Apple: “Back to the Mac” on Oct 20

T

Terpfen

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 29, 2004
Messages
6,079
Apple has sent out press invites for a press event in one week titled “Back to the Mac”. Based on the image they sent out with the invites, I’m guessing we’ll see a preview of OS X 10.7 Lion. (Note that I’m just guessing it’ll be called Lion based on the image.) Also possible: spec bumps for various Macs and a rumored carbon fiber MacBook Air. Lastly, there hasn’t been a new beta of 10.6.5 in a while, which suggests it’s stable enough to see release soon. The latest version of WoW has some graphics options that can’t be enabled without 10.6.5.

mainimagev.jpg
 
Last edited:
Here's hoping that the MBA gets a 11 or 12 inch screen. 10.6.5 would definitely be welcome as would some graphics updates (there is no reason my mac should get 20% better frame rates in Windows then in OS X). 10.7 would also be cool to see what they come up with, but at this point really all I want is multi-touch display support for 10.6.

Maybe some new enterprise solutions? That is the one place apple is really lacking. They have one 1U server option, a mini server, and don't even have their own storage solutions anymore.
 
C7J0yc3 said:
10.6.5 would definitely be welcome as would some graphics updates (there is no reason my mac should get 20% better frame rates in Windows then in OS X).
Click to expand...

10.6.5 does include updated graphics drivers. And yes, immature drivers are the main reason why gaming performance in OS X lags behind Windows. A second big reason is that most game ports to OS X are half-assed and done through an emulation layer, like CoD4. There’s also the DirectX to OpenGL transition to worry about.

It’s going to be a long time before gaming/3D performance on OS X equals performance on Windows. But at least the process has finally started. Steam and AutoCAD are landmark releases.

Maybe some new enterprise solutions? That is the one place apple is really lacking. They have one 1U server option, a mini server, and don't even have their own storage solutions anymore.
Click to expand...

Xserve, Snow Leopard Server, and the Mac Mini are all they offer to enterprise, and all they likely will offer to enterprise. Steve Jobs has pulled Apple back from the enterprise arena because there’s more money in the consumer market, and IT offices tend to resist Apple anyway. Why fight a losing battle for a smaller profit?
 
[URL="http://www.loopinsight.com/2010/10/13/apple-to-hold-back-to-the-mac-media-event-october-20/“]Confirmed:[/URL] text accompanying the media invite reveals that OS X 10.7 will be previewed at the event. And the use of the word “including” tells me that there will be other announcements.
 
Aaaaand, cue the off-the-wall predictions!

10-inch, half-pound MacBook Air with a Retina Display and Multi-Touch!

An iMac with Blu-ray and 1080p projector built-in!

The new OS X UI will debut! It's called [insert Cocoa-like name here]!

Gizmodo didn't get an invite! ...er, well.
 
I'm guessing TRIM support, support for upcoming Sandy Bridge architecture, and maybe full 64-bit finally??
 
Peteman100 said:
I'm guessing TRIM support, support for upcoming Sandy Bridge architecture, and maybe full 64-bit finally??
Click to expand...

I had forgotten about these. But yes, these are another two big areas that 10.6 has been lacking. SB I can do without at the moment because I don't plan to buy new hardware from apple for at least another 2 years, however TRIM support with intel's new gen SSDs coming out means my Macbook is getting a 300GB SSD (assuming the prices are not that of a car payment).
 
Oh noes my MBP might become old! :p

I'm excited about 10.7, I hope it'll bring about some changes to help gaming performance, and improved multi monitor support would be nice too. I hate how you have to unplug a monitor to stop using it, a software method would be much nicer.
 
450 said:
I hate how you have to unplug a monitor to stop using it, a software method would be much nicer.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? I would think that the video driver would take care of this at the very least.
 
heatlesssun said:
Are you serious? I would think that the video driver would take care of this at the very least.
Click to expand...

If there's a nicer method, I'd love to know. The people in the Apple Store (Genius) told me unplugging it was the only way.

In Windows, I can disable the monitor easily, but with OS X, I must unplug my monitor.
 
450 said:
If there's a nicer method, I'd love to know. The people in the Apple Store (Genius) told me unplugging it was the only way.

In Windows, I can disable the monitor easily, but with OS X, I must unplug my monitor.
Click to expand...

Win+P is my friend, one of the most useful keyboard shortcuts in Windows 7 but there has always been a way to manage this with the driver since XP, not sure why this wouldn't be the case with OS X.
 
heatlesssun said:
Win+P is my friend, one of the most useful keyboard shortcuts in Windows 7 but there has always been a way to manage this with the driver since XP, not sure why this wouldn't be the case with OS X.
Click to expand...

Believe me, I've looked many times. OS X doesn't have a software option to switch off the monitor. This is only a minor issue with my macbook pro, but it was a much bigger issue with my dual monitor mac mini.
 
I'm actually a bit curious if this might signal the end of OSX. I doubt it, but the whole "Out like a Lion" did cross my mind, Maybe OS11 is in our future sooner than a few more point releases?
 
450 said:
Believe me, I've looked many times. OS X doesn't have a software option to switch off the monitor. This is only a minor issue with my macbook pro, but it was a much bigger issue with my dual monitor mac mini.
Click to expand...

There may not be a keyboard option, but you can use Expose to 'Put the Display to Sleep'.
 
Rombus said:
I'm actually a bit curious if this might signal the end of OSX. I doubt it, but the whole "Out like a Lion" did cross my mind, Maybe OS11 is in our future sooner than a few more point releases?
Click to expand...

I don’t expect a release date. The Snow Leopard sneak preview had no release date. It wasn’t until WWDC when we found out a release date and price.

Snow Leopard has a few more updates in it.
 
If you want to sleep connected displays, you can use Shift+Control+Eject. Pressing a key or moving the mouse will wake the display. You can also achieve this via a Hot Corner.
 
Apple is having too many press releases lately. It is starting to sound like, hey look a turd, the following month, hey look it is white and the month after that, now it is yellow. What kind of excuse will Jobs come up with this time? Yeh, I know our new product isn´t that great but every one else suck worse. Apple is starting to sound like the jackass politicians in DC.
 
caniba said:
Apple is having too many press releases lately. It is starting to sound like, hey look a turd, the following month, hey look it is white and the month after that, now it is yellow. What kind of excuse will Jobs come up with this time? Yeh, I know our new product isn´t that great but every one else suck worse. Apple is starting to sound like the jackass politicians in DC.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? Apple has actually reduced the number of presentations they hold per year. They’ve stopped doing Macworld, which means they just do WWDC in June and the annual iPod presentation in September.

Apple holds more shareholder conferences than Steve Jobs presentations.
 
phide said:
If you want to sleep connected displays, you can use Shift+Control+Eject. Pressing a key or moving the mouse will wake the display. You can also achieve this via a Hot Corner.
Click to expand...

I didn't know about that keyboard shortcut, and seems useful, but that isn't exactly what I meant. That shortcut puts ALL displays to sleep.

In Windows, you can go into display properties and enable/disable connected monitors and the desktop will shift to one monitor if 2 were enabled before.

In OS X, there is no way to disable a connected monitor and shift the desktop to only one monitor.
 
I hope they will release a tower, mid range specs, expandability/upgradability for around $500-$700.
 
Shambler said:
I hope they will release a tower, mid range specs, expandability/upgradability for around $500-$700.
Click to expand...

We are talking about apple right?


But in all seriousness, my big thing is TRIM. The main reason I got rid of my MBP was because I was tired of constantly (read once every month or so) having to repair my SSD. TRIM would be nice. Also the upgraded video drivers, 10.6.4 was a nose dive for those.
 
Shambler said:
I hope they will release a tower, mid range specs, expandability/upgradability for around $500-$700.
Click to expand...

The xMac will never happen. Just accept it.

Bomo said:
But in all seriousness, my big thing is TRIM. The main reason I got rid of my MBP was because I was tired of constantly (read once every month or so) having to repair my SSD. TRIM would be nice. Also the upgraded video drivers, 10.6.4 was a nose dive for those.
Click to expand...

You’ll get one of your two wishes in 10.6.5.

Apple is upgrading GPU drivers with each update. I’d still like to see them fully implement OpenGL on OS X and iOS, but I suppose that will come in time.
 
I agree with a lot of the speculation in this article.

Lion is going to bring a lot of iOS back to the Mac. We’re going to see revamped user interfaces for Mail, iCal, borrowing from those icon metaphors and UI styles. Everything is going to look much cleaner than before, much like QuickTime X did with its previous version (though I hope not at the cost of power and functionality). But where iOS segregates its functionality into ‘apps’, the Mac will feature a more integrated workflow of its different services. Imagine the Mail app featuring the Address Book and iCal interfaces in one single glorified window. The same addressbook showing up in iChat, ready for FaceTime.

…

The one aspect of OS X that hasn’t received much attention, is the Dashboard. Those webkit based widgets are always out of reach, and though I regularly use some of them, there’s no reason for them to be so isolated from the rest of the system. The Dashboard is probably going to be removed in favour of those ‘apps’ I talked about, or perhaps there’s a way to have them intermingle with the windows on the desktop without cluttering up the workspace. No, I’m not talking about stuffing them in a sidebar.
Click to expand...
 
Anybody know where I will be able to watch the Apple conference on Wednesday live? Is there a place on Apple's website you can view it live? I hate reading the live blogs. Thanks.
 
Terpfen said:
Xserve, Snow Leopard Server, and the Mac Mini are all they offer to enterprise, and all they likely will offer to enterprise. Steve Jobs has pulled Apple back from the enterprise arena because there’s more money in the consumer market, and IT offices tend to resist Apple anyway. Why fight a losing battle for a smaller profit?
Click to expand...


Not to mention their previous enterprise products just simply sucked.
 
Never heard of this site before, but they claim to have some exclusive details about Lion.

Most of the supposed changes seem plausible to me, especially the integration of popovers. The “iOS scrolling coming to OS X” point seems strange to me, since it was already brought over. iOS-like scrollbars will be welcome.
 
Terpfen said:
Xserve, Snow Leopard Server, and the Mac Mini are all they offer to enterprise, and all they likely will offer to enterprise. Steve Jobs has pulled Apple back from the enterprise arena because there’s more money in the consumer market, and IT offices tend to resist Apple anyway. Why fight a losing battle for a smaller profit?
Click to expand...

They may not be focusing on Enterprise hardware, but they're really pushing Enterprise software support. That's great for those of us in Windows environments that use Macs/iPhones/iPads.
 
Terpfen said:
Steve Jobs has pulled Apple back from the enterprise arena because there’s more money in the consumer market, and IT offices tend to resist Apple anyway. Why fight a losing battle for a smaller profit?
Click to expand...

There's p.enty off money in the enterprise market with great margins, just not in Apple's core competency. Apple doesn't make standalone software or much business class hardware like high-end servers.
 
heatlesssun said:
There's p.enty off money in the enterprise market with great margins, just not in Apple's core competency. Apple doesn't make standalone software or much business class hardware like high-end servers.
Click to expand...

That’s exactly my point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top