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Apple in 2021, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

It's Been a Long Time

In multiple ways, I haven't written in a long time and it has been a long time since I have talked about Apple's products. Even in this crazy year a lot of things have changed and Apple's new line up might seem confusing to some people. Every time they had a big launch, I thought, "I should write a Lorenzo Ramble explaining this." But I'm lazy, and I didn't so now we are all stuck with this. So I am here to clear things up. (This is kind of a spread out Lorenzo Ramble so just look at the headings and skip to the parts you want explained.) I guess it's to late to be a Christmas shopping guide, so I guess more of a birthday gift guide. Or if you got gift cards for Christmas.

A Lot of Things Have Changed 

A lot of people seem to think I dislike Apple. I wounder why that is? The truth is that, like many relationships in many peoples lives, it is a love hate relationship. My issue is that their products are just so pretty, and just so pricey. Although this year I have been pretty fortunate to inherit older Macs from family members. and for 10 year old computers they are very usable, and very easy to work with. They are also easy to work on, and to fix things, something that can't be said for most of today's Apple products. I know, I know, most people probably don't care about how easy it is to replace or upgrade things because they aren't crazy like me but anyway. 

The Good

OK, everyone write this day down, I am about to praise Apple. 

iPad Pro  "Magic Keyboard":

Keeping very consistent to their slightly narcissistic product names, Apple thought that they could trick people into thinking that their keyboard was magic. Its not. You probably figured it out, but it's supposedly a great keyboard case for the iPad Pro. But it is rather expensive. 

iPhone SE: 

Apple's budget phone just got better. It is just as fast as it's larger siblings having the benefit of one of the markets fastest phone chips. It has a nice camera and screen, and a more modern body style. If you want an iPhone but don't want to trade in a family member, I would seriously consider this. In fact I'll even put a picture of it.


16 inch MacBook Pro: 

Apple figured out after a few years that people actually didn't like their new repulsive keyboards. Earlier this year marked the return of the bling for the larger MacBook Pro. The 15 inch was removed in favor of a 16 inch, with refreshed specs, and the return of their older keyboard which didn't feel the need to self destruct. 

Apple Watch Series 6 and Watch SE:

I don't really care about the Apple Watch, but I know a lot of people do so here you go. The main updates that appear in the Series 6, are a faster S6 chip and some blood oxygen level tracking and an ECG. I know, so riveting. The SE is pretty cool because it is cheaper and starts at $279, it is basically the same except it has a last generation chip which I don't think will mean much from most people and has no blood oxygen sensor or ECG. 

New iPad Air: 

The new iPad air looks like a mini iPad Pro. The biggest deal is that it even has a faster processor than the iPad Pro for a much lower price. MacRumors and other media outlets claim it has around a 30% performance advantage. You can also use the Apple Pencil, and the Magic Keyboard Case I mentioned earlier. 

 


The iPhone's: 

I said in the past that iPhone's weren't very confusing to buy as there was usually only one or more recently two to choose from. This year they have changed this, and I am really wondering how this will pan out, will they ditch the idea, or will they add even more? They also have flat sides instead of rounded ones. And this new stupid "MagSafe" magnetic wireless charging stuff.

The iPhone 12 and 12 mini are basically the same except for the fact that the regular 12 has a 6.1 inch screen and the mini has a 5.4 inch screen. They also have the same new A14 processor that is in the iPad Air. 

The 12 Pro and 12 Max, the 12 Pro has a 6.1 inch screen, and the Max has a 6.7 inch screen. They have better cameras than the 12 and 12 mini. They also have LiDAR, which basically uses lasers to map 3d objects, make pictures with better depth, and to better use AR apps. 

8th Generation iPad: 

It's pretty much the same as the other "regular" iPad's, but it is now faster and has improved smart keyboard support. It also is one of the cheaper iPad's coming in at around $329. 

The Launch No One Paid Attention To: 

Everyone always knows when the new air pods and iPhone come out but outside of techies, most people had no idea what was happening. This year Apple announced the beginning of the end of Intel processors on Macs. What this really means is that they are moving away from the x86 instruction set, the standard for PC's for the last 20 years and Macs for the last 15. What this really means is that the chips that are currently being used are aren't getting much faster year after year. This is because there are only so many transistors that you can shove onto a chip. (A transistor is like a tiny switch.) This means that Apple will be designing their own ARM based SoCs. In simple terms they will be more like iPhone processors. They are called Systems on a chip, because many of the things that needed to be separate before are now on one chip (Smartphones have really been doing this since their inception.) This means that the new chips and software take a different approach, and are way more power efficient. This leads to great battery life, and little to non existent fan noise and heat. 

They Call it M1: 

To kick off their new road map they only added a few Macs with the new M1 chip. They made a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and a Mac Mini with an M1. The MacBook air is fan less, the MacBook Pro is a little more powerful and has a fan, and the Mac Mini which is finally getting some love (the Mac Mini is definitely worth a look, and is the cheapest Mac). All of these look exactly the same on the outside as the traditional editions and are also sold alongside them (except for the MacBook air, which is now only available with M1). 

In true Apple fashion they give vague percentage and multiplier stats. Such as for the Mac Mini, 3x faster CPU, 6x faster graphics, and 15x faster machine learning. A M1 mac mini can be had for $699, which isn't too bad and is $100 cheaper than the Intel version. The MacBook Pro 13 inch with M1 is cheaper than the Intel version. The MacBook air now gets and advertised 18 hours of battery life, which is insane.

Because I am writing this a little over a month after the launch I can say that the reviews are in, and they are great. I was really surprised to see very little complaints about the new computers. I think Apple was smart with the computers they chose to do this to, because although M1 is great, it still doesn't seem to have the same raw power that the traditional chips have. But for the MacBook Air, a thin and light laptop that you want to have good battery life it is great. 

What does this mean for me?:

Pro customers won't like M1 because you can't upgrade anything, once you buy it, you can't change much. This is good and bad, there is less to go bad and to mess up, but it shortens the lifespan of the computer as far as becoming obsolete. And this is what Apple wants, for you to be buying more computers. This is also why computers that are built around upgrade ability like the Mac Pro are staying the way they are. 

If you want to buy a Mac, think about it carefully. If you buy one of the standard Intel ones there really is no telling how long Apple will update them. We have no idea what the future will look like. So think about what you really want and need. 

M1 Macs also have a smaller amount of software that is optimized. The software that isn't runs through a compatibility program called Rosetta 2. Rosetta 2 is fast enough, but not as fast as the optimized apps. A very smaller number of apps have bugs or don't work, but so far it seems issues have been minimal.  

The Stupid: 

(and Ugly) Of course after a record breaking and rather impressive year, Apple had to make something stupid and easy to make fun of. Ah yes, I am taking about the...

AirPods Max: 

Oh lord. They are bad. I mean really. From what I've seen they are supposed to sound really good. But they aren't $550 worth. That is an insane amount of money for Bluetooth headphones. Your could buy a new PS5 for the same amount of money.  And they look kind of ugly. Unlike other premium wireless headphones, most of which cost significantly less, these don't come with a carrying case. These come with a ridiculous "Smart Case" because Apple thinks we are stupid. I really don't think the bra like appearance does their image any favors. 
 
 

 

Software Updates

Good: 

iOS 14:

great new features that had been missing from the iPhone, such as a way to access all of your apps, called the App Drawer (and yes Android has had this for a very long time.) 

Apple Fitness Plus is a cool new app that works between the iPhone and the Apple Watch, they are guided workouts similar to what Peloton is doing except without the bike and a wider variety of workouts. 

Watch OS 7:

I don't really have much to say about this. 

tvOS 14:

Nothing to see here folks, just some nice enhancements.

Slightly Weird: 

macOS Big Sur:

Some people like it, some people hate it. I feel kind of eh about it. Apple swears up and down that this is a "big step forward", to me it just looks like an iPad. There are some things that I like, but other things like some of the redesigned icons feel childish and less polished and professional as they did before. There is also a transparent top bar, and fatter borders around windows. Here is what it looks like:
 

That's All Folks



 


Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 29, 2021 at 8:41 PM

    I think these are very interesting reads and are fun trivia tidbits. Keep writing!
    Lydia

    ReplyDelete

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