Worldwide Developers Conference 2017

[Grey-gear]

Anyone going to be watching the keynote speech tonight? It starts about 6pm UK time.

[Grey-gear]

So to sum up WWDC 2017

 

1. TVOS will be getting Amazon Prime Apps

2. WatchOS4 will make it easier to navigate around the Apps

3. New MacOS called High Sierra

4. New Mac Pro end of the year

5. iOS11 coming out fall

6. New iPad Pro 10.5 ich (some a middle option)

7. Apple HomePob to compete with amazon and google home systems

[Chris_]

So to sum up WWDC 2017

 

1. TVOS will be getting Amazon Prime Apps

2. WatchOS4 will make it easier to navigate around the Apps

3. New MacOS called High Sierra

4. New Mac Pro end of the year

5. iOS11 coming out fall

6. New iPad Pro 10.5 ich (some a middle option)

7. Apple HomePob to compete with amazon and google home systems

 

Not a Mac Pro, just an iMac Pro..

[Norphy]

Not a Mac Pro, just an iMac Pro..

 

I don't know about the

 

I have no doubt it's going to be SPECTACULARLY expensive but it is one hell of an impressive machine! Up to 18 cores, 32GB RAM as standard, configurable up to 128GB, 1TB SSD, 10GbaseT ethernet, 8GB Vega graphics card, four Thunderbolt 3 ports PLUS four more USB 3 type A ports. I just hope they haven't glued to screen to the front of the thing again so that the RAM can be easily expanded. Not going to count on it though.

[Arthur]

7. Apple HomePob to compete with amazon and google home systems

A Pob for home? That sounds pretty cool!

 

[Chris_]

I don't know about the

 

I have no doubt it's going to be SPECTACULARLY expensive but it is one hell of an impressive machine! Up to 18 cores, 32GB RAM as standard, configurable up to 128GB, 1TB SSD, 10GbaseT ethernet, 8GB Vega graphics card, four Thunderbolt 3 ports PLUS four more USB 3 type A ports. I just hope they haven't glued to screen to the front of the thing again so that the RAM can be easily expanded. Not going to count on it though.

 

Sad face because some people just want something a little more sensible, like Mac Mini or Mac Pro form factor. No need for a 27" 5k display if it's to go in a rack..

[psydii]

The speaker thing is being pushed as a best in class speaker ("oh and it has Siri") rather that a competitor to Alexa or Google speakers per say, because Apple has always done rather good audio accessories (though not usually as the main feature in a high profile product), and there is still work to do before Siri can compete seriously with the other voice activated assistants out there.

 

The iMac Pro won't have end user upgradable RAM. Is this is hubris on Apple's part? They so nearly had an awesome product there.... but...

 

The MacPro was not show yesterday. The iMac and the MacBookPro haven't fundamentally changed design since the middle of last decade. The macPro did.

 

Provided apple get over themselves, the new macPro will be a beautifully designed tower that looks quite similar to the 2006-2012 one (but in space grey) with accessible parts, optional dual processor, with user upgradable (in box) graphics, ram and storage using industry standard connectors and form factors. I wonder if the iMacPro's soldered ram has been done to ensure greater differentiation between it and the future MacPro?

 

The other big hardware thing seen was the external GPU support. It's been around for ages, but is now official, and Apple have released their own.

 

It is clear that on the macOS front they are pumping resources into the ecosystem to give the professionals working at the intersections of 3D and machine learning reason to use the platform. I suspect this is their last chance. If the iMac and iMacPro's don't refresh regularly with new CPUs and GPUs they will have blown it.

 

On the iOS/iPad front, they are going for the traditional information worker and artists market. Files = Finder for iOS + Cloud.

 

On Phones, they just need to keep up/keep ahead of the competition.

 

 

WWDC'17 is the first big event for a while where it is clear that Apple have realised that they need to make sure their whole ecosystem is sufficiently compelling to compete successfully with the alternatives. Whether they are successful or not will only be clear 18 months from now when the first generation products created with these tools and technologies will have been out a while and the second generation will be being released. If there are no improvements to the fundamentals (Metal2.x iMacPro2 etc) then they will have lost the high end and the creatives, possibly for ever.

 

Meanwhile we should all watch the State of the Union presentation, as it moves beyond the shiney, mainstream press friendly stuff and get the techies/geeks somethings properly interesting: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/102/

Edited June 6, 2017 by psydii

[Arthur]

 

The other big hardware thing seen was the external GPU support. It's been around for ages, but is now official, and Apple have released their own.

Easily the best new feature.

 

[ZeroHour]

It looks nice but I think it supposed to be around £5000 starting which would be rather crazy if true.

[Arthur]

I wonder if the iMac Pro's soldered ram has been done to ensure greater differentiation between it and the future MacPro?

The RAM doesn't look soldered in Apple's pictures.

 

 

The new 4K iMac doesn't have soldered RAM either.

 

https://arstechnica.co.uk/apple/2017/06/new-mac-macbook-pro-2017

 

Another welcome change is that, according to Apple, the RAM in the 4K models is no longer soldered to the motherboard. The RAM is still not what Apple considers to be “user accessible,” but if an authorised service provider goes to the trouble of opening your iMac up, they'll find two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots that can take up to 32GB of memory.

 

iMac Intel 21.5" Retina 4K Display 2017 Teardown / Teardown of new 4K 21.5-inch iMac reveals removable RAM and modular CPU

 

It may not be as accessible as the (dead simple) RAM hatch found in the 27" iMacs—but still, this is a major win for upgradability over all the 21.5" iMacs with soldered RAM that we've encountered in recent years.

 

[psydii]

Indeed I mis -represented the issue. There isn't an way to reach the RAM without removing the screen and system board, making it non upgradable to most people.