Apple Event April 20

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by OtinG

TV

Would you mind not using the apple symbol. It doesn't display here. Thanks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by OtinG

A new TV 4K was announced with a slightly better remote. $179 and up. Uses A12 chip. Doesn’t seem like it is much of an upgrade from the current TV 4K though. The new remote has a round controller at the top similar to iPods from years ago. It looked like it was still a trackpad though, just round rather than square, but it does have right, left, up, and down arrows on the outer circle, so maybe it works with a push too.

This is a pass for me though. I don’t see a reason to upgrade from my current TV 4K.

ETA: You can use your iPhone to color calibrate the new TV 4K to your TV. Nice feature if it really works well. Other than that, the only other noticeable upgrade was to the chip making it faster. My current TV 4K seems fast enough already, but I don’t watch sports very often.

I like the new color feature for ATV that gives you more accurate colors for a TV that's not correctly configured.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by OtinG

New iPad Pro with M1 chip with 8 core CPU and 8 core GPU. Added a Thunderbolt port. New liquid retina XDR display with 10,000 mini LEDs on the 12.9” model. Upto 2 terabytes of storage and up to 16GB RAM.

11” starts at $799
12.9” starts at $1099

I’m not well versed in the 2020 Pro models, but the new ones seem to be a significant upgrade.

This might be a great tool for graphic artists, photographers, videographers etc, assuming iPadOS doesn’t limit it too much.

I am surprised Apple hasn't come out with a 12.9" iPad Pro that runs Big Sur.

[John F]

Airtags were also announced.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

They'll let creators charge to access their content.

Some podcasters already do that on other services, so I avoid those. Hopefully Apple won’t ever start making us pay to use the Podcasts app though. I’m all for free podcasts! Those who charge can keep their podcasts to themselves.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by John F

Airtags were also announced.

Thanks, I forgot about those.

[binaryhermit]

I mostly agree with you.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would you mind not using the apple symbol. It doesn't display here. Thanks.

Sorry. It should display on iPads and iPhones. I’m using a text replacement feature wherein I type “atv” and it displays TV. It displays correctly on my iThingies.

[pwalker8]

Yea, I'm trying to figure out why this new Apple TV is better than my current Apple TV 4K. Different chip, maybe better game device. I guess the HDR high frame rate is good for live sports, but right now the only streaming 4K that I have access to is iTunes.

The new iPad Pro is a significant upgrade, but I have a 1 TB iPad pro and am not even approach half full yet. Very tough to justify upgrading. Maybe if I drop my current one and crack the screen. The thunderbolt connector is nice.

Complete pass on the podcast +. Why would I pay for something I get for free? All the podcast that I currently listen to are on multiple platforms. I do have the Apple One subscription, so maybe it will be part of that.

The touch id on the keyboard for the new iMac is pretty cool. On the other hand, a 24 inch screen is a bit of step back from the 27 inch screen. The base 512 GB storage is pathetic. I assume you can upgrade that as well as the 8 GB unified memory.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by John F

Airtags were also announced.

Airtags is actually something I might buy. My sister is always losing stuff.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Airtags is actually something I might buy. My sister is always losing stuff.

Yes, if you have kids these are probably a must have item. Luckily I have a good memory still and rarely lose things. Wait, what were we talking about?

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Yea, I'm trying to figure out why this new Apple TV is better than my current Apple TV 4K. Different chip, maybe better game device. I guess the HDR high frame rate is good for live sports, but right now the only streaming 4K that I have access to is iTunes.

The new iPad Pro is a significant upgrade, but I have a 1 TB iPad pro and am not even approach half full yet. Very tough to justify upgrading. Maybe if I drop my current one and crack the screen. The thunderbolt connector is nice.

Complete pass on the podcast +. Why would I pay for something I get for free? All the podcast that I currently listen to are on multiple platforms. I do have the Apple One subscription, so maybe it will be part of that.

The touch id on the keyboard for the new iMac is pretty cool. On the other hand, a 24 inch screen is a bit of step back from the 27 inch screen. The base 512 GB storage is pathetic. I assume you can upgrade that as well as the 8 GB unified memory.

They are still selling the 27" Intel iMacs. They just replaced the 21.5" models with a 24". You can upgrade them to 16GB RAM. It's basically identical to the M1 Mini just with a screen and KB/M in the box.

Obviously whatever chip(s) they want to put in the 27" iMac, 16" MBP, MP are not ready for prime time yet. The M1 as good as it is isn't quite there for people that need dedicated GPUs, more cores, more RAM etc. Probably when we get the M1X or M2 or whatever we'll see those models get updates.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Yea, I'm trying to figure out why this new Apple TV is better than my current Apple TV 4K. Different chip, maybe better game device. I guess the HDR high frame rate is good for live sports, but right now the only streaming 4K that I have access to is iTunes.

My new Sony Bravia has good color so I don’t need the new color calibration feature. Also, I haven’t noticed any lagging or choppiness in streaming HDTV or 4K on my TV. The only time I see issues with that is when watching some British shows that use 50fps rather than the US standard of 60fps. I have the TV and the A-TV both set to use the frame-rate of the video, mostly that works except for a handfull of British sitcoms. But those are watched on OTA PBS broadcasts, not via streaming. Personally I don’t see any reason to upgrade my current A-TV 4K for the new one.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I am surprised Apple hasn't come out with a 12.9" iPad Pro that runs Big Sur.

I think I heard that Apple wants to transition macOS and iOS/iPadOS into a similar set of OSes. I know they want to use the same look in both. Perhaps over time they will either beef up iPadOS, or modify macOS, into something that can be used on Macs and iPad Pros.

BTW, I started using A-TV rather than the symbol for Apple.

[OtinG]

OUCH!

The maxed out version of the new iPad Pro 12.9” with 5G, 16GB RAM, and 2 terabytes memory will cost you $2399 USD!

That of course is without an Apple Pencil 2 or a keyboard case.