Apple's Awesome Thread (was 9/9 Event Thread)

[boogielicious]

I just got an iPad Air 2.  I had frequent flyer miles on United, but they don't fly anywhere I want to go!  So I cashed them in for the Air 2.  It is very nice and the larger screen helps these old eyes.

[drifterdon]

The new iPads rock.

I have my old 1st generation iPad still but it is only good for videos these days.

The iOS stopped at version 5.xx something.

[dkolo]

The new iPads rock.

I have my old 1st generation iPad still but it is only good for videos these days.

The iOS stopped at version 5.xx something.

The original iPad Air was one of the most magical things I'd ever owned. This even after having the 1st iPad and the 3rd iPad. Unfortunately, iOS 8 has really hurt the functionality of the Air. While I normally support changes Apple makes, I've found iOS 8 to be incredibly buggy. Design-wise, I have no issues, as I love the changes from iOS 7 and on, but Reading List is near unusable for me with iOS 8. Through iOS 7, I could keep adding things to Reading List en masse and they'd save in the background. Now, I click "Add to Reading List" and when I go to add the next thing, it won't let me until it finishes saving the first thing. Even though it looks like the link was added, if you go into the RL, it doesn't show up. And deleting things from the RL similarly doesn't work well as I constantly get error messages of "Bookmarks currently being synced." It's all a seemingly small gripe, but for the primary usage of the iPad being consuming internet articles, it's huge. Otherwise, it's just more buggy and crashy than iOS 7.

The form factor, though, is still something I truly marvel at. It's just a shame the software has taken the functional magic away.

[nevets88]

Found this deep in the closet.

[trickyputt]

I have hotrod cars coming into the store with stealth matte black apple logos stuck on them. Myself...I just bought 2 i7 chromeboxes.

[Warren Zevon]

So did anyone ever end up getting or trying the Apple Watch?

[iacas]

So did anyone ever end up getting or trying the Apple Watch?

Yes. There's another thread on that… here: .

[nevets88]

New iPod Touch has 120fps:

https://www.apple.com/ipod-touch/specs/

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

So did anyone ever end up getting or trying the Apple Watch?

I'm pretty sure @iacas got one?

[nevets88]

@iacas , @jamo and any other Mac users.

Which online store do you buy components like hard drives for your Mac from? MacMall? There's a good deal in iFixit, never bought from there before. Any experiences w/iFixit?

[jamo]

@iacas , @jamo and any other Mac users. Which online store do you buy components like hard drives for your Mac from? MacMall? There's a good deal in iFixit, never bought from there before. Any experiences w/iFixit?

I've bought tools and a battery from iFixIt. No issues. I've bought hard drives and a hard drive cradle from Amazon. Also no issues. I bought some bad RAM from Amazon but the manufacturer replaced it. After the warranty on the replacement expired it crapped it again.

[nevets88]

[quote name="nevets88" url="/t/76887/apples-awesome-thread-was-9-9-event-thread/150#post_1177133"] @iacas , @jamo and any other Mac users. Which online store do you buy components like hard drives for your Mac from? MacMall? There's a good deal in iFixit, never bought from there before. Any experiences w/iFixit?

I've bought tools and a battery from iFixIt. No issues. I've bought hard drives and a hard drive cradle from Amazon. Also no issues. I bought some bad RAM from Amazon but the manufacturer replaced it. After the warranty on the replacement expired it crapped it again.[/quote] Thanks. Will buy hybrid SSD from iFixit. It comes with a handy toolkit as well. My MBP is starting to act up. Freezing and rebooting on startup. Disk Utility says it's okay. Maybe it's Yosemite but I need to upgrade the hard drive anyways, it's ancient. Internal speaker not working as well. The MBP is 6+ years old. Maybe time for an upgrade. Edit: Ah, speaker works, startup sound doesn't. Will reset PRAM to see what happens. Ah, it worked.

[davechen]

I've bought stuff from iFixit before with no problem.  Even more so I've used their repair guides to open up and fix all sorts of Mac laptops over the years.

On the other hand, you don't have to by replacement hard drives from a Mac specialty store.  The drives, flash or spinning, are the same as any other, non-Mac, laptop.  So you could go to Amazon or NewEgg or wherever.

[nevets88]

I've bought stuff from iFixit before with no problem.  Even more so I've used their repair guides to open up and fix all sorts of Mac laptops over the years.

On the other hand, you don't have to by replacement hard drives from a Mac specialty store.  The drives, flash or spinning, are the same as any other, non-Mac, laptop.  So you could go to Amazon or NewEgg or wherever.

Thanks. Yeah, I looked up the SSD Hybrid elsewhere, but iFixit has this little tookitl/HD enclosure package I couldn't resist. You can never have enough tools. At least I can't, lol. I've been a diehard MacMall buyer, so a little set in my ways.

[iacas]

Amazon. RAMJet. OWC. NewEgg. Others.

Even Best Buy now and then.

[danL]

I do like Apples ideology of redesigning components we take for granted (such as pixels) but my biggest gripe with them is that they just don't posses enough raw processing power for the price. They also have poor navigational implementation throughout most of their software. They're also the king of "upgrade to the new version" marketing. The first iPhone didn't have a camera, you're telling me that wasn't intentional to make all first time buyers upgrade to the next release? If they'd lose some of the new age hipster attitude, price their products more reasonably (or pay the Chinese a living wage for their work) then I would be more apt to use their products exclusively. But as it sits now, the only thing Apple produces that is truly superior to its counter part are the retina pixels. I also like that OSX is Unix based. Makes local testing of Web Development a piece of cake. :) But as far as support for developers, the Google Play store is leaps and bounds ahead of the Apple App store in terms of being developer-friendly. Neither tech giant chose a good language for the base of their mobile OS, though. -_-

[iacas]

I do like Apples ideology of redesigning components we take for granted (such as pixels) but my biggest gripe with them is that they just don't posses enough raw processing power for the price. They also have poor navigational implementation throughout most of their software.

I'd ask you to provide an example of their processing power and what tangible actual effect they have on the consumer experience, but I doubt you'd come up with something I'd agree on… Processing power is not what it is on a computer (and even on a computer it's no longer super critical, what with hard disks (even with SSDs) and the speed of the network being the primary bottlenecks). And the "poor navigational implementation"? C'mon… like what? Because… back buttons, physical buttons, soft buttons, software buttons, etc. That's a poor navigational implementation. Apple's navigational model has been well accepted, well used, and relatively consistent.

They're also the king of "upgrade to the new version" marketing. The first iPhone didn't have a camera, you're telling me that wasn't intentional to make all first time buyers upgrade to the next release?

Disagree. For example, iPhones support newer OSes than Android by far . Several years-old iPhones can often run OSes released years and years after their release.

If they'd lose some of the new age hipster attitude

Uhm…? Okay…?

price their products more reasonably (or pay the Chinese a living wage for their work) then I would be more apt to use their products exclusively

Do some research. Apple has done a lot to support FoxConn (and their other suppliers). More than any other company. They implemented stricter standards for FoxConn (et al.) and held them to them.

https://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/02/13Fair-Labor-Association-Begins-Inspections-of-Foxconn.html

https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/

https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/our-suppliers/

https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/progress-report/

Plus, let me get this right… you want them to pay more… and charge less? You get that things don't work like that, right?

I also like that OSX is Unix based. Makes local testing of Web Development a piece of cake. :) But as far as support for developers, the Google Play store is leaps and bounds ahead of the Apple App store in terms of being developer-friendly.

And far less consumer friendly, and they're the ones paying the money.

Neither tech giant chose a good language for the base of their mobile OS, though. -_-

Okay.

Look, @danL , you can dislike  all you like… but at least be accurate in your disses. Apple and iOS and the iPhone lineup have their weaknesses, but do try to find more than the typical fanboy arguments.

[nevets88]

Will be doing a clean install of Yosemite on a newly installed SSD hybrid on MBP as have been regularly getting the something went wrong rebooting grey screen of death recently. Made a TM backup. Also backed up super important files to another HD. Will clean install from a USB drive and recover from TM backup. Diving in later tonight. Hope all goes well. @jamo - you did this right? How'd it go?