card, and an Afterburner card). Mac Studio: $4999. Mac Pro: $20,899. The Studio is 80% faster but 4x cheaper. (If Apple tested using dual Radeon Pro W6900X chips or more RAM, the difference is even more dramatic.)
A sizzle reel of all-female developers talking about the M1 Ultra’s performance was nice to see on International Women’s Day. In fact, I think Tim Cook, John Ternus, and Johny Srouji were the only male speakers.
The Mac Studio fits in the same footprint as the Mac mini at 7.7-inches — it’s just taller.
John Ternus specifically mentioned a “modular system and display” as a need met by the Mac Studio. But I didn’t see anything that the user could swap in or out. I guess he just meant the display and other accessories, but being ‘modular’ is a term Apple typically reserves for swappable components, a la the Mac Pro.
I thought for sure while the Studio Display was being introduced that it would cost upwards of $2500. I was thrilled to be wrong when they said it starts at $1599!
I’m not sure where that puts the future for a larger iMac. The 27-inch Intel iMac is gone from Apple’s website. Maybe they’re going to introduce a larger size with the M2 iMac. Or perhaps they’ve decided that at 24-inches and 4.5K resolution, it handily splits the difference between the old 21-inch (4K) and 27-inch (5K) iMacs.
It’s curious that while the 27-inch Intel iMac was discontinued following the Mac Studio and Studio Display introductions, the Intel Mac mini remains available. Maybe it’s a bone thrown to users who still have Intel-specific workflows and will be discontinued when they complete the transition with the Mac Pro. But I would have expected it to go away since the Mac Studio handily fills the role of the higher-performance Mac mini. I suppose since the Mac Studio only supports M1 Max and M1 Ultra, we could still see an M1 Pro option get added to the Mac mini (perhaps with an Apple silicon-specific redesign) — but that further confuses the product line.
Only one week left to wait for Universal Control in iPadOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3 and masked Face ID unlock in iOS 15.4!!
Overall, I thought it was a great event. It was fun to be surprised. Even though I probably won’t be buying anything introduced today (as much as I drool over the Studio Display 🤤), I’m still impressed by what Apple has produced.
With Apple’s ‘Peek Performance’ event happening tomorrow and rumors swirling regarding which new Mac if any, they’ll introduce, I thought it was high time to get my ideas out on where I think Apple should go with their Mac lineup. Granted, I’m not in the market for a new Mac, but I do have #opinions about what would make sense for a typical customer walking into an Apple Store these days.
I’m not the first, but I am the latest to say that Apple would benefit by returning to Steve Jobs’s famed product grid. David Sparks recently explained a similar decision tree that I agree would work well:
I also just like the symmetry of it all. You go into an Apple store and answer two questions:
Consumer or Pro?
Small or large?
Let’s compare that ideal flow to where we are today.
Confusion Remains a Product in Our Lineup
Take the current 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro, for example. Who is it for? Well, I suppose it’s for someone who wants a ‘Pro’ laptop with more power than a MacBook Air, except not really because they both run on the M1, so the performance difference is negligible. So maybe it’s for someone who wants a small(er) laptop and doesn’t need all the performance or cost of the “real” 14 or 16-inch MacBooks Pro. But, again, why not go for a MacBook Air, which has the same size screen and processor, but in a smaller form factor? Okay, got it. It’s for the customer who wants the Touch Bar. Nailed it. But…I wouldn’t get too attached, seeing as the Touch Bar has never received an improvement, and it’s missing from all of Apple’s other laptops.
Apple gets a little leeway, for now, being that they’re in the middle of a major processor transition and all, but I’ve long felt that the Mac’s variety has needed paring down. You could say I cherry-picked the 13-inch MacBook Pro for my example since it’s widely thought that it doesn’t have a secure spot in the Mac family anymore.
So allow me to spell out the Mac lineup that I want to see Apple make.
An All-Stars Lineup
Laptops:
12-inch MacBook (with M1)
14-inch MacBook (with M1)
14-inch MacBook Pro (with M1 Pro or M1 Max)
16-inch MacBook Pro (with M1 Pro or M1 Max)
Desktops:
24-inch iMac (with M1)
30-inch iMac Pro (with M1 Pro/Duo, or M1 Max/Duo)
Mac mini (with M1, M1 Pro, or M1 Max)
Mac Pro (with M1 Pro Duo/Quad, or M1 Max Duo/Quad)
The cohesion would be refreshing. Every product would have its place.
This kind of lineup makes Apple’s laptops easier to sell, too. Back to Sparky’s questions: Do you prefer a smaller and more portable screen or a larger but heavier one? And do you need a consumer model or a pro one? If they go for a pro model, the follow-up question is simply, “Do you need more power (M1 Pro) or all of the power (M1 Max)?”
With some bezel-shrinking magic, the 13-inch MacBook Air transforms into a 14-inch MacBook. Folks have wanted a bigger entry laptop for ages, and it’s time they got it. The discontinued-but-not-that-old 12-inch MacBook was beloved despite being underpowered, but Apple silicon would unleash it to be the ultimate thin-and-light-yet-still-capable machine it was meant to be. I see it featuring the same entry-level chip as the 14-inch model.
I think that ‘Pro’ products deserve to have their features and enclosures designed around the capability of their chipset. We should no longer see the days of computers being “designed into a thermal corner” or throttled because Apple tried to pack a screamer chipset into a case that was made for something more pedestrian. That’s why I think it’s time to bring back the iMac Pro with a design specifically made for the Pro and Max flavors of chips.
And they’ve got to get rid of that 13-inch MacBook Pro. That laptop is overshadowed by both the raw power of its truly ‘Pro’ bigger brothers and its smaller-but-just-as-fast sibling, the MacBook Air. The latest MacBooks Pro are the best Apple’s ever shipped, and I think they’ve hit a sweet spot in regards to power, thinness, battery life, and overall premium features.
The M1 iMac found a good screen size at 24-inches. It seems to be plenty large for most users but in a shockingly small footprint. The iMac Pro’s screen could stretch out with a similar 3-inch expansion to 30-inches without dramatically increasing the overall display size. If M1 Pro and Max can fit in a laptop, all that extra room in a desktop should be plenty for dual Pro or Max chipset.
The Mac Pro would live on for the extreme end of computing needs. We’ve heard whispers that it would get a dual or quad Apple silicon setup for ages. However, with all the extra thermal headroom in the current badass Mac Pro case, I don’t think it’s even in need of a significant redesign. Hopefully, the switch to Apple’s in-house processor would not significantly restrict the other user expansion possible with the Mac Pro.
The Mac mini is the only odd one out, offering pro-level chips without being a ‘Pro’ device. But the Mac mini has always been that “release valve” product by filling lots of kinds of needs where the other Macs could not, therefore earning its expanded role.
A Few Other Thoughts
The age of the odd-inched Mac displays is over. It’s time to usher in only even-inched screens!
I’ve specified the M1 series of chips in this post, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the M2 series debut as soon as tomorrow. To me, this lineup would work for years to come as Apple swaps in ever more advanced silicon.
As far as price points go, hitting $999 for the entry laptop seems to be crucial. Could a 12-inch MacBook do it? I think so, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see the current M1 MacBook Air stick around for a little while until the M2 12-inch MacBook could take its place.
Related: The ‘Air’ brand has started feeling tired to me. Regular plus Pro makes everything easier, just like with the iPhone.
Relatedly related: The guys on the Connected podcast had a good discussion regarding the merits of a larger MacBook Air and how Apple has struggled to hit the price points they want.
I really want to see the 24-inch iMac’s gorgeous colors come to the MacBook lineup. Of course, I’d love to see more colors for ‘Pro’ products too, but I’m not as dead-set on it.
Also color-related: It’s time to retire the gold laptops. They look really out of style these days.
I’m not convinced about how the latest rumors of a ‘Mac Studio’ would play in.
If the rumors are to be believed, my ideal lineup doesn’t have a great chance of manifesting at tomorrow’s event. But I’ll be watching with fingers crossed for signs that Apple sees the need for a more cohesive Mac family.
So we could be seeing an ‘Essentially Nothing’ phone soon? They started with a strong, intrigue-building brand; I commend them for that. Based on the positive reception of the Ear 1 and Carl Pei’s track record, I’d say Nothing is one to keep an eye on.
Although ostensibly written for network operators, this post written by Rustam Lalkaka at Cloudflare which explains the underpinnings of iCloud Private Relay is surprisingly readable for a layperson like me. Here’s a bit that I didn’t know before:
Cloudflare relays maintain a pool of IP addresses for exclusive use by Private Relay. These IP addresses have been registered with geolocation database providers to correspond to specific cities around the world. When a Private Relay user connects and presents the previously determined geohash, the closest matching IP address is selected.
Servers see an IP address that corresponds to the original user IP address’s location, without obtaining information that may be used to identify the specific user.
I knew iCloud Private Relay offered the ability to obfuscate your location. Still, the way the partner companies such as Cloudflare do it with a pool of IP addresses assigned to general areas is pretty cool.
Interestingly, Cloudflare insists that using iCloud Private Relay should speed up some browsing, which is in direct contrast to what some folks were saying during the beta period and beyond. Here’s John Voorhees in his macOS Monterey review for MacStories:
Private Relay is marked in System Preferences as a beta feature. Early in the beta period, I turned the feature off because I noticed a substantial dip in Internet speed when I used it. Late in the beta period, I gave Private Relay another try, and as before, I saw about a 50% drop in speed while using Safari. I tested Private Relay using Speedtest with a wired Internet connection.
Personally, I’ve had iCloud Private Relay on and haven’t noticed much speed difference one way or the other — especially since the public OS release. I just set it and forget it.
Today, I turned 28 years old. Besides the number, that’s the same sentence I started with when writing on my birthday last year. In rereading that post in preparation for writing today, there was a paragraph that I’m glad that I captured so well because it’s equally valid today. Here’s me, 365 days ago:
I always look forward to my birthday. As I get older, it’s less about the excitement of a celebration, but instead, because it’s as good a day as any to be kind to myself. I sleep late. I eat foods I enjoy. I watch or play what I like. I make myself stop worrying about things, breathe, and relax. At a time in my life when I feel pulled between wanting to make a difference in the world and also just worn down by it all, this is a much-needed day of solace, of smallness, of simplicity.
I’ve had a good day today. After moving so close to them, I finally got out on the ski slopes. I did some writing. I chatted with friends and family. I played outside with my dog. I’ll cook up a favorite meal tonight. And I’m looking forward to celebrating more with my wife in a couple of days, and my parents when they come to visit this weekend.
This past year has included some of the most significant changes in my personal life for a while. First, I left a job in which I was very secure, but it was wearing me down. Then, I took a job that was much lower stakes and that I enjoyed immensely but had to leave when my wife and I moved. And yeah, I moved hundreds of miles further away from family and friends to a new state, chasing the unknown.
And, so, I found myself reflecting lately on how I’d like this year to go. Not so much about what I want to accomplish but more about what I’d like to do. What do I want to do for me? I’m finally surrounded by all the opportunities that I’ve longed for. My little family has a secure income, even now as I search for a new job (an enormous privilege that I’m thankful for every day). How will I take advantage of it this year?
So, in no particular order, here are 28 things I’d like to do on my 28th year on Earth:
Read more books than I did last year.
Spend at least four weekends in a tent.
Design more t-shirts than I did last year.
Summit at least five peaks.
Write more consistently than I did last year.
Spend more time journaling than I did last year.
Get in the habit of reaching for healthy snacks rather than junk food.
Make more regular phone calls to family.
Learn how to fix things in my home.
Own up to mistakes more than I have in the past.
Join a local club.
Lend my talents to a local volunteer organization.
Strike up conversations with strangers.
Get good at cooking something with fresh ingredients.
Finish at least one story-based video game.
Make date night with my wife a priority.
Close all my rings at least 50% of the days this year.
Get out ice climbing.
Climb at least three multi-pitch routes.
Tick off at least 15 crag days.
Find a local climbing partner. (Maybe this should have been #18)
Take a non-local friend out climbing.
Take my wife up a trad route.
Learn a programming language / finish a programming course.
Take a writing course.
Take my wife on a surprise weekend trip.
Play my trumpet. (Hooray for living in a house, not an apartment!)
Work my way up to running a half-marathon.
Wish me luck! I’ll try to keep track as I tick things off in this Twitter thread. And though the number has become all but meaningless, it is, after all, my golden year. It’s going to be a good one. 🥳
Matthew Bischoff recently shared some lessons they’d learned from a brief stint working at an Apple Store. This post resonated with me for many reasons, not the least of which because I recently left my own brief job at an Apple Store and learned the same things even though our experiences were separated by years and many hundreds of miles. Here’s a small bit that really stuck out:
JB taught us that there was no way we could know everything there is to know about every Apple product, let alone every app that runs on them, and every way they can fail. He taught us that rather than making up an answer, guessing, or shrugging our shoulders, we should instead say, “I don’t know, let’s find out”. Admitting that we didn’t know was the first step. Then, we were to find out together with the customer by walking over to a Mac and looking up the answer or pulling in another employee who might know the answer.
When I started working the Genius Bar, I thought of myself as having a leg up. I’d followed Apple products and culture obsessively for, gosh, well over half my life. So I knew the ins and outs. I was already the go-to person for resolving most technology-related problems, but my specialty was always Apple gadgets. And then I stepped behind the Bar.
Don’t get me wrong, I was pretty good at my job — helping countless customers diagnose and fix their mobile device issues — but it’s hard to anticipate all the ways someone can make an unexpected turn with their phone, watch, or tablet. And harder still to translate what they think is happening to what is actually happening, and then explain it back in a way that makes sense to them.
My go-to method went hand-in-hand with Matthew’s takeaway: learn and explore together. Folks are always more amicable and open to listening when you (1) acknowledge that these things are indeed complicated, and (2) involve them as part of the solution rather than fix it without explanation. So, for example, when folks belittled themselves, saying they were dumb when it came to technology, I found myself often admonishing, “Give yourself some credit; this is a supercomputer you’re operating every day. But no one knows everything about them, not even us ‘geniuses.’”
I tended to use the same language to explain the solution as my customer did to describe the problem, even if it wasn’t technically correct. Folks who made it to the Genius Bar were those who had lived with an issue long enough that they’d taken time out of their busy lives to have it fixed. They weren’t usually looking for a lesson in computer nerdery.
However, my favorite customers were those who were interested in learning more than the bare minimum. They brought their excitement in along with their broken or malfunctioning gizmos. We’d talk about how they used their phone to take pictures of their kids or create music or how their business had grown to depend on the efficiencies brought by modern computing. They’d paid good money for something they thought to be “the best” and wanted to get as much out of it. So I’d take the time, probably more than my managers preferred, to show them a few tips and point them toward resources where they could learn more on their own.
In the end, it was one of my favorite jobs I’ve ever had. I had a new outlet for my enthusiasm for these products that have become integral to our daily lives while helping people in their hour of need and did my best to build them up in the process. The stakes were relatively low for me but made an outsized difference for the folks who came in. I left most days feeling both proud of what I’d accomplished and appreciated by my customers. I learned a little each day and became more able to help more people.
And it was that opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them, and collaborate with other members of the Apple team to resolve them that set my experience there apart. I was absolutely encouraged to, as Matthew put it, “make better mistakes tomorrow.” And I try to carry that sentiment forward now in everything that I do.
Matthew’s entire post is worth much more than the few minutes it takes to read it.
2️⃣ This watchOS face concept makes so much sense. I’d love to see a complication that takes the place of analog hour ticks as this does. [Link - @FonsMans // twitter.com]
3️⃣ Talk about a portable Mac! It sounds like Apple could be working on a Mac that fits all inside a keyboard. Pair this sort of keyboard with an AR visor, and you’ve got a tactile computer with a killer display anywhere you go! [Link - Tim Hardwick // macrumors.com]
4️⃣ Jason and others are starting to change my mind about Apple offering app side-loading on iOS. I’m leaning toward that they should. [Link - Jason Snell // macworld.com]
5️⃣ I don’t know enough about foreign politics to weigh in definitively about the Ukraine invasion. Still, the more I see about President Zelenskyy, the more I feel that he’s the right person to lead his people through this crisis. [Link - @BenjaminRamm // twitter.com]
6️⃣ I’m getting a backpacking bug, and Miranda’s videos are helping me with a fix while there are 12+ inches of snow on the ground. This one has a bunch of easy meal suggestions, and, honestly, they’ve got my mouth watering. [Link - Miranda in the Wild // youtube.com]
7️⃣ I do a lot less in Excel these days since leaving my program executive job with the Boy Scouts. But that didn’t stop me from ogling at this video which shows super useful tips to get more out of Excel and faster! Joel’s presentation style was engaging and funny, and it seemed that the rudeness was part of the schtick. It’s long, but put it on 1.5x and then slow down for the parts you can use. And then bookmark it for later when you forget it all! [Link - Joel Spolsky // youtube.com]
That drop led to an overall decrease in daily users of Facebook globally, which a company spokesperson confirmed is the first sequential decline in the company’s history.
I take a small amount of savage pride knowing that I helped with at least a few of them. When I worked at an Apple Store, one of my customers was an elderly lady who had somehow made herself at least five different Facebook accounts. I guess whenever she was prompted to log in, she just made a new account. She asked me to help her to consolidate them down to one, and delete the rest. It was my pleasure!
The Verge’s piece, written by Alex Heath, offers more insight, and Facebook’s woes are a regular topic on their excellent The Vergecast podcast.
People don’t feel like they are in control of their “data,” such as it is. The app makes bad guesses or forgets things it should remember, and the user has no way to correct it. Some people told me they have simply given up. They now treat their streaming app as a glorified search box, hunting anew each time for the content they want to watch, and keeping track of what they’ve already watched using other means, sometimes even using other apps. (I imagine this flailing on each app launch may read as “increased engagement.”)
This is me, for sure. I use TV Forecast to track shows I’m watching and want to watch, and Letterboxd for movies. Since I can’t rely on the Apple TV app for all content (looking at you, Netflix), it doesn’t make sense to keep separate lists in apps, each with a different UI and capability. I delve into streaming apps as little as possible, choosing to search with Siri or Universal Search (which, related, still isn’t the best) to start playback. Unless, again, it’s on Netflix and I have to go to their app.
There’s gotta be a better way, and Siracusa’s post is the obvious place to start.
