Scratch

I'm pretty surprised by this. The iPad mini is pretty cool, by form factor. Wouldn't recommend it though, if you already have a regular iPad. The new iMac is great. The 13 inch Retina Macbook Pro, eh. Nothing huge.

Overall, it's pretty cool.    Only problem is the iPad mini's price. $329? $249 is what I'd choose.

I touch 5g or Ipad mini?

ahirbhairav wrote:

technoboy10 wrote:

stevetheipad wrote:

If you got the iPad, I'd be happy to send you a copy of the Scratch app to install, so that's not a problem.

Scratch app? 

Woah, steve even made an app??? ME WANT NOW!

No, it's the one that was already created. But only people with Apple developer licenses (me!) can distribute the app.

*hint*
Posted from my iPad   

There isn't really any justifiable reason to buy the 13" Retina pro. It starts with only 128GB storage which is way too little for the amount that it costs. To upgrade to 256GB would put the price within 100 dollars of the 15" Retina Pro. A discrete GPU, quad core CPUs, and even bigger and higher resolution (although slightly less pixel dense) displays are worth 100 extra, and even without the SSD bump may be able to justify the extra 500, but with the SSD upgrade it's an easy sell.

As for the iPad mini, it just doesn't look as nice as the iPad. It's more like a scaled up iPod Touch and less like a scaled down iPad. Maybe it's the inconsistent bezel, or the quick taper, I may never know. It's less powerful, not retina, and in every way inferior to the new iPad 4th generation. (I'm now two generations behind    )
However, before I got my iPad I wouldn't have considered myself in the iPad's target demographic, so I guess I'd have to see it before I could make a full decision.

Last edited by 16Skittles (2012-10-23 20:37:35)

soupoftomato wrote:

16Skittles wrote:

*hint*
Posted from my iPad   

There isn't really any justifiable reason to buy the 13" Retina pro. It starts with only 128GB storage which is way too little for the amount that it costs. To upgrade to 256GB would put the price within 100 dollars of the 15" Retina Pro. A discrete GPU, quad core CPUs, and even bigger and higher resolution (although slightly less pixel dense) displays are worth 100 extra, and even without the SSD bump may be able to justify the extra 500, but with the SSD upgrade it's an easy sell.

How can they justify only 128GB of Hard Drive space at all? And especially for the extreme price point?

My computer has 1TB, but it is a family shared one so I am looking for a new computer, and I am very unlikely to downsize that amount if I get one. So 128GB seems insanely small.

In their defense, it is Solid State storage, a new and expensive technology. It's nothing like the Air - the 11" starts at 64 GB. On top of that, it is a custom setup, not a standard 2.5 drive. If it was a 2.5, it would be easy and cheap to replace. Then, you're forgetting that it's Apple. 

Last edited by 16Skittles (2012-10-23 21:31:39)

stevetheipad wrote:

soupoftomato wrote:

16Skittles wrote:

*hint*
Posted from my iPad   

There isn't really any justifiable reason to buy the 13" Retina pro. It starts with only 128GB storage which is way too little for the amount that it costs. To upgrade to 256GB would put the price within 100 dollars of the 15" Retina Pro. A discrete GPU, quad core CPUs, and even bigger and higher resolution (although slightly less pixel dense) displays are worth 100 extra, and even without the SSD bump may be able to justify the extra 500, but with the SSD upgrade it's an easy sell.

How can they justify only 128GB of Hard Drive space at all? And especially for the extreme price point?

My computer has 1TB, but it is a family shared one so I am looking for a new computer, and I am very unlikely to downsize that amount if I get one. So 128GB seems insanely small.

Doesn't it come with an additional 1 or 3TB flash storage?

I'm not sure about what different types of storage are sadly, but the source I found said the 13" Retina Pro had 128GB flash storage, I believe.

16Skittles wrote:

We were talking about the 13" Retina MBP, I believe that you are talking about the "fusion drive" on the new iMac. 

Hm?

That says "128GB flash storage" on it. (or the 256GB model)

And aside from the display on that, I've seen a comparable Windows 7 desktop for $500 at Sam's Club    (And a similar laptop for $800 which would pretty much be the cost to buy a (pricy) monitor for the desktop)

Last edited by soupoftomato (2012-10-23 22:17:04)

Here's my two cents on today's event. I've categorized each paragraph so you can jump to what you want to hear if you don't like long posts. 

iPad Mini
The iPad Mini was disappointing and unexpected to some, but those people are mostly regular iPad owners or people who wouldn't buy an iPad of any kind. The iPad Mini is strictly marketed and designed for people who don't want to spend $499 or don't have the money; $329 is quite reasonable for an iPad device. It's essentially a smaller iPad 2 - but it's great to hear it'll work on the same resolution (yay for devs) and supports all the iPad apps, including Apple's iLife applications. Additionally, the advertising as if it's a new project is great for sales and it'll be great to have it shipping before Christmas for Apple.

iMac
The iMac's update was very much needed, as it hasn't been updated for a while and it was way too thick before. It's sleek, reasonably priced and will be a great buy. Overall, this was the highlight of the Mac part of the event.

Retina 13" and Mac mini
The Mac mini probably won't cause the previous-generation owners to upgrade, but will be a very nice upgrade for future buyers as the price is the same; it's a solid design and system. The retina 13" is a bit awkward; being on the spendy side and being limited in it's memory; it was definitely not a big deal.

Loss of optical drives
This is quite disturbing to most people, it generally receives an automatic negative response. However, when thinking about it, I don't find it that big of a loss. With the world of computing quickly moving to cloud data and only digital copies of things like movies and CDs, it's not really needed. It may have been a little early to lose this feature on their iMac and retina display MacBook Pro, but I think Apple hopes to help drive the world away from physical copies of things like DVDs and CDs.

iPad 4
Not much to say here - it's hardly an upgrade from the iPad 3rd generation, but will be nice for people already going to buy. Calling it the 4th generation was surprising to me, but I can only hope a big update will come with the iPad 5.

Overall, it was a good event. I don't plan on purchasing any of the new products myself, but the iPod Touch 5 is on my mind. 

Last edited by stevetheipad (2012-10-23 22:45:29)

Did anyone notice that the base model imac's HDD is 5400rpm? Mine's 7200rpm, so I'm sticking with that.

There's also been a $30 price bump in Australia.

I use my Mac to burn and read DVDs all the time. As in everyday. I'm definitely sticking with my iMac.

Who needs a desktop to be thinner anyway 

I was disappointed about the price of the iPad mini and the lack of discrete graphics on the 13" rMBP.

Get the iPod touch 5g. You won't regret getting it over the nexus.

Lol, Steve can I call you stevetheipadmini?

jji7skyline wrote:

Did anyone notice that the base model imac's HDD is 5400rpm? Mine's 7200rpm, so I'm sticking with that.

There's also been a $30 price bump in Australia.

I use my Mac to burn and read DVDs all the time. As in everyday. I'm definitely sticking with my iMac.

Who needs a desktop to be thinner anyway 

I was disappointed about the price of the iPad mini and the lack of discrete graphics on the 13" rMBP.

Pricing for the iPad mini is difficult because of the iPod touch, I think that's what help them back.

stevetheipad wrote:

I really love http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=uFUSVaqSaxQ the iPad Mini commercial, it's so beautiful, yet so very simple; two words, and one song. It brings me back to the original iPod launch for some reason. 

How about to before you were born in 1984 when they just completely garbled up the intro of the first Macintosh!