Resolution independence is there in lion, it's just hidden. The air display app for the ipad enables it so that you can use the ipad as a resolution independent second display. I'd be willing to bet the new macbook ships with it turned on too.

Three other tidbits:

• iOS 6 will not run on the 1st gen iPad?
  
• The 17" MBP has died a quiet death.
  
• There's an all new Airport Express.
  

Why not a 10/100/1000 port though?

David Pogue claims that an Apple exec told him iMac redesign is slated for 2013.

That's forever from now

I'm holding out (hoping) for a new iMac model to be silently introduced soon. It's been almost 400 days since the last update, and the average is like 270 days. I've been waiting until there is an update, as I'm always ending up with the previous model right before they put out a new one. That being said, even the current iMac is a great machine.

We've been needing a new iMac ever since we upgraded ours to OSX Lion in order to accommodate iCloud back in January. Our current iMac is the first Core 2 Duo model that came out over 5 years ago, and with RAM limited to 3Gb it runs out of memory with Lion when two users are logged in and running iTunes and uPNP audio/video servers in the background. It's not too bad with one user logged in, but still can hit the limit when running multiple apps.

On another note - the new 2.9 GHz 13" Macbook Pro is really very nice. My daughter's late 2008 Macbook was getting old, so she just got the new one for graduation, and it's pretty zippy. Because of that my wife is willing to try using my daughter's "hand me down" Macbook which is a bit faster than the iMac, although she prefers an iMac sized screen. If we don't upgrade the iMac I'd like to keep the old one running as our Twonky and iTunes home sharing machine, while SWMBO can use the Macbook anywhere around the house.

Yeah, my iMac is struggling, too. Being unable to fully use iCloud and the RAM limitation are starting to make it a PITA to use.

i wouldn't want the res on the new MBP without full resolution independence, which i don't know if ML is going to offer (Lion certainly doesn't). and the iMac is pretty fucking stellar.

A little info on settings here - http://9to5mac.com/2012/06/12/new-macbook-pros-retina-display-reviewed-and-benchmarked/

From macrumors:

Apple PR has reached out and clarified that only the Mac Pro is expected to be next updated in 2013. The company had no comment about the iMac, which perhaps means that the iMac could see updates earlier than next year. It has been 406 days since the iMac last received an update, significantly longer than the traditional iMac update interval.

WRT optical out: Since the headphone port supports the iPhone headset with mic etc. it is unlikely it has optical out. I'm not sure if it is related, but I was talking to Fostex while in Tokyo about using a dual-function port in the HP-P1 and they said that those combined ports aren't made any longer. Though such a thing wouldn't necessarily stop Apple, it looks like mini-optical may have been dropped as a standard for audio as Firewire has.

Sad that the 17" MBP has gone, but likely sales on it have gone down over time and I imagine that all the ports and expansion on it will be made entirely redundant by USB 3 and Thunderbolt, not to mention the screen.

FireWire is still an audio standard, several companies still make FireWire devices, even new this year.

Apple still sucks that we can only authorize 5 macs with our shared iTunes store account.

My wife won't be able to have the extra Macbook authorized if the iMac and other MacBooks are authorized. Fortunately she doesn't care a lot about that, but it would be much more convenient if we didn't have this bottleneck.

The standard 13 and 15" Macbook Pro's still have optical digital output, but the retina display model doesn't. All of them can use the iPhone headset with Mic.

So.

Also, they are giving students a $100 iStore gift card in addition to the $100 off Macbook and $66 off the AppleCare, so a total savings of $266 was realized. Not bad.

Well this sucks - Planned obsolescence is starting to piss me off.

The following hardware models will support Mountain Lion:

• iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
  
• MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
  
• MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
  
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
  
• Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
  
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
  

My son's Macbook pro and our iMac are both a late 2006 model core 2 duo machines, so those just missed out working with Mountain Lion (3GB max RAM might have sucked anyway). One daughter has a late 2007 black Macbook, so it's also not going to support Mountain Lion despite supporting 4GB with a 2.2 Ghz core 2 duo and hybrid HD. At least they can run Lion and use iCloud, but with Snow Leopard they were all fast enough that we never dreamed of needing to replace them.

My late 2008 Macbook Pro and a late 2008 Macbook will be fine. They have enough RAM and big hybrid HDs to last for another year or two.

(More bitching - if iOS 6 will run on a 3GS, why not the 1st Gen iPad?)

Where's my 27" Retina Display iMac, slackers? 5120 x 2880 or GTFO.

7 years old computers not supporting the new shiny isn't exactly planned obselecense, it's legitimate "sorry dude, it's too fucking old". One of the reasons apple is able to progress the way they do is they don't support their older hardware forever. That way they can take advantage of new ways of doing things, and don't bloat the OS with a ton of crap no one needs. Your old computers still work, you just can't run the latest OS on them. Big deal...And the reason the 3GS is still supported is that the 3GS is still being sold.

For those considering the new MacBook Pro Retina, be aware that you will be stuck with however much memory you choose. The memory is soldered in like the current MBAs. How else could Apple make it so slim? So, if you'll want 16gb in the future, you'll need to throw down the extra $200 (not bad for Apple) now.

I like the new Airport express.

http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/

Edited June 13, 201214 yr by shellylh

Attention world: the MacBook Pro with Retina display does have optical audio out - TUAW http://j.mp/MD3IW8

except that it's not "all macs", but "most" since the air definitely doesn't.

Attention world: the MacBook Pro with Retina display does have optical audio out - TUAW http://j.mp/MD3IW8

Phew.

nothing really new about apple products, but..

iFixit: New Macbook Pro is Least Repairable Notebook to Date

iFixt-MacBook-Pro

Popped into an Apple store today. Damn, that MBPwR screen is nice... and so at every resolution (reportedly doubled and then scaled). Previously wondered is non-ideal settings would be a step back. No. Can see jumping between settings throughout the day as needed (long text reading v. application windows and max real estate, etc.). I suppose if you already had a new iPad (I don't), you could use it when you need this crispness for at least the text, but after five minutes it's hard for me to believe anyone who had one of these could easily go back. I didn't spend any time looking for scaled apps that reportedly look poor, but reading was such a joy on NYTimes, etc.

So how does it look on your desk?