Sharon wants to get a new iPad mini but she hears they may get discontinued. Leo says nobody really knows, but since they haven't updated it in awhile, everyone thinks it may not be updated. Leo says it'll still be good if she wants to buy one now. The latest models, if they aren't discontinued, will be updated to have Face ID, but Leo says that's not really a big deal. So if she wants to buy one, she should go ahead.
Mike wants to know what he needs to use his iPad on Wi-Fi. Leo says that any iPad will work on Wi-Fi. If he has LTE, however, he could use it anywhere. But for Wi-Fi, a regular iPad will work just fine. Since Mike is traveling internationally, Leo recommends also getting a MiFi card, which he can put a local SIM in for Wi-Fi. But since Mike is in the US Virgin Islands, international data roaming won't be an issue. Leo recommends getting an AT&T carrier version of the iPad. Leo likes the iPad Mini for traveling.
Monday June 4 is the keynote address to open Apple's annual Worldwide Developer's Conference, and while last year Apple announced several new hardware updates, the word on the street is that Apple will not be announcing any hardware this year. WWDC will likely be a software-centric event in 2018. It's too bad too, since Apple's laptops are in dire need of updating, especially the keyboards from last year's MacBook Pros. Leo says that they were awful and Apple is facing several class action lawsuits as a result.
Mars Worm in the chatroom is having issues with his hard drive unmounting in his Mac Mini when it goes to sleep. Leo says that computers going to sleep has always been a pain, going back to the early days. Hibernation is even worse.
There is a tech note from Apple about that here, at support.apple.com. It's also talked about at blog.grapii.com.
With Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference coming in two weeks, Leo says right now isn't a good time to upgrade your laptops, as most likely new MacBooks will be announced, along with previews of the latest macOS and iOS operating systems. But if you want to get a new iPhone or iPad, go ahead, as Apple probably won't announce those until the Fall.
Kevin wants to know if he should wait to get a new iPad Pro. Apple will be announcing a new one either at WWDC in June or sometime this fall. Rich says that nobody really knows when Apple is putting out a product, but there is a website that keeps track of when previous models have been released. Kevin should check out BuyersGuide.macrumors.com. They give recommendations on the best time to buy Apple products. According to the buyers guide, the 10.9" iPad Pro is due for a refresh since it was introduced at WWDC last year.
Jack is in the banking industry and he recently left his job. But when he did, he lost his Apple ID and they remote wiped his phone. Will he have trouble switching it over to a new Apple ID and will he lose all the apps, music, etc. that he bought? Leo says that Jack should be able to go to the Apple ID and change the email associated with it. They'll look for confirmation on the old email, though. He'll need to also log into the old Apple ID account and turn off Find My iPhone and back up to iCloud.
Steve wants to use his lightning headphones into a regular headphone jack. Leo says he probably won't be able to do that since the Lightning connector is proprietary. Those Lightning headphones are for one thing only — for use with the iPhone. Walmart does sell a female-to-male Lightning adapter, and there's one that actually comes with the Apple Pencil as well. Leo's not sure that this would actually work, though. It may be easier to just buy a cheap pair of earbuds that would have the proper connector.
Tuesday, Apple is holding an education event in Chicago, and many believe that they will be offering a lower cost iPad for education along with the Apple Pencil. But they may also update the MacBook Air. Leo says that Apple will need to get the price down to around $250 in order to compete with Chromebooks in the education realm.
Bob put his iMac to sleep and then when he went to wake it up, he got a "bong" with a blank screen. Leo says that those tones indicates different things depending on the tone. Here's a list. It's possible the backup battery in the computer is dead and needs to be replaced. But it could also be a failed hard drive. It could also be an EFI ROM update is in progress. If you hold down the D key when booting up, you'll go into diagnostic mode. If that doesn't work, then you have a major hardware failure.
