What is APPLE planning?

[Budweiser®]

I wonder what Microsofts price will be for Office, photoshop, acrobat etc?
That alone could double the price and use up lots of Ram and SD drive.
You simply cannot run MSFT programs on 2 gigs of ram.

Did you really just ask how much Microsoft is going to charge for (Adobe) Photoshop and (Adobe) Acrobat? Seriously?

Office is included with every Surface btw.

EDIT - Every copy of Windows RT includes Office, not just Surface.

 

[NSXrebel]

http://bgr.com/2012/10/25/apple-q4-2012-earnings/

BUSINESS October 25, 2012 at 4:32 PM by Zach Epstein
Apple (AAPL) has been getting clobbered on Wall Street lately. The stock hit a record high of $705.07 just after the iPhone 5 launched, but it has tumbled more than 13% since then and closed at $609.80 on Thursday. Apple is still far more profitable than any other consumer electronics company in the world, but Wall Street analysts’ sky high expectations have pummeled the company’s share price. For the September quarter, the Street expected Apple to earn $8.81 per share on revenue totaling $35.8 billion, much higher than Apple’s fiscal fourth-quarter EPS guidance of $7.65 and revenue guidance of $34 billion. The numbers are now in, and Apple missed expectations despite the record-setting iPhone 5 launch, reporting a profit of $8.67 per share on $36 billion in sales.

Apple posted a big miss in the fiscal fourth quarter last year, earning $7.05 per share while analysts were expecting $7.29.

Where device shipments are concerned, analysts’ Q4 2012 consensus had Apple moving 25.3 million iPhones, 15.3 million iPads, 5.5 million iPods and 5 million Mac computers. The company reported selling 26.9 million iPhones, topping estimates, but iPad sales totaling 14 million units missed big. Apple also said it sold 5.3 million iPods in the quarter, down 19% year-over-year, and 4.9 million Macs, up 1% over the same quarter in 2011.

For the December quarter, analysts were looking for sky-high earnings guidance of $15.45 per share on $54.9 billion in revenue. Apple expects revenue to total $52 billion during the holiday quarter, however, and EPS is expected to come in at $11.75.

Meh, Apple didn't miss anything. All these analyst pull these numbers out of their ass, then all the news outlets make it seem like Apple didn't meet their own expectations, when in reality, it was the analysts' expectations that weren't met.

 

[Motegi]

I've been looking at some of the early reviews of the Surface RT. With Windows RT you don't get backwards compatibility with older Window's programs nor are you able to fully utilize the desktop mode of the OS.

According to Anandtech:

"Unlike the Windows 8 desktop, you’re pretty limited in what you can do here. The only applications that are allowed to run in desktop mode under Windows RT are Explorer, IE10, Office 2013 and the command prompt (there are also all of the Windows specific tools and settings which I’ll get to shortly). Developers cannot make applications for Windows RT desktop mode and you can’t sideload anything here. Microsoft’s belief is that by completely locking down the system, requiring that applications only come from the Windows Store, it can avoid the pitfalls of viruses and malware that can plague Windows machines today. "​

Wouldn't it be a better idea to wait for the Surface Pro version to come out?

 

[Motegi]

Getting this thread back onto the subject of Apple... (there is a separate Microsoft thread right?).

What do the Mac owners here think of the new desktop/laptop offerings that Apple just announced.

I'm still using my old Core 2 Duo 24" iMac, and am OK with Aperture and Lightroom performance on Mountain Lion right now. I already took the liberty of swapping out the fault prone Seagate HD for a larger aftermarket 1.5 TB internal drive before the recent recall.

That being said my old iMac is probably not going to be supported much longer for OS updates so with the new offerings which is going to give the best bang for the buck and longevity?

A MacBook Retina with an add-on 27" Thunderbolt display? I'm afraid of the lack of onboard storage due to the only choices being SSD.

A MacMini plus a 27" Thunderbolt display? The biggest omission is the lack of a separate dedicated GPU. You're basically stuck with the onboard Intel integrated GPU.

A new iMac 27"? While my old iMac has served me well for many years, some reviewers say that the fact that the display and CPU are combined limits its versatility/repairability.

Portability is not really a big factor for me as I hardly ever use my old MacBook now that I have my iPad.

On another note, I'm not too happy with the elimination of optical drives throughout the new lineup. At least they could've kept one on the iMac. I still like to purchase my music on CD and rip them into lossless files rather than settle on the 256 kbps files from iTunes or Amazon. Of course, I'd assume that this is the minority opinion these days... Heck, most of my family sees no difference in quality btw streaming video from Hulu and NetFlix as compared to BluRay...

 

[flaminio]

I've been looking at some of the early reviews of the Surface RT. With Windows RT you don't get backwards compatibility with older Window's programs nor are you able to fully utilize the desktop mode of the OS.

According to Anandtech:

"Unlike the Windows 8 desktop, you’re pretty limited in what you can do here. The only applications that are allowed to run in desktop mode under Windows RT are Explorer, IE10, Office 2013 and the command prompt (there are also all of the Windows specific tools and settings which I’ll get to shortly). Developers cannot make applications for Windows RT desktop mode and you can’t sideload anything here. Microsoft’s belief is that by completely locking down the system, requiring that applications only come from the Windows Store, it can avoid the pitfalls of viruses and malware that can plague Windows machines today. "​

Wouldn't it be a better idea to wait for the Surface Pro version to come out?

It depends. I have users who do nothing but web, email, and Office apps. Nothing. The fact that it can't run regular Windows apps also means that the users can't install crapware, games, or get viruses. The Surface RT might be great for them. I'm getting one tomorrow for eval -- we'll see how it goes.

 

[bngl3rt]

A new iMac 27"? While my old iMac has served me well for many years, some reviewers say that the fact that the display and CPU are combined limits its versatility/repairability.

If portability is not a factor, the bang for buck of the iMac is undeniable. Especially the ones with Fusion Drive.

You can order the SuperDrive for $99 if you really need to rip CDs.

The new iMacs can drive TWO additional 27" displays for a total of 3x27" on your desk if that's what you're into.

I have a Mac Pro, which is perfect for me - it has two HDDs and two SSDs in it, the factory superdrive plus a Blu-ray reader/burner that I installed, and it can drive as many monitors as I can fit graphics cards into it. You can get one used for about the price of an iMac, and then get a very good no-name Korean 27" IPS monitor on eBay for $300.

 

[Motegi]

It depends. I have users who do nothing but web, email, and Office apps. Nothing. The fact that it can't run regular Windows apps also means that the users can't install crapware, games, or get viruses. The Surface RT might be great for them. I'm getting one tomorrow for eval -- we'll see how it goes.

I'm very interested in your impressions.

I was thinking about picking up a Nexus 7 32gb just to tinker with to see what is available outside of iOS... But if the Surface RT really lives up to the hype...

 

[NetViper]

Getting this thread back onto the subject of Apple... (there is a separate Microsoft thread right?).

What do the Mac owners here think of the new desktop/laptop offerings that Apple just announced.

I'm still using my old Core 2 Duo 24" iMac, and am OK with Aperture and Lightroom performance on Mountain Lion right now. I already took the liberty of swapping out the fault prone Seagate HD for a larger aftermarket 1.5 TB internal drive before the recent recall.

That being said my old iMac is probably not going to be supported much longer for OS updates so with the new offerings which is going to give the best bang for the buck and longevity?

A MacBook Retina with an add-on 27" Thunderbolt display? I'm afraid of the lack of onboard storage due to the only choices being SSD.

A MacMini plus a 27" Thunderbolt display? The biggest omission is the lack of a separate dedicated GPU. You're basically stuck with the onboard Intel integrated GPU.

A new iMac 27"? While my old iMac has served me well for many years, some reviewers say that the fact that the display and CPU are combined limits its versatility/repairability.

Portability is not really a big factor for me as I hardly ever use my old MacBook now that I have my iPad.

On another note, I'm not too happy with the elimination of optical drives throughout the new lineup. At least they could've kept one on the iMac. I still like to purchase my music on CD and rip them into lossless files rather than settle on the 256 kbps files from iTunes or Amazon. Of course, I'd assume that this is the minority opinion these days... Heck, most of my family sees no difference in quality btw streaming video from Hulu and NetFlix as compared to BluRay...

That lack of being able to upgrade your ram in the cheaper iMac is pretty good reason not to buy it. 8 gig isn't enough.

 

[NSXrebel]

That lack of being able to upgrade your ram in the cheaper iMac is pretty good reason not to buy it. 8 gig isn't enough.

I thought you could upgrade the RAM. I haven't kept up with the latest, but did something change?

 

[Motegi]

That lack of being able to upgrade your ram in the cheaper iMac is pretty good reason not to buy it. 8 gig isn't enough.

The new iMac specs say up to 32GB RAM... Is this incorrect?

 

[NetViper]

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/23...radable-ram-27-has-four-accessible-ram-slots/

Consistent with Apple's quest to make its new computers as thin as possible at the expense of expandability, the new 21.5" iMac contains no user-accessible RAM slots. Instead, it can be configured with 8GB or 16GB of RAM direct from the factory.

------

So I guess I should say buy the 16 version and not the 8.

 

[Motegi]

One thing about the new iMac that really has me scratching my head is the location of the SD memory card slot... on the back!

How inconvenient is that? Not everyone has their computer just sitting out in the open. Mine is sitting on my desk with the back against the wall...

All for the sake of the 5mm edge thickness. Surely they could have created a small bulge on one edge to allow for the SD slot to be in a more logical location!

 

[Motegi]

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/23...radable-ram-27-has-four-accessible-ram-slots/

Consistent with Apple's quest to make its new computers as thin as possible at the expense of expandability, the new 21.5" iMac contains no user-accessible RAM slots. Instead, it can be configured with 8GB or 16GB of RAM direct from the factory.

------

So I guess I should say buy the 16 version and not the 8.

This all-in-one design strategy for the iMac has always limited user upgradeability. On my 24" model I had to remove the front glass and LCD panel just to swap the hard drive. Talk about nerve racking....

 

[NetViper]

This all-in-one design strategy for the iMac has always limited user upgradeability. On my 24" model I had to remove the front glass and LCD panel just to swap the hard drive. Talk about nerve racking....

Yikes. That would scare the heck out of me.

 

[kookoo4nsx]

If people are hailing this tablet for business use, extra programs are going to cost money. I admit not structuring my sentence correctly but let me be clear, I was not talking about the free acrobat reader or the free photoshop.

I am glad to see Msft is including its full office suite.

Did you really just ask how much Microsoft is going to charge for (Adobe) Photoshop and (Adobe) Acrobat? Seriously?

Office is included with every Surface btw.

EDIT - Every copy of Windows RT includes Office, not just Surface.

 

[NetViper]

If people are hailing this tablet for business use, extra programs are going to cost money. I admit not structuring my sentence correctly but let me be clear, I was not talking about the free acrobat reader or the free photoshop.

I am glad to see Msft is including its full office suite.

Right, but most people already have these programs. You don't need to buy them again. Honestly though, I think using photoshop on it would be useless unless they come out with a mouse.

 

[Motegi]

Right, but most people already have these programs. You don't need to buy them again. Honestly though, I think using photoshop on it would be useless unless they come out with a mouse.

Keep in mind that you cannot run standard Windows programs on the RT version of Surface. You can only run their new tablet "apps". So no Photoshop right now.

On another note, I heard that the touch cover is actually quite nice.

 

[NetViper]

You cannot run standard Windows programs on the RT version of Surface. You can only run their new tablet "apps". So no Photoshop right now.

On another note, I heard that the touch cover is actually quite nice.

Yes, I know. I don't think a business is going to buy RT -- it is geared towards consumers more than professionals.

 

[flaminio]

Yes, I know. I don't think a business is going to buy RT -- it is geared towards consumers more than professionals.

I don't think so -- please jump over to the MICROSOFT thread for my comments. Let's keep this one APPLE only.

 

[NetViper]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Os87PLlyU4k?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[bngl3rt]

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/201...ration-Across-Hardware-Software-Services.html

Forstall is out, with Ive taking over Human Interface.

It's widely known that Forstall was the biggest advocate for skeumorphic design, whereas Ive is a strict minimalist. Hopefully this will be reflected in the products sooner rather than later.

 

[Gansan]

I don't understand the trendiness of hating skeuomorphic design as some kind of golden rule. It's designer's right to paint the pixels as he wants, and we can like it or not, but we should judge each case, not all as a category. All basic GUI elements like buttons, tabs, scroll bars, and windows are skeuomorphic to some extent.

 

[bngl3rt]

I don't understand the trendiness of hating skeuomorphic design as some kind of golden rule. It's designer's right to paint the pixels as he wants, and we can like it or not, but we should judge each case, not all as a category. All basic GUI elements like buttons, tabs, scroll bars, and windows are skeuomorphic to some extent.

Sure, but some recent apps and system UIs from Apple have bordered on comical.

 

[NSXrebel]

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/201...ration-Across-Hardware-Software-Services.html

Forstall is out, with Ive taking over Human Interface.

It's widely known that Forstall was the biggest advocate for skeumorphic design, whereas Ive is a strict minimalist. Hopefully this will be reflected in the products sooner rather than later.

I've read that he he was a mini Steve Jobs. Lots of protection from Jobs too, and many thought he would be the next CEO after Steve. Lots of speculation about the reasons for his departure. It is well known he didn't get along with certain people at Apple.

 

[flaminio]

I've read that he he was a mini Steve Jobs. Lots of protection from Jobs too, and many thought he would be the next CEO after Steve. Lots of speculation about the reasons for his departure. It is well known he didn't get along with certain people at Apple.

So basically he'll leave Apple, create a new technologically advanced but poorly marketed product, and then after Tim Cook has sufficiently destroyed Apple he'll come back and rescue the company?