randominternetperson

The original "fat" Mac was US$3,195 (equivalent to $9,670 in 2024)

If you are left handed, it is very important to try before you buy. Or at least this is the case with the Apple Pencil Pro.

One of the key features of the Pro is the ability to squeeze the barrel to bring up a arc-shaped palette of pens/tools. When it appears, it shows undo, redo, 3 pens, a color picker and the ... more options icon, as shown here.


For whatever reason, when holding the pencil with your left hand, it is difficult or impossible to select the first 2 and last 2 options. For example, trying to change colors by tapping on the color picker instead makes the palette disappear and start a mark on the screen.

Many lefties have reported this behavior but others have no problem, so it must depend on your hand position or something. Hence my advice to try before you buy.

No one knows why Apple hasn't fixed this. It's been reported repeatedly since July of last year. Do they have no lefties on the iPad team?

I wish it were a lot easier to understand the throughput capabilities of these darn things.

 Check out the description of the OWC enclosure linked in the article:

 Title: OWC 2TB Express 1M2 Portable NVMe Thunderbolt (USB-C) SSD USB4 Ultra Fast External SSD Drive with Aluminum Heat Sink Enclosure

 Yikes. (I like how "SSD" appears twice)

About this item:

• Ultra-fast: over 2x faster than Thunderbolt portable enclosures with up to 3151MB/s real-world performance
• Ultra-compatible: use with USB4, Thunderbolt, and USB-C computers and devices
• Ultra-reliable: aircraft grade aluminum offers rugged protection of your SSD while silently keeping drive cool for consistent top speed
• Flexible DIY: use your choice of NVMe M.2 2280, 2242, or 2230 SSD
• Portable: bus-powered and palm-sized for convenient use anywhere
• Complete: includes 40Gb/s USB-C cable and screwdriver for enclosure

Translating between megabytes and gigabits is left as an exercise for the reader.

Finally there is this helpful note:

Don't Get Fooled
Because we're widely considered the Thunderbolt experts, we must know all the little details that others purposefully overlook or hide. For a bus-powered enclosure to be Thunderbolt certified, it must meet Inter power specifications. As such, speeds are limited to 1500MB/s. While many no-name brands claim to be USB4, they are in fact Thunderbolt 3 solutions that do not follow Intel specifications. Unlike those budget brand pretenders that will leave you being fooled and disappointed in far lower speeds, the Express 1M2's true UBS4 connectivity assures you of an astounding doubling of Thunderbolt's speed.

Is Thunderbolt 4 the same as USB4 as the article implies or not? The "Thunderbolt experts" suggest otherwise.

How the heck is Joe Not-a-Nerd Public supposed to get this right?

I'm surprised at how little has been changed after 3 long years. Based on those benchmark charts, I see a nice, but not amazing, speed bump, obscure camera bump (Smart HDR 4 versus Smart HDR 3), faster USB (so exciting), and compatibility with the new Pro pencil. Sure the new model has more storage, but you can get even more by just buying the prior version on sale. I can see why this was a press release and not saved for an "event."

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they refreshed it, but it's just a modest refresh.

AppleInsider said:

Despite no case battery, Beats has managed to squeeze out a lot of battery life from the Solo Buds. It's claimed that they can last for up to 18 hours from a single charge.

How is that possible?  That's like 3x what AirPods get, right?