|OT| Apple Corner | I like MacBooks and I cannot lie.

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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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think i'll get an ultra 2 and give my ultra to my mom
I’m going to buy one for myself as well. Unfortunately there’s still no release date for my country and the folks at the stores have no idea when it’s going to arrive, one said that MAYBE in November.
 

Le Pertti

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I don't know why but I kind of can't wait to try out the journal app that apple is working on. Ive been doing a diary thing in notion but Im in the process to try and get away from the app, using Obsidian for notes now but doesn't handle a photo gallery that well, so apples journal app would be perfect.
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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I don't know why but I kind of can't wait to try out the journal app that apple is working on. Ive been doing a diary thing in notion but Im in the process to try and get away from the app, using Obsidian for notes now but doesn't handle a photo gallery that well, so apples journal app would be perfect.
I’ve been looking for a good journal app. I did have Day One, but they went the way of the subscription grift so I stopped using it.

The amount of apps I’ve ditched or refunded because they think I’m their cash machine is ridiculous.

Speaking of ridiculous, I changed my email address on my iCloud account, but Apple never updated Find My on my MacBook. So when I went to disable Activation Lock it was linked to an Apple ID email that no longer exists, which means I can’t disable it.

I was planning to sell that in the Apple Store today and get my MacBook Air 15, but alas. Now I need to appeal to Apple’s good graces so they’ll disable the lock on my own device so I can sell it back to them. DRM sucks - even when we’re self-imposing it for our own device security.

I should be able to get it unlocked mind. I sent Apple my sales receipt so they just need to unlock the device.
 

Le Pertti

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I’ve been looking for a good journal app. I did have Day One, but they went the way of the subscription grift so I stopped using it.

The amount of apps I’ve ditched or refunded because they think I’m their cash machine is ridiculous.
Yeah! There are some subscription I can live with, but it's crazy just how everyone wants a piece of my pie. It is the same reason I dumped Day One. I like Notion still when it comes to unintrusive asking for money, I dumped that because how on the web it was, too many times it asked me to log in when I just needed to quickly check or write something. Obsidian seems perfect since I don't need to subscribe to their synching thing, since I can synch through iCloud.
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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I’m okay if Apple ”sherlocks” the subscription grifters.

I don’t mind paying someone for their hard work, but subscriptions piss me off. Products are not services, so why should I continue to pay monthly for them?
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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Local store had the iPhone 15 models to try out. The Pro Max is surprisingly light, and very fragile from what I can see on Yourube videos hah
 

C-Dub

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And the refurb MBA I want is out of stock. I would've got it if I was able to get rid of my Pro yesterday, as I'd planned.

Seriously, fuck Apple for this DRM shit. De-registering a device shouldn't be this hard.
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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And the refurb MBA I want is out of stock. I would've got it if I was able to get rid of my Pro yesterday, as I'd planned.

Seriously, fuck Apple for this DRM shit. De-registering a device shouldn't be this hard.
Given how much money must be tied to iCloud accounts, all those security checks must be in place.

Doesn’t make it any less a pain in the ass though!
 

C-Dub

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Given how much money must be tied to iCloud accounts, all those security checks must be in place.

Doesn’t make it any less a pain in the ass though!
This has nothing to do with iCloud accounts, and all to do with hardware DRM.

Apple's bug has meant I no longer own my MacBook Pro (they've tied it to an iCloud account that literally doesn't exist), and support want to take "7 business days" to deal with it.

On another note, I've been thinking about my use-cases and I'm less angry about missing out on the MBA I wanted. I think I got carried away with the "slower drive" and "less RAM" nonsense, when in reality all I wanted was a bigger screen to write on. I should probably refocus on that and consider the base model again - it'll save me a ton of cash. I don't write code on this, I don't edit videos or pictures, I don't play games. I literally use a word processor and just want a bigger screen for side-by-side editing. For anything else, I have an office PC with an RTX 3080 that I'm planning to use Stable Diffusion on, but will certainly double up as a great machine for image/video editing and any sort of high-end coding projects I find myself involved in (likely none - I've left my old job now so I don't need to do any image editing or coding, and my new one only needs me to know Markdown).

I think 8gb and a slower drive is probably enough for me.
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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This has nothing to do with iCloud accounts, and all to do with hardware DRM.

Apple's bug has meant I no longer own my MacBook Pro (they've tied it to an iCloud account that literally doesn't exist), and support want to take "7 business days" to deal with it.

On another note, I've been thinking about my use-cases and I'm less angry about missing out on the MBA I wanted. I think I got carried away with the "slower drive" and "less RAM" nonsense, when in reality all I wanted was a bigger screen to write on. I should probably refocus on that and consider the base model again - it'll save me a ton of cash. I don't write code on this, I don't edit videos or pictures, I don't play games. I literally use a word processor and just want a bigger screen for side-by-side editing. For anything else, I have an office PC with an RTX 3080 that I'm planning to use Stable Diffusion on, but will certainly double up as a great machine for image/video editing and any sort of high-end coding projects I find myself involved in (likely none - I've left my old job now so I don't need to do any image editing or coding, and my new one only needs me to know Markdown).

I think 8gb and a slower drive is probably enough for me.
I might get the most basic Mac Mini given that I only want the ability to manage my Apple ecosystem hub on a big screen.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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Well, the good news is Apple have deigned to let me disable the Activation Lock on my Mac.

I'm lucky I had a receipt.

Note to self: catalogue all Apple invoices I have and save them on my Proton Drive.

I went ahead and ordered my MacBook Air 15 without a trade-in, since I don't strictly need one now that I'm getting the base model. So the money from my Pro will go towards another device. Not decided what I'll get yet. Maybe a Mac Mini with M2 Pro as a desktop machine? Maybe an iPhone 15 (Pro)?
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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I have a beefy Windows machine on my desk, mind. The main heavy tasks I'd do with such a machine is:
  • Affinity apps
  • Stable Diffusion
  • Programming/compiling/game dev experimentation

I can do all of that with my Windows machine (and probably faster, since it has a dedicated desktop CPU and an RTX 3080 FE), so it feels kind of redundant to get a Mac mini just for that. And if I want a desktop Mac experience, my monitor has a USB-C cable that does charge and display for my laptop.

It would be kind of a pointless duplication. The sensible thing is to look at a device, or devices, I want to replace, and decide which one(s) I'd like a refresh of.

I'm leaning most towards an iPhone. Between selling my MacBook Pro and getting a gift card for it, I could probably then use that balance plus a trade-in of my iPhone 13 to get the 15 for nothing, or the 15 Pro for a tiny amount.

If I got a 15 (non-Pro), I could probably upgrade my Watch to a Series 9 too.

Here are my options, realistically:

- Mac mini with M2 Pro with 16gb RAM and 512gb SSD
-- Would probably have to pay a not-insubstantial amount on top of my trade-in to get this.
-- As described above, would be a duplication of function that I don't strictly need.
-- Applicable for my special discount from my employer.

- iPhone 15 Pro
-- Could get this for a tiny amount with the trade in of MBP and iPhone 13.
-- Might be too much phone for what I want. But titanium.
-- Not applicable for my special discount from my employer.

- iPhone 15
-- Would have money to spare to get this.
-- Could add a Watch Series 9 with a trade-in of my old one.
--- I don't have any need for a replacement Watch, however. My Series 7 is great. An additional one, however... (see below)
-- Would be a great phone for me personally - the main appeal is being able to use USB-C for charging (not data transfer) and the Dynamic Island.
-- Not applicable for my special discount from my employer.

- Watch Series 9
-- The MBP alone would cover the cost with money to spare.
-- I've wanted a second Watch for a while, so I can use my old one as my sleep tracker/silent alarm, and then have my Series 9 on full charge in the morning.
-- Seems woefully extravagant, even by my standards.
-- Not applicable for my special discount from my employer.

- M2 iPad Pro
-- Could trade in my iPad Pro M1 along with the MBP and get the device without any further costs, or for a very small sum.
-- My M1 iPad Pro is serving me perfectly well at the moment. My only issue is a little rock or something got caught under my case one day and left a scratch on the screen that is visible at some angles and in dark moments, which annoys me and makes me want to get a new one.
-- Applicable for my special discount from my employer.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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Nah, went for blue. Really digging Apple’s blue shade right now.

Not that it matters. It’s going in a case almost immediately.

Should be delivered around late October.
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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Nah, went for blue. Really digging Apple’s blue shade right now.

Not that it matters. It’s going in a case almost immediately.

Should be delivered around late October.
Oh cool. I fell in love with the Natural color when I saw it. I also want a regular Pro but I'm not sure if I'm willing to sacrifice battery time from my Pro Max. But there have been many instances of almost dropping my phone because I have baby hands and that thing has the size of godzilla.
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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Oh cool. I fell in love with the Natural color when I saw it. I also want a regular Pro but I'm not sure if I'm willing to sacrifice battery time from my Pro Max. But there have been many instances of almost dropping my phone because I have baby hands and that thing has the size of godzilla.
For me, the thing that pushed me over to the smaller Pro is the 3x optical zoom will be more useful for me than the bigger screen, longer battery and, most importantly, the 5x optical zoom in the Pro Max that replaces it.

I’m never gonna need 5x, and I think it might actively be a worse feature for me.
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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For me, the thing that pushed me over to the smaller Pro is the 3x optical zoom will be more useful for me than the bigger screen, longer battery and, most importantly, the 5x optical zoom in the Pro Max that replaces it.

I’m never gonna need 5x, and I think it might actively be a worse feature for me.
In any case, I was thinking about getting an Anker magsafe charger
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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So the 15" Air is everything I wanted it to be. Nice big screen, cool midnight blue colour (bit of a fingerprint magnet, mind) and the slightly extra space they've given for the keyboard makes my typing that much better.

I've never had a 15" laptop before and honestly, I never knew what I was missing.
 
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NarohDethan

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My friend just got his 15 Pro Max and he confirmed it gets very hot
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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My friend just got his 15 Pro Max and he confirmed it gets very hot
I've been hearing reports that the 15 Pro gets hot too. Kinda concerned, actually.

Thinking I may switch my order to an iPhone 15 just to play it safe. But I really wanted the action button - an article on The Verge pretty much sold me on it.
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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I've been hearing reports that the 15 Pro gets hot too. Kinda concerned, actually.

Thinking I may switch my order to an iPhone 15 just to play it safe. But I really wanted the action button - an article on The Verge pretty much sold me on it.
When RE4 releases it will get so hot the apple on the back will get imprinted on your skin
 
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C-Dub

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Posting from an iPhone 15 Pro!

It’s a very nice phone. Got some issues with iMessage not porting over, so I think I’ll probably be contacting Apple support about that.

But it’s not a big deal as all my messages are on WhatsApp these days…
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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Posting from an iPhone 15 Pro!

It’s a very nice phone. Got some issues with iMessage not porting over, so I think I’ll probably be contacting Apple support about that.

But it’s not a big deal as all my messages are on WhatsApp these days…
Congrats! I might get mine around February
 
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C-Dub

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Apple updated the M1 mini to M2, even adding the Pro as an option.

I think since M series has come along, the mini has justified its existence a little more. I think it’s almost essential for Apple to keep these ones up-to-date as their audience is mostly tech-savvy users who want a cheap Mac.
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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I think we’ll see new minis next year.
I’m unsure what I would buy tbh
The iMac is great but I have nowhere to install it.
The mac mini might get upgraded soon
I have no use for a Macbook atm
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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iMacs are almost always terrible buys. All-in-ones are the most horrendous kind of PC - all the drawbacks of desktops and laptops, rolled into one package.

If you don’t want a laptop, wait for the new minis or Studios next year.
 
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C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
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If the 15 inch Air does everything you want from a laptop, it’s the best damn laptop you can buy.
 
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NarohDethan

NarohDethan

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Loving the Ultra 2 so far. They only had the Ocean loop so I went with the blue one. At first I wasn’t convinced but it’s a really nice band, and the watch doesn’t feel as heavy as I thought it would.
 
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