General Apple Megathread

[Buzzard]

Yeah, I think it's boiling down to whether the better camera/display is worth getting over the faster processor and larger screen. The processor in the XR might allow me to be future proof a year or two longer?

Someone please decide for me...soon lol.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Buzzard

So I need want a new phone. I've got a fairly decent offer (retentions) on the table from Rogers. Long story short, I need to choose between the X for $50 and XR for $0. The phone cost is fairly insignificant compared to retail price so I need to just figure out which one.

Anyone have advice on which one to get? Thanks!

I’m in a similar position. My iPhone 5 is month to month with Rogers, plus my wife would bring hers over from Bell. I was thinking of asking for an iPhone XR for $200 or I take my business elsewhere. Would two customers be enough to get this deal I want?

[cam_wmh]

Depends what your monthly spend is.

[miraisoup]

Just curious how well the mac minis run? Currently my motherboard/ cpu are failing in my PC so I believe i'm going to make the jump to Mac, all I want to use it for is general pc usage, no gaming. Is it safe to buy used ones?

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by miraisoup

Just curious how well the mac minis run? Currently my motherboard/ cpu are failing in my PC so I believe i'm going to make the jump to Mac, all I want to use it for is general pc usage, no gaming. Is it safe to buy used ones?

For general use they are good.

I would be wary of used. I would imagine because the 2018 model just came out that the vast majority of the used ones are the 2014 model or earlier. Which means you are paying for 5 year old+ hardware.

If you are not married to Mac OS, you can get an 8th generation Intel NUC and add ram/hard drive. Specs will be similar to the 2018 mini but you will save some cash.

But if you want Mac OS, then the mini is the cheapest route to go.

[miraisoup]

Looking at apples store there is a refurbushed 2014 for 499. Doesnt seem bad. Year warranty.

Yea I think I want a change. But those intel rigs are very nice.

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by miraisoup

Looking at apples store there is a refurbushed 2014 for 499. Doesnt seem bad. Year warranty.

Yea I think I want a change. But those intel rigs are very nice.

Thats a lot of money for 5+ year old hardware.

[photon]

Yeah I'd really want a newer one, many of the older ones are going to have spinning drives (or maybe hybrid drives), whereas the new ones are SSDs.

The new ones you can get 4 and six core CPUs too.

The onboard GPU is more robust with the newer ones though that may not matter if you aren't playing any games or using apps that specifically leverage it.

The most expensive part of the minis are the storage; Apple's pricing for storage is waaay higher than it should be IMO. And for 2018 the storage is built onto the motherboard; it can't be upgraded.

But since this is a desktop with high speed ports, external storage is a good option. If I was on a budget I'd probably even be OK with getting a 128GB SSD and then getting an external enclosure for a bigger SSD (rather than paying Apple's insane $720 for 1TB). You can even get external enclosures that match the mini's profile (though those cost more).

You can also even get external GPU enclosures, so if you want to run a high end video card you can, though at that point an iMac probably would be more cost effective.

[LWcrowfoot]

Does anyone know any ripoff AirPods you can get locally or online through reputable seller?

Lack of microphone jack sucks.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by LWcrowfoot

Does anyone know any ripoff AirPods you can get locally or online through reputable seller?

Lack of microphone jack sucks.

Just look up AirPod on Facebook marketplace. They are quite abundant there.

[sureLoss]

Major FaceTime bug. The bug allows anyone to call someone on FaceTime and allows the caller to actually hear audio coming from the callee's phone BEFORE they accept the call.

https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/28/facetime-bug-hear-audio/

9to5Mac has reproduced the FaceTime bug with an iPhone X calling an iPhone XR, but it is believed to affect any pair of iOS devices running iOS 12.1 or later.

If you get an incoming Facetime call be careful.

Apple supposedly patching this sometime this week.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by LWcrowfoot

Does anyone know any ripoff AirPods you can get locally or online through reputable seller?

Lack of microphone jack sucks.

Man, if you're gonna get BT earbuds, at least get something with good audio quality. As it is, genuine AirPods sound mediocre (without modification anyway), I can't imagine a knock-off is going to raise the bar any.

[LWcrowfoot]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Man, if you're gonna get BT earbuds, at least get something with good audio quality. As it is, genuine AirPods sound mediocre (without modification anyway), I can't imagine a knock-off is going to raise the bar any.

Okay, so.. anything to recommend? Not looking to spend too much.

[TorqueDog]

Price range?

[LWcrowfoot]

80 bucks? Always end up losing things like that so don't want to get anything expensive. Tougher to find earbuds though but don't like a full headset for the train

[dre]

Anyone have experience with Apple Developer Program? I added a team member but I can’t give them access to the Developer Resource Tab because it is greyed out. Been waiting for a response from Apple for almost a week now. Not sure what I did incorrectly.
Thanks

[sureLoss]

US Supreme Court rules iphone users can sue Apple over the App Store, calling it monopolistic behavior.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/13/tech/...urt/index.html

[psicodude]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

US Supreme Court rules iphone users can sue Apple over the App Store, calling it monopolistic behavior.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/13/tech/...urt/index.html

I'm really on the fence about this one. On one hand, I agree that Apple has a monopoly here and consumers should be allowed to purchase apps from any source they wish. On the other hand, this would open the door to a massive mess of malware, poorly written apps, etc. which could be a disaster. Like it or not, Apple's over-lord approach to the app store does more good than harm.

Does Apple get sued for running a monopolistic app store or get sued when some consumer downloads a crappy app that kills their phone?

[Bill Bumface]

^ As a consumer, can't you still just choose to only purchase from Apple's store because you trust it?

[Fuzz]

The case stems from a 2011 class-action suit by iPhone owners alleging that by taking a 30% cut of app sales, Apple has encouraged app developers to raise their prices in response. Consumers have been harmed by the practice, the suit claimed, because Apple does not allow customers to download apps from any other source other than the iTunes App Store. Unlike Android, iOS customers can only get apps from that official source, which Apple says serves as kind of quality control to weed out security threats and apps that violate the company's terms of service.

It's not about maintaining a single app store, it's about companies like Spotify and Netflix not being able to sell a subscription without giving 30% to the app store. I think it makes sense, and allows 3rd parties to maintain more of their revenue. It's anti-competitive in that Apple also has their version of Spotify that competes directly but isn't really subject to the 30% handicap.