I sure would like them to start prioritizing efficiency before performance/features in products like the watch. A two/three day Apple Watch battery would make me far more likely to use it for sleep tracking.
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I think they’re starting to with the ultra at least. Got an Ultra 2 last week, ran 15 miles today with always on display + cellular connection on and had 80% left after the run. Was really impressed. Hopefully that comes to the regular watches down the line.
I hope the band connector redesign and possible skipping of a year before much bigger updates in the Apple watch X/Ultra 3 lead to big increases in battery life
I don’t see how redesigning the band connector will lead to improved battery life…
Like they aren’t doing that already. Maybe they just can’t with this tiny battery.
Wait do Apple Watches not last 2-3 days?
My old Samsung Gear S3 Frontier was rated for 3 days and often went 4-5 way back in 2016. I cannot imagine owning a smartwatch that lasted less than 3.
They can last multiple days if you turn off the AOD.
I have a series 7 and use it every night for tracking. I just plug it in about an hour before I go to sleep and then again for an hour in the morning when I’m getting ready. I wouldn’t mind it having a longer battery life, but I rarely find it running low
If you charge it while you’re having a shower, and don’t have the always on display, you can pretty much wear it all the time with all the monitoring bells and whistles on.
It definitely feels like there was a price jump this series with the base model starting at 8GB, so you have to pay a lot more just to get 16
Not really, discounting the 13 inch MacBook Pro that also has 8GB of ram, the cheapest MacBook Pro with Pro chips was and is still $2000. Now the M3 base chip is $1600 for the Pro, and even accounting for the jump to 16GB of ram (nobody should be buying that 8gb of ram model) it's still only $1800.
Then again the 15 inch MacBook Air is only going to be $100 cheaper than the same specs Pro models. (And why they're redundant but that's another story.
I got the baseline M1 14" and it was £1,800. The equivalent now is £2,100
The UK definitely saw a price jump because everything got more expensive & Apple saw opportunity in that.
I don’t think it was a global price hike, though.
Opportunity?
I think it’s just called an exchange rate. They (and all other companies) adjust pricing periodically to adjust for devaluing currencies.
so basically you are saying the 15” MBA at 16GB RAM is not worth it vs the 13” MBP at 8GB RAM?
The issue is that the 15" M2 Air and the 14" M3 Pro are too close together. The only really save here is that Apple jumped up the M3 to appear in the 14" Pro before the 13" Air this time. Maybe that will be the plan going forward? That Pros get new gen chips first.
The M3 MBP and 15" M2 Air are too close together with 8GB and the M3 in the new 14" chassis without 16GB ram just isn't good value proposition for an MBP model. Now if the M3 MBP only cane with 16GB or 24gb it would be a slam dunk... but telling people an MBP with 8GB is a bad joke and the upgrade to 16GB is way too expensive in a $1600 laptop.
The M3 MBP and 15" M2 Air are too close together with 8GB and the M3 in the new 14" chassis without 16GB ram just isn't good value proposition for an MBP model.
I dunno, I think there is a bit of overlap for the 13" MBA and base 14" MBP. Once you spec them for similar internals, it's a $200 difference which nets you the XDR/ProMotion panel, extra cooling, and built-in HDMI 2.1 and SD card slots, while also reducing (albeit not eliminating) the arbitrary external monitor limit.
The problem is that the base MBA is such a good computer in its own right that it's debatable whether it's worth speccing the internals higher rather than just committing to a slightly more expensive MBP to start.
“Oh look honey!!!! Another wall of numbers that don’t matter!”
Law of diminishing returns. You can only innovate so much as the generations proceed further.
It's a laptop, efficiency should be the number one priority, then performance.
I didn't check off the flickering option.
Do people think it's worth upgrading from M1 MBP Stock 14inch to M3? Macbooks in general are pretty expensive so I try to wait till my laptop is way too slow / about to die to upgrade but M3 looks pretty great from a performance standpoint.
More efficiency, more performance. When you are already the best, you don’t need a significant jump in performance. Battery efficiency though? The battery life on these Mac’s is already outstanding, but I will always want more. The dream is a battery that never runs out 😁
As a developer who spends 99% of the time docked to a monitor though I'd happily take performance over efficiency..
Buy a desktop/Mac Studio. That's literally what they're for. Want or need to work remote? Use an iPad to remote into your desktop for performance. These days the only reason to buy a workstation laptop is if you need performance remotely somewhere that doesn't have good internet or you're mobile 75% of the time.
if you turn on power saving mode when you’re doing light tasks the laptop runs forever at 50% brightness.
I find myself doing that like twice a month so it’s not a concern at all, battery life is phenomenal for the power these machines have while producing minimal heat and being completely silent.
I have the 16 Pro Max that's always plugged in, so I had no idea how good the battery life was. Went to the office a few days ago and forgot the charger at home and was planning on asking people if they got a spare charger. Finished the working day on 25%. That's more than enough for me.
If it is plugged in most of the time you might want to consider "AlDente".
MacOS has a built in 80% limiter for Macs that stay plugged in a lot. There is even a menu bar option to trigger a charge to 100% before needing to leave.
Not required on modern Mac. Have not used it and compared my battery health to those who have and my health is better with more cycles.
The dream is a battery that never runs out 😁
in my home, we do not violate the Laws of Physics.
in my home, we do not violate the Laws of Physics.
In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!
Violate the law of gravity at your own risk at MY house
I just got the 2023 MBP 16" (base model) and honestly I'm insanely impressed with the battery life. I work in the living room from about 8am to 6pm and have ended the day with ~20% battery life. So when they say all day battery life they aren't kidding.
Obviously if I'm on non-stop zoom meetings or doing more intensive stuff it might not last, but so far its been impressive.
Currently waiting for my order. Any Pro or Mac chip is a total overkill for my use, but i still wanted a Pro machine. Awesome to hear that the M3 Pro 16 inch is that efficient. Should still be overkill for my use in even five years time.
My only complain is the lack of Wi-Fi 7. Considering that a laptop lasts several years, would be great if it comes with the latest Wi-Fi tech.
My only complain is the lack of Wi-Fi 7
As /u/januszeal pointed out, WiFi 7 has not been completely finalized yet. Additionally, it's not like WiFi 6E is slow or will become slow in the useful lifetime of this laptop.
new to apple?
Probably old enough to remember that Apple used to be the early adopter of new tech (Wireless AC, USB-C, Thunderbolt and USB)
Sounds like a review where you go out of your way to make the best in class laptop sound just ok.
Performance and efficiency aside, I just can’t stand the new style of trackpad… my wife has the 15 inch air, and both her and I find it incredibly difficult to click and drag files around, and accidentally clicking on shit that we didn’t mean to.