Apple "Hello again" Live Stream

[79wjd]

Apple's live stream is just about to start.

 

Apple is finally going to update the Mac lineup which isn't seen a proper update in years (the 15" Pros are still running Haswell, and the 13" Pros broadwell). There are also rumors that we'll see some new Apple TV stuff and maybe even some details about the AirPod delay (although I doubt the last one). 

 

Either way, the stream can be viewed here: http://www.apple.com/apple-events/october-2016/ It requires Edge or Safari. 

Other live streams: http://live.cnet.com/Event/Apple_Mac_event_on_October_27_live_blog

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10787/apple-hello-again-2016-event-live-blog

 

EDIT: My take on the new Macbooks:

 

 

The website is updated....

 

13" MBA replacement: 

 

• $1500 
• 2gh dual core i5
• 8gb 1866mhz DDR3(?) (+$200 for 16gb)
• 256gb PCIE SSD (+$200 for 512gb, +$600 for 1tb)
• Iris 540
• 2 usb-c/thunderbolt 3
• retina display

13" rMBP: 

• $1800 (okay...wow)
• 2.9ghz dual core i5
• 8gb 2133mhz DDR4 (+$200 for 16gb)
• 256gb PCIE SSD (+$200 for 512gb, +$600 for 1tb)
• Iris 550
• 4 usb-c/thunderbolt 3
• OLED Bar, touch id
• 3lb, 14.9mm

15" rMBP:

• $2400
• 2.6ghz quad core i7
• 16gb 2133mhz DDR4 
• 256gb PCIE SSD (+$200 for 512gb, +$600 for 1tb, +$1400 for 2tb)
• Radeon R450 (2gb) (+$200 for 4gb 460)
• 4 usb-c/thunderbolt 3
• OLED Bar, touch ID
• 4lb, 15.5mm

 

 

Pros: 

• much larger trackpad 
• better display 
• USB-C/thunderbolt 3
• better speakers
• OLED touch bar
• touch id
• very fast storage (3GB/s)
• USB-C charging port
• Thinner and lighter
• Skylake/Polaris

Cons: 

• No iGPU in the 15" model 
• Pretty large price hikes compared to previous years
• No Magsafe charging port (it's great that it's USB-C, but it's ashame that it's not magsafe USB-C like Griffin's Breaksafe cable)
• No SD Card slot 
• No USB-A (an inevitability at some point, so I'm okay with this)
• Still ridiculous RAM/SSD upgrade costs

Unknown: 

• Butterfly Gen 2
• New cooling system 

 

I'll be updating this post as the stream progresses. 

 

Android vs. iOS:

 

 

 

 

 

Apple TV:

• Some updates to Apple TV -- Unified TV app
• Live TV 
• Available in December

13" rMBP

• 20% thinner (14.9mm vs. 18mm)

15" rMBP:

• 15.5mm vs. 18mm
• 4lbs (.5lbs lighter)

• Display-- 67% brighter, 67% higher contrast, 25% more colors. P3

• Skylake i7's, 2133mhz DDR4
• Polaris GPU (4gb VRAM)
• Up to 3.1GB/s SSD, 2tb SSD
• "Advanced cooling architecture" 
• New speaker design
• 4 USB-C/Thunderbolt
• USB-C charger
• headphone jack
• no SD card

Significantly larger trackpad (twice as big)

2nd gen butterfly switches

OLED Bar

 

Macbook Pro 13/15" vs. XPS 13/15:

 

 

Dell XPS 15: 

• $1850
  • 6700HQ
  • 16gb DDR4 2133mhz
  • 4K touch
  • Adobe RGB display @ 400 nits
  • 960m
  • 256gb PCIE SSD (+$150 for 512gb, +$500 for 1tb)
  • 4-6~ hours depending on the review
  • 4.4lbs, 11-17mm

Macbook Pro 15":

• $2400
  • 6700HQ
  • 16GB LPDDR3 2133mhz
  • 2880x1800 (non-touch)
  • P3 display @ 500nits
  • Pro 450
  • 256gb PCIE SSD (+$200 for 512gb, +$600 for 1tb)
  • 8~ hours (at least for the previous model)
  • 4lb, 15.5mm
• $2000
  • 4770HQ
  • 16GB DDR3
  • 2800x1800
  • sRGB @ 300nits
  • 256GB PCIE SSD
  • Iris Pro (5200)
  • 8~ hour battery
  • 4.5lbs, 18.9mm

Conclusion: 

The XPS 15 has the advantage of having a touch screen and being 4k, however, 4k isn't all that good a on 15" screen especially with Windows poor scaling; and touch is hit or miss (either people want it or they don't). The GPU is relatively close, although a 960m should be a bit faster. The 15" Mac also has an OLED Touch bar and Touch ID, which looks to be contributing at least $200 to the price. In terms of battery life Apple definitely has the advantage. Build quality, I/O, and aesthetics are all pretty much equal imo and both have their advantages. The Mac definitely has the trackpad advantage as I'd say it's both superior and significantly larger (although the XPS trackpad is still excellent). The XPS probably has a better keyboard (at least compared to butterfly gen 1) since Apple went with butterfly gen 2 switches (but only time will tell here, although I'm not super optimistic). The display, at least from my understanding is kind of a toss up, P3 and Adobe RGB extend the standard colorspace in opposite directions, although the Mac gets 25% brighter (at least on paper).

TL;DR: All in all, you're paying 30% more for an OLED touch bar, touchID, better battery life, OSX, and slightly worse GPU performance (with a pretty hefty chunk coming from the OLED bar). IMO the price hike is unjustified, I don't see the OLED bar costing Apple what they're charging (even when considering all BOM costs), and so I think the old Haswell-based model ($2000) is still an excellent choice for many users who want/prefer OSX and don't need the GPU performance but would much rather have better battery life instead. 

 

Dell XPS 13:

• $1400
  • i5-7200u
  • 8GB LPDDR3 1866mhz
  • 3200x1800 touch
  • Adobe RGB display? @ 400nits
  • 256gb PCIE SSD
  • HD 620 (20%~ slower than HD540)
  • 9~ hours battery
  • 2.9lbs, 9-15mm

Macbook Pro 13":

• $1500 (non OLED)
  • i5-6360u
  • 8GB LPDDR3 1866mhz
  • 2560x1600
  • P3 display
  • 256gb PCIE SSD
  • Iris 540
  • 9~ hours battery (presumably)
  • 3lbs, 14.9mm

Conclusion: I'm breaking this up into two comparisons, the non-oled 13" and the $1400 XPS 13. The XPS 13 has a slight CPU advantage (Kabylake vs. Skylake) and a slight display advantage in terms of resolution (although, you still have the bad UI scaling of Windows to deal with) and likely on par in terms of quality, while the Mac has a better iGPU and everything else is relatively similar. So like with the 15", the Mac has the trackpad advantage while the XPS likely has they keyboard advantage. So $1500 vs. $1400 for relatively similar raw performance with each having an advantage in certain conditions. 

 

Dell XPS 13:

• $1850
  • i7-7500u
  • 16GB LPDDR3 1866mhz
  • 3200x1800 touch
  • Adobe RGB display? @ 400nits
  • 512gb PCIE SSD
  • 9~ hours battery
  • 2.9lbs, 9-15mm
  • HD620

Macbook Pro 13":

• $1800 ($2200 w/ comparable ram/ssd)
  • i5-6267u
  • 8GB LPDDR3 2133mhz (+$200 for 16gb)
  • 2560x1600
  • P3
  • 256GB PCIE SSD (+$400 for 16gb/512gb)
  • Iris 550
  • 3lbs 14.9
  • 9~ hours battery (presumably)
  • 3lbs, 14.9mm
  • OLED Bar/Touch ID

Conclusion: This one is a bit tougher and suffers from the same OLED price hike as the 15". I'll be considering the 13" with the 16gb/512gb configuration (i.e. $2200). In terms of CPU performance, the XPS 13 has a bit of an advantage (Kaby Lake vs. Skylake), it also has a bit of display advantage in terms of resolution (while suffering scaling issues), but in terms of quality it's probably fairly similar P3 vs. Adobe RGB. The Mac is using HD550 (HD540 is 20%~ faster than HD620, and I believe HD550 is about 20% faster than HD540), which is about 40% faster than HD620 that's in the XPS 13. The Mac also has the trackpad advantage while the XPS the keyboard advantage, and the Mac also has a touch bar. 

If you're aiming for the 256gb/8gb model, then the 13" MBP is $1800 while the XPS 13 is $1400, so at this configuration the XPS 13 takes a pretty big price lead (With everything mentioned above still holding true).

 

Summary: The non-oled 13" is priced competitively with the XPS 13 while the OLED 13" costs about 20% more for a slower CPU, better iGPU, and an OLED touch bar. Whether or not the GPU performance (or CPU performance for that matter) matters is entirely dependent on the use case, but in all fairness, the performance delta does exist. So all-in-all, the 13" models are priced decently but the OLED bar definitely does add more than it should as far as I'm concerned. 

 

[Unexas.]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10787/apple-hello-again-2016-event-live-blog

[Stardar1]

4 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

Apple's live stream is just about to start.

 

Apple is finally going to update the Mac lineup which isn't seen a proper update in years (the 15" Pros are still running Haswell, and the 13" Pros broadwell). There are also rumors that we'll see some new Apple TV stuff and maybe even some details about the AirPod delay (although I doubt the last one). 

 

Either way, the stream can be viewed here: http://www.apple.com/apple-events/october-2016/ It requires Edge or Safari. 

Cnet also has there own stream that can be watched from any device/browser: http://live.cnet.com/Event/Apple_Mac_event_on_October_27_live_blog

If they don't play "Hello Again" by The Cars at any point in that stream I am going to be very dissapointed. 

[EunSoo]

When does it start?

[Arri]

One of the few times I'll open up Safari in a given year.

[Nineshadow]

[NinerL]

6 minutes ago, Nineshadow said:

A Friend

[The Benjamins]

Can anyone get the Video stream link so we can watch this thought VLC?

[NinerL]

4 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

Can anyone get the Video stream link so we can watch this thought VLC?

Twitch maybe? https://www.twitch.tv/appleevent

[EunSoo]

6 minutes ago, Secondmineboy said:

The Stream on their own website is broken for me.........

works fine for me. Are you on chrome? try edge or safari

[AlexGoesHigh]

tim announced the TV app, some applauses and all poker faces, kek.

[Arri]

2 minutes ago, AlexGoesHigh said:

tim announced the TV app, some applauses and all poker faces, kek.

they're all waiting for the juicy stuff, the MacBooks.

[79wjd]

Finally, Mac time

[Arri]

"mac is so incredibly important to us" - Tim Cook.

 

ya ok.

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, Arri said:

"mac is so incredibly important to us" - Tim Cook.

 

ya ok.

Hey, I'm not complaining, My 2013 15" Pro is just as good as the current 15" Pro

 

So it makes me happy.

[79wjd]

oled bar, surprise surprise

 

And explosions. Okay JJ abrams

[EunSoo]

a grey macbook too

[79wjd]

Oh god, butterfly 2 switches. Please be much better than gen 1.

[Arri]

Thats one big ass trackpad.

[NinerL]

That big azz trackpad lol.

[Damikiller37]

...and no full size USBs only C on a flagship laptop. I'm sure a lot of people will be pissed.

[Arri]

No SD card ready on MBP...

[EunSoo]

I wonder if the touch bar thing has haptic feedback

[Dredgy]

That touch bar is annoyingly something that will never really be seen on Windows PCs (at least in a way that's decent).

This is where Apple's closed ecosystems pay off since they can build this contextual stuff right into the operating system and optimized per device - and no doubt it will be easy to implement for developers.

 

That said, it doesn't really appeal to me in its current form, my relaxed typing style means my fingers are rarely anywhere near the top of the keyboard, but some kind of contextual UI like this is something I'd like to see of on my workstation eventually.

[79wjd]

1 minute ago, Dredgy said:

That touch bar is annoyingly something that will never really be seen on Windows PCs (at least in a way that's decent).

This is where Apple's closed ecosystems pay off since they can build this contextual stuff right into the operating system and optimized per device.

 

That said, it doesn't really appeal to me in its current form, my relaxed typing style means my fingers are rarely anywhere near the top of the keyboard, but some kind of contextual UI like this is something I'd like to see of on my workstation.          

I kind of agree, I don't necessarily see myself using it much, but I'd rather the OLED bar than the traditional function row.