Apple Mac Wishlist 2016
Here’s my Wishlist for what I hope Apple does in 2016.
Retina Cinema Display or Target Display Mode
My Cinema Display stopped working late last year and I am missing it. It was useful because it could be driven by any other Mac. So I could easily use it for either home or work.
With Thunderbolt 3 available and apple already using 5k and 4K retina panels in the iMac I really hope that 2016 sees a new stand alone display.
If a new stand alone display won’t happen then perhaps with the new connectors it will be possible for the iMacs to support Target Display Mode again.
When used this way, the iMac screen acts as a display for other Macs. Very helpful.
For either option, a HDMI connector and the ability to support 1080p would also be very useful indeed.
Retina Air
A new display is great, but no current Mac could power it.
I like the MacBook Air. It’s not as portable as the new MacBook but it is way cheaper and faster.
The MacBook Air is the middle for performance too with a 15w processor versus the 4.5-6w processor in the MacBook and 28w processor in the MacBook Pro.
However as it stands the air is a very hard machine to live with. The screen is considerably sub par compared to other options and that rules it out for me.
A 2015 MacBook Air is already faster than my 2013 MacBook Pro so I wouldn’t loose any performance moving down the range.
An air with a retina screen and large 778gb-1tb SSD would do me great for another few years.
SSD Everywhere
Talking of SSDs, Apple needs to finish the transition. I have recently been considering a retina iMac (4K) and when I tried it in the store the performance felt terrible.
After prodding a little further I saw the poor performance was because the base model still has a spinning drive.
This is an area Apple really needs to address. Fusion drives across the board is the only sensible position going forward.
Mac Mini Reboot.
Talking of across the board. The Mac Mini is due a reboot. The Mac Mini has been following the inners of the MacBook since the Intel transition.
With that in mind it’s possible Apple could do something really interesting with the Mac Mini based on the hardware in the MacBook.
Small, Fanless and with an SSD a new smaller Mac Mini could be a really handy computer. The latest skyline chips Supoort 4K resolution too, so there’s no reason a MacBook derived Mac Mini couldn’t use a new 4K external display. It could all be the size of the Apple TV.
Alternatively, if Apple ported OX S to Arm, the new Mac Mini could be the same hardware as the Apple TV. That would be interesting.
final words.
So that’s my Wishlist for Macs in 2016. It will be interesting to see if any of it comes true.