Apple employees required to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic supposedly aren’t letting iOS 14 fall behind schedule. The next version of the iPhone and iPad operating system is reportedly on track for release.
And company engineers are also creating new versions of an array of hardware products from their home offices.
Apple suppliers are ramping up Magic Keyboard production as its new scissor switches quickly replace butterfly keys in the company’s most popular products, reveals a new report published Wednesday.
Sources say that manufacturers have seen “no cutbacks” in orders, despite concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic could impact sales. A 13-inch MacBook Pro refresh is said to be next in line for an upgrade.
Apple in recent days has ramped up its prices on build-to-order Mac configurations in many countries outside the United States.
Pricing for standard machine configurations remains the same. But if you want to upgrade your Mac’s processor or increase its RAM or storage, you can expect to pay around 10% more for each component.
Ten years ago, the iPad was a barely capable, outsize version of the iPhone. The idea that it could outdo the Mac was laughable. And yet here we are, a decade later with the 2020 iPad Pro, and that’s exactly what has happened.
The Mac has stood still (or even gone backward, if you count that keyboard), while the iPad has turned into the computer from the future. Here’s what Apple’s two platforms look like in a head-to-head battle in 2020.
The world might finally wave goodbye to Apple’s controversial and much-hated MacBook butterfly keyboards by summer, according to a new report, published Thursday, by respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In his latest research note, Kuo writes that Apple will launch new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models featuring the scissor switch keyboard design. Apple laid the groundwork for the return of the scissor switch Magic Keyboard when it ditched the butterfly keyboard for its 16-inch MacBook Pro upgrade late last year.
Apple plans to make an aggressive push adding mini-LED displays to its products in 2020, according to one of the most reliable Apple analysts in the game.
TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo updated his forecast for Apple’s mini-LED product roadmap Tuesday, saying that the company is working on four more mini-LED products than we originally knew about — including a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple’s brilliant HomePod speaker is back to its lowest price yet. Best Buy is matching its big Black Friday discount by slashing $100 off the usual price for a limited time only.
That’s just one of the awesome offers in today’s Deals & Steals roundup. Other highlights include:
Find all these and more in today’s Deals & Steals roundup.
Leaked benchmarks believed to be from the next-generation 13-inch MacBook Pro reveal the machine could be powered by Intel’s latest Ice Lake processors.
The chips, which haven’t been used in a Mac before, will provide Apple’s newest notebook with a sizable boost in speed and graphics performance. They won’t be the only reason to buy a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, though.
Now might be the best time to buy that MacBook you’ve been considering. Factory shutdowns in China because of the coronavirus outbreak will reportedly lead to shortages of components needed to make laptops.
This week on The CultCast: Apple is prepping iPhone SE 2, but trouble in China could mean massive production delays across the entire tech industry. Plus: macOS leaks hint at big CPU upgrades on the way; and a celebrity calls out the MacBook’s troubled keyboards.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast, and use offer code CultCast at checkout for 10% off your first purchase.
You can now save a small fortune on a 16-inch MacBook Pro by buying a refurbished unit from Apple. A whole host of different models are on offer, with prices currently starting at just $2,039 — $360 off the usual price.
Some Macs ordered today from the Apple Store with any set of features beyond the base configuration won’t arrive for over a month. For example, the wait for a made-to-order 16-inch MacBook Pro stretches into mid-March.
Apple is planning a huge lineup of products for early 2020, including a brand-new AirPower alternative, according to reliable TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Fans can also look forward to a low-cost iPhone, upgrades to iPad Pro and the MacBook lineup, high-end headphones, and more before the summer, he reported.
Prepare your wallets for one hell of a beating!
Neil Young believes there’s a big problem with making music on a MacBook Pro. In a recent interview, the acclaimed singer-songwriter slammed the “Fisher-Price” audio quality you get with Apple’s newest notebooks.
Young also revealed that Steve Jobs knew about his concerns, but felt that MacBook audio was good enough for consumers.
Apple’s smart keyboard cover for the iPad could get a major design upgrade in 2020.
Digitimes reported today that Apple may release an updated keyboard for the tablets featuring the new scissor-switch design that resolved Apple’s keyboard woes on the last few generations of MacBook Pros.
Whether you need ample power or exceptional portability, it’s a great time to bag a new MacBook, with discounts of up to $300 on the latest Apple notebooks. And Cult of Mac can help make yours even more affordable.
Sell your old machine to us and we’ll give you a great price. We will also cough up real cash, so you can spend it wherever you like.
This week on The CultCast: Apple is working on a way to make your existing MacBook Pro far more powerful — we’ll tell you everything we know. Plus: Get your wallet ready … the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro you’ve been waiting for is (probably) right around the corner. And we’ll tell you why Apple might soon be forced to ditch Lightning in iPhones and iPads.
And stick around for our spoiler-free review of the full first season of See!
Out thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast, and use offer code CultCast at checkout for 10% off your first purchase.
A big MacBook Pro refresh and a long-awaited Mac Pro overhaul couldn’t prevent Apple computer shipments from suffering another decline in 2019, according to new data.
Both IDC and Gartner say Mac shipments fell during the final quarter of 2019, and for 2019 as a whole. That’s despite decent growth for PCs, which enjoyed the highest single-quarter shipment volume in four years during Q4.
Apple is working on a new software feature for macOS that can crank Macs’ processing powers into overdrive. References spotted by 9to5Mac in the latest macOS Catalina beta mention a new “Pro Mode.” Details on how Pro Mode will work remain hazy. However, a few lines of code hint that it might only be available on MacBooks.
Apple has filed for approval of a new MacBook ahead of the laptop’s official debut. A listing in the Eurasian Economic Commission database reveals a model number of “A2289.” Its description confirms the device is a portable Mac.
Is this the new 13-inch MacBook Pro we’ve been waiting for?
At the end of November last year, I took delivery of the new 16-inch MacBook Pro. Around a month later, thanks to Apple’s generous holiday return policy, I returned it. You can read my first impressions, but they mostly remain the same after a month of use. In short, it’s a fantastic MacBook. But in my conclusion, I wrote this:
But really, this Mac is fantastic. My Cult of Mac colleagues tease me that I buy Apple gear, and then immediately send it back. This new MacBook is staying with me.
So, what went wrong?
Want to spend your holiday cash on a sweet Apple laptop? Look no further than the 2018 MacBook Air, which is now available for under $740 from Woot.
That’s just one of the awesome offers in today’s Deals & Steals roundup. Other highlights include:
Find all these and more in our Deals & Steals roundup below.
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Just like anything else on your MacBook Pro, the Touch Bar can freeze and become totally unresponsive. And, just like with every other frozen process on the Mac, there’s an easy way to fix it: You just have to force the Touch Bar to restart.
Today we’ll see how to fix a frozen Touch Bar so you can keep using the MacBook Pro’s best feature.
Compared to an iPad, even the new 16-inch MacBook Pro runs pretty hot. In my first impressions post about the latest Apple laptop, I noted that the fans went crazy pretty much any time I switched it on. That has stopped now, thanks to two things: One is that my photo library is fully indexed, and the other is that I have disabled Turbo Boost.
But how?
Only a handful of the latest Macs are fully compatible with Apple’s stunning new Pro Display XDR. But it turns out that other machines — such as the $5,000 iMac Pro — will work, too.
Just don’t expect a full 6K resolution.