Apple iPad Mini launch
You know that feeling when the thing you bought brand new suddenly becomes an outdated "last year's model", you look at its replacement model with just a little tinge of envy and regret that you didn't hold out for it? Well last year I spend a huge amount of cash on an i7 iMac (well, huge amount to me), I've just seen pictures of the new iMacs and you know what...I'm not getting 'that' feeling, just like I didn't get 'that' feeling when the 2011 Mac Mini was launched without an optical drive, just two months after I'd bought the more practical 2010 model.
This either means I'm totally way-off Apple's stereotypical customer profile, or they've suddenly got something seriously wrong which they'll regret. Which is it.
If I remember, you got a 3.4 i7 from the refurb store? (I remember cos I was looking at the same machine at the time) That iMac is fast in anyones books, and it will still be faster than the new off the shelf i5 in the top model. Bearing in mind a December release, you wont be seeing refurb models until March next year. The new iMac is very nice looking when you look at it from behind or the side, but from the front (where you will be sat) it looks identical to the old one.
Feel better?
So am I right in thinking that if I want a 32gb 7" (or thereabouts) tablet my choice is between the kindle fire hd and the iPad mini? Advantages of iPad being bigger screen, thinner and lighter, easier to integrate with existing iTunes, camera. Advantages of kindle fire being higher res screen and price, price, price. Sound about right?
I hate optical drives by the way. Hate hate hate them. As soon as my laptops warranty runs out, I will be ripping out the DVD drive and replacing it with an SSD. With my old laptop, I was happy to have an external drive in a drawer at work, and a second HD in my laptop. It's a neccesary evil that I ocaisionaly need, but dont want to carry it around with me all the time.
New iMac and MBP don't have optical drives - whaaaaat??!! 
Why are you surprised? A 13-inch version with similar specs to the 15-inch MBP with retina display was always on the cards.
I hate optical drives by the way. Hate hate hate them.
Don't forget their is alway's the weight weight weight, 
When Apple killed the floppy-drive and its disk, it did so when there was a simple, effective and accessible alternative - the optical drive and CD/DVD.
Nor did many people have large collections of floppy-based material, unlike CDs or DVDs.
To date, there's no dependable or simple alternative - cloud is flakey, hack-able and, due to inconsistent broadband speeds and reliability, not always accessible.
I wonder, if Apple hadn't chosen to be anti-Blu-ray, would it be trying to kill the optical drive?
iPad 4 ... iPad Mini ... etc etc
Another one for die hard apple fans (and Ashley).
Its going to be difficult (and increasingly expensive) to keep up with the fruits new releases. - The company must be feeling the pressure with the imminent release of windows 8 hardware and Google/Amazon joining the Android camp.
New era?
regards
So am I right in thinking that if I want a 32gb 7" (or thereabouts) tablet my choice is between the kindle fire hd and the iPad mini? Advantages of iPad being bigger screen, thinner and lighter, easier to integrate with existing iTunes, camera. Advantages of kindle fire being higher res screen and price, price, price. Sound about right?
Nexus 7 32GB (next week) supposedly for the price of the current 16GB (£199)
I take it u can still plug an external cd/dvd drive into the mac - so whats the problem ?
Old New iPads are available in the refurb store from £359
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FC705B/A/refurbished-ipad-with-wi-fi-1...
So am I right in thinking that if I want a 32gb 7" (or thereabouts) tablet my choice is between the kindle fire hd and the iPad mini? Advantages of iPad being bigger screen, thinner and lighter, easier to integrate with existing iTunes, camera. Advantages of kindle fire being higher res screen and price, price, price. Sound about right?
Nexus 7 32GB (next week) supposedly for the price of the current 16GB (£199)
I take it u can still plug an external cd/dvd drive into the mac - so whats the problem ?
Thanks. I saw 32gb was out in the US and due out here but didn't know timing and pricing. What are your views on the advantages and disadvantages of nexus 7 v kindle fire hd?
In terms of specs not much between them, Kindle Fire HD has a micro-hdmi connection, but the Nexus 7 has a quadcore tegra3. Apart from that they seem pretty much the same.
Not having the Google store and android updates would be a no-no for me. Couldnt imagine not having the google suite...
Nexus 10 may be announced next week.
I wonder if the mini helps with iPad shoulder? 
Hmm, Fusion drive is looking to be quite interesting. At first I discounted it, thinking Apple were just doing what they do and renaming Hybrid drives. But the software is a lot more advanced, Ars reckons it is similar to 'Auto Tiering' like you get on enterprise server racks. Have a read...
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/apple-fusion-drive...
In terms of specs not much between them, Kindle Fire HD has a micro-hdmi connection, but the Nexus 7 has a quadcore tegra3. Apart from that they seem pretty much the same.
Not having the Google store and android updates would be a no-no for me. Couldnt imagine not having the google suite...
Nexus 10 may be announced next week.
The Kindle fire is so cheap, I thought it might make a good remote control for my squeeze server. Any thoughts?
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<Sigh>. I do take all your points on board, and I'm not attempting to tell you why you all have to buy Macs and why you must accept the fact that you don't need an optical drive. In my experience, people don't use CDs or DVDs in their computer any more. Most of my friends either download or stream everything now (on their computer note - they still watch DVDs on their blu-ray / DVD players and listen to CDs on their mini systems). For me personally, I use my Mac as a portable device - I carry it around with me a lot, and I'd much rather it was lighter than it had an optical drive built-in.
Does that mean everyone does or wants this? Of course not. Does it mean more and more people are moving in this direction? In my opinion, yes.
What I am saying is, the lack of optical drives in devices is the future (whether you like it or not I'm afraid) and Apple are moving in this direction faster than most other manufacturers. You don't have to like it and I'm sure it's going to alienate people from them. But at the end of the day, you don't have to buy Apple products - plenty of other manufacturers will continue to provide devices with built-in optical drives for those that want them.
And if it turns out they're wrong on this and the majority of people desperately want an optical drive built-in, then sales will fall off the cliff and they'll probably be back in the next set of models. I doubt this somehow.