I have a recurring task every December 31 to log in to this page at Apple.com and make sure my Apple ID is all up to date. This page make it easy to dissociate your ID from any hardware you may have replaced, check your payment options and Apple Pay Cash balance, adjust your email subscription options and more.
I had a couple of MacBook Pros to clear out, haha.
Today, Apple published an open letter over the fact that as of iOS 10.2.1, some iPhones are effectively throttled to keep them from shutting down under high CPU load thanks to worn batteries. While this allows a customer to use their iPhone for longer without crashes, it’s clear that public was unhappy.
We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process. We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we’re making.
Matthew Panzarino has details:
As that battery ages, iOS will check its responsiveness and effectiveness actively. At a point when it becomes unable to give the processor all of the power it needs to hit a peak of power, the requests will be spread out over a few cycles.
Remember, benchmarks, which are artificial tests of a system’s performance levels, will look like peaks and valleys to the system, which will then trigger this effect. In other words, you’re always going to be triggering this when you run a benchmark, but you definitely will not always trigger this effect when you’re using your iPhone like normal.
Mark Gurman has posted a huge story to wind down a year of massive Apple leaks:
Starting as early as next year, software developers will be able to design a single application that works with a touchscreen or mouse and trackpad depending on whether it’s running on the iPhone and iPad operating system or on Mac hardware, according to people familiar with the matter.
Developers currently must design two different apps – one for iOS, the operating system of Apple’s mobile devices, and one for macOS, the system that runs Macs. That’s a lot more work. What’s more, Apple customers have long complained that some Mac apps get short shrift. For example, while the iPhone and iPad Twitter app is regularly updated with the social network’s latest features, the Mac version hasn’t been refreshed recently and is widely considered substandard. With a single app for all machines, Mac, iPad and iPhone users will get new features and updates at the same time.
Apple has clarified the Secure Boot function of the iMac Pro’s embedded T2 chip:
Full Security is the default Secure Boot setting, offering the highest level of security. This is a level of security previously available only on iOS devices.
During startup when Medium Security is turned on, your Mac verifies the OS on your startup disk only by making sure that it has been properly signed by Apple (macOS) or Microsoft (Windows). This doesn’t require an Internet connection or updated integrity information from Apple, so it doesn’t prevent your Mac from using an OS that is no longer trusted by Apple.
By writing about the next-generation Mac Pro, I invited the inevitable question:
But what about the Mac mini?
As bad as the Mac Pro’s lot in life has become, the Mac mini isn’t far behind it. The machine was last updated in late 2014 and is still powered by Haswell Core i5s and i7s. Those chips are one generation older than the MacBook Air. To make matter worse, that model removed the ability to upgrade the RAM in the machine.
I was reminded of this old article of Marco’s today. Will be interesting to see if my hopes for a lower-cost entry model come true.
While it isn’t shipping for another couple of weeks we now know a lot more about the iMac Pro than we did after WWDC. The base model, with its 8 cores, 32 GB of RAM and the Radeon Pro Vega 56 is going to smoke any other Mac on the market easily. The high-end models, which aren’t shipping until early next year, will give macOS-using professionals more power than ever.
That power comes at a cost, of course. A 14-core machine with 128 GB RAM the Radeon Pro Vega 64 will run you $13,199. If you want a VESA mount, toss in another $75, while another $149 will get you the mouse and the trackpad, both in Space Gray.
The T2 chip in the new iMac Pro is doing a lot of stuff, including offering boot protection for macOS:
⑤ Security. This new chip means storage encryption keys pass from the secure enclave to the hardware encryption engine in-chip — your key never leaves the chip. And, they it allows for hardware verification of OS, kernel, boot loader, firmware, etc. (This can be disabled…) pic.twitter.com/qKJ6bHdtr8
— Cabel Sasser (@cabel) December 12, 2017
Well, it’s here. You can now order an iMac Pro. As expected, the base $4,999 model includes:
From there, everything is configurable.
The 14 and 18-core options aren’t shipping until February.
Over on iMore, I’ve written about my justification for an iMac Pro:
I make stuff for a living. While even one of my old PowerBooks is enough computer to blog with, the podcasts and videos I produce follow Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands to fill the time available.” The same is true for computing. No matter how fast my Mac may be, the applications I use will steal every scrap of power available.
Apple has updated the iMac Pro webpage, indicating that the machine will be for sale on Thursday, December 14.
Some hands-on coverage is surfacing this morning, including this video by MKBHD. In it, he mentions the 18-core option won’t ship until early 2018. There’s also a previously-unannounced 14-core model.
I’m extremely interested in this machine. I’m going to let the dust settle a little bit, but at this point, am really considering picking one up early next year.