13" Retina MBP, iMac & Mac Mini Refresh To Be Announced At October 23rd Event?

DubDJ

Apple have just sent out invites for a press event next Tuesday (October 23rd).

It's most likely to focus on the much rumoured iPad Mini, but according to 9To5Mac, a 13" version of the Retina Macbook Pro, a redesigned iMac and updated Mac Mini will also be announced. The iMac should be a lot thinner than the previous generation but keep to the same look as before. Be interesting to see whats being announced next week, but 9To5Mac are pretty solid when it comes to rumours. They almost always get it right.

fjon

Was holding out until this to see what price the 13" Retina would be before upgrading.
I'm guessing the base will be €1699, which is still a bit too expensive for my taste

Sean Quagmire

Looking forward to see the imac and if there is a new mac mini. Although, I hope they rev up the specs on the mini rather than trying to make it smaller.

taylorconor95

I cant stop thinking about the prospect of an iPad mini at the moment to give any thought to the Mac rumours.. I may finally be able to afford some sort of iPad! (well, after I broke the bank on a mac a few years ago!)

Sinfonia

Is the usual situation with these things that new models are introduced or are the prices of existing products also reduced?
I ask because I bought a MBPR yesterday, and if the store updates with a lower price...

TCP/IP

This event is been screened live on Apple TV and from the Apple website.

Sad Professor

Sinfonia wrote: »

Is the usual situation with these things that new models are introduced or are the prices of existing products also reduced?
I ask because I bought a MBPR yesterday, and if the store updates with a lower price...

Only a 13-inch Retina Pro is expected today. Even if Apple refresh the 15-inch as well, the existing model will be replaced with a new one for the same price. It's a bit too soon for them to replace the low-end Pros with Retinas.

DubDJ

As per usual the details of the events have leaked. 9To5Mac has given this as what's being updated later:

New Retina 13" MBP specs:
http://9to5mac.com/2012/10/23/13-inch-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-specs-revealed-2-5-2-9ghz-8gb-of-ram-128-512gb-storage/

New Mac mini specs:
http://9to5mac.com/2012/10/23/new-mac-mini-specs-revealed-2-5ghz-dual-core-to-2-3ghz-quad-core-500gb-to-2tb-storage/

Sinfonia

Sad Professor wrote: »

Only a 13-inch Retina Pro is expected today. Even if Apple refresh the 15-inch as well, the existing model will be replaced with a new one for the same price. It's a bit too soon for them to replace the low-end Pros with Retinas.

Thanks, would have felt like a right plank for not waiting one day :P

Spipov

wtf???? who does apple's conversions????? $1699 was already high, its freakin €1799 in the apple store??????? what have they been smoking???

jester77

mehh, only comes with 8Gb. Thought I could pick up a nice portable dev machine with high resolution, will be giving it a miss for now.

evilivor

The new iMac is a sexy looking machine.

Sad Professor

Spipov wrote: »

wtf???? who does apple's conversions????? $1699 was already high, its freakin €1799 in the apple store??????? what have they been smoking???

It's called tax and it's not included in the US price.

Irish VAT is 23 percent. So out of €1800, €414 is going to Revenue, leaving Apple with €1386.

Current conversion:

$1699 = €1310.

Spipov

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's called tax and it's not included in the US price.

Irish VAT is 23 percent. So out of €1800, €414 is going to Revenue, leaving Apple with €1386.

Current conversion:

$1699 = €1310.

that is so annoying. anyway. *snigger* - how long does it get delivered once ordered and its said to be in stock?

Sinfonia

^^^
Fake link!

Reported.

jose-fahartose

so no cd drive on the new iMac?? seems pretty crazy not to have one...

avalon68

jose-fahartose wrote: »

so no cd drive on the new iMac?? seems pretty crazy not to have one...

I dunno really, my mbp has cd drive....prob used 3 times at most in the last 2 years. I could definitely live without it if I had to.

Zapp Brannigan

Wonder how the integrated graphics will cope with a Retina screen.

I've heard the NVidia card in the 15" just about copes.

jank

I am going to be in the US and thinking of picking up one of these babies, is there anything I need to be aware of before hand? Keyboard layout, power adapter etc ?

avalon68

jank wrote: »

I am going to be in the US and thinking of picking up one of these babies, is there anything I need to be aware of before hand? Keyboard layout, power adapter etc ?

The keyboard layout is ever so slightly different, but it's hardly noticeable. The power adapter is easy to fix....I just swapped out the piece that plugs into the wall with an old iPod one. It just slides out so you can insert plugs for any country. I'm sure you can just buy the right attachment piece if you don't already have one lying around. I'd imagine the main thing to be aware of is customs! Plus you will probably only be able to buy the base model if you walk into an apple store....keep in mind you won't be able to upgrade RAM later.

AlmightyCushion

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's called tax and it's not included in the US price.

Irish VAT is 23 percent. So out of €1800, €414 is going to Revenue, leaving Apple with €1386.

Current conversion:

$1699 = €1310.

Your calculating the VAT wrong. VAT isn't 23% of the end purchase price, it's actually about 18.7% of the end purchase price. So Revenue get about €336.

jank

avalon68 wrote: »

The keyboard layout is ever so slightly different, but it's hardly noticeable. The power adapter is easy to fix....I just swapped out the piece that plugs into the wall with an old iPod one. It just slides out so you can insert plugs for any country. I'm sure you can just buy the right attachment piece if you don't already have one lying around. I'd imagine the main thing to be aware of is customs! Plus you will probably only be able to buy the base model if you walk into an apple store....keep in mind you won't be able to upgrade RAM later.

Customs should not be an issue as I am an Australian tax resident.
About the RAM upgrade, could I not just buy the RAM myself and upgrade it that way, or do you have to do it the apple way?

Zapp Brannigan

jank wrote: »

Customs should not be an issue as I am an Australian tax resident.
About the RAM upgrade, could I not just buy the RAM myself and upgrade it that way, or do you have to do it the apple way?

Can't do the RAM yourself on the Retina models (or the Airs) as Apple have soldered it in.

ZENER

So Firewire has bitten the bullet then ? When did that happen ?

Anyway went searching for a 27"iMac in the past week and there's none to be found anywhere ! All the stores have been waiting for the new machines which were expected to ship soon. So now I have to wait till December !? Hmmm

Ken

fjon

jank wrote: »

I am going to be in the US and thinking of picking up one of these babies, is there anything I need to be aware of before hand? Keyboard layout, power adapter etc ?

If you're going to be near a state border it might be worthwhile doing some research on Sales Tax - it varies from state to state. For example, the difference between buying it in Seattle and Portland would be worth the petrol/ bus price.

Sinfonia

fjon wrote: »

If you're going to be near a state border it might be worthwhile doing some research on Sales Tax - it varies from state to state. For example, the difference between buying it in Seattle and Portland would be worth the petrol/ bus price.

And I believe Delaware has none at all!

fjon

Sinfonia wrote: »

And I believe Delaware has none at all!

Yep, that's why I mentioned Portland - Oregon doesn't have any either.
Here are the states without Sales Tax:
Alabama
Alaska
Delaware
Montana
New Hampshire
Oregon

Sinfonia

fjon wrote: »

Yep, that's why I mentioned Portland - Oregon doesn't have any either.

Ah, didn't know that; that's cool to know, I'll be travelling around the states next year so I'll keep a copy of that list

jakdublin

jose-fahartose wrote: »

so no cd drive on the new iMac?? seems pretty crazy not to have one...

My one broke over a year ago and I've never had cause to use it since. Only problem is the damn thing keeps firing up every so often making a sound like an aircraft taking off and there's no software fix. Looking forward to an upgrade next month.

jank

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Can't do the RAM yourself on the Retina models (or the Airs) as Apple have soldered it in.

Could I not get apple in Australia to upgrade it for me? Or do you have to get it upgraded before you buy it.

jose-fahartose

jakdublin wrote: »

My one broke over a year ago and I've never had cause to use it since. Only problem is the damn thing keeps firing up every so often making a sound like an aircraft taking off and there's no software fix. Looking forward to an upgrade next month.

Yes but for anyone who DOES use one it will be a problem! I dont use mine much but I still do for anything music related, install cds, DVD Roms etc..

Been waiting on this iMac release awhile now and this has put me right off!

Zapp Brannigan

jank wrote: »

Could I not get apple in Australia to upgrade it for me? Or do you have to get it upgraded before you buy it.

Afraid not. They're configured at the factory and that's the way they'll always be.

My advice to people buying a retina is usually over spec it that way you won't be disappointed by it in a few years time.

Spipov

ordered one. in transit at the minute. i know its not worth it. but i need a 13 inch footprint, but i need high res. macbook air (2010 then 2011) that i had have led to me having to switch too many programs, and it was way too big (bigger res = smaller font and windows). 15 inch retina, though its probably better bang for buck, is still too out of my reach - money wise.

i will update and let you all know how it is once i get a play of it on sunday/monday as im away friday (delivery day - hope i manage to get it in time) until sunday.

It still hurts and i wonder if i made the right decision, but ill live with it. this machine unless its bloody brilliant should last me for the year. i do tend to change often enough.

Sad Professor

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Your calculating the VAT wrong. VAT isn't 23% of the end purchase price, it's actually about 18.7% of the end purchase price. So Revenue get about €336.

Yeah, your right. I had a feeling I didn't calculate that properly. In fact, I see Apple are now listing the VAT amount on the store.

Sad Professor

A few thoughts on the announcements:

Dropping the optical drive from the iMac is a pretty big deal. I didn't expect Apple to do this so soon, especially in the absence of a killer new feature like a Retina screen. This confirms that Apple are committed to dropping the optical drive across their Mac line-up. It's just a matter of economics before they can discontinue the legacy MBPs.

I love the new 13-inch Retina Pro, although much like the early gen MBAs, I'm not sure it's a good buy right now considering it's destined to replace the old 13-inch MBP at the same price point. My next Mac will be either this or a 15-inch, so hopefully it won't be long before that happens.

Once again the Mini has had its price bumped due to changes in the value of the Euro, making it far too expensive IMO. Even at the US price I'm not sure who this machine is aimed at. The way things are going it could have been a replacement for the Mac Pro, but then Apple made the bizarre decision to replace the discrete gpu with integrated graphics.

Losty Dublin

Sad Professor wrote: »

Once again the Mini has had its price bumped due to changes in the value of the Euro, making it far too expensive IMO. Even at the US price I'm not sure who this machine is aimed at. The way things are going it could have been a replacement for the Mac Pro, but then Apple made the bizarre decision to replace the discrete gpu with integrated graphics.

Captive market of buyers perhaps? They are handy machines for their size and they seem to sell well in spite of zero publicity from the Apple PR circus. Obviously they have a market sector that Apple are able to milk for all they're worth.

TCP/IP

Well placed an order for a 15inch Retina MacBook Pro, 27 inch iMac and iPad 4 today can't wait. Salesman was a happy camper.

Sad Professor

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Captive market of buyers perhaps? They are handy machines for their size and they seem to sell well in spite of zero publicity from the Apple PR circus. Obviously they have a market sector that Apple are able to milk for all they're worth.

Yeah, just like the Mac Pro, another product Apple don't really care about anymore and would love to kill except they obviously sell enough of them to justify a spec bump every 2-3 years.

Brian017

Does anyone think that the 27" iMacs will arrive here before Christmas? Or will we be looking at a 3-4 week wait for them to ship once they become available to order sometime in December?

Sinfonia

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah, just like the Mac Pro, another product Apple don't really care about anymore and would love to kill except they obviously sell enough of them to justify a spec bump every 2-3 years.

D'you think so? Obviously they're not going to do well on the home market, but I would have thought they were doing very well on the professional market; Mac Pro totally dominates the audio/music & video production industry by now. If they killed off the Mac Pro they'd surely lose that industry almost completely within 5 years.

Losty Dublin

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah, just like the Mac Pro, another product Apple don't really care about anymore and would love to kill except they obviously sell enough of them to justify a spec bump every 2-3 years.

Aside from the the RAM capacity, 2 processor option and the monitor options then there isn't much power benefit in a MP, regardless of the price difference. You'd wonder what stranglehold Apple have on the Audio Visual industry to keep it as such.

stimpson

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah, just like the Mac Pro, another product Apple don't really care about anymore and would love to kill except they obviously sell enough of them to justify a spec bump every 2-3 years.

The mini is a cracking machine. Great as a SoHo server, the quad core will make an awesome cheap dev box. And then there is the likes of me who will buy one for HTPC duty (replacing a 2007 mini). I'm glad they are killing the optical drive across the range. I'd say in 5 years I've used mine less than a dozen times. It's a dead technology as was the floppy before it. At the end of the day you can pick up an external drive for very little if you really need one.

Sinfonia

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Aside from the the RAM capacity, 2 processor option and the monitor options then there isn't much power benefit in a MP, regardless of the price difference. You'd wonder what stranglehold Apple have on the Audio Visual industry to keep it as such.

For music at least, I think initially the main selling points were things like
1) the fact that Apple machines and everything in them are produced and tested by Apple, resulting in a smaller probability of failure/project loss etc.
2) once Apple bought Logic, they heavily improved its features and hiked the price; after the competition did the same, Apple then greatly reduced the price, giving LogicPro excellent value (and of course it's exclusive to Mac).

More recently then, you have the fact that Apple's popularity (due to reasons such as the above) means that more people are using Apple products, both in the professional market and in the home/amateur market. Therefore both contemporaries and clients are more widely using Apple products, therefore it benefits a producer to follow suit: if a client is more likely to have demoed their tracks at home using Logic/Garageband, then a Windows-exclusive DAW in the studio will be effectively incompatible, resulting in either much harder work for the producer, or the client going elsewhere.

K.O.Kiki

I'm still VERY surprised with Apple's performance/design decisions.

13" Retina without a discrete video card? I pity anyone who tries to do 3D on that! Coupled with soldered-in RAM (because they built it so it can't even PHYSICALLY take more than 8Gb), I'm not sure which "pro" market they're going after.

And iPad mini for a premium price AND without Retina? I think I'll wait for the update before hankering after it. Should only take 6 months...

Sad Professor

They are not quite there yet with the slimmer Retina design which is why they are still selling the legacy MBPs. This is a repeat of what happened with the Air. The early adopters pay the premium and suffer the problems/limitations, while the later adopters reap the benefits. The Air is a great machine now and basically replaced the Plasticbook, but I wouldn't have touched it in first-gen form, not at least because I couldn't afford it.

The 13-inch MBP's "Pro" status was always questionable anyway. I'm actually kinda surprised they bothered with a Retina model of it. I was expecting them to simplify their line-up by letting the Air fill that slot. But I guess that wasn't possible with the Retina screen.

Spipov

received the laptop today. took a grand total of 2 days - hard ordered late on the 23rd october, chose express shipping (10 euros) as well as a magsafe adapter.

i havent opened the box yet, but the box is actually smaller than the macbook air box. it is very light actually.

looking forward to digging my hands in hopefully tomorrow. ah, if only i was here this weekend!

Sean Quagmire

I'm a bit let down by the imac tbh. This is purely form over function, how bloody thin do ye need an all in one desktop computer to be? a small bit thinner than the last sure but its should all be about the specs. I was sure i wanted one for the house but might look at a mini instead.

I am not even going to mention the ipad mini. got the missus an ipad3 last month, now the ipad4 is on the horizon. Apple sure can piss you off sometimes.

no interest in the retina 13" macbook "pro".

Zapp Brannigan

Screen looks nice, but it's only that.

Still a dual core processor and no discrete graphics card.

Would rather an Air over it and stick with the 15" Retina for any serious work.

@Sean

What's annoying about the new iMac? Finally has Ivybridge processors and USB 3. Sure there's no physical disc drive but you can just buy an external one for cheap any ways. I love the design new one, can't wait to see it in the flesh.