It’s a weird time in the world, so I thought it would be fun to pick — as a community — our favorite Mac.
As it is March, this naturally took the form of a bracket:
Here’s how this works. I’ll be hosting five rounds of voting over the next couple of weeks, and we should have a winner on Friday, April 3. I’ll announce new rounds here on the blog and on Twitter. You can view all the Mac Madness 2020 blog posts in one place, on this page.
Remember, we are voting for our favorite Mac; not the best Mac.
As such, I think it’s important to share how I came up with these 32 machines. I had an original list of about 45 Macs, then trimmed it down with feedback from several other Apple writer/podcaster people, including John Siracusa, Jason Snell, John Voorhees and my co-hosts on Connected, Myke Hurley and Federico Viticci.
(Ticci didn’t have much to say.)
The placement of machines on the bracket was selected at random. As such, I expect some matchups will be more exciting than others.
This only works if you all vote and share the link — I want this to be as broad of a sampling as possible. I’ll be revealing the winners for this round on Friday at 3 PM Eastern on the Relay FM Twitch stream.
This week, I joined Dan and Jake on an episode of their podcast to talk about the Titanium PowerBook G4, HomeKit, Mac collecting and a lot more. I had a blast recording this.
Apple today announced its most advanced iPad Pro. Now with the A12Z Bionic chip, iPad Pro is faster and more powerful than most Windows PC laptops. The new iPad Pro adds an Ultra Wide camera, studio-quality mics and a breakthrough LiDAR Scanner that delivers cutting-edge depth-sensing capabilities, opening up more pro workflows and supporting pro photo and video apps. The LiDAR Scanner, along with pro cameras, motion sensors, pro performance, pro audio, the stunning Liquid Retina display and powerful apps, extends the lead of iPad Pro as the world’s best device for augmented reality (AR).
This is the first time we’ve seen a second revision of the “X” chipset from Apple, and the first time it’s used a “Z” in its branding.
In much more exciting news, the new iPad picks up an Ultra Wide camera, like on the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, and a new LiDAR scanner, which Apple says will bring AR to the next level:
On the new iPad Pro, AR apps become even more realistic. Placing an AR object now happens instantly. Realistic object occlusion allows AR objects to pass in front of and behind real-world structures. Improved motion capture and people occlusion are more accurate than ever. And developers will be able to create even more immersive experiences.
So far, I haven’t had any real reason to bring AR into my life, and while I don’t think this will change that, it will exciting to see what developers do with this. And I assume this is a lock for this fall’s new iPhones.
The biggest news here is the new keyboard, dubbed the “Magic Keyboard.” It looks like the bottom half of a notebooks; gone are the fabric-covered keys — the new keys are even backlit. Below them sits a trackpad, and it seems that iOS 13.4 is going to drastically change how cursor support works on the iPad:
iPadOS 13.4 brings trackpad support to iPad for the first time for a more natural typing experience and added precision for tasks such as writing and selecting text, working with spreadsheets and pro workflows. Designed specifically for the touch-first experience on iPad, the cursor appears as a circle that highlights user interface elements, text fields and apps on the Home screen and Dock, giving a clear indication of what users can click on. Fluid gestures on the trackpad make it easy to switch between apps, access the app switcher and activate the Dock, Control Center and apps in Slide Over.
Trackpad support in iPadOS is designed to work great with the apps customers use every day. From smoothly scrolling through web pages in Safari and photo libraries in Photos, to precisely editing text in Notes and quickly viewing and organizing your email in Mail, it’s a joy to use a trackpad with iPad. Most third-party apps work with no change at all, and developers can go even further with new APIs that let them deliver unique experiences in their apps.
In the demo videos on Apple’s site, this looks great. For a closer look, check out this post from The Verge, complete with a video demo from Craig Federighi.
Thankfully, Apple says, “Trackpad support will be available on any iPad running iPadOS 13.4, and work with Apple’s Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. Third-party mice connected over Bluetooth or USB are also supported.” Let’s all hope third-party developers get on board quickly with any tweaking they’ll need to do.
The new iPad Pros are on sale now at Apple’s website, delivering next week.
The Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro will be available for purchase in May for $299 for the 11-inch iPad Pro and $349 for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
As the existing Smart Keyboards won’t fit that new camera notch, I guess it’s the Bluetooth life for now. However, the new Magic Keyboard will work with all USB-C iPad Pros.
The new keyboard includes a USB-C pass-through for charging the iPad, which is lovely.
When they do ship, I think the new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro is going to be a big deal for a lot of users who have found interacting with iPadOS to be slow and clunky in places.
MacBook Air with Magic Keyboard
Finally, I can fully recommend the MacBook Air. Apple:
Apple today updated MacBook Air, the world’s most loved notebook, with faster performance, the new Magic Keyboard, twice the storage and a new lower price of $999, and $899 for education. The new MacBook Air delivers up to two times faster CPU performance and up to 80 percent faster graphics performance,3 letting customers breeze through daily activities and play more games. Now starting with 256GB of storage, MacBook Air allows customers to store even more movies, photos and files. With its brilliant 13-inch Retina display for vivid images and sharp text, Touch ID for easy login and secure online purchases, spacious trackpad, and all-day battery life combined with the power of macOS Catalina, it’s the best MacBook Air ever made.
That really does say it all. The only Mac notebook left with the Butterfly keyboard is the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
That increase in speed comes from 10th-gen Intel i3 and i5 CPUs, and there’s even a new i7 option, which is the first quad-core option in this version of the MacBook Air. Gone are the days where every MacBook Air came with just one CPU for everyone.
The new $999 configuration comes with an 1.1GHz dual-core Core i3, 8GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD. Not a bad “going off to college” computer at all, and for students, it’s just $899.
Of course, if any of those students want to drive a 6K display, they can do that with this new Air as well. Or track audio with its new three-mic array.
Like I said, there’s finally a MacBook Air I feel like I can fully recommend to people.
Mac mini
The Mac mini also received a tweak today:
The standard configurations of Mac mini now come with double the storage capacity. The $799 configuration now comes standard with 256GB, while the $1,099 configuration features 512GB of storage.
Mac Pro Components
While we’re here, I’m happy to report that the following Mac Pro components are now shipping:
Much of computing revolves around writing and text input, but most of us don’t think about how to make that process more productive. This week, David and Stephen explore tools and techniques that make text easier to work with.
The App Store should always be a safe and trusted place for users to download apps. Now more than ever that commitment takes on special significance as the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic. Communities around the world are depending on apps to be credible news sources — helping users understand the latest health innovations, find out where they can get help if needed or provide assistance to their neighbors.
To help fulfill these expectations, we’re evaluating apps critically to ensure data sources are reputable and that developers presenting these apps are from recognized entities such as government organizations, health-focused NGOs, companies deeply credentialed in health issues, and medical or educational institutions. Only developers from one of these recognized entities should submit an app related to COVID-19. Entertainment or game apps with COVID-19 as their theme will not be allowed.
Apple also encouraged developers of apps related to COVID-19 to select the “Time-Sensitive Event” option when submitting an expedited review request, so their apps will be prioritized by App Review.
The only downside to this policy I can think of is that potentially useful apps from non-credentialed developers aren’t going to get through. Good on Apple for making this policy explicit, so that such developers can focus their efforts on building web apps, or collaborating with an organization that has the necessary credentials.
We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27. We are committed to providing exceptional service to our customers. Our online stores are open at www.apple.com, or you can download the Apple Store app on the App Store. For service and support, customers can visit support.apple.com. I want to thank our extraordinary Retail teams for their dedication to enriching our customers’ lives. We are all so grateful to you.
In all of our offices, we are moving to flexible work arrangements worldwide outside of Greater China. That means team members should work remotely if their job allows, and those whose work requires them to be on site should follow guidance to maximize interpersonal space. Extensive, deep cleaning will continue at all sites. In all our offices, we are rolling out new health screenings and temperature checks.
All of our hourly workers will continue to receive pay in alignment with business as usual operations. We have expanded our leave policies to accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by COVID-19 — including recovering from an illness, caring for a sick loved one, mandatory quarantining, or childcare challenges due to school closures.
I can’t imagine any of this is good for the company’s bottom line, but Apple is making the right call in protecting its employees and customers.
Microsoft Corp. today announced that Co-Founder and Technology Advisor Bill Gates stepped down from the company’s Board of Directors to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities including global health, development, education, and his increasing engagement in tackling climate change. He will continue to serve as Technology Advisor to CEO Satya Nadella and other leaders in the company.
On June 27, 2008, Gates transitioned out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He served as Microsoft’s chairman of the board until February 4, 2014.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doing world-changing work around the globe, and I think it only benefits from more of Bill’s attention and time.
Instead of having thousands of developers fly in from around the world, and having them interact in sessions, labs and evening events, Apple is doing what Google, Facebook, Microsoft and others have done, deciding to play it safe this year:
This June, WWDC20 brings a completely new online experience to millions of talented and creative developers around the world. Join us for a fully packed program — including Keynote and sessions — to gain early access to the future of Apple platforms and engage with Apple engineers. Dive into an exciting learning experience and discover how to create your most innovative apps yet using the latest Apple technologies.
“We are delivering WWDC 2020 this June in an innovative way to millions of developers around the world, bringing the entire developer community together with a new experience,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The current health situation has required that we create a new WWDC 2020 format that delivers a full program with an online keynote and sessions, offering a great learning experience for our entire developer community, all around the world. We will be sharing all of the details in the weeks ahead.”
“With all of the new products and technologies we’ve been working on, WWDC 2020 is going to be big,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “I look forward to our developers getting their hands on the new code and interacting in entirely new ways with the Apple engineers building the technologies and frameworks that will shape the future across all Apple platforms.”
(As such, Relay FM’s annual live show in San Jose will be on hiatus this year.)
Apple will utilized its Developer app and developer website to share information about it’s upcoming software roadmap. In recent years, the company has made great progress in having WWDC content and videos online as quickly as possible. Given the sheer number of developers out there, for most people, WWDC will go on like normal, as a series of webpages and videos.
Some have speculated that this could be the end of large events like this. While WWDC — and other industry conferences — have serious problems with expense and diversity, I do think there’s still room for things like WWDC, Build, F8 and I/O. I hope to see WWDC return in 2021 as an actual conference, but if it doesn’t, most of the pain felt in the community will be around extracurricular events, not the sessions themselves.
Labs are a different story, though. I’ve heard developers say repeatedly how useful it can be to talk to the Apple engineers who are building the systems and APIs their apps rely on, and I don’t know how Apple can address the lack of this communication without an in-person conference.
All in all, this news should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been keeping up with the news. As the year goes on, we’ll see if a lack of WWDC means business as usual for Apple and its legion of third-party developers.
As far as San Jose itself, Apple is donating $1 million to local San Jose organizations to help ease the blow of the conference not taking place.
A set of rumors about Macs have popped up on MacRumors, posted one minute apart for reasons.First:
Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with scissor keyboards in the second quarter of 2020, according to a new research note today from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, obtained by MacRumors.
In a research note today, obtained by MacRumors, Kuo said Apple plans to launch MacBook models with its own custom processors in the fourth quarter of 2020 or the first quarter of 2021. Kuo did not indicate whether these will be MacBook Pro or MacBook Air models, or both, nor did he share any further details.
Kuo also believes that Apple will introduce MacBook models with an all-new design in the second or third quarter of 2021, but again, he did not indicate whether these will be Pro or Air models. The last significant redesign of the MacBook Pro occurred in October 2016, while the MacBook Air received a major redesign in October 2018.
I really hope the first story comes to pass soon. It’s really hard to recommend the otherwise-great MacBook Air.
The second report is pretty interesting in light of current events. Can Apple start the transition to ARM without an in-person WWDC? Of course, but it may be more difficult that way. Likewise, I’m sure Apple would like to be able to work more freely with China’s supply chain if these products are coming soon, but with the world the way it is, I can imagine things get trickier when it comes to work like this.
