- Inflation. You've probably heard about it on the news. Prices for just about everything are going up.
Including at the Apple store, seven percent, 23 percent.
That's how much more some of the new products announced at today's Apple Video Announcement event will cost you.
So what are we all getting?
The most exciting announcement Apple made today was the new Mac Studio.
(mellow music)
It's the first professional-oriented desktop to get the Apple silicon treatment,
and Apple unveiled a new chip design just for it.
It's dubbed M1 Ultra and fully demonstrates that Apple silicon undergoes mitosis.
Oh no, the cores divided again. Instead of running dual processors through a motherboard,
Apple developed their ultra fusion packaging architecture to
link the two M1 Max processors together, with 2.5 terabytes per second of bandwidth between them.
This doubles everything, memory capacity, memory bandwidth, CPU cores, neural engine,
media engines, everything. It's a lot of power in a small package.
A package that includes an amazing array of ports.
There's four Thunderbolt ports, 10 gig Ethernet, HDMI,
and even two USB-A ports. And at the front, the front Apple hath given us an
SD card slot next to two more Thunderbolt ports,
which are just regular 10 gig type C ports if you spec the base M1 Max processor instead of the Ultra.
But I'm underwhelmed by the design.
It's very much a taller Mac mini. - [Narrator] So it takes up very little space
and fits perfectly under most displays. - [Speaker] Which is a design we've been living with
for over a decade now. I really see this as the spiritual successor to the
2013 Mac Pro everyone was so mad about for so long,
but that thing looked amazing. This is merely... fine.
It starts at $2,000 and base storage is a scandalous
512 gigabytes. And if you want that fancy new M1 Ultra chip
with a terabyte, it's going to cost double. Which I guess makes sense since it's double, right?
But wait, like the Mac Mini the Mac Studio is BYODKM.
Which means if you want Apple's new black and silver keyboard and mouse they will set you back another $300.
So... inflation.
While Apple compared this to the Mac Pro in the presentation, they also compared it to the
Core I9 27 inch iMac,
which coincidentally is no longer available.
Oh, so this is replacing that computer.
So we need a screen. Ugh, inflation again.
The Apple Studio display is something I've been asking for,
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Now back to the monitor, we finally got one from Apple. It's the new Apple Studio display.
And it's nice. Yes. Nice. It looks like the new iMac, but without a chin,
like the old cinema displays. But Apple did include a couple of notable features.
It now has center stage on the webcam, which is a first for the Mac.
There's the six speaker array that we first heard on the iMac with spatial audio,
some fancy microphones and an A13 chip.
Why? Can't the computer process all that stuff?
That means this screen has a more powerful chip than the Apple TV 4K.
It's as powerful as an iPad. And what do you have to pay for that A13 chip?
$1,600. This is a big disappointment,
considering the 5K ultra fine display this effectively replaces is $300 less.
And the only improvement this panel gets is 100 nits of brightness.
See, inflation.
Also, there are three options for holding the screen up.
A default tilt stand like the IMAX or a VESA mount are included in the base price,
but a height adjustable stand will set you back another $400
and it will not rotate. Nano-texture is available for another 300.
At least it's not a $1,000 for the stand. So deflation, oh no, wait.
The 5K ultra fine head height adjustment is standard, so inflation still.
(mellow music)
I get that professionals in studio environments
will be able to expense all these increased costs, but Apple's upped prices are hurting the little guy as well,
as we're seeing with the new iPhone SE, it's now $430.
What you get for that is the same, very powerful A15 chip
from the latest iPhones and 5G connectivity, which will help it expand its lifespan.
Though that 5G connectivity isn't quite as robust as the other 5G iPhones lacking millimeter wave and
with just two by two MIMO. So, is there anything else worth paying for?
Well, the color shifted slightly from silver to starlight,
and black to midnight. Everything else? Exactly the same as the previous model.
Camera module, same. Screen, same.
Storage, same. Battery, okay that's a bit better.
- [Narrator] Bringing this level of performance to our most affordable phone is something only Apple can do.
- [Speaker] The one inflationary holdout at this event was the iPad Air, which got its price increase 16 months ago.
Today though it received a long deserved color and spec refresh with the M1 chip, 5G, and center stage front camera.
That chip bump is quite substantial. Doubling the RAM and putting it on par with the iPad Pro
in CPU and graphics performance. No Thunderbolt, though, the USBC port now supports
10 gig speeds. It's too bad that storage stubbornly remains
at 64 gigabytes priced at 599.
All right, well, Apple's increases of CPU and GPU power through this transition to their
Apple silicon architecture is quite exciting. But the price increases happening everywhere with it
are not exciting. If this event confirmed anything
is that no matter what level you're at in the Apple ecosystem, prices are going up.
Thanks for paying more for this Mac Address. If you hate inflation, give this video a like.
And if you want us to spend all that extra money to show you what these new devices are like
then you might as well subscribe. One thing I'm curious about in the comments
is how you feel about the demise of the 27 inch iMac.
Is the 24 inch screen gonna be enough now?