Apple’s reputation as the world’s best laptop maker took a serious hit in 2016, due to the new MacBook Pro’s adoption of USB-C.
In the latest brand rankings by Laptop Magazine, Apple’s slipped five spots as Lenovo and Asus surged to the top of the pack with their affordable and dependable wares.
Check out the full rankings:
This week on The CultCast: Apple just revealed its future Mac plans … on purpose! It’s unprecedented, and we’ll unpack it all for you. Plus: Apple promises an all-new, “rethought” Mac Pro and Apple display; Apple’s plans to make the Mac “pro” again; new pro-level iMacs coming this year; and we review a top-secret new smart speaker and a clever Watch stand that true Mac fans will love.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.
Apple excited us all this week by revealing it is finally planning a major redesign for the neglected Mac Pro. Although we don’t know much about it just yet, we’ve been promised a modular machine that will be easier to update.
This signals a return to a more traditional desktop form factor with user-upgradeable parts and more flexibility. But is it too little, too late? Has Apple already lost too many pro users, and will its next Mac Pro do enough to win them back?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over Apple’s efforts to win back the professionals.
The Mac Pro isn’t the only device Apple is rethinking for professional users.
According to a new report, the company is also considering significant changes to the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro, one of which could see the fancy new Touch Bar biting the dust.
It turns out Apple may not be finished making stand-alone displays for the Mac after all.
Apple partnered with LG to create a new 5K Thunderbolt 3 display last year to go with the new MacBook Pro, but according to a new report, the iPhone-maker is working on a new 8K display just for the next generation of Mac Pros.
Apple is reportedly set to launch new iMacs geared toward the pro market later this year.
The revelation came during a very rare Apple press briefing concerning its future plans. While the big news coming out of this meeting with a small group of reporters is that a radical rethink of the Mac Pro is on the way, there was also talk of an imminent iMac refresh.
Apple today delivered a slight refresh to the Mac Pro, introducing faster Intel Xeon processors and the option to add beefier graphics processing chips.
Nothing else has changed — not even the price — but Apple is “completely rethinking” the pro machine ahead of an all-new model.
Apple today revealed that it is planning to introduce an all-new Mac Pro and a new external display next year.
The company acknowledges that the existing Mac Pro doesn’t fulfill all the needs of its pro customers, but the new model with have a more traditional modular design that will allow Apple to “keep it fresh.”
The new PRODUCT(RED) iPhone is the latest limited-edition Apple product to turn a crimson paint job into a pile of green, all for a worthy charity.
Apple got involved 11 years ago with The Global Fund to benefit AIDS programs in Africa. In that time, Apple has raised millions of dollars for the charity — and released some pretty sweet special-edition products to boot.
Here are our picks for the best Apple PRODUCT(RED) products (plus, the absolute worst of all time).
This week on The CultCast: Are you yearning for a more powerful Mac? Well, friend, Tim Cook is promising to make Apple “pro” again. We discuss! Plus: iPhone 8 ditching Lightning for USB-C; Spotify about to go Hi-Fi; why your next iPhone screen might read your fingerprints; and the best iPhone bumper case in the land!
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code “CultCast” at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.
As a pioneer of personal computing, Apple’s first machines changed the way we looked at computers. In the years that followed, the company broke new ground with incredible innovations that its rivals couldn’t have dreamed of.
Things have been a little different over the past decade or so. Apple’s innovations haven’t been quite as forthcoming, and while some would say its rivals are catching up, others would argue that the PC industry as a whole has become somewhat boring.
So, why has personal computing gone stagnant? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out!
In a perfect world, the next Mac Pro would be better, smarter, faster… and also bigger.
At least that’s how Mac fan and brilliant graphic designer Pascal Eggert envisions the long-ignored high-end Apple desktop. Check out his concept designs below.
The iMac didn’t get much love in 2016, but according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, killer new desktop Macs are coming.
In a note to Apple employees, Cook assured staff that desktop computers are still “really important” and that they shouldn’t worry about future machines.
Apple has finished unveiling its product lineup for 2016, and yet again it appears to have forgotten about the Mac Pro. The high-end desktop will be three years old next month, and although it might look pretty on the outside, it’s way past its best on the inside.
Apple won’t tell us why the Mac Pro isn’t a priority anymore, but its focus is clearly elsewhere. This is a problem for creative professionals who rely on the extra power the machine provides. For some, the iMac just isn’t beefy enough.
Some believe Apple should license macOS to third-party computer makers that are willing to cater to the pros Apple is ignoring. It’s a move Apple would never make, but is it a good idea?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over whether Apple should let rival PC vendors build macOS machines!
Apple’s launch of the new MacBook Pros prompted a surprisingly virulent backlash — one that can be explained by “catastrophe theory” in mathematics.
Normally, reaction to Apple’s new products is remarkably consistent. Apple loyalists are pleased, the wider public approves and the tech press cynically dismisses the new products (because they hold Apple to a higher standard than the rest of the industry).
This time, it was different. There was a very loud and very negative reaction. The negativity came not from the tech press, but from the most loyal and ardent Mac enthusiasts. The very people who evangelize Apple products and who are deeply invested in the whole ecosystem were the ones most vocally expressing disappointment, frustration and outright anger.
So what exactly happened? What was so bad about these new machines to provoke this reaction?
As best as I can tell, the answer is nothing at all.
Apple might be the biggest company in tech, with revenues that make eyes water every quarter, but even some fans think it’s getting a little boring in Cupertino.
Following last week’s big MacBook Pro event, Apple has delivered everything it had planned for 2016. We’ve had upgrades to iPhone, Apple Watch, and the 12-inch MacBook; brand new AirPods (though those aren’t shipping yet); the diminutive iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
But was all that enough, or could Apple have done more? None of these releases were really that revolutionary, and investors are still waiting for Apple’s next big thing. So, is it true? Is Apple really boring now?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we battle it out over these questions and more!
The days of Apple making its own stand-alone displays for the Mac Mini and Mac Pro are dead.
Apple revealed a new 5K 27-inch Thunderbolt 3 display during its “Hello Again” keynote yesterday, only instead of being made by Apple, the company partnered with LG to create the monitor. And according to people who talked to Apple at the event, there are no plans to ever make an Apple display again.
Anybody watching Apple’s “Hello Again” event probably suspected we’d get “one more thing” in addition to the long-rumored Touch Bar and the recently leaked TV app. Or maybe a couple more things.
Instead we got … a Final Cut Pro update and a new accessibility website?
Underwhelming! And cruelly disappointing to all the Apple faithful hoping against hope for new hardware. Here are all the other things we wanted — but got so viciously denied — during Apple’s MacBook Pro event today.
Leaked SIM trays purportedly manufactured for the upcoming iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus hint at a new glossy black color option. The finish looks like it was inspired by the Mac Pro’s sleek cylindrical body that was first introduced in 2013.
Apple’s product portfolio has expanded quickly since Tim Cook replaced Steve Jobs as CEO, what with the launch of larger iPhones, Apple Watch and the 12-inch Retina MacBook. But are things getting out of hand?
Some fans might argue Apple has too much on its plate, and that other products — particularly its software — are suffering as a result. Others might argue that Apple needs everything in its current lineup — and more! — to keep up with the competition.
So, who’s right? Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight as we exchange insults and virtual blows over whether Apple desperately needs to streamline its product lineup.
After Apple brings an OLED touch pad to the MacBook Pro later this year, the feature is likely to make its way to other notebooks — and maybe even the Magic Keyboard. This awesome new concept video imagines what that might look like.
Apple doesn’t have gamers in mind when choosing components for its latest Macs, but PC maker Digital Storm has proven that it’s possible to build a beastly gaming rig into the iMac’s gorgeous all-in-one form factor.
Check out the company’s stunning new Aura PC, which puts NVIDIA’s latest GTX 1080 graphics card behind a 34-inch curved display.
If you want a Mac that looks like the trashcan Mac Pro, but don’t actually want to spend the several thousand dollars it costs to buy a Mac Pro, the Dune Case might be for you: it’s a Mac Pro-inspired PC case for any hackintosh you care to throw into it.
I recently decided it was time to get a proper desktop computer. I needed it predominantly for work, but I wanted it to be powerful enough to play the latest games in 1080p without worrying about stuttering or terrible frame rates.
The new Mac lineup didn’t offer a perfect fit — the Retina 5K iMac was too expensive, and the new Mac mini simply wasn’t powerful enough — so I set myself a goal: To build a gaming machine with a dedicated video card, capable of running OS X, for around the price of a Mac mini.
I set a budget of $650 for my build. That’s $150 more than the base model Mac mini, but $50 less than the midrange model. In this piece, I’ll take you through the components I purchased and why I chose them, and how I put them all together. Next week, I’ll show you how I installed OS X to turn my DIY gaming rig into a Hackintosh.