AAPL - Apple Inc.

[Jurgis]

Anyone knows what percentage of x86 software runs fine on the emulator? In particular, games? 

[Liberty]

Some discussion from two good reviewers after spending 2 weeks on the new hardware:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u5JhdbSA3k

[Morgan]

Just an anecdote in relation to the speed increases of the new M1 chip. I recently bought an iPhone 12 Pro Max. I bought it because it has the new A14 chip and is supposed to be super fast. I figured I’ll spend the money ($1200) and have a good phone for 2-4 years. I spent so much because I use my phone for 4-6 hours per day for work. I’m always out of the office and still need to respond to people and make calls etc.

I had an iPhone 7 previously and it was pretty reasonable until recently. Right from the beginning the iPhone 12 Pro Max has been slow and laggy. When I type it lags, webpages are slow, scrolling lags, the phone calls don’t connect properly for 1-3 seconds, various apps respond slowly to inputs. I couldn’t believe it. This phone, other than the new camera (which is only decent), is only very marginally better than my iPhone 7! What the hell?!!

Anyways, I bought an iPhone 8 Plus for $400 and am returning the 12 Pro Max. I can spend the $800 elsewhere that make an actual difference in my life.

[Spekulatius]

Just an anecdote in relation to the speed increases of the new M1 chip. I recently bought an iPhone 12 Pro Max. I bought it because it has the new A14 chip and is supposed to be super fast. I figured I’ll spend the money ($1200) and have a good phone for 2-4 years. I spent so much because I use my phone for 4-6 hours per day for work. I’m always out of the office and still need to respond to people and make calls etc.

I had an iPhone 7 previously and it was pretty reasonable until recently. Right from the beginning the iPhone 12 Pro Max has been slow and laggy. When I type it lags, webpages are slow, scrolling lags, the phone calls don’t connect properly for 1-3 seconds, various apps respond slowly to inputs. I couldn’t believe it. This phone, other than the new camera (which is only decent), is only very marginally better than my iPhone 7! What the hell?!!

Anyways, I bought an iPhone 8 Plus for $400 and am returning the 12 Pro Max. I can spend the $800 elsewhere that make an actual difference in my life.

This seems odd and more likely a connection problem than a problem related to the chip. one thing they has been reported is that 5G is still buggy in some areas and depending on carriers and folks have been better speeds and more reliable connections with 5G turned off.

Anyways, I ordered a Iphone 12 pro for my wife as an Xmas gift mostly for the camera. She is an avid photographer and we used to schlepp around her Nixon Digital XLR (was $2000) but now rarely uses it any more, since her iPhone 10 XR makes great picks and is so much lighter. The iPhone 12 pro’s camera is much better even which means no more Nixon to haul around (it was usually me who carried it in the backpack).

I personally have an iPhone 8+ and it works great and I totally happy with it. Once the 12 is in my wife’s hands, I will grab here XR and my son will get my 8+, that’s how it works in the Spek family.

FWIW, this is a photo of our house shown by my wife with her XR:

[bizaro86]

@spek you have a lovely house. Reminds me very much of my grandparents acreage from when I was a kid. Very few differences other than they had a front verandah and green shutters to go with the white. Lots of good memories there.

[Morgan]

Spek, you have a beautiful house. I will concede that I’m sure I don’t know how to use the iPhone camera to its fullest ability. That being said, I just want point and shoot ability that works quickly and takes great photos. I have a cheap old Nikon D3100 that does this well enough for me if I know I’ll need to take some nice photos. An iPhone in my pocket of course is very nice, but it’s not really that great.

I should have been clearer; it’s not the speed of the mobile connection/WiFi. Both have been fine/normal on my iPhone 12. It’s when I use the messages app that the typing is slow and lags for the first 1-3 words. It’s very annoying.

Another problem area is apps not scrolling properly. This is really annoying.

Anyways, I’m glad you like your phone. I’m sure I’ll like my iPhone 8 when it arrives too! 

[Gregmal]

Man, you guys are fancy. I still have, a love dearly, an iPhone 5. Works perfectly and accomplishes everything I need it to. $70 used on Ebay. Currently on my 4th one. Call, text, internet, camera. What more does one need?

[DooDiligence]

Apple phones last forever and the salvage value is great. I got $120 + shipping for my old cracked screen 6+ on eBay. Still loving the 11.

And now for a rare moment Apple angst.

As other posters previously pointed out, Catalina screws up a few things in Music libraries (album art missing & a number of images get re-associated with the wrong albums). I haven't updated to Big Sur yet but from what I've read, they didn't address these & other issues with Music and may have made it slightly worse. Anyone using Music in Big Sur have comments?

This is annoying especially with a 130gb+ music library.

Does anyone have a preferred alternate OSX app to manage music?

[LC]

Does anyone have a preferred alternate OSX app to manage music?

Spotify 

[Spekulatius]

Spek, you have a beautiful house. I will concede that I’m sure I don’t know how to use the iPhone camera to its fullest ability. That being said, I just want point and shoot ability that works quickly and takes great photos. I have a cheap old Nikon D3100 that does this well enough for me if I know I’ll need to take some nice photos. An iPhone in my pocket of course is very nice, but it’s not really that great.

I should have been clearer; it’s not the speed of the mobile connection/WiFi. Both have been fine/normal on my iPhone 12. It’s when I use the messages app that the typing is slow and lags for the first 1-3 words. It’s very annoying.

Another problem area is apps not scrolling properly. This is really annoying.

Anyways, I’m glad you like your phone. I’m sure I’ll like my iPhone 8 when it arrives too!

Sorry to hear about your troubles and if I had the same issue, I would  have returned it as well. the iPhone 12 should be very fast. my iPhone 8+ works very well still and looks like now, so other than a battery replacement at the Apple store, it should be good for a couple of years for my son, unless he beats it up.

Over time, I see myself more and more reverting to an Apple product fanboy. I type this message here on an iPad Pro (2nd generation) and mostly  prefer it over my (rather old ) Windows laptop and nowadays it’s much better for Zoom calls, because it has a great camera as well. I just bought the AirPods when they were on sale at Amazon and they are just great devices.
It is my wife’s fault to suck me into the Apple ecosystem, but I have to admit the stuff just works and lasts for a while too. As for camera, why wife did comparison shots between her Apple XR and her Nixon Digital SLR and the Apple phone holds up very well, except in low light condition and I expect the iPhone 12 Pro will make a lot of difference there. My wife almost exclusively switched to taking picks with her phone and also does light editing with apps that used to take here a lot of time with Photoshop and now there is little need for either any more. It is quite amazing how for phones have come for photography and taking video clips considering the small lenses.

If I were too look for a notebook, I would be taking a hard look at the Apple Air series as they get pretty competitive with mid to higher end Windows Notebooks now with the M1 chip. I think they will win quite a bit if market share next year in this segment.