Apple confirms product launch event for March 8

Is this good or bad?

You follow Elon Musk on Twitter, right? Seems like you're impressed by those sorts of things :)

Apple removed the headphone jack from phones and iPads, to bless us all with overpriced and poor quality Bluetooth ear and headphones (from all companies - not theirs specifically). Doesn't matter to me how much they have in the bank or how much Timmy pays himself when they can't help themselves and screw up basic things like that. I appreciate their products (the good ones, anyway), but I will never be a blind devotee, and I'll always enjoy being someone who can make their own decisions about which purchases suit their needs best.

@Stonejack is right: Apple is a remarkable company that has literally changed the world. They defined what a modern computer was with the mouse/GUI. They defined what a modern smartphone is. They defined what a modern tablet is. They are defining what a modern smartwatch is.

Steve Jobs saved the music industry with the iTunes Store. Then he revolutionized the software market with the App Store.

Apple revolutionized marketing with the 1984 ad, which also, BTW started the tradition of big budget special ads for the Super Bowl.

And that's only a partial list of Apple's contributions.

Have they made mistakes along the way? Of course, all companies do. Have they been perfect? No, but again, no company is perfect and it's naive to judge them that way.

That's the big picture. The list of complaints, like by HowAboutRaw, are trivial in comparison. But Apple has totally changed the world.

That's all well and good, but it's also a lot of fluff when the question simply comes down to: What tool serves the user best for the work they wish to do?

Also, headphone jack :P

Well, Apple was just a pioneer and most of other tech companies followed the lead, actually justifying Apple's decisions. Samsung and Chinese had removed headphones jacks too (etc). Not many know, but Apple was one of first companies to adopt USB-A and USB-C, as well as many other modern standards.

Again, that is all good and I am well-aware of Apple's history, but right now, in 2022, which is the best computer to buy for my needs? Not the M1 machines. And I am an experienced user who has owned many Macs.

Yes, of course individual users will find different solutions best meet their needs.

For instance, I have one of the new 16 inch MacBook Pro's with the M1 Max chip: it's amazing. I've never had any computer be this response. It handles everything I've thrown at it with ease, including 8K editing. It's a phenomenal machine. And it has the stability and security of MacOS, and the quality and support of Apple. So for me that's the best solution.

The point of this thread though is that Apple is a remarkable company in hits history and achievements. And that is reflected in their products, still which are class leading to this very day.

No other smartphone has a processor as powerful as the iPhone. No other tablet even comes close to the iPad. In fact, when you think of tablets, you think of the iPad and then there are the others. Most can't even name another tablet. Ditto with smart watches.

Yep, and now the Max has been well and truly beaten in performance and price by 12700H and 12900H, and really should only appeal to video or photo editors on the go. It is also a £3000+ machine. For me, for truly portable use and a better performance / value balance, I will wait for the new MacBook Air, which won't be 2.2kg like the 16" Max, and will do everything I want from a machine like that, including tearing through photo and video projects, no doubt.

"And that is reflected in their products, still which are class leading to this very day." - Many of which have also been rather poor, and extremely overpriced. *Cough* 2016-2021 MBP, anyone?

Correct. And I also prefer not to have a MacBook hanging from my neck / in a pocket while walking around / travelling on a bus, train, in a gym etc and listening to music. But then, you knew that already. Thank you for the valued input :)

When listening to audio on the go, wireless headphones are definitely the way to go. So nice to not have to be tethered by a cord. There's really no comparison...less likely to fall out of your ear due to cord tension, no chance of yanking the device accidentally and having it fall to the ground, etc.

With my AirPods it feels as if there's nothing in my ear but the sound. I never had that with wired headsets.

And the sound is more than good enough, esp considering that the environments one will use it in are noisy.

The iPod proved that once the sound gets good enough, people value convenience more. And it's the same with the AirPods. I'll take wireless any day when on the go.

If I want to go to full audiophile mode I will listen to my sound system at home, with my speakers or if I prefer, a nice over the year headset, like the AirPods Max!

I’m quite sure,that more than 10% of serious video/photographers use Mac (?)

It’s an incomplete picture to just judge on the basis of the personal computer market.

There is the smartphone market and the tablet market, both of which are larger than the PC market and in which Apple occupies far larger market shares.

In smartphones Apple dominates in profit share. Apple dominates in market share for tablets, smartphones, and wireless headphones.

And that’s not even getting into services.

So it’s very incomplete to just point to the PC market.

Of course there is also the historical and cultural impact of Apple which surpasses all other tech companies.

I agree with Thoughts R Us, but in addition to Apple's dollar sales volume (as opposed to product sales' volume) suggesting a much higher share of the market, Apple and Acer had the highest percentage increase in 2021. Expect Apple to grow that increase further in 2022 with the new late 2021 laptops and whatever is coming. They aren't one of the most valuable companies in the world for sales volume (although impressive in the smartphone and tablet market), they are among the most profitable. In other words financial analysts consider them solid and stable and have been so for the last 20+ years.

Haters do come out of the woodwork from time to time…

Lots of yawning from me today...

I don’t think Apple really need anyones help, they are doing just fine. What's more intriguing is all those haters… What‘s the problem with Apple, why can’t they just scroll pass the news, there really is no need to comment and get all angry and upset.

Apple has great significance in the tech world; Apple has driven tech forward for decades. Apple also has great cultural significance, having influenced the culture on many fronts from music to marketing and of course in technology.

When Apple speaks people listen. That's something they've earned.

I agree with what @jaberg wrote. I've never experienced any file corruption on any Apple device. For me the days of files getting corrupted ended when I switched from Windows to Mac many years ago.

I acknowledge your experience @Akgbkd. Still, if forced to make a guess, this type of corruption is more likely the result of the media, card reader (perhaps making excessive power demands at peak moments) or cable. An insidious plot to sell you larger internal storage by corrupting files “on purpose” is low on my list. One is a technical misfortune of the sort I’ve experienced elsewhere — I’ve been at computers and tech for a long time. The other is borderline tinfoil hat territory.

@tkbslc That’s not as true as it used to be. Currently, a number of, in fact most of, the apps in my workflow draw from a common file collection. Either the “file system”, which can exist on the device alone or, as I choose, be shared with other devices and computers via iCloud, or system libraries like the Photo Library.

Again, the applications I prefer to use on the iPad access and make changes to the Photo Library directly. It’s not perfect and there are still things I use the Macs for, but it’s not as limiting as it once was.

@Trolly - The threads I read on MacRumors point to ExFAT or FAT32 formatted drives as having problems with the Files app. The suggestion is to use apps like File Browser Pro when copying large files to external media.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/file-corruption-on-copy-to-external-storage.2235171/page-8?post=30732387#post-30732387

I’ve never had file corruption moving big files either, or small files.

But to say that Apple is doing it (which I’ve never seen happen) deliberately, is quite simply, a lunatic thing to say.

As to corrupted files to and from a card, we’ll, I’ve seen that from cards on any computer. Cards are notoriously unreliable after they’ve been used for a while. They also get unreliable because people reformat them improperly.

We are most of us, in one way or another, the "corporate machine."

I too have an Iphone 7 and an XR both still look and work as new, I might even wait for the iPhone 15 to upgrade of the 14 wont comes with an even better camera than the 13 Pro.

I just replaced my 6S+ with a 13 Po Max and I love it. I wouldn't have traded but I dropped my 6 and shattered the screen, but the photography upgrades over the 6 are fantastic.

(sarcasm) But if you use a Mac, it automatically makes you hip and creative.

I do laugh with you although I'm on the road to switch everything from MS to Apple :)

There is no need for Apple to do that and it will never happen.

A processor like in a top iphone in a “proper” camera could enable fabulous computational feats. An iphone makes reasonable pictures in low light by rapidly taking and combining pictures. Imagine that on a proper big sensor camera.
Or in general have some apps on it like on a phone (like the zeiss in theory).
There is a phone app where you put your phone on a tripod, it keeps on making photos and elegantly removes in a combined picture all the people walking or cars driving through the image. Without tedious photoshop work afterwards. That kind of functionality but applied to a big sensor camera.

"I rather think m43 is on the way out not likely to have additional products"

I agree, we haven't had any new m4/3 releases for over a week.

Apple makes as much profit on phones in TWO DAYS as Canon makes per YEAR on cameras and lenses.

They see the regular camera industry as something they replaced, not something they want to sell.

Smartphone and MILC is not the same type of photography.
What it replaced is all the snapshot cameras. Totally different kind of user, unless you're a snapshot photographer.

But if you are truly a photo enthousiast it is hard to imagine exchanging your MILC with something like a phone for serious photography.

@HowaboutRAW
1998 calling you.

Why stop there? Ask for a Floppy and CD drives while at it. SMH.

Is it true that Mac people only have one mouse button on them becase they can't comprehend how to use two mouse buttons?

@snapa

Actually Macs had right and left click from the very beginning. You just held down the option key (Alt) to access it. Apple began shipping two button mice in 2008 but I used a third party one in the 90s.

Even today though the second button just gives you the first button menu by default and you have to go into system preferences to turn on right click functionality. I guess they think it is less intimidating for some users.

@snapa
For years most apple users have replaced the mouse with a mouse pad which offers multitouch gestures which, btw integrates seamlessly with multiple virtual desktops, something Windows never managed to implement effectively.

USB-A - You are kidding.
Glad to have gotten rid of these fugly USB ports.
All new devices are USB-C anyway.

@snapa
What's the "mouse"? You still use a mouse?

Actually, Apple's Magic Mouse has more than 2 clicks that you're proud of. It has your 2 clicks AND also multi-touch gestures. I don't use it myself as it's not 1995 anymore.
Multitouch Trackpads are far superior. And Apple's Trackpads are light years ahead of others.

@snapa
Looking at your site I am not surprised about your 1980's comment.

Oh man, elite tier Apple fanboys are insufferable.

Anyone who wants to slot in their own NVME drive rather than paying $200 a TB to Apple is living in the 90s?

Mice are old tech and touchpads are new tech?

Nobody should own any USB A devices?

I'd laugh at you, but I think you guys are serious.

@tkbslc
have you actually used a mac with a trackpad? You probably haven't. You would otherwise know that the experience is light years ahead of using a mouse. Note that nobody bragged about that either, it was an educative response to a silly comment. Also, most mac users are also windows users, while it is not generally true the viceversa.
I would like to point out that while it is painfully true that mac hardware upgrades are painfully and "ripfully" expensive, the hardware holds value over time, so argument on economics is not a trivial one.

Yes, I have an M1 macbook Air. Using a touchpad for extended periods is horrible for my wrists and fingers. And No I don't think it is "light years" ahead of using a mouse. 20 different touch gestures for stuff I can do with a keyboard shortcut or right click is not exactly game changing.

The implication that the trackpad is the obvious replacement for the mouse makes about as much sense as saying we shouldn't need physical keyboards for laptops because you can type on a touchscreen.

@tkbslc
I feel like you are somewhat biased with your response:
1) Are you using the built in trackpad or an external keyboard+external trackpad?
2) Many gestures are a lot more convenient and natural than keyboard shortcut. Maybe you want to be more specific of what functionalities you invoke with your keyboard, I doubt you make full use of what the trackpad allows you to do.
Note that I heavily use both mac and windows machines, I have not used a mouse for years on a mac and I would not want to use in place of my external trackpad. So YES, the trackpad is a replacement for virtually anything that is not a specialized use like CAD or gaming. And yes, it is an enhanced experience when compared to a mouse. You might actually want to look into it more into it. Get an external one, do not relay on the built in one for extended use.

I like mine with magnetic tape recorders.

I have used touchpads for many years. They are not a mouse replacement, just an alternative. Saying mice are outdated technology is absurd. No bias here, as I use both depending on the circumstances.

I don’t feel it is worth either of our time to go over how I use computer hot keys.

@Joe Niepce Photographer

"1998 calling you. Why stop there? Ask for a Floppy and CD drives while at it. SMH."

This is the attitude that cost Apple a lot of professional users in recent years, along with hopelessly non-upgradeable machines.

Clients typically don't have the latest hardware. You need to be able to read the files they give you - telling them Apple says their format is obsolete won't get you very far.

@armandino

"have you actually used a mac with a trackpad? You probably haven't. You would otherwise know that the experience is light years ahead of using a mouse."

Armandino, I don't find a touchpad better than a mouse and I have a Wacom, which can be turned into a giant trackpad.

I'd go as far as to say a trackpad isn't suitable for most professional work. Many menu buttons are too small for finger gestures and obviously you can't draw a bezier curve with a touchpad. Even something simple like burning in an area in a photo is best done with a pen.

I find my wacom a crime as a replacement of a touchpad.
Nope the experience of the Apple touchpad is excellent compared to that of the Wacom.

You do realise if you have an upgradable version, everything is slower, memory, SSD, processor. All slower as it’ll stop the SOC design being workable. Why would you want that?

Windows users will never understand - All they can show is vengeance. It is easy as that. Call us Mac users sheeps, donglelovers or whatever you want and wish. As long as the penny hasn't dropped with you hardcore windows users, you will never get to the why.

@Brighter_Summer_Day

"Some of the blind devotion / delusion in these replies is so tragic it's hard to be upset by it."

Not all Apple users are the same. I hate Windows but I also hate Apple. The products are overpriced and have been poorly designed for years - both hardware and software. All the big computer companies are shafting the public with substandard products and unethical business models.

@JT26
Don't bother. Those people don't get it.

RubberDials

I am the same. Both have compromises. I was ready to pay for a MBP M1 Pro or Max, went to the Apple store to have a poke around before committing, and was just left underwhelmed.

The common little gaps and flex at the bottom edge of the screen is not something I would accept from Apple for a machine I would want to keep for 5 years (I have had my MBP 2015 for 7 years). The keyboard, IMO, is also still average to poor on all the Macs. The speakers, touchpads, battery, screens are all great, but for me, right now, a Windows machine makes more sense. I love how they have loads of ports, you can upgrade them, and the keyboards can be better. I don't love some of the bugs or build quality of the machines in general. But for £1000 less than an M1 Max I can get a 12700H or 12900H with a 3070 Ti which is better for my needs.

Also all this nonsense people are obsessed with about taking sides is rubbish. I just go for whatever is currently best for me.

@RubberDials
how about:
Swipe between pages
swipe between full screen apps
Notification Center
mission control
Expose'
launchpad
show desktop
tap-drag
these are not defined in Windows and pertain to OS navigation, not in app use.
Note that tap-drag is one of the best underused features which windows users are generally unaware of: tap once and immediately after, that locks on the object and you can drag it around and stays locked even if taking the finger off the pad. It will unlock once you tap again. Makes the click and hold drag with the mouse a primitive operation.

Touch is the first thing I put off on my Wacom.
That's telling enough on how it works.

@armandino

Oh sure, the Mac OS multi-gesture stuff is way ahead. I hate using a computer without exposé. Just wish they'd fix the broken bits in Preview and Finder.

It's macOS not "Mac OS" or "MAC OS".

when Apple actually announces, it typically means products available to purchase, so it's more helpful than an announcement that X is going to announce Y will be available in 4 months.

@Pseu_Pseu_Pseudonym
" barely photography related product"

Serioulsy! Who are you guys? What's your IQ? 50?

More people take more pictures with Apple products than all dedicated camera companies combined...by a very wide margin.

Hey Joe, the article says apple haven't specified what product is being released.

And what part of announcing announcements don't you understand? And you're accusing me of having a low IQ.

Have a coke and a smile son.

I wouldnt take anyone shooting an iPhone as a photographer. By all means go ahead but stay away from me..

I've been trying to get DP Review to have a dedicated feed for the iPhone camera. It is by far the most Shot-With-Camera in the world. Oops it's not, (purists smile) a "real" camera, but wait, it actually is.

Right, I get what you're saying.

Many people believe they are immune to propaganda.

But we're here talking about the rumors now aren't we?

So it worked.

@Swerky All those multi-million dollar advertising campaigns just don't touch you at all? I'm surprised people still think like this. We are all affected one way or another. It would be a truly remarkable person that is actually untouched by advertising, rather than just thinks they are...

@Magnar: A quick search of DPR articles over the last six months or so finds coverage of the HP Dragonfly G3, Razer's Blade 14, 15, and 17 laptops, the Dell XPS 13 and 17, the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, Surface Laptop Studio, and Surface Duo, the Asus ProArt Studiobook and Vivobook Pro, and of course Samsung, OnePlus, Oppo, and Xiaomi smartphones.

Maybe you missed those? ;-p

Of course other products from Apple competitors have been the subject of articles on this site, as noted by The Lamentable Lens.

But let's face it: none of those other companies have the historical and cultural impact of Apple. So when Apple speaks, people listen.

@peter: I hear you, and I'd love to see more long-form, slow journalism on photography, too. But DPR also has to worry about site traffic / revenue. I'm not arguing that DPR gets the balance right -- I'm just saying that I understand the competitive pressures. After all, none of us is paying a subscription here, and "free" has its own costs.

More broadly speaking, it's true that there is a ton of shallow nonsense out there; YT's democratization of content distribution (and the complete lack of an editorial filter) means sifting through a lot of noise. But then that shallower content tends to get way more views than any long-form, slow journalism ever will, and, here again, the "free content" business model has its costs.

But there is good work out there, if you seek it out. The problem today is not a lack of good content -- it's finding it amongst all the noise. I'm increasingly finding that the best content I consume these days is content I pay for...