Apple TV / MacBook / Apple Watch
At the March meeting we discussed Apple’s March 9th “Spring Forward” announcement where the biggest news was pricing and availability details on the Apple Watch, but they also had some Mac and other news to share.
The price of the Apple TV streaming box has been cut to $69 and Apple and HBO announced a new HBO Now service which will be available starting in April for $15 a month, without requiring a cable subscription. It will give on-demand access to all their current and past content from your Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad, and the first month will be free.
Apple also announced their thinnest, most energy efficient laptop yet and called it simply a MacBook. To make it even thinner than the MacBook Air they had to innovate in several areas such as battery shape and keyboard mechanics, as well as further reduce the number of ports. It only has two—a new smaller, reversible USB type C port that supports the brand new faster USB 3.1 standard and also charging (in both directions), and a combined headphone/line-in audio jack. Apple will sell three adapters for the USB type C port, one to accommodate traditional USB cables, a multiport adapter that will include HDMI, and another for VGA. The new Touch Force trackpad no longer physically moves but detects how much force you use to press it and provides haptic and audio feedback.
The pricing on the Apple Watch was announced with the Sport model starting at $349 for the smaller 38 mm aluminum case and a fluoroelastomer sport band, and $399 for one with a 42 mm case. The stainless steel Apple Watch starts at $549 and goes up depending on the size and band you choose, with includes some very nice leather and metal band choices. There is also the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition that starts at $10,000 and goes all the way up to $17,000! Aside from telling time it will support activity tracking, notifications from your iPhone, and Apple Pay. You’ll need at least an iPhone 5 in order to use an Apple Watch.
We also answered some Mac and iPhone questions. One member has an iPhone but a Windows machine instead of a Mac, and wondered how he could get his iPhone photos onto his PC. That answer is to connect to iTunes on your Windows machine and go into the Photos tab of the iPhone’s Settings in iTunes. There you will find a Sync Photos checkbox and a drop-down for selecting a folder so your photos will automatically sync every time you connect your iPhone to your PC. Apple also has a support page here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201302.
Another member was interested in how he could play music from his MacBook Pro (or an iPhone or iPad) on an external speaker. You can do this wirelessly with a Bluetooth speaker. A good source for reviews of this kind of gear is the YouTube channel HiFi Heaven. If you also want to improve your TV sound there are soundbars that sit low in front of your HDTV on a TV stand or speaker bases on which the TV can sit, either of which sometimes includes Bluetooth for a wireless connection in addition to a wired connection to your TV.