Tag: laptop

Leica by Joe WilcoxOct 30, 202110:43 pm

16.2-inch MacBook Pro is a Tank

From writing-technology past—yesterday’s post about the discarded L.C. Smith typewriter—we go to the present-future: The 16.2-inch MacBook Pro that replaces my 23-month-old 16-inch MBP. Apple announced the new laptop, and its 14.2-inch sibling, on Oct. 18, 2021 and started taking orders for October 26 availability. I considered a customized configuration for the smaller model but couldn’t decide based on the information available—particularly considering my current computer’s beefy specs: 2.3GHz Core i9 processor; 32GB RAM; 8GB AMD Radeon Pro 5500M graphics; 1TB SSD. As my indecisiveness increased, so did the ship times for any new MacBook Pro. As they slipped into late November and early December, I abandoned the idea.

But I clung to interest in the new models because of the M1 chip, for which my experience already was quite positive from using 11-inch iPad Pro and buying my wife the newer 13.3-inch MBP. Apple offered generous trade-in for my late-2019 MacBook Pro, while supply chain constraints, rising prices, and burgeoning inflation made case for upgrading earlier than previously planned and future-proofing my investment. So I decided, after long consideration: On the 26th, if local Apple Store stocked the larger laptop, I would make the purchase. If not, I would keep the 16-incher for another year.

Apple by Joe WilcoxApr 10, 20157:30 pm

What Happened to the Apple New Product Lovefest?

I typically don’t pull together review roundups, but bloggers and journalists with early access to Apple Watch and 12-inch MacBook beat the products senseless. Not even Wall Street Journal gives glowing look at the laptop; the pummeling is among the most brutal. Meanwhile, The Verge repeatedly gut-punches the smartwatch. Two themes rise from the many reviews, even those trying to cover up pooh with perfume: The devices are beautiful, but performance is a lumbering beast.

Welcome to the Tim Cook and Jony Ive era of putting form before function, and to a fault. Apple’s CEO and design chief may not be the dynamic duo shareholders hoped for. The first truly new products to emerge under Cook’s stewardship receive a collective meh, which should scare any intelligent buyer witless. Because if the past means anything, the carefully chosen coven of early reviewers embrace newfangled Apple things like the Devil clings to sinners. But not this week.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 25, 201012:51 am

High-Priced VAIO

Whoa, this Sony notebook makes overpriced Mac laptops seem like a bargain.

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 8, 20099:54 am

Can My Mac-Loving Wife Say, ‘I’m a PC?’

Some people will call me a cruel husband for the story that I’m about to tell. You can call me cruel, just don’t call the police about domestic violence. Friday night, I moved my wife from a Mac laptop to a Sony VAIO running Windows 7 Release Candidate. She didn’t switch willingly, although she is adjusting.