Apple's October 23 2012 event, aka fuck yo ipad 3

[Ishido]

iMac looks sexy as fuck... it's too bad I have no interest in one.

[jmc]

iMac looks sexy as fuck... it's too bad I have no interest in one.

Was thinking the same thing.

Would love one of those new slim imacs, but fuck replacing my gaming rig.

[The Stig]

One thing i'm unable to comprehend is why does stuff run better on apple ? It's making me wanting one of the 27inchers.

A guy at work has some sort of i5 CPU Macbook, 15inches. Brought in 2011 I think. Anyways, I am unable to understand why he is able to run 4+ virtual machines with no side effects? He was showing me Windows 8, some new Exchange server, some sharepoint server, some linux things, and such. He was flicking between them. Ok sure, there's 1 minor bit of lag at random occurences, but it's hardly noticable to the untrained eye.

The FAQ here http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/guide/windows suggests I should get bootcamp if I plan on using it as a PC fulltime. Anyone got a short summary of this? There are no side effects right ? =p

Otherwise I was wondering if it's possible to virtualise Windows 7 instead and retain the graphical capability? From my understanding, on Windows, using VMWare/Virtual Box etc, you are unable to take advantage of your GPU. But I'm unsure if Nova Parallels Desktop would allow this. I was kind of thinking it would be handy to use OSX primarily to "learn" it and toy with it, then run a Windows 7 build along side it, and probably Windows 8 for shits and giggles, and still retain full speed/capability (I'm aware it's under stress, but seeing my work friend's laptop... and how it's running pretty much smooth/as one would expect, and the slim 27incher is newer tech/better specs... ).

My last concern would be the mouse. I suppose I can plugin any usual mouse for my 2 button thing, and it'll behave fine under OSX, ya?

[rezn0r]

I have an i5 at work (Dell hardware) running Win 7 x64 and right now I have Win 8, 2012 Server, Linux Mint, and Ubuntu VMs all running perfectly fine. That's not really a "Mac thing", it depends a lot more on how much ram you have, which I'm sure he has a decent amount of. I'm not into PC vs Mac (I use both) arguments but I just wanted to respond to that one thing.

[The Stig]

I see, thanks. I'm not looking into the argument either. I guess to be honest I underestimated the power of an i5. I know they're good, but I didn't think they'd be that efficient at running multiple VMs like that.

[Franzer]

Just posting this here for some comparison so people aren't up in arms. While i'm an android only owner, and can't speak enough about how great the nexus 7 is, this helps explain some of the fire that Apple tries to throw to cripple the Nexus against the ipad mini.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/table...ini-vs-nexus-7

Spoiler: show

When it comes to Apple events, there are certain things you can always count on. One of them: Apple will make bold and generally misleading statements about its competitors' products.

Sure enough, at today's iPad Mini launch, the Apple powers-that-be spent plenty of time trash-talking the Nexus 7 tablet and explaining how the new iPad Mini puts Google's 7-inch effort to shame. And sure enough, outside of Apple's magical force field, most of the grandiose claims don't hold much weight.

What we're actually talking about here are two very different types of devices. Apple, for example, devoted ample energy to pointing out how its new iPad Mini has a larger screen than Google's Nexus 7 -- and yep, it sure does. The "7.9-inch" figure listed for the iPad Mini's screen can tell you that. You know what else has a larger screen than the Nexus 7? Every other tablet with a screen size greater than 7 inches. A larger screen on a smaller tablet is not inherently better; the whole point of the smaller tablet is that, you know, it's smaller. By design.

What Apple failed to mention is the fact that the Nexus 7's screen has a higher resolution than the iPad Mini's -- 1280 x 800, 216 ppi, vs. the iPad Mini's 1024 x 768, 163 ppi -- and that the Nexus 7 packs a cutting-edge quad-core processor while the iPad Mini is using last year's dual-core A5 model (essentially what was in the iPad 2).

The Nexus 7 also has a standard micro-USB port while the iPad Mini supports only Apple's new proprietary "Lightning" connector. Does that matter? It certainly can: A standard micro-USB port means you can plug the tablet into any charger or any PC without needing an expensive proprietary adapter. It also means you can plug any USB device directly into the tablet and have it instantly work.

Then, importantly, there's the price: The Nexus 7 currently costs $199 for an 8GB model and $249 for a 16GB version. Next week, Google is expected to introduce a new 32GB model at the $249 price and drop the cost of the lower-storage model to somewhere around $149. The iPad Mini, meanwhile, starts at $329 for a 16GB edition and goes up to $459 for a 32GB version. That's a pretty lofty difference.

Is all that to say the Nexus 7 is the better tablet of the two? Nope; there's no need to indulge Apple and even play that game. As I said a moment ago, we're talking about two very different types of devices -- with two very different value propositions. We're also talking about two very different platforms and ecosystems, each with its own set of pros and cons.

Do some Android apps still utilize smartphone-like designs on tablet-sized devices? Absolutely. But the number of apps that are following Android 4.x design guidelines -- guidelines which, incidentally, do not require separate smartphone and tablet apps and focus instead on detecting a device's size and adjusting an interface accordingly -- is not insignificant. It's also growing greater by the day.

Ultimately, it's all relative. How are the Maps, YouTube, and Gmail experiences looking on the iPad these days? And how's that giant grid of static icons -- a stretched-out version of the smartphone, one might say -- working as a home screen compared to the customizable array of resizable, interactive widgets that Android tablet users enjoy?

I'll say it once more: two different types of devices, two different platforms. This isn't an only-one-can-survive deathmatch, folks. It also isn't a one-size-fits-all world.

So all considered, is Apple's iPad Mini going to sell well? It'd be surprising if it didn't. Let's be honest: At this point, Apple could probably put a potato in a shiny case and people would line up to buy it.

Is the iPad Mini going to "kill" the Nexus 7, though? I wouldn't count on it. It's playing in a completely different field -- and regardless of which platform you prefer, that's perfectly fine.

[Ratatapa]

i'm not gonna wake up at 3AM friday but i'll check when i wake up see how long before shipping and i might get the White Ipad Mini 32gig

[rezn0r]

I see, thanks. I'm not looking into the argument either. I guess to be honest I underestimated the power of an i5. I know they're good, but I didn't think they'd be that efficient at running multiple VMs like that.

i5s & of course i7s are really nice, there's a pretty decent jump in performance going from duo/quad cores & i3s to those two, especially the newer generations. i'm sure the newest macs run incredible too, i wasn't trying to knock them. i run os x on a few things, but i have never had "new" mac hardware, mainly because i'm poor and my work is cheap

to answer your other questions, i've only run OSX directly & inside VMs, but i've never run VMs inside of OSX, so sorry i can't help too much with that part. i'm sure parallels is pretty great at this point, and you mention GPUs which makes me think you may care about games - there's a surprising amount of mac support lately when it comes to games. i see the icon being added all the time to lots of Steam titles, and even things like GW2 already offer a client to download. it'd be cool if someone else could chime in with experience on this because i really don't have much. i do remember threads on getting FF14 of all things running on OSX, so if that beast of code could work then i would think anything is possible on new hardware.

as for the mouse thing, i'm going to blindly say yes any common usb mouse would work perfectly fine.