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Tag: MacBook

  • History of {hardware} at WWDC: Every gadget launched at Apple’s developer convention in the previous few years

    Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, maybe the second most anticipated tech occasion after the corporate’s fall product showcase, has at all times been identified for specializing in its core platforms and software program. But the largest developer-centric occasion has additionally been the launchpad for a lot of high-profile {hardware} merchandise through the years, together with the HomePod and Mac Pro. Although it’s not needed for Apple to make use of this yr’s developer convention to launch new {hardware} merchandise, hypothesis is rife that we may even see updates to the MacE book Pro lineup.
    Must learn: WWDC 2021: What to anticipate and what to not
    With WWDC 2021 set to kick off tomorrow, we thought to look again and revisit a few of the {hardware} bulletins made by Apple at its largest software program occasion of the yr.
    Power Mac G5 (2003)
    Introduced at WWDC 2003, the Power Mac G5 has a wonderful historical past. Not solely did it characteristic a “cheese grater” grille on the skin however the Power Mac G5 was essentially the most highly effective Mac of its time. In reality, the PowerMac G5 stays Apple’s best-designed Mac thus far. Designed for skilled customers and graphic designers, the G5 used the PowerMacG5 processor, the primary 64-bit processor for use in a private laptop. It additionally got here with highly effective graphics and assist for as much as 8GB RAM. But because the gadget carried a robust processor inside, the problem for the group was how one can quiet down the PC. To remedy the issue of overheating, Jony Ive designed a brand new case design for the G5, that includes a variety of holes in the back and front. The design of the G5 was key to the efficiency of the machine, because the gadget had 9 energetic followers. The case was made out of aluminum with the handles on the high and backside, a serious departure from Apple’s earlier pro-level desktop designs. The PowerMac G5 acquired updates till 2005.

    Aluminum Cinema shows (2004)
    While WWDC 2004 was principally targeted on Mac OS X Tiger, Apple did introduce the traditional aluminum cinema shows, together with the huge 30-inch mannequin. The new premium shows had a one-piece aluminum design and featured twin USB 2.0 ports and twin FireWire ports, and Digital Visual Interface (DVI). Available in 20-inch, 23-inch and 30-inch display screen sizes, the latter had a “professional-quality, wide-format active-matrix LCD” with a decision of 2560×1600 pixels. The 30-inch Apple Cinema HD show was solely appropriate with the Power Mac G5 because it required a brand new Nvidia GeForce graphics card as a way to work. The 30-inch Apple Cinema HD show had a sticker value of $3299.

    Mac Pro (2006)
    In 2006, Apple unveiled the primary Mac Pro, the corporate’s high-end desktop laptop for professional customers. It was primarily the Power Mac G5 however with Intel Woodcrest processors that had been based mostly on Core expertise. While from the skin the Mac Pro would possibly seem like the Power Mac G5, it had redesigned interiors with entry to laborious drives, RAM slots, and PCI playing cards. The base model of the Mac Pro which began at $2499, featured a dual-2.6GHz Xeon dual-core Mac Pro with 1GB RAM, Geforce 7300 GT (256 MB VRAM) graphics, and a SuperDrive.

    iPhone 3G (2008)
    At WWDC 2008, the iPhone 3G was launched with a number of fanfare. The largest draw to get the iPhone 3G was after all 3G connectivity and cheaper price. Sure, the brand new iPhone got here with curved plastic again over the flat aluminum again and plastic backside of the unique iPhone however that transfer helped Apple to decrease the price of the iPhone 3G. However, the largest enchancment added to the iPhone 3G was its potential to assist 3G. Not solely that, Apple’s second iPhone ran on a brand new cellular working system referred to as iPhone OS 2. The new cellular OS featured a greater mail app, turn-by-turn navigation and most significantly, the App Store. No one, together with Apple, had any concept that the App Store would change the iPhone and the smartphone market endlessly. Upon the arrival of the $199 iPhone 3G, the gadget was declared hit. Apple offered over 1 million items of the iPhone 3G within the first weekend alone.

    iPhone 3GS (2009)
    During WWDC 2009, the iPhone 3GS was introduced because the successor to the iPhone 3G. Although it appeared similar to its predecessor with the identical plastic again on the rear, the brand new iPhone was a lot sooner and in addition got here with a 3MP digital camera able to recording video. Apple additionally launched a voice management characteristic alongside a lower, copy, and paste characteristic in iOS 3. But that yr’s Apple’s developer convention additionally noticed spec upgrades for the 15-inch and 17-inch MacE book Pro fashions. The 13-inch MacE book was referred to as “Pro” after being up to date with higher specs.

    iPhone 4 (2010)
    Perhaps essentially the most hyped gadget of its time, the iPhone 4 continues to impress collectors and followers. The iPhone 4 introduced a major redesign for the iPhone and launched a brand new design language, a mix of stainless-steel and glass. The iPhone 4 was nothing lower than an engineering marvel. Covered in glass and its flat look made the iPhone so much totally different from earlier technology fashions. With the iPhone 4, Apple additionally launched the retina show and a entrance digital camera with FaceTime.

    15-inch MacE book Pro (2012)
    WWDC 2012 noticed the launch of the 15-inch MacE book Pro, knowledgeable laptop computer squarely geared toward musicians and graphics designers. During the presentation, Apple’s then advertising head advertising Phil Schiller stated “we wanted a next-generation MacBook Pro to have a killer new display…we wanted to have an architecture built for the future.” True to Schiller’s phrases, the brand new 15-inch MacE book Pro was certainly skinny and light-weight and featured a retina show. Described because the “most beautiful computer” the 15-inch MacE book Pro was powered by a quad-core i5 or i7 processor from Intel and a brand new Kepler graphics chip from Nvidia. It began at $2199. In addition to the next-generation MacE book Pro, Apple additionally up to date the MacE book Air.

    Mac Pro (2013)
    “Can’t innovate any more, my ass,” stated Schiller in a keynote presentation whereas unveiling the model new Mac Pro throughout WWDC 2013. Nicknamed “the trash can” Mac Pro, the gadget was pitched as one thing totally totally different, a brand new sort {of professional} desktop laptop from Apple in black aluminum with an attention-grabbing cylindrical design. “It is a Mac unlike any we’ve ever made,” he stated. “It delivers so much more performance capabilities and expansion than anything we’ve made. The team has packed all this capability inside 1/8th of the volume of the previous generation.” While the 2013 Mac Pro was a masterpiece in design, it was an entire failure from delivering what Apple initially promised. In reality, the shortage of expandability and poor cooling aggravated {many professional} customers, all due to the design of the gadget. Apple itself admitted that the pc was a mistake. The largest studying from the “trash can” Mac Pro is that typically one has to look past the cool design to satisfy the facility and efficiency wanted to perform duties.

    HomePod (2017)
    The reveal of the HomePod at WWDC 2017 was the largest tech information of that yr. Apple was making a sensible speaker however not peculiar sensible audio system just like the Amazon Echo: a premium-sounding sensible speaker for the house. But regardless of a promise of higher sound and design, the HomePod wasn’t the hit Apple was in search of with its debut sensible speaker. The HomePod suffered from lots of the similar points as 2006’s iPod Hi-Fi together with a excessive price ticket. Earlier this yr Apple completely discontinued the HomePod, and whereas the information was much less surprising, it made it clear that mainstream customers weren’t in search of a sensible speaker like this.

    iMac Pro (2017)
    Although it wouldn’t be proper to name the iMac Pro a failure, it was seen as a filler between the 2013 Mac Pro and the 2019 Mac Pro. While the iMac Pro was touted as essentially the most highly effective Mac for creatives in 2017, with no updates being launched by Apple through the years, the all-in-one desktop laptop was left by itself. Not to say the iMac Pro was an odd gadget — sure, very costly beginning at $4999 but it surely misplaced its exclusivity contemplating Apple additionally affords a 27-inch iMac mannequin and a Mac Pro. The latter two Macs are, once more, focused at skilled customers. Logically, if somebody is prepared to spend upwards of $5000 on a Mac, the Mac Pro could be a greater match. Apple’s resolution to discontinue the iMac Pro earlier this yr was extra seemingly as a result of lack of readability on what Mac goals to attain in 2021.

    Mac Pro (2019)
    In 2019, Apple used WWDC to announce the brand new Mac Pro, which begins at $5999. Soon after the announcement of the Mac Pro, jokes and memes began to flood everywhere in the web. While Twitterati mocked Apple for charging $5999 for the Mac Pro (oh, by the best way, the pc doesn’t embody a show. Users should shell out $4999 for the 6K Pro Display XDR), each the pc and show had been precisely what builders and graphics designers had been in search of in a pro-level desktop gadget. The Mac Pro was an entire redesign with a concentrate on sheer efficiency and with the intention of satisfying skilled customers. The cheese grater look and a conventional tower design helped Apple win again the customers that had been pissed off with the 2013 Mac Pro.

  • Apple’s software program chief blames Mac safety to maintain grip on iPhone App Store

    Apple Inc.’s high software program engineer criticized the safety of his personal Mac working system in a bid to clarify why the corporate shouldn’t be compelled by a decide to loosen its maintain over iPhone and iPad app distribution, as Epic Games Inc. is demanding.
    Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vp of software program engineering, testified Wednesday at a trial in federal courtroom in Oakland, California, that his expertise with imported malware on the macOS system reveals how safety can be eroded if the corporate allowed iPhone and iPad customers to put in software program from the net or different shops, because it does on the Mac.
    “Today we have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable,” primarily as a result of the system permits customers to put in software program that isn’t vetted by Apple, Federighi stated. That makes it much less safe than iOS and iPadOS, the working methods that energy the iPhone and iPad, he stated.
    Allowing apps from different shops or locations on the iPhone would create a “very, very bad situation for our customers,” together with “a huge decrease in their safety,” Federighi stated. He additionally stated iPhones and iPads have safety protections, together with the App Store evaluation course of, to maintain the merchandise free from malware.
    Later in his testimony, Federighi stated that regardless of its malware issues, the Mac is the most secure alternative amongst private computer systems and is safer than these working Microsoft Corp.’s Windows working system.

    Federighi stated that the rival Android working system, which permits third-party shops, faces related safety challenges. “It’s well understood in the security community that Android has a malware problem.” Apple’s iOS, then again, has succeeded in blocking malware, he stated.
    Responding to a hypothetical scenario during which third-party app obtain shops can be allowed, Federighi stated that Apple’s “security stack” is constructed end-to-end in a approach that it could be difficult to let third events in to handle person safety and privateness. He would have “grave concerns” if Apple needed to hand off management over safety to 3rd events, he stated.
    Earlier within the trial, Epic tried to make the purpose that if putting in software program from third-party shops on the Mac is condoned by Apple, it needs to be allowed on the iPhone and iPad as nicely. Epic’s lawyer tried to poke holes in Apple’s retort Wednesday, asking Federighi if Apple tells customers they need to purchase iPads as a substitute of Macs if they’re looking for safety.
    Apple’s safety and privateness safeguards draw customers to iOS units, Federighi stated. “When users buy an Apple device, they’re doing it because they’ve chosen an intuitive, consistent user experience that’s safe, that they can trust.”
    Federighi stated the entire Mac person base is lower than one-tenth of the dimensions of the iPhone and iPad inhabitants, which is estimated to be greater than a billion energetic units.

  • Apple ProMovement: What is it and when might it come to iPhones?

    High refresh fee shows have grow to be quite common parts on Android gadgets, even price range ones. A 90Hz or 120Hz show will be at this time discovered on mid-range gadgets and flagship gadgets, whereas devoted gaming Android telephones even characteristic 144Hz panels. However, the characteristic is but to succeed in the Apple iPhone lineup.
    However, the tech has been adopted by Apple iPad Pro fashions in a characteristic known as ProMovement. While cheaper Android gadgets characteristic 90Hz and 120Hz show panels, these are fastened refresh fee shows that may lock at both 60Hz or 90Hz or 120Hz. On the opposite, show panels that may dynamically modify themselves in response to on-screen content material and motion are solely discovered on higher-priced merchandise.
    ProMovement on Apple iPad Pro fashions can take the refresh fee as much as 120Hz however also can deliver it right down to any quantity between 1Hz and 120Hz relying on the content material on the display. So should you’re enjoying a sport that doesn’t help further frames for higher-refresh fee shows, the display won’t waste battery making an attempt to refresh 120 instances each second.

    Similarly if you’re on a stationary display whereas studying a web page or taking a look at an image, the display will tone down the refresh fee even additional to dynamically save up on battery life.
    When will ProMovement shows come to iPhones and MacBooks?
    The Apple iPhone 12 collection was closely anticipated to usher in ProMovement show panels contemplating how standard high-refresh-rate screens have grow to be in flagship Android telephones. However, the whole iPhone 12 collection lineup skipped the characteristic. It now stays to be seen if the characteristic will include the iPhone 13 collection. Apple has as of now, not confirmed this.

    High refresh charges have gotten more and more widespread on gaming-focused laptops and content-creation machines as effectively. However, mainstream laptops are but to get a style of higher-refresh fee shows. The similar goes for Apple’s MacBook lineup, all of which function at 60Hz as of now. However, Apple might deliver ProMovement to the MacBook Pro 2021 or iMac 2021. This is once more, simply hypothesis at this level.
    Apple is ready to unveil its new iPad Pro, and different merchandise this upcoming week throughout its April 20 occasion. More particulars on which of those new merchandise or any future ones that includes the ProMovement show tech may very well be revealed throughout the occasion.

  • MacBook, iPad manufacturing delayed as provide crunch hits Apple

    Production of a few of Apple Inc’s MacBooks and iPads has been postponed because of a world element scarcity, the Nikkei reported on Thursday. Chip shortages have prompted delays in a key step in MacBook manufacturing, the report stated, including that some iPad meeting was postponed due to a scarcity of shows and show elements.
    As a results of the delay, Apple has pushed again a portion of element orders for the 2 gadgets from the primary half of this 12 months to the second half, the report stated, citing sources briefed on the matter. Apple didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.
    According to the report, Apple’s manufacturing plans for iPhones haven’t been affected by the provision scarcity, nevertheless, the provision of some elements for the gadgets is “quite tight”.The scarcity of elements stays a provide chain challenge for Apple, however has not but impacted any product availability for shoppers, Nikkei added.
    Apple’s main provider Foxconn has additionally warned of the chip scarcity affecting provide chains to purchasers, with companies and shoppers throughout the globe going through the brunt of an unprecedented scarcity in semiconductor microchips.

  • Apple has designed a technique to cool Macbooks higher with ‘Deployable Feet’

    New Delhi: Apple has invented a method to enhance thermal efficiency on its Macbook laptops. A patent submitting, found first by Patently Apple, exhibits a technique to increase the Macbook off a floor to permit extra room beneath the machine for warmth dissipating.

    The patent titled, “Deployable Feet for Display Articulation and Thermals Performance”, has photos of laptops being elevated by adjustable toes with a technique to increase the whole base of the machine.

    “An digital machine can embody a base portion, a show portion rotatably mounted to the bottom portion, and a deployable characteristic. The deployable characteristic could be deployed from a floor of the bottom portion by an actuation part coupled to the deployable characteristic. The deployable characteristic can help the digital machine, enhance clearance above a help floor for a number of parts of the digital machine, and/or enable extra performance for the digital machine,” the patent software reads. Pictures within the patent appear to explain a motorized backside panel that raises the laptop computer off its resting floor.

    The patent appears very related in gentle of the latest M1-powered Macbooks that Apple launched final yr. Since the corporate makes use of the identical chip — with totally different configurations — throughout the brand new Macbook Air and Macbook Pro, it might change into tough for customers to discern the distinction.

    Furthermore, the distinction between 2020’s Air and Pro is actually in the truth that the Pro has a fan inside, which permits the processor to run at excessive clock speeds for prolonged intervals. The M1 chip, in contrast to PC chips, runs at its highest clock speeds on a regular basis, which means thermal efficiency is necessary to handle. Processors throttle speeds after they warmth up and the sooner a laptop computer can cool issues down higher is the general efficiency.

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  • Apple is gearing up to transition away from Qualcomm modems, according to report

    According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple’s chief of chips internally revealed that the company is already in the early staged of developing a cellular modem chip. Qualcomm supplies the modem chips for this generation of 5G-enabled iPhone 12s, but the company already plans to move away from its reliance on Qualcomm.

    With the M1 chips now arriving in new ARM-powered Mac Mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro, and Apple’s other self-made chips, Srouji pointed out that Apple is working on a “family” of chips that would power its Ecosystem of products.

    Apple’s intentions were clear since it acquired Intel’s modem business back in 2019. Intel initially planned to compete with Qualcomm in the 5G space, but Apple decided it will go on with Qualcomm for another few years as it completes the design of its own modems. The report doesn’t give a time frame for when Apple plans to sell products with its new cellular modem, but we should hear more about it as the development progresses.