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Hands-on with the Studio Display XDR, MacBook Neo and iPhone 17e (Cult of Mac Podcast #11)
Mar 13, 2026
This week: We go hands-on with the new Studio Display XDR, MacBook Neo and iPhone 17e! Also: The Neo has everyone freaking out, bad news about the M6 MacBook Pro and new emoji coming in iOS 26.4.
Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac
Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
1:08 - Studio Display XDR
12:10 - MacBook Neo
31:02 - iPhone 17e
38:42 - M6 MacBook “Ultra”?
46:04 - iOS 26.4 beta 4 new emoji and features
51:04 - Listener Question
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Coming up, we go hands-on with the new
0:01
Studio Display XDR, the MacBook Neo, and
0:04
the iPhone 17e. Also, the Neo has
0:07
everyone freaking out, and I mean
0:09
everyone. Bad news about the M6 MacBook
0:12
Pro, and new emoji and features coming
0:14
in iOS 26.4.
0:18
Hey, welcome to the Cult of Mac podcast.
0:20
I'm your host, Leander Kaney. Joining me
0:22
today, we have Griffin coming in from
0:24
Ohio. What's up, Griffin?
0:25
>> Good evening. Not a whole lot, you know,
0:27
just excited to talk about these new
0:29
products and
0:30
>> Well, you went and bought bought all of
0:31
them, so
0:32
>> pretty much.
0:33
>> I'm super excited. Yeah.
0:35
>> Cool. And Lewis, what's up, Louis?
0:37
>> I didn't buy anything.
0:41
>> That's very sad. Me neither.
0:44
Very sad. I wish I should have got one
0:45
of those new M5 MacBook Pros.
0:48
>> It's not too late.
0:50
>> Why? You have a Mac Studio.
0:53
>> Exactly. I know. I've I've got more Macs
0:54
than I than I've got hands. So, I I I
0:56
definitely don't need one. But, uh those
0:58
things are super tempting. I mean, you
0:59
know, like uh the everyone's raving
1:02
rapsotic about the uh the power of those
1:04
machines. So, in fact, we're going to
1:06
talk about that a little bit, aren't we?
1:07
So, we'll get to that. But first of all,
1:09
we're going to do hands-on with uh with
1:11
through these new products, starting
1:13
with the um Studio Display XDR.
1:17
>> Yeah. The Studio Display XDR is Apple's
1:19
new high-end monitor. Um, a lot of
1:22
people were expecting more of a revision
1:24
to the regular studio display. Uh, but
1:27
instead they decided to bump a lot of
1:30
those upgrades like um the high refresh
1:33
rate, the miniLEDD panel to a new
1:35
monitor that replaces Apple's former
1:39
$6,000 Pro Display XDR. And so now they
1:41
have the Studio Display XDR. And uh
1:43
that's what I picked up here. It's, you
1:44
know, the same size and resolution as
1:46
the Vonic display that I've been using
1:48
for, you know, a few years now. and the
1:50
uh Asus display that I had before that.
1:52
So, nothing to adjust size-wise. Uh it's
1:55
incredibly bright. You know, this is the
1:57
first glossy display that I've had in a
1:59
while, so you know, the colors look, you
2:03
know, that much more vibrant. Uh it's a
2:06
different look for me. Um I have my
2:09
office set up with a window behind the
2:11
display, so I'm not worried too much
2:13
about like window reflections, so I
2:14
didn't go for the nanoexture one,
2:16
although I know a lot of people really
2:17
like the nanoexture. The aluminum build
2:20
quality is really nice. It's incredibly
2:22
heavy. Um I don't I think it's like what
2:26
35 or 40 pounds, something like that.
2:28
It's pretty big. Uh the box that it
2:29
comes with is giant. And so, you know, I
2:31
I I pick it up in the mall and I'm like
2:33
carrying it out. It's not a long walk to
2:36
the parking lot, but my my arms were
2:38
like sore by the time I got there.
2:41
>> So heavy. Something I noticed uh unlike
2:44
the previous Pro Display XDR which this
2:48
replaces the the stand that it has, you
2:50
know, adjusts in height, but it doesn't
2:53
rotate. The Pro Display XDR, you know,
2:56
could rotate portrait if you want, but
2:58
this doesn't do that. Um maybe that's
2:59
why it's only $400 instead of a,000. The
3:03
the other $600 is just the rotating
3:05
mechanism. I don't know. But
3:07
>> included now in the price, right?
3:09
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um, that led to a problem
3:11
though because my office that I'm
3:13
sitting in, none of the floors in my
3:15
house are completely straight,
3:17
especially my office, uh, which tilts
3:19
both backwards pretty severely. If
3:22
you're watching the video, I mean, just
3:23
compare the angle of that door frame
3:24
with the angle of the lamp right next to
3:26
it. Like it there's a significant tilt
3:29
and it also tilts to the right a little
3:31
bit. Uh, so I set up this display and
3:35
it's like very obviously tilted and I
3:37
can't adjust it. So, what I had to do is
3:39
I uh took like a bunch of cardboard out
3:42
of my recycling, cut it up, and I sort
3:44
of like jammed it under the the the
3:46
right legs of my table, and now it's now
3:50
it's almost straight. I overcorrect it a
3:51
little bit, but you know, it'll it's
3:53
cardboard, so it'll compress. And now
3:54
it's back to neutral again. Um
3:57
>> Why didn't you put it under the base of
3:58
the monitor?
4:00
>> You know, if I'm if I'm going to adjust
4:01
it, I might as well fix the whole desk,
4:03
not the monitor.
4:05
>> Um
4:06
>> All right, then.
4:06
>> Sense. Yeah, the
4:09
Thunderbolt cable that comes with it is
4:11
very nice. It's thick and braided. Um,
4:15
but it's not that long. I keep my Mac
4:19
sort of over far over to the left so
4:22
that if I spill any drink on my desk,
4:24
like it there's no risk of it getting of
4:26
the water reaching over there really. In
4:29
fact, it's on a separate desk that's
4:30
like identical, but like it's across a a
4:32
seam so that any liquids will not breach
4:35
to that other surface. The studio
4:38
display has the uh cables, all of the
4:41
ports on the right side, which is even
4:44
farther away. So, it it kind of
4:46
stretches to reach my Mac Mini. Uh, in
4:49
fact, I kind of wonder if you have like
4:51
a a Mac Pro that's like sitting on your
4:53
floor if that'll be too far away to
4:55
reach your display if it's sitting on
4:57
top of your desk. I mean, especially if
4:59
you have a standing desk, that'd be that
5:01
could be a problem. What else? Um, I
5:03
mean, the big thing,
5:05
120 Hz. My Mac Mini just barely uh
5:10
clears the hurdle of running 120 Hz
5:13
because it's an M2 Pro. It'll work with
5:15
any M series Mac, but if you have an M1
5:18
Mac of any kind, M1 Ultra, it will only
5:21
do 60 Hz. If you have an M2 or M3, it'll
5:24
only do 60 Hz, but M2 Pro and above will
5:28
run it at 120. Same thing if you have
5:30
any M4 or any M5, it'll do 120. My god,
5:34
it is incredible. The scrolling is so
5:37
smooth. all of the animations like I was
5:40
just you know clearing out my emails
5:41
swiping swiping swiping to archive a
5:44
bunch of emails at the top of my inbox
5:45
and even that's at 120 hertz even little
5:48
things like you know opening a new
5:49
Safari tab and all the little you know
5:51
tabs in the tab bar sl animate and slide
5:54
over that's at everything just looks so
5:56
buttery smooth it is gorgeous
5:59
is it worth $3,400
6:03
probably not which is why I won't be
6:05
keeping this monitor But man, it is
6:08
great. In fact, this this monitor
6:10
probably would have been a better
6:11
investment than the Apple Vision Pro,
6:13
but we don't have to go there. Uh
6:17
>> that's right. Well, people, what about
6:19
the Did you uh you know, the color
6:21
fidelity, the color profiles, people,
6:23
that's a very important point for sure.
6:25
>> Yeah. You know, this this is a miniLEDD
6:27
display. It has like full HDR. So, I,
6:30
you know, I replayed a few videos from
6:32
my photo library in in full HDR, and it
6:35
looks so much better. You know, I was
6:37
watching, you know, like the the the
6:39
most recent two seasons of Doctor Who
6:40
are filmed in 4K HDR. I was watching
6:42
those. They look incredible. You know,
6:44
it's really good stuff. Um, super
6:46
bright. Absolutely worth it if you work
6:49
in the film or, you know, graphic design
6:53
industries on a professional level. Is
6:55
it in fact the best monitor you can get
6:57
right now for you know that kind of
6:59
work?
7:00
>> Probably. Yeah. I mean the the the Pro
7:02
Display XDR was that before and you know
7:05
now it's this. I saw a theory that the
7:09
reason Apple replaced the Pro Display
7:11
XDR with a slightly smaller one 5K
7:14
instead of 6K is that 6K even with
7:18
Thunderbolt 5 still wouldn't have the
7:20
bandwidth to run at 120 Hz. They wanted
7:23
to leave a little bit of um you know a
7:26
little bit of headroom over the
7:27
connection to run the peripherals and
7:29
daisy chain other things. I think I
7:31
think and I that sounds about right to
7:33
me like maybe
7:35
year another you know five years from
7:37
now with Thunderbolt 6 they'll bring
7:39
back the 32 in size but I think that
7:41
makes sense.
7:42
>> It's what's it what's what kind of it's
7:44
running a uh the A19 iPhone chip. Is
7:47
that right?
7:48
>> The regular studio display has the A19.
7:50
This one has the A19 Pro,
7:54
which is also probably a good indicator
7:56
that um if Apple were to update the
7:58
MacBook Neo next year with an A19 Pro,
8:02
it would probably be able to drive this
8:03
display. It is funny to think that this
8:05
monitor has more power than the MacBook
8:07
Neo that I also have. Like, this is a
8:10
more powerful computer inside and it's
8:11
just pushing a bunch of pixels. Um,
8:14
Apple usually tries to hide the fact
8:16
that it's a computer in there as much as
8:18
possible, but yesterday when I was
8:20
setting all these up, I I plugged the
8:22
monitor in first and then I was, you
8:24
know, transferring from my iPhone 16 Pro
8:26
to the iPhone 17e. I was just sort of
8:28
sitting over here watching it. Suddenly,
8:31
the display completely glitched out.
8:33
Half of the screen was gray static. Half
8:35
the screen was like bright pink magenta
8:37
static and like flickering. And this
8:40
went on for about 10 seconds. And then
8:42
my computer rebooted.
8:44
Uh, and then the display didn't come
8:46
back on and my computer rebooted again.
8:49
Very bizarre. I wish I could have taken
8:51
a picture of it, but my phones were in
8:53
the middle of transferring data, so I
8:54
couldn't capture it. This there's a
8:56
computer in here like much more software
8:58
in this display than you're used to in a
9:00
regular computer monitor. Things will go
9:02
wrong. Uh, it runs a full operating
9:04
system and you have to install software
9:05
updates on it because it's running a
9:07
paired down version of iOS. Like that's
9:09
that's the downside um to this display.
9:12
>> So it crashed on day one.
9:15
>> Yeah. It had like a kernel panic or
9:16
something.
9:17
>> Well, you know, like this is half the
9:19
price of the monitor it's replacing,
9:20
isn't it?
9:21
>> Yeah. The the studio display was like
9:23
what $6,000. This is 3,300. Much better
9:26
deal. Like that. That's pro another
9:27
reason why the price is so much lower
9:29
just because it's probably a lot cheaper
9:31
to make a 5K mini panel than a 6K one. I
9:34
think that's I think it's a reasonable
9:36
trade-off. Everybody who's used to
9:37
having a 6K display is sad, but I don't
9:39
know. You can buy two of these for for
9:43
basically the same price. So,
9:46
>> yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
9:47
>> Is it really that much of a loss? You
9:49
can adjust the brightness controls from
9:50
the keyboard. Um, and it has an ambient
9:52
light sensor. My other displays never
9:54
had ambient light sensors, so that's
9:56
pretty nice. Um, I didn't think this
9:59
would be much of a problem because
10:00
again, my display is facing away from
10:03
the window, but uh, I had the
10:06
automatically adjust brightness setting
10:07
on. For some reason, the display
10:10
randomly would go to maximum brightness
10:12
and then like a cloud would pass through
10:14
the window, the room gets like slightly
10:16
darker, but then the display would way
10:18
over competent and go to way complete
10:21
bottom brightness. I don't know why.
10:23
Like it was impossible to see the
10:24
display. Maybe like something about how
10:27
the light is flaring through the glass
10:29
or something, but it was very weird. Uh,
10:32
so I just turned off that setting.
10:34
>> I don't know what's wrong with it. Maybe
10:35
it's just a bug.
10:36
>> You know, the display raises and lowers.
10:39
It's kind of weird how when it's in the
10:40
middle, it's closer to you because, of
10:43
course, it's on a little arm. It doesn't
10:45
just like directly slide up and down,
10:47
which is weird. I don't know why Apple
10:50
designers are so opposed to just
10:52
building a display that slides up and
10:53
down and why they have to have this
10:55
complicated arm. Um, it also means that
10:57
it doesn't really go as low as I want it
11:00
to when it's in the maximum lowest
11:01
position. Like it doesn't go any lower
11:05
than like my eye level.
11:07
>> Perhaps you should put some cardboard
11:09
under your chair.
11:11
>> It's a good plan. I should do that.
11:14
>> Under your butt.
11:15
>> Yep. So, those are my first impressions
11:16
of the monitor. You know, I have I
11:18
haven't spent a lot of time with it
11:19
because I've mostly been spending time
11:21
with the MacBook Neo. But first
11:22
impressions seems pretty nice. Um, I
11:25
really like it. Um, but I obviously will
11:27
not be keeping it.
11:30
I'm excited to write the full review
11:32
because I have a few more things I want
11:33
to test. I haven't really listened to
11:34
the speakers yet. I I know it's on my
11:36
old on my iPhone when I got when I first
11:38
was, you know, one of the first 120 Hz
11:41
screens on the iPhone. I can't remember
11:42
which one it was. Um, I sc I I I did a
11:46
scrolling test next to an older one and
11:48
my god, it was like clear as day.
11:51
>> Mhm.
11:52
>> Uh, I was really surprised because I'd
11:53
never noticed how crummy the scrolling
11:55
was on the old 60 Hz screen
11:58
>> and then and then you get spoiled. You
12:00
know, you see it in 120 Hz, you go, "Oh
12:02
my god, now I can never look at that old
12:03
phone again."
12:04
>> Mhm.
12:05
>> So many of these things are like that.
12:06
If you can't AB, it's almost like, who
12:09
could tell?
12:10
>> Let's talk about the MacBook Neo. I've
12:13
heard of this thing.
12:14
>> Yeah, I I hear it's one of the pretty
12:16
popular computer. Um I got uh two of
12:19
them. I
12:22
So I I ordered uh the pink one first,
12:25
but for some whatever reason, this
12:27
wasn't available for instore pickup. I
12:29
only was able to uh have it delivered.
12:32
Um and of course my UPS happens to run
12:35
by my house early in the morning. So,
12:38
uh, I was at my I was at the Apple store
12:41
picking up the iPhone and the, uh,
12:43
Studio Display when they attempted
12:45
delivery of the MacBook Neo, and of
12:46
course, it failed to deliver. So, while
12:48
I was at the Apple store, I bought a
12:51
second one,
12:53
which ended up coming in clutch. I got I
12:55
got the So, now I have both. I have the
12:56
pink and the blue. Um, I also got a look
12:59
at the citrus, and I have to say, don't
13:03
like it one bit. I think it's ugly. I
13:06
don't know why people like it. I don't
13:08
know why Apple decided to make that sort
13:10
of like the hero one that they sent to
13:13
all of the press. Um, it's not quite
13:16
yellow. It's not quite green.
13:18
I don't know. I I I don't understand
13:20
that one. The the pink is, I think,
13:24
gorgeous. The blue really nice. On the
13:28
MacBook Air, like the the midnight is so
13:30
dark it just kind of looks dark gray,
13:31
but this is like undeniably blue. And
13:35
you know, you open it up.
13:37
>> What was the most popular color? We did
13:38
this a post, didn't we, about the uh
13:40
selling out and one one color was much
13:42
more popular than the others. I think it
13:43
was the pink.
13:44
>> The pink one. Yeah. Blush. Yeah. Apple
13:48
might I mean, of course, Apple might uh
13:50
have made fewer of the pink ones. It's
13:52
It's hard to tell. Um but yeah, on the
13:55
base model at least, the pink ones sold
13:56
out like immediately.
13:59
>> And did you get that the the 256 GB ones
14:01
or the 512 ones?
14:02
>> Uh I got one of each. So, the the the
14:05
blue one is 512 with Touch ID and the
14:10
pink one is the 256. Uh, and it has a
14:13
lock button on the keyboard instead of
14:15
Touch ID, which is which is neat. It's
14:17
neat how they repurpose that key. And
14:19
it's nice having like a dedicated lock
14:20
key. Of course, you can press the Touch
14:22
ID key to lock the Mac as well, but um,
14:24
you know, I think it's a good use of the
14:26
design. Like the pink the pink is nice
14:28
and soft. They have color matched
14:30
keyboards.
14:30
>> I was going to ask about that. Yeah,
14:32
that that looks uh kind of white, but uh
14:36
>> it is pretty light. Um especially on the
14:39
pink, you know, but but if you look
14:40
close, like it's not quite pure white.
14:42
It is it is a little pink. It's a little
14:43
blue gray uh on the blue one. I think it
14:46
looks really nice. People are noticing
14:49
that um on the US keyboard layout, they
14:53
have more symbols on the keyboard. So
14:55
instead of saying tab, they have a tab
14:56
icon, a caps lock icon, a shift icon,
15:00
which is how the international keyboard
15:02
layouts have been for a few years, but
15:03
now they're making that more
15:04
standardized, I guess. Probably it's
15:07
probably cheaper that way. They don't
15:08
have to make two different keyboard
15:09
layouts. I don't really know why they
15:11
were different to begin with. Although,
15:13
curiously, they don't have that on the
15:14
escape key. There is an icon for the
15:16
escape key that's sort of like a circle
15:18
with an arrow coming out of it, but it
15:20
just says ESC on it. And this is Apple's
15:23
standard keyboard they have on all the
15:24
MacBooks. Yeah, that you know that nice
15:27
uh it's actually a really nice keyboard,
15:28
isn't it?
15:29
>> Yeah, their magic keyboard, which is
15:30
like a sort of scissor layout.
15:33
>> Well, not it's not the dreadful um uh
15:35
butterfly keyboard.
15:36
>> No, no, it's great. The trackpad is also
15:39
the um it's not haptic. It's the same.
15:42
It's not haptic. physically clicks, but
15:45
it's not like the old MacBook Pros where
15:47
um it was sort of like a diving board
15:49
mechanism where it was hinged in the
15:50
back and you know you click at the
15:52
bottom and it's much easier to click
15:54
than clicking at the top. This works
15:56
sort of like the iPad Air Magic
16:00
Keyboard. Imagine it as sort of like one
16:02
big button that's uh like a trampoline.
16:06
You know, it's sort of hinged around the
16:07
sides, so you can click anywhere with
16:09
the same amount of force and it'll click
16:12
really evenly.
16:14
>> And what's it like compared to the
16:15
haptic? Keep the trackpads. Is it is it,
16:18
you know, better or worse?
16:19
>> You have to click a little firmer than
16:21
the Magic Trackpads that are haptic. You
16:24
can adjust the
16:26
uh firmness of them. And I have it set
16:28
to the softest setting. This one feels a
16:30
little firmer. Um, but it still feels
16:33
really excellent. It makes a, you know,
16:36
audible clicking noise, which you might
16:40
have to get used to, but it's excellent.
16:42
Um, really the big disappointment about
16:44
it is that it doesn't have force touch.
16:46
I use force touch all the time to like,
16:49
you know, preview links in Safari or
16:51
rename files in the Finder and that
16:53
isn't on here. That's that's really the
16:55
biggest tragedy. You know, it it still
16:56
feels perfectly smooth, really nice,
16:59
easy to click. It's still a full Mac
17:02
trackpad.
17:03
>> The the trackpads are great. uh uh you
17:05
know such a the best input mechanism far
17:07
better than a mouse
17:08
>> and I I think it's like the choices
17:09
Apple made with this computer I think
17:11
speak to what they have decided makes a
17:15
Mac a Mac um like it's still solid
17:19
aluminum it feels excellent Louis said
17:21
that maybe he is reading that they might
17:24
use like a different alloy of aluminum
17:26
or that it's like made a little cheaper
17:28
but I can't feel it in my hands it feels
17:32
exactly as nice and premium ium as a
17:34
MacBook Air. It does, you know, the the
17:36
the unibody layout. Even the the hinge
17:39
in the back is one continuous piece with
17:41
of metal with the lid.
17:42
>> Yeah. Let's see how can you open that up
17:44
so we can see how it works from from the
17:46
back. From the back. So,
17:47
>> yeah. Like the that the hinge is one
17:49
continuous piece of metal. So, it's
17:51
super strong, super durable.
17:54
>> Yeah. And that hinge is a piece of is an
17:57
engineering marvel. has all kinds of um
18:00
spring mechanisms uh so that it uh the
18:04
bottom doesn't lift when you open the
18:06
lid the bottom doesn't lift up.
18:08
>> Yeah. And you can open it with a single
18:10
finger,
18:11
>> right? Yeah.
18:14
>> And and apparently, you know, PC I
18:16
haven't checked out budget PCs, but I
18:18
know for a fact that budget PCs don't
18:20
have that kind of engineering. I mean,
18:22
this this is years and years of of
18:23
Apple's expertise, isn't it, in uh
18:26
making beautiful machines. Uh
18:29
>> yeah. Yeah. I noticed that the um the
18:31
feet are a little thicker than the
18:33
MacBook Air. Little thicker feet um than
18:37
other MacBooks. And I wonder if that's
18:40
to do with water resistance. It's like
18:41
if you imagine a a spill on a desk
18:44
nearby, I know a little pool of liquid
18:46
spreading across. Maybe the feet
18:48
elevated a little more so that it stays
18:51
out of the liquid. I don't know.
18:54
>> Maybe that's that's a theory.
18:56
>> Well, Johnny, I used to hate feet. I
18:57
know that. And so with him gone, feet
18:59
are back.
19:00
>> Yeah. And now they're feetier than ever.
19:03
The speakers. So the speakers are on the
19:08
side sort of towards the front which is
19:12
unusual for a MacBook. You know they're
19:13
usually hiding under the keyboard or
19:16
under those like fake grills on the left
19:18
and right side. Uh these are pointing
19:20
out the side. I think somebody posted a
19:23
um an internal tear down and showed that
19:27
the battery inside here is much much
19:30
smaller than the MacBook Air. Like the
19:33
normally on a MacBook the battery is
19:35
like a full 2/3 of the internal space.
19:37
Like there's a little thin strip of
19:39
computer sort of around like the
19:40
function keys and the top row of the
19:42
keyboard if you were to imagine that.
19:44
And then like the the rest of the
19:46
computer like the other two/3 is
19:48
entirely battery. Um it's much smaller
19:51
inside here. There's a, you know,
19:53
motherboard along the top and the
19:55
battery is like 50% of the interior and
19:58
then the bottom area is a big empty
20:02
space for the speaker on the left and
20:04
right and then a big empty space
20:06
underneath the trackpad.
20:08
>> Well, the empty space is functional for
20:09
a speaker, isn't it? Because it isn't
20:11
that what you know traditional speaker
20:12
does. It's kind of like the iPad Pro
20:14
where um it's presumably a cheaper
20:17
speaker and they can sort of make up for
20:18
that by giving it like a big sound
20:20
chamber on each side. Uh so it has a
20:23
function.
20:24
>> How do they sound?
20:26
>> They sound really good. I like I was
20:27
very impressed by the speakers. It
20:29
sounds, you know, just as good as any
20:31
other Mac. Honestly, better than a lot
20:33
of MacBook speakers I've I've used
20:35
before. But the positioning of them uh
20:38
surprised me in a number of ways. I was
20:40
wondering if it would sound as good if I
20:43
have the MacBook on my lap like while
20:46
I'm under like a really thick comforter
20:48
or a blanket. Like would the blanket
20:50
like come up on the sides and cover it
20:52
up?
20:52
>> Buffalo it. Yeah.
20:53
>> Not really. Um
20:56
>> because you know the the speakers are
20:58
kind of high along the side. So they
21:01
really sort of just deflect the sound
21:03
upwards when that's the case. What did
21:06
affect the speakers a lot uh were my
21:09
hands. I didn't realize how often when I
21:12
pick up a laptop, my hands perfectly
21:15
cover up where those speakers are. My my
21:17
palms completely cover it on the side.
21:19
Um or even sometimes when I'm typing,
21:21
like when I'm trying to do like a a
21:23
keyboard shortcut, I'll sort of rest my
21:25
palm over the left side of the keyboard
21:27
and I'll entirely cover them up to a
21:30
surprising degree. So that's what
21:33
surprised me about the speakers.
21:34
>> Okay. And then what about performance? I
21:36
mean, that's that seems to be the key
21:38
thing that everyone's concerned about,
21:41
the uh the iPhone chip.
21:43
>> Blazing fast. In fact, on this computer,
21:46
I even have I even installed a
21:48
virtualized Windows 11 Windows 11. Um,
21:52
and it's perfectly fast. I can launch
21:54
that.
21:56
>> What?
21:56
>> I can launch Final Cut Pro. I can launch
21:59
Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, just all of
22:03
the pro apps.
22:04
simultaneously while I'm booting Windows
22:08
on the side, which takes up half of the
22:10
memory. Like, this is a perfectly
22:13
capable machine. I mean,
22:15
>> imagine when we were all impressed by
22:17
the M1 MacBook Air, the base M1 MacBook
22:20
Air in 2020. We were all saying, "Oh
22:22
man, this is an incredible machine. It
22:23
can do everything. So much faster than
22:24
an Intel laptop." Um, and this is still
22:27
faster than that. This is faster than
22:30
the M1 MacBook Air. uh the the computer
22:32
the very same computer that we were all
22:33
impressed by. Yeah, it's a cheaper
22:35
laptop, but that just shows how far
22:39
Apple has come since then.
22:41
>> Well, both of Louisis and I are both on
22:43
M1 machines. You're using an M1 MacBook,
22:45
right? Right now, Louis
22:46
>> MacBook Air. Yep. M1 MacBook Air.
22:49
>> I've got an M1 iMac. And the only time
22:50
it really it stutters is when I've got,
22:52
you know, 400 Chrome tabs open.
22:54
>> So, yeah, I've got all of these Pro apps
22:56
and Windows 11 running on the side. Uh,
22:59
Final Cut Pro is yelling at me for
23:02
something. All of those Pixelm Pro,
23:05
create a new document, you know. And
23:07
here's the other thing, like a lot,
23:08
yeah, this is a cheap laptop, but we
23:10
just have to get over the fact that
23:11
cheap laptops aren't slow anymore. You
23:14
know, I got started on a Pentium 2
23:17
computer running Windows 2000 that took
23:20
a full five minutes to boot and stop
23:23
screaming at me like, and it would take,
23:26
you know, a full minute to render like
23:28
the most basic like 3 megabyte HTML
23:31
website in Internet Explorer 4. And you
23:33
know what? I got by there. Uh, a lot of
23:35
people are going to buy this computer
23:37
who, yeah, probably would be better
23:39
served by a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.
23:42
But you know what? People have done more
23:44
with even slower computers. Like this is
23:46
a $500 computer. You know, in in in
23:49
2012, the most MacBook you could buy for
23:53
$550 was a 4-year-old MacBook Pro off of
23:57
eBay. I know because that's what I did.
23:59
And I even had like a broken optical
24:00
drive. It was barely functional. Uh man,
24:03
$550 gets you a brand new MacBook.
24:06
>> Yeah, it's an incredible value.
24:08
Everyone's freaking out about this.
24:09
this. I mean, I' I've read these
24:10
rapsotic reviews. People are are losing
24:13
their minds. I mean, the reviews are uh
24:15
I I don't think I've seen a computer
24:18
ever that had such universal
24:22
um praise heaped on it. And you know,
24:25
Twitter, my social feeds are just all
24:28
about the Neo. Um and the PC makers are
24:31
freaking out about it. They're totally
24:34
in trouble. Um I mean, they've got they
24:37
they've got a double whammy. they've got
24:38
not only increasing DRAM prices but this
24:41
thing to compete with as well. Um and I
24:44
think you know nothing no one in the PC
24:46
uh makers have got anything to compare
24:48
to it right that build quality
24:51
um and the uh the industrial design. I
24:54
think Dell's got some nicer aluminum
24:57
machines now. I think they've up their
24:58
design game a little bit and Lenovo of
25:00
course I mean people love Lenovo um the
25:02
Lenovo's ThinkPads but um you know
25:06
there's nothing really to compare is
25:07
there? I mean that you know the one of
25:09
the uh Windows Central uh uh Zack Bowden
25:13
who's a columnist he said that the
25:15
sub600 Windows laptop market has long
25:17
been as he put it a dumping ground for
25:19
e-waste
25:22
which I think you know kind of does sum
25:25
it up isn't it e-waste I mean I bought
25:26
an old netbook years ago that was just
25:28
junk I mean it was completely unusable
25:30
out of the box horrible machine
25:33
>> um
25:35
yeah I don't and Mingchi Quo is uh you
25:38
know the top anal an analyst who has
25:40
good supply chain sources uh over in uh
25:43
in Asia he is predicting 5 million units
25:47
selling uh this year which uh he kind of
25:51
he he he sort of downplayed it he said
25:53
oh yeah that's a good number for any
25:55
machine but I went back and looked at um
25:57
the the sales figures for the original
25:59
iMac and the original iMac uh over 13
26:03
variations you know all the Dalmatian
26:05
and the flower power ones and the the
26:07
all the different colors over several
26:09
years that sold six million. Uh and that
26:11
was the machine that saved Apple back in
26:13
the day and that was considered a
26:15
blockbuster. So that's one of the
26:16
bestselling computers of all time. 6
26:18
million units. Um and this is he and
26:21
Miti Shaw thinks this thing is going to
26:22
sell 5 million in one year. In one year
26:25
I think it's crazy. It's madness. I
26:27
don't think you know like this really is
26:29
a shock to the to the the PC industry.
26:31
Like a big big shock. And of course, you
26:34
know, Tim Apple is going to be making a
26:35
fortune uh on on services. I think, you
26:40
know, this is like an entry-level drug
26:42
for the Mac Apple ecosystem.
26:44
>> Oh, yeah. That iMac you mentioned,
26:46
actually, I as you were talking, I
26:48
started running a browser benchmark in
26:50
addition to all the other things I was
26:51
running. But that iMac that you
26:53
mentioned, it cost $1,300 new in 1998,
26:56
probably like, you know, $2,500 now.
26:59
This is 1/5if of the price with an
27:02
education discount. They're absolutely
27:04
going to sell these things like hot
27:05
cakes.
27:05
>> I mean, the price is so low, it's almost
27:07
an impulse buy.
27:09
>> Exactly. Yeah. I don't need a laptop
27:11
right now, but I think if I if I decided
27:13
to get a laptop, you know, so that I
27:14
could do some more work on the go
27:16
instead of just my office, I'd probably
27:18
this is probably what I would pick up.
27:20
>> What about the uh the port the USB
27:21
ports? Because people were sort of
27:22
complaining about that. How many how
27:23
many external monitors can it run? Have
27:25
you plugged into your XDR? It can do a
27:28
4K resolution at 60 fps. So, that could
27:31
either be one monitor or you could get a
27:34
um like a a dock or a dongle that can
27:38
adapt that into two external monitors,
27:41
you know, two 1080p monitors at 60. Um I
27:44
haven't I haven't tried plugging it in
27:45
yet. I think the hub over the the USB
27:48
ports is a little overblown. Well, on
27:50
one hand, yeah, it is disappointing that
27:51
you can't get super fast IO on this, but
27:55
um
27:56
>> well, yeah, it's not really designed for
27:58
that kind of thing, is it? You know,
27:59
that's why you you go up to a a more
28:00
capable machine.
28:02
>> Um this is for, you know, uh Windows PC
28:05
makers are trying to downplay it by
28:06
saying, "Oh, it's basically a content
28:08
consumption machine, but it's not." Um
28:10
but it is a light work machine. It's
28:12
>> I don't want to lean too far into that
28:13
argument because on the other hand,
28:15
yeah, there are a lot of incredibly
28:16
technically capable people who will be
28:18
buying this computer just because it's
28:20
the only computer they afford they can
28:21
afford. Like it's not like every tech
28:23
nerd has $2,000 to drop on a computer,
28:26
the exact right computer for their
28:28
purposes. I mean, I was just right there
28:30
like I was fully aware of the
28:32
limitations of the used MacBook Pro I
28:34
bought, but it's just what I had to buy.
28:37
There will be a lot of nerds who who buy
28:38
this computer. And you know what? It
28:40
still has USBC shaped ports. You can
28:43
still can plug in external monitors and
28:45
peripherals and storage. It just won't
28:47
be as fast.
28:49
>> What's the screen like?
28:51
>> Absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous
28:53
screen. I'm not used to having a 13-inch
28:56
laptop, but I know that's kind of like
28:57
the laptop standard. I'm just used to my
28:59
desktop, I guess. But super bright,
29:01
super crisp. I mean, it's it's a retina
29:03
display. Apple does displays better than
29:05
anybody else. Like you can't get a PC
29:07
laptop with a display nicer than this
29:09
for its price,
29:10
>> right? And it's got a it has a a good
29:13
FaceTime camera.
29:15
>> Um it has an okay FaceTime camera. It's
29:18
it's kind of smudgy. Um
29:21
but it's it's technically 1080p
29:23
resolution. I guess the disappointing
29:25
thing is that it doesn't have the uh
29:27
little green indicator light next to the
29:29
camera to tell you when it's on. It sort
29:32
of relies on the software one that adds
29:34
a little green dot to the mini bar,
29:36
which is um if you open photo booth, you
29:39
can see it here. Lovely. Look at my
29:41
ceiling and camera that's pointing back
29:43
at me. But um yeah, there's there's no
29:46
green LED. Normally on a MacBook Pro,
29:48
that green LED is actually hardwired
29:51
into the camera so that anytime the
29:53
camera is active, that that LED has to
29:55
come on. I mean, there's even one
29:57
>> on my studio display right now, but um
30:00
they just show you a green dot in the
30:02
menu bar. So,
30:04
>> hopefully that can't be worked around or
30:07
hacked, but uh
30:09
>> yeah,
30:09
>> you know, it's a software solution
30:10
instead of a hardware one.
30:11
>> Well, that's about the only the only the
30:13
only uh downside you could find.
30:15
>> It's an adequate camera, not the best.
30:17
That's the MacBook Neo. I'll have my
30:19
full review uh probably up this weekend
30:22
and you know more thoughts about it next
30:24
week. But uh that's that's what I've
30:25
observed in the first day with it.
30:27
>> Very nice. Steven Sinoski, who was um
30:29
one of the top executives at Microsoft
30:32
in the 2000s, he wrote a really rapotic
30:34
review about this too,
30:36
>> that I think came out um early ear early
30:38
this week or maybe yesterday uh saying
30:40
that, you know, this this is like a a
30:44
>> the kind of dream computer that they
30:45
wish they could have made um back in the
30:48
day uh and how great Apple is doing a
30:51
great job with its computers and its
30:52
machines. He was a little bit sad about
30:54
it, you know, made him reflect
30:56
>> um kind of sadly on the,
30:59
you know, what what was going on in
31:00
Microsoft land.
31:01
>> Yeah. Last and probably least, we have
31:03
the iPhone 17e uh which I also got in
31:06
pink. It's pretty similar shade of pink
31:08
to the MacBook Neo. I will say my office
31:11
isn't doing the pink justice. I think
31:14
because I have sort of like a yellowish
31:16
wood desk, it offsets the pinkness, but
31:19
it's much stronger in person. It's not a
31:21
Barbie pink, though, is it?
31:23
>> No, it is less strong on the iPhone than
31:24
it is on the MacBook. The the iPhone is
31:26
kind of uh pale. In fact, in in certain
31:29
lighting conditions, you know, if you
31:31
have a lot of really warm lights like I
31:33
do all around my house, uh it almost
31:35
looks silver, but um outdoors it is very
31:38
vibrantly pink. This thing weighs so
31:42
little. It actually weighs pretty much
31:43
the same as the iPhone Air just because
31:46
of how it's mostly aluminum and it only
31:48
has the one camera. Feels really nice. I
31:51
mean, super nice to hold it a phone in
31:53
my hand and not have to worry about
31:54
rubbing against the camera. I can hold
31:56
it any way I want and I won't bump any
31:59
of the cameras on the back. I think
32:01
we're all kind of used to the big triple
32:04
camera plateau that we all forget how
32:06
ugly it is. It's really ugly. This phone
32:08
is so much more beautiful in comparison.
32:11
>> I don't know. It kind of looks strange,
32:12
you know, with that that that that
32:14
unadorned back. It looks a bit weird,
32:16
really.
32:17
>> I think it looks beautiful. It's just so
32:19
clean.
32:20
>> And you know, you only even catch the
32:22
Apple logo in like certain light where
32:23
like the reflection
32:25
>> catches on it. Like it's it's so subtle.
32:27
>> I like like I can't even get it to show
32:29
up on camera unless I tilt it just the
32:31
right way to catch it in the reflection
32:32
there. It has Mag Safe. Again, as as I
32:35
was setting up the iPhone 17, as I was
32:37
doing the transfers, juggling a few
32:38
phones back and forth, I sort of just
32:40
like snapped this on the MagSafe stand
32:42
on my desk like instinctively without
32:44
even thinking about it. And I was like,
32:45
"Oh yeah, this has MagSafe now." I mean,
32:48
fantastic. Works with all of the MagSafe
32:50
accessories. In fact, I've got it. Let's
32:52
see if any of these batteries I have are
32:54
charged.
32:56
>> Mag Safe battery from Ankor. Boom. There
32:59
you go.
33:00
>> Right.
33:01
>> Brilliant.
33:02
>> Yeah. So, so puzzling why they didn't
33:03
put that on the 16E. I mean,
33:05
>> it makes it a lot more confusing in
33:07
retrospect. Like, if they could just add
33:08
it to the 17E, why wasn't it on the 16E
33:10
to begin with? Um, I never really
33:13
believed any of the arguments that
33:15
people were saying like, "Oh, the parts
33:17
are too expensive. I mean, you can get a
33:19
Mag Safe sticker for like a dollar from
33:22
any gas station. Oh, they couldn't do it
33:24
because it was too thin." The iPhone Air
33:27
is 27% thinner and it has Mag Safe.
33:30
>> Mhm.
33:31
>> None of them really hold up.
33:32
>> I guess they wanted people to upgrade,
33:34
right? That was it was a feature that,
33:36
you know, a premium feature that
33:38
required people to spend more money to
33:39
get.
33:40
>> Yeah. I I think Apple's argument was,
33:43
well, people are upgrading from four or
33:45
five year old phones that don't already
33:46
have MagSafe. Well, then they're missing
33:49
out on one of its best features that
33:51
they've like one of the few genuine
33:53
innovations, like brand new things added
33:56
to the iPhone that's fantastic, Max.
33:58
>> Well, it's such a good idea. I mean, it
33:59
swept the whole, you know, Android
34:00
market now and and and Chi 2, you know,
34:03
it was such a great idea that everyone's
34:05
adopted it and was it's too good of an
34:06
idea not to. So, I see that the buttons
34:09
it's got an action button, but no camera
34:11
control button. No.
34:13
>> Yeah. Same with the the 16. No camera
34:15
control button. My theory is that
34:17
because Apple seems to be walking back
34:20
all of the fancy like swipe and pressure
34:22
sensitive gestures on the camera
34:25
control. I wouldn't be surprised if in
34:28
like the iPhone 18 or maybe the iPhone
34:30
19, they switch all of the camera
34:32
controls to just be a simple clicking
34:34
button, you know, not unlike the power
34:36
button or the volume button. And I bet
34:38
after they do that, then they'll add it
34:40
to the iPhone E of whatever year that
34:43
is, you know, 18 or 19e.
34:46
>> That's my theory at least. Uh I guess
34:48
another thing like it does it doesn't
34:50
have the dynamic island, just the notch
34:52
on top. Um I'm really sad about that.
34:55
What I did notice in the hand though is
34:57
that uh I mean the corners are a little
34:59
sharper than the iPhone 15, 16, and 17,
35:05
you know, that I'm used to.
35:06
>> Looks nice. Looks nice. What's the
35:07
performance like? How does it hold up
35:09
dayto-day?
35:10
>> Oh, perfectly fine. I mean, the iPhone
35:12
16 Pro is so fast. This is allegedly
35:14
even faster. Everything on the iPhone is
35:16
so fast that I don't even notice.
35:19
Performance is performance is
35:20
incredible.
35:21
>> What are the pictures like out of it?
35:23
>> Um, I haven't taken a lot of pictures
35:25
with it yet. Um, only spent a day with
35:26
it and I was mostly spending that day
35:28
with the MacBook Neo. So, in in the next
35:30
week I'll I'll be taking more pictures
35:31
and over the weekend. Um,
35:33
>> well, the 168 pictures were good,
35:34
weren't they? The ones you took. They
35:36
were really good. And supposedly this
35:37
has the same hardware as the 16e, but it
35:41
has the improved image pipeline of the
35:44
A19 chip.
35:46
>> I mean, the pictures I've seen are
35:48
fabulous. They're actually great, you
35:50
know? I mean, uh, for for everyday
35:52
snaps.
35:53
>> Yeah, I think the computational
35:54
photography was really upgraded with the
35:56
A19 chip. Like, it they they look less
36:00
obviously processed. They just look a
36:02
lot better. and and I noticed that with
36:03
the iPhone Air. So, I'm excited to take
36:05
more pictures with this. Um, I do notice
36:08
the the the the slightly thicker bezels
36:11
though. You know, the screen doesn't
36:12
quite go edgeto edge. I'll be in like a,
36:15
you know, any app like Slack or, you
36:17
know, reading Mastadon or Net Newswire
36:19
and I'd notice like, you know, the text
36:21
and buttons are all just a little bit
36:23
more inset from the edge of the screen.
36:25
I noticed that a lot. So, probably the
36:28
same exact screen component that they
36:30
had in the 16E, which is pretty great.
36:33
You know, perfectly bright. You can read
36:34
it outside if if it's ever sunny. Uh,
36:38
which it is not currently in Ohio in
36:40
March. But good good phone. It's nice
36:44
being back to it, honestly. I I like the
36:46
cleaner look.
36:48
>> Yeah. Yeah, it does look great, doesn't
36:50
it?
36:50
>> Mhm.
36:51
>> Looks really nice. So, I'm really I love
36:53
the iPhone mini and um uh you know that
36:56
this seems to be the sort of the modern
36:58
incarnation of that.
37:00
>> Yeah, still not as mini, but the weight
37:02
really does have a big impact on how big
37:04
you perceive it to be. So, I like having
37:08
a a kind of lighter phone again. That's
37:10
nice.
37:11
>> Yeah. Yeah, me too. You know, the Pro's
37:13
too pro for me to be honest with, you
37:14
know, I'm not using half of it features.
37:17
Um
37:18
>> but you might. Yeah, it's they're there
37:21
when I need them.
37:22
>> You might need to make a movie.
37:24
>> I when I go back and look at my
37:25
pictures, like, oh my goodness me, that
37:27
they're all absolutely dreadful.
37:30
>> But I suppose that's that's true of a
37:32
lot of photographers, isn't it? You take
37:33
a lot of pictures and then you just
37:34
choose the ones that that are any good.
37:36
>> Um, I need to get back on Instagram
37:38
again. There was a while when I was
37:39
posting a picture a day on Instagram.
37:40
That was my little hobby.
37:42
>> And uh that, you know, got some likes.
37:44
Couple of people liked them. Um, I
37:46
should get should get back to that.
37:48
Yeah. All right. That's cool. I mean,
37:49
like what a great roundup of entry-
37:51
level products. I mean, Apple's been
37:52
killing it with the entry-le stuff,
37:53
isn't it? And just they're all great.
37:55
They're all fantastic. In the past, we
37:58
we used to make apologies, didn't we,
37:59
for this shortcoming or that
38:01
shortcoming. Oh, you know, no one's
38:03
going to use this. No one's going to be
38:04
worried about that, you know.
38:05
>> Or you would have to warn people, oh,
38:06
don't get the base model. You need to
38:08
upgrade the storage. You need to upgrade
38:09
the RAM. You don't have to do that with
38:11
any of these. You know, 256 is more than
38:15
enough for doing basic tasks. 512 is,
38:17
you know, a good amount of space for
38:20
most people and you the the especially
38:23
for a phone like all of them come with
38:24
256 now. That's great.
38:26
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Very nice. And
38:28
then of course, you know, uh Apple's
38:30
going to be doing they're definitely
38:31
doing they're leaning into this kind of
38:33
Kshaped economy thing, right? Where
38:35
they're they've got they've got a bunch
38:37
of great entry-level products, but
38:39
they've also got some very expensive
38:41
products, too.
38:42
Um, and actually we're going to talk
38:44
about this one with the M6 coming up,
38:47
which might be the most expensive laptop
38:50
Apple's ever made.
38:52
>> Let's just go into that.
38:54
>> Yeah. Should we talk about this, Lewis?
38:56
What about what's the what's the the
38:58
skinny on this M6?
39:01
>> Uh, well, you know, we've been hearing
39:02
for a while uh big design change coming
39:05
up with the M6 powered MacBook Pro later
39:07
this year. part of the upgrade. At least
39:08
some of the machines apparently going to
39:10
switch to a touchscreen OLED display.
39:14
Uh we're theorizing, of course, that
39:16
this will come with a price increase.
39:18
Hard to believe. Uh
39:22
I think Ed wrote this post as the
39:25
history of of Apple switching to OLED
39:27
screens. You know, when they switched to
39:29
iPhone 10 with OLED, price went up to
39:31
$8.99. iPad Pro, same thing, 20% more
39:35
expensive. So, these are at least some
39:40
of these MacBook Pro models with the M6
39:44
might be called MacBook Ultra is is what
39:48
our good friend Mark German at Bloomberg
39:50
is saying. And uh Griff and I were
39:52
discussing this before the show, you
39:53
know, is is it really going to be like
39:55
are they all going to be touchscreen? Is
39:57
every single MacBook Pro with a M6 going
40:00
to be touchscreen?
40:02
Seems like maybe that would be part of
40:04
the high-end MacBook Ultra and the other
40:07
ones might be normal, super fast,
40:10
unbelievably powerful M6 MacBook Pros.
40:13
If anything, I think this rumor confirms
40:16
what I my speculation that there will be
40:19
an M6 MacBook Pro this year, but it'll
40:22
only be the base model and it won't have
40:24
any of these changes. I think what Mark
40:26
German is uh close to getting at here is
40:30
that only the M6 Pro and M6 Max MacBook
40:34
Pros will get the touchscreen and the
40:36
new design and those will come with a
40:38
you know increased price yet again but
40:41
the base model will be basically the
40:43
same as the M5 but with a spec bump. Um
40:46
they they've split the design several
40:48
times in the past. Like in 2016 when you
40:51
went from the you know thin retina
40:54
MacBook Pros to you know the the 2016
40:56
MacBook Pros with a touch bar the base
40:58
model didn't get a touch bar and they
41:00
actually kept selling the you know
41:03
previous design at a at a cheaper price
41:06
for a few years there. Then when they
41:08
decided that the touch bar was you know
41:10
no longer good they walked that back. uh
41:12
they only walked it back on the high-end
41:14
models and the cheap one still came with
41:16
a touch bar for a few years like through
41:18
the M2 MacBook Pro that still had a
41:21
touch bar even
41:22
>> a touch bar
41:23
>> and and each of those moves also came
41:24
with a price bump. So I think this is
41:27
>> So what are they what kind of price bump
41:28
we looking at? 20%.
41:30
>> I I don't know if anybody's actually
41:32
estimating that uh just higher.
41:35
>> Yeah.
41:37
>> I mean everything got a price bump this
41:39
last time, right? Right. The MacBook Air
41:40
now starts at what? $1099.
41:43
>> The So the So the base M5
41:47
come starts at $1,700.
41:49
The M5 Pro starts at 2,200. So my guess
41:53
is that with the M6, they're probably
41:54
going to bump that up to 2500,
41:58
which used to be the price of the the
41:59
15-inch one, but you know, 2500 just for
42:01
the 13-inch one.
42:03
>> With or without the touchcreen. That'll
42:05
be without the touchcreen, right?
42:07
without the touchcreen. Like the base
42:08
M61 will probably stay at the same
42:10
price, $1,700.
42:13
The new one, I bet, will bump from 22 to
42:16
25.
42:16
>> That makes total sense that they they
42:18
release the the, you know, the base M6
42:20
Pro MacBook and it looks like the
42:22
regular M5 MacBook. Uh, and then the
42:25
MacBook Ultra is the thing with the
42:27
touchcreen.
42:28
>> Will it actually be called MacBook
42:29
Ultra? I don't think so. I think MacBook
42:31
Pro is too strong of a branding. I don't
42:34
think they're they would that would
42:35
>> Would it be the MacBook Pro Ultra then?
42:37
>> I think it'll just be called MacBook
42:38
Pro. There's the
42:39
>> MacBook Ultra Pro.
42:41
>> There's the regular MacBook Pro. That
42:42
isn't really that much Pro. And then
42:44
there's the MacBook Pro.
42:45
>> Wait a second. Louis is on to something
42:47
there.
42:48
>> I think that that sounds great, doesn't
42:49
it? Ultra Pro.
42:51
>> MacBook Pro Max.
42:53
>> Yeah, that's a good one to
42:54
>> with the Pro chip and Max chip.
42:56
>> M6 Pro Max. MacBook Pro. Ultra Max.
43:03
Why not?
43:04
>> It's going to be great.
43:07
>> You should be working on Apple's
43:09
marketing team. Your skills are wasted
43:11
here.
43:12
>> Well, this is going to be coming out the
43:13
same time as the folding iPhone, too,
43:15
which that's also going to cost a pretty
43:16
penny. We're all going to be more broke
43:19
than ever.
43:21
Uh well, cool. I mean, um so this
43:23
actually, of course, you know,
43:24
everyone's excited about this M60
43:25
machine. The big debate uh this you know
43:28
right now is like should you get the M5
43:31
the new M5 MacBook Pros or should you
43:33
wait for the M6?
43:35
And does anyone have any strong feelings
43:37
about that? Cuz I'm totally wishy-washy.
43:39
I'm like I don't know, you know, maybe
43:41
maybe it's a good idea to wait, maybe
43:42
not. I don't know.
43:43
>> Ed and I wrote opposing opeds about
43:46
this. He said, "Oh, you know, four
43:48
reasons why you should wait for the M6
43:50
MacBook Pro." I wrote one just because
43:53
everybody's saying to wait and I just
43:54
wanted to be contrarian why you
43:56
shouldn't wait. I mean outlining the
43:59
reasons like yeah it's probably going to
44:00
be more expensive. It's probably the new
44:03
design and touchscreen are probably only
44:04
going to come to the high-end models and
44:06
they also might not come out until the
44:09
following year. Like we've seen that
44:11
happen a few times where you know they
44:13
revise the low-end model but then they
44:15
wait until the following year to come
44:16
out with the the high-end model.
44:19
>> Right.
44:20
So, I I wouldn't be surprised if yeah,
44:22
an M6 MacBook Pro does come this year,
44:24
but it's only the base one. If you want
44:25
the new design with the touchscreen,
44:27
you're going to have to wait until next
44:28
March. So, it might if if you're trying
44:29
to wait, you might have to wait much
44:31
longer than you expect.
44:33
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's
44:35
always new machines on the horizon.
44:36
There's always something better coming
44:37
down the pipe, isn't there? My My son
44:39
just went through this, too. you know,
44:40
he was trying to buy he's a video editor
44:42
and he was he wanted to get the the best
44:44
MacBook he could get and I was saying,
44:45
"Oh, you know, he actually he bought
44:47
this last year and I was saying you
44:48
should maybe you should wait for the uh
44:49
the new machines are coming out." But he
44:51
said, "No, I can't wait. You know, I
44:52
need a I need a good machine now." And I
44:54
think that's what um determines, you
44:57
know, whether you should get the M5. And
44:58
these M5 machines are crazy powerful.
45:01
The chip benchmark scores are off the
45:03
charts. These are running, you know,
45:05
like we said before, you know, the
45:07
performance is equivalent to what you
45:09
had to run in a data center with a bunch
45:11
of 10 Nvidia data center chips before.
45:15
>> Uh, and now you can run this, you know,
45:17
personally on your own on your on a
45:20
laptop. The M5 Pro is also like a really
45:23
good sweet spot where I think Jason
45:25
Snell did a bunch of benchmarks in his
45:26
review and he showed that the M5 Pro is
45:30
just about as powerful or at least, you
45:32
know, on the level of the M4 Max. So,
45:36
you know, it's it you're basically
45:37
getting an extra tier of performance
45:39
with this with this generation of chip.
45:42
>> Apple's killing it with the silicon.
45:43
Amazing.
45:44
>> Oh, it's just a spec bump. Well, it's a
45:47
big bump, you know. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
45:50
Yeah. Yeah. And of course it's, you
45:52
know, beautiful machine, too. Wonderful
45:53
industrial design, beautiful screen.
45:56
>> Nothing to uh nothing to detract from
45:58
it. Really
45:58
>> won't be covered in fingerprints because
46:00
you can't touch it.
46:01
>> That's right. That's right. All right.
46:04
Cool. Let's just talk real quick about
46:06
the um iOS 24 beta 4 because, you know,
46:08
this is I think probably the most the
46:09
thing that most people are interested
46:10
in, the new emojis that are coming.
46:13
>> iOS uh 26.4, for all the new features
46:16
and changes dropped earlier this week.
46:18
The big one is new emoji. Uh Apple
46:22
always waits sort of late in the game to
46:24
add the emojis to encourage people to
46:26
update to the more stable version of the
46:28
OS. Uh and the new emoji include, and I
46:33
think this one is going to be the most
46:34
popular, distorted face,
46:36
>> which is
46:36
>> big hit.
46:37
>> Yep. Big hit. kind of looks like, you
46:39
know, you you've been taken you've taken
46:42
a picture of an emoji on on the 0.5
46:44
camera and zoomed in really close.
46:46
That's what all the kids are doing these
46:47
days. They call it a 0.5. Um
46:50
>> what's a 0.5 camera?
46:52
>> The the ultra wide one, the like the
46:54
fisheye one. You So So you set it to the
46:56
0.5 camera and then you like just get
46:58
incredibly close to someone's face.
47:00
>> Uh
47:01
that's that but in an emoji.
47:03
>> That's a favorite with the kids.
47:05
>> Mhm. Mhm.
47:07
Uh, we've also got Fight Cloud, Ballet
47:10
Dancer, Hairy Creature, which is um some
47:14
kind of yeti. Uh,
47:16
>> that's a Sasquatch.
47:17
>> Sasquatch. Yeah, Sasquatch.
47:19
>> Bigfoot.
47:20
>> You know, somebody uh replied to our our
47:24
article about this on on Maston and
47:25
said, "The Sasquatch is walking the
47:27
wrong direction."
47:28
>> I was just going to say the same thing.
47:30
I was just going to say the exact same
47:32
thing. It's the exact stance of that
47:34
very, you know, that one picture that's
47:36
like the main like the first the
47:39
Patterson Gimlin film.
47:42
>> I It's hilarious. I wonder why they have
47:44
it going the other way.
47:46
>> I don't know.
47:47
>> It's It's the exact stance and the exact
47:49
same like arms and legs in the exact
47:51
same position but flipped.
47:53
>> Could it be copyright? Couldn't be
47:55
copyright, could it? I mean,
47:56
>> it's been replicated so many times,
47:59
right?
48:00
>> Yeah. It's iconic. Even if it was like a
48:03
copyright thing, like it's it's the same
48:05
pose. It's just flipped horizontally.
48:06
Like that doesn't void them from
48:07
copyright if that were to be a problem,
48:10
right?
48:11
>> Well, yeah. I don't know. I don't think
48:13
there's not a copyright issue here
48:14
because they're not using someone else's
48:16
image. This is their own original image.
48:17
Even if it's based on something else.
48:19
>> Yeah. Yeah.
48:20
>> Um but if it's a faximile, then it can
48:22
be a bit sketchy. But I don't know who's
48:23
going to,
48:24
>> you know. It's weird though. All of
48:27
those ones are sort of, you know, for
48:30
lack of a better word, facing to the
48:31
left. All those new emoji. And I don't,
48:35
now that I think about it, is every
48:36
emoji facing to the left if it's not,
48:38
you know, completely straight on.
48:40
>> I never even thought about that.
48:42
>> Let me look at some of the animals.
48:44
Animals in nature. The full bodied one.
48:46
Oh, yeah. A lot of them are facing to
48:48
the left. Horse emojis facing to the
48:50
left. The duck. The even the ones that
48:53
are just ahead on the side. Those are
48:55
facing to the left. The snail is facing
48:57
to the right.
48:59
Blasphemy. The bee's going to the left.
49:03
The gecko is kind of, you know, he's at
49:05
an angle, but he's sort of going to the
49:06
right.
49:08
>> Well, I'm looking at the picture. People
49:09
in wheelchairs and walking. They have
49:10
them facing both directions.
49:12
>> The leopard is going to the left. So,
49:15
you can have a a person in a wheelchair
49:17
and a leopard staring at each other.
49:20
>> Yeah.
49:22
>> A lot of the animals go to the left,
49:23
though.
49:24
Well, the shoes all go to the right.
49:28
>> This is fascinating.
49:29
>> But you're right. Yeah, the animals all
49:31
to the left. Yeah, all the animals are
49:32
to the left.
49:34
>> Almost all of them
49:35
>> except for the one except for the snail.
49:36
I don't know why he's the exception.
49:39
Anyways, we've also got uh Orca,
49:43
landslide, trombone, and treasure chest.
49:46
The trombone emoji.
49:48
>> I'm looking forward to that. That's a
49:49
good one.
49:50
>> Yeah, that that one's going to get used
49:51
a lot.
49:52
landslide. I'm not so sure. I I don't
49:54
quite get the landslide.
49:56
>> Yeah.
49:57
>> Elections maybe.
49:58
>> Yeah. Once a year.
50:01
>> Yeah. Well, I How many emojis do you use
50:04
anyway in in in your regular rotation? I
50:07
use about three, I think.
50:09
>> It's weird when I look at that that
50:11
fight cloud one. To me, it looks like uh
50:13
like a nuclear reaction or something
50:15
more than a a fight.
50:18
>> I can't even tell what what is what are
50:20
the things that are sticking out of it.
50:21
It's like lightning bolts and stars.
50:24
>> Yeah, like a like a cartoon fight, I
50:26
guess. I don't know.
50:26
>> Yeah, but it's just I don't know. It's
50:28
It's something weird about it. Doesn't
50:30
>> to me it doesn't convey fight.
50:33
>> And and two electrons around the cloud.
50:36
>> Does it look like that? You know, it's
50:37
like some kind of physics diagram,
50:40
>> right?
50:41
>> Could be handy, though. One other weird
50:43
little change that I just want to
50:44
mention, Apple removed all traces of
50:47
end-to-end encryption, endto-end
50:49
encrypted RCS texting in beta 4. They
50:53
they added the feature entirely as we
50:55
were talking about a couple weeks ago
50:56
and then they removed it again. So maybe
50:58
they're holding it for iOS 27.
51:01
>> Weird though.
51:03
>> Okay. Uh let's let's let's let's have a
51:06
quick um we have a question from uh Brad
51:08
Thornbrow uh via Macedon. And Brad says,
51:11
"Here's a question. and I have an M1
51:13
iPad which I use as my primary mobile
51:15
machine, although the limitations of
51:17
iPad OS have me eyeing a MacBook Air,
51:19
but I don't need that much power on the
51:21
go. Could the Neo fit this niche? And I
51:24
think uh Griffin, you're well positioned
51:26
to answer this question.
51:28
>> Yes, absolutely. It is going to be
51:30
faster than your M1 iPad uh and also
51:33
better because it's a Mac.
51:34
>> Quick and simple answer. Really
51:36
fantastic computer. You should
51:37
absolutely get it.
51:39
>> There you go, Brad. All right. Thanks
51:41
very much for sending us the question.
51:42
Really appreciate it.
51:43
>> And you can uh text us your own, you
51:45
know, if you have any buying advice or
51:46
questions, text us at cult
51:48
51:51
>> Good, good point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
51:52
Definitely. Uh yeah. And also give us a
51:55
fivestar rating on Apple Podcast or
51:58
anywhere Spotify or wherever else you
51:59
get your podcasts. Uh text us or send us
52:02
a video question, an iMessage using that
52:04
same email address. It's
52:05
52:08
Uh, and you can find Lewis on Twitter at
52:11
Lewis Wallace. Griffin's on Macedon at
52:14
DG Griffin Jones. And I write the
52:15
Colmite newsletter every day, uh, which
52:17
you can get at newsletters.colmack.com.
52:20
And thank you all for listening. Thanks
52:21
for watching. Thanks, uh, for tuning in.
52:23
We'll see you all next time, everybody.
52:25
Have a great weekend.
52:26
>> Goodbye.
52:27
>> See you.
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