I Can Die Now. - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ehSCWoaOqQ

The Apple Mac Studio Sucks! Here's Why.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLli6T89b2U&t=298s

M1 Ultra Mac Studio - I've Made a HUGE Mistake!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvJ5sO967os&t=250s

Apple's top-level processor rivals a $6,000 CPU.   As I have said before, this is far more power than what most people need.   It is really intended for professionals.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175189413530?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28

Its all a Scam! - Before Replacing Your Phone Battery Watch This

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g41ivRm1ABk

10 Illusions Video Games Create to LIE TO YOU

I find this interesting...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxpGx3XR_vU

Apple's M1 processors and the very expensive Mac Pro.

The bottom line is that I want a more powerful computer.  I can get by with what I have, but my 2017 iMac is only about twice as fast as my rapidly dying late 2009 iMac.  Considering the difference in years, I expected more progress.  I assumed that this would be enough, but it is a bit underwhelming.  Compared to most modern computers, it is way below average.  I have talked to a local repair shop about upgrading the processor to an i7-7700K, which would cost at least $400 with labor, but it would only boost my speed by about 60%.  That might be enough, but if I am getting into that kind of money then I might be better off buying another computer.

For this reason, I get excited when I see big progress being made in computer processors.  The last decade saw only incremental improvement, but what Apple has done with its recent M1 chips is just extraordinary.  The M1 chip is about 2.5 times faster than my 2017 iMac and uses far less power.

However, I'm not rushing out to buy a new Apple computer.  I also need Intel-based Windows compatibility.  My chess programs and other games need this platform.  It is possible to install an Arm-based Windows on an M1 Macintosh, which does come with some Intel emulation, but trying to run Intel-based games on this setup has been described as not worth the trouble.  There are compatibility and performance issues.

Instead, I am waiting for the other manufacturers to catch up to Apple.

In the second half of this year, AMD is going to release their 5-nanometer 7000 series of processors, reportedly all of which will come with some graphics capabilities built into the chips.  These won't be as good as an expensive GPU costing a thousand dollars, but the 7000 series of processors would allow someone to build or buy a powerful computer while saving on graphics hardware.  I suspect that depending on the hardware chosen, a computer with these chips could cost from $500 to $1,000.  I want one.

If you bought a late 2019/early 2020 Mac Pro you might feel like a chump right now.  These machines fully configured could cost $10,000 to $30,000.  These are not consumer devices but intended for professionals who do intensive tasks like video editing.  Still, the machine feels like overkill both in performance and price.  Apple took their extreme pricing to an even more extreme level by offering a very expensive computer monitor, where even the stand by itself cost $1,000.   

It turns out that the M1 chip is very good at video editing because it has specialized circuits dedicated to video processing.  When the M1 chip came out a year ago, I saw YouTubers claiming that they were going to sell their $30,000 Mac Pro because the $700 Mac Mini gave them all the performance that they need.  

However, Apple has taken the M1 chip to more extreme levels.  A few months ago, they introduced laptops that contain the equivalent of 2 or 4 M1 chips, starting at around $2,000.  Although these machines are powerful, this is more computer power than most people need.  Instead, it appears to me that you can get a really good laptop for a few hundred dollars.

I am not fond of laptops because I don't need anything portable.  Laptops typically cost more than desktops and deliver less performance.

Apple didn't stop there.  They just introduced a couple of Mac Studio models, which look like ugly boxes to me, with the equivalent of 4 M1 chips for $2,000 or the equivalent of 8 M1 chips for $4,000.  According to Apple, the higher-priced computer is 90% more powerful than the $30,000 Mac Pro that it has been selling for the last two years.  If you have a Mac Pro, you probably feel like a chump.  When Apple introduced it, they had to know that they were going to come out with the M1 chip a year later.

This tells me that Apple is always ready to gouge its customers.  They get away with it because some people have more money than sense.

The $4,000 Mac Studio is almost the most powerful computer that you can buy, and Apple claims that it is the most powerful computer for the price.

Apple has stated that they are going to come out with a new Mac Pro.  It might be an iMac model.  The rumor mill says that it will have the equivalent of 16 M1 chips on it, but using an upcoming M2 chip instead.  We shall see, but who needs this much power?

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Is Your iPad Obsolete and Outdated?

My iPad 4 was a serious investment. I don't think that I got $400 value out of it. There are many apps that it will no longer run, so I feel abandoned by Apple.

My $75 Fire HD 10 inch tablet is almost as powerful and runs everything I have tried.

The situation is far worse with the $200 Microsoft Surface tablet that I purchased 10 years ago. It was very underwhelming to begin with, and now it will run next to nothing. There is an online support group of people who for some strange reason are still fans of this tablet.

I've been arguing that people don't need tablets if they have a good smartphone.

https://www.lifewire.com/obsolete-ipad-4138570

iOS 15 Settings You Need To Turn Off Now

Since I upgraded to IOS 15, my battery life has seemed to be worse.  This video is interesting for limiting background traffic and protecting privacy.  

Not sure about Android phones, but there may be some settings that are similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxdoC2sG1i4

Transistor count

Apple tops the transistor count in Microprocessors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_count

Apple SUED for refusing warranty repair!

https://youtu.be/_v2_yK30YB4

Apple Took All My Money

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNUQ2o-wiL8&t=607s

Not personally interested in laptops, but I am impressed with the progress Apple has made with its custom processors.  Apple was the first company to introduce a 5-nanometer processor.  I'm waiting for AMD and Intel to catch up.  Until recently, Intel was struggling to go from 14-nanometers to 10-nanometers.

The biggest chip manufacturer is in Tawain.  It has been reported that Intel has contracted for 100% of the not yet available 3-nanometer chip production.  In other words, everyone else is out of luck and would have to look elsewhere to produce faster chips.

Did Apple Just Prove the iPhone Could be Cheaper?

More than one person has pointed out that the new iPad Mini is cheaper than the new iPhones, with essentially the same hardware.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPidIspifRM&t=837s

The Semiconductor Heist Of The Century | Arm China Has Gone Completely Rogue, Operating As An Independent Company With Inhouse IP/R&D – SemiAnalysis

https://semianalysis.com/the-semiconductor-heist-of-the-century-arm-china-has-gone-completely-rogue-operating-as-an-independent-company-with-their-own-ip/

Streaming videogames

Roughly 32 years ago I had an argument with a coworker.  He argued that once internet speeds became fast enough to transmit full-screen video, we wouldn't need game consoles, since we would be able to stream video games from a server to our computer screens.  Rather than pay for expensive hardware, that hardware could be on a server someplace, saving us money.

I have to admit that he had remarkable foresight literally 30 years ahead of his time.  This was at a time when the Internet was text only.  However, I saw a number of problems with his idea...

1.  Internet speeds were still fairly low, like 1,200 to 2,400 bits per second.

2.  Latency is always an issue when playing games.  No matter fast your Internet is, there is an overhead to transmitting data back and forth.  

3.  It is always advantageous to have your own hardware.  Imagine having to share hardware with other people competing for the same physical resources.  I figured that hardware would get cheaper over time, eliminating the need to share hardware with other people.

4.  His idea reminded me of the early days of computing where you would have to dial into a mainframe using a dumb terminal, one of which I actually owned and used at the time, whereas the new trend in computing was for everyone to have their own computer.

I argued that streaming video games would never be practical.  He couldn't understand why I didn't see the obvious wisdom of his idea.

Two years ago Google introduced Stadia, which was a video game streaming service, and it totally flopped.  Other companies like Microsoft and Amazon are working on the same idea, but they all suffer from the same problems like latency. 

It makes very little sense to be dependent on unreliable Internet communication and shared hardware to play games when you can purchase a video game console like the Xbox Series X for $500.  Putting hardware in a centralized location instead of your living room isn't necessarily cheaper, except that you can share that hardware with other people, but what if you all want to use the hardware at the same time?

In theory, this could become practical someday, but the same technology that will make this more feasible will also make it more feasible for you to have your own hardware that is just as good.  This is the problem I saw three decades ago.

How THIS wallpaper kills your phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXKvwPjCGnY

Apple is about to start scanning iPhone users' devices for banned content, warns professor • The Register

https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/05/apple_csam_scanning/?td=keepreading-btm

Apple claims to protect its customer's privacy.  Regardles of how good the cause is, I don't want them looking at my photographs.  It also shouldn't be their job to act as police.

The price of Flash drives

Five years ago I wrote:

I think that the first flash drive I owned was either 128 or 256 megabytes. Later I would get a 512 because I had a computer that could record television and I could fit a single program on a 512, which at the time seemed impressive. Now you can purchase 128 gigabyte (128,000 megabyte) flash drives for under $30.

I remember 1-gigabyte drives costing like $90. When my company gave me one I felt privileged. Now you can't even buy them, and no one would want one anyway.

When the IBM computer came out with its first hard drive in the mid-1980s, it was only 5 megabytes and cost a fortune.
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Now it is possible to buy a 1TB flash drive for around $180 to $200. However, there seem to be a bunch of cheap ones for sale that are fake.

For $15 to $60 you can get 128GB to 512 GB flash drives which are a better deal.

--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

The $200,000 Smartphone Unboxing

Some people have much more money than sense.

https://youtu.be/zDG-n8JN_78?t=902

Apple vs The Paradox of Choice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNAo0UdYF6g

Apple Is Hiding Something…

Computers for rich people.

https://youtu.be/2GlbxfquG-U