Carlin has an iMac that's about 6 years old and it's getting slower and slower. She brought it into a technician, who said it was too old to get parts for it. Leo says that's not really accurate. It's always best to take the iMac into the Apple Store when it needs repair or upgrading, and it can be upgraded.
This week, Apple's stock rose to the point where Apple became the first company on Wall Street worth a trillion dollars. Leo says while that makes for a great headline, it's really a dubious barometer, because Apple has all the money it's gotten from stock. Any further rising and lowering of the stock is beneficial for those who buy and sell it. But what the value does indicate, is that when Apple offers stock to talent as a perk, it's worth far more to them. And engineers are thinking about that. Still, Apple is the first to do it, so it's historic.
The Touch Bar that replaced the row of function keys on Apple's MacBook Pros as of late has been very controversial. Many users find it annoying to not have hardware keys for volume, brightness, and playback controls that have been on MacBooks up until 2016, and the Touch Bar isn't utilized well in many applications aside from Apple software like Final Cut X or Logic. Apple just updated its MacBook Pros for 2018, however, and they now support 32GB of RAM, 4TB of SSD storage, and Intel's Core i9 processors.
Manny has a 2013 MacBook Pro but he needs to upgrade and he's annoyed that Apple has removed the function keys in favor of the Touch Bar. Leo says that there is a 2017 MacBook Pro model that comes with the last batch of function keys. But this year, they aren't making them anymore. So it looks like the time for function keys is now over. Leo says that the speed of the i9 has made it worth it, though. The keyboard has also been improved thanks to a silicone dampener. The Touch Bar isn't really a bad idea, but hardly any apps support it.
Leo says that he's been using the new MacBook Pro for a week with Apple's firmware fix to solve the thermal throttling issue of its i9 processor during heavy use applications. Leo says it's now mighty fast and is running as it should. The problem as a simple missing piece of code called a digital key. Now everything is as it should be and the internet needs to stop piling on the new MacBook Pro.
Leo has had the new MacBook Pro for a few days. He got a six core i9 processor, and frankly, it's not much different from the previous model. Apple didn't really change it much, except for a redesigned keyboard that has a silicone shield that can keep crumbs and dust out, which could render the keyboard inoperable. The downside is that it will be very difficult to repair, a $700 fix without Apple Care. Leo does say that the silicone barrier also makes the keys quieter and cushier.
Apple announced a 13" and 15" refresh of the MacBook Pro, starting at $1799 and $2399. Leo says that all the Macs released in the last few years have been aimed at professionals, and he believes that the consumer grade Mac is on the way out. Apple really wants consumers to buy iPads, rather than laptops of iMacs. So in the near future, you may have to pay thousands to get that MacBook or iMac. You can get them with an i9 processor and up to 4TB hard drive. So expect to pay around $7,000 to be able to edit your film on your laptop.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Apple App Store has created millions of jobs and is a multi billion dollar industry worldwide. Leo says that it is estimated that Apple sees over $100 Billion a month in app sales.
Bruce does both Mac and PC work, and he's looking for a laptop that can handle both well. Should he buy a PC centric computer that can run a Mac virtually? Or the other way around? Leo says that there is no way to run macOS on anything but a Mac, especially not virtually. He could do a hackintosh, but not on a laptop. So Leo says go the other way, and get a MacBook Pro running Windows in Boot Camp.
Every time Terri uses Bluetooth with her iPhone in the car to make a phone call, the other side gets an echo. Leo says that it's possible that the phone is using its microphone, and the car is using Bluetooth. That can cause an echo. There could be a setting in iOS to use the car microphone when using Bluetooth. Leo also suggests un-pairing the phone, and then re-pairing it. That almost always fixes problems like this.
