New Apple HomePod and MacBooks: What We Did (and Didn't) Get

Speaker 1: In one week we got New MacBooks, a New Mac Mini, and a new HomePod. But I'm feeling divided about all the news. There were big production videos, but there was no event. It's the January Apple event that never was. I was looking forward to a new improved HomePod, but it won't stereo pair the old and new ones together. There were so many cool MacBook improvements, but why can't Apple give us more money for trade-ins if we want to upgrade? We got a lot of Apple news this week, [00:00:30] but there's one more thing we need to address what we didn't get. Speaker 1: Welcome to the fifth episode of one More Thing. This is Cena's new Apple Show with me, Bridget Carey. Every week it seems Apple is giving us one more thing to think about in our blue bubble. Siri conversing Apley lives. Now, you may have noticed me doing Apple videos every Friday for the past several weeks, and yes, that is all part of this new launch, so be sure to subscribe to the channel to catch the Friday episodes. And yes, I know it is one [00:01:00] more thing to watch, but I do hope to make this a show where you can get caught up on all the latest buzz, but also we can talk about what it means going forward in the big picture and a place for real talk on what has us excited or what Apple could do better. Maybe a little bit of both, which brings us to the two sides to all the Apple news this week. Speaker 1: I wanna start with the home pod because that is really what has me the most intrigued on how Apple has taken a product that it discontinued and revived it. Bringing it back with a $300 [00:01:30] price tag. Now that's the same price Apple last sold it at, and it's basically the same basic design style, but now with a new midnight color option. When Apple discontinued it in 2021, the company focused on the smaller, more colorful HomePod Mini, and it was a price you could stomach. It was a hundred dollars, but this new full size version is back and it can be ordered now and it starts shipping on February 3rd. The insides of this new model are a bit different this time. It's [00:02:00] got a four inch woofer paired with five tweeters, the original head seven tweeters, and it's got five microphones, the original head seven microphones. Speaker 1: Apple says immersive audio is better, and we will have to see in reviews of how Apple pulls this off. Testing how fewer tweeters are gonna perform with spatial audio. That's the term Apple uses for 360 degree sound effects, and that includes Dolby Atmos surround sound music that's available on Apple Music. Now, you'd want a speaker that gives you height and depth to where [00:02:30] it blasts the sound. The new HomePod also now has the dual core S seven processor, which you would find in the Apple Watch series seven that came out in 2021. Apple Speaker, it's smart enough to optimize the acoustics in real time and they could understand its location in a room using mics to listen for sound reflections. So Apple says it's gonna adjust if the speaker is against the wall or if it's in the middle of the room. Now some notable smart home things, it's gonna do the same things it did before with controlling the smart home with Siri [00:03:00] voice controls and you can pass music off from your phone to the speaker, but now there are temperature and humidity sensors so it can close your smart blinds or turn on a fan if the room hits a certain temperature. Speaker 1: And if it hears a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide alarm blaring in the house, it's gonna alert you on the iPhone. Now that is an update coming in the spring. It supports the new matter standard that's gonna work with numerous smart home devices. So we're gonna see how that shapes up with making your various Amazon and Google Smart Home products work [00:03:30] well together. If you have other home pods, they can be linked to play music in different rooms or you can use 'em for the intercom system. But here is where they get ya. If you invested in the original model, you cannot link it to make a stereo pair with the new one. You can only do the stereo audio effect if you have two of the same model. So no mixing old and new for stereo. Sure, they may not match exactly in looks, the new one is ever so slightly smaller, but not having stereo work together feels wasteful [00:04:00] in a time where we are trying to be better about our tech footprint. Speaker 1: I have a HomePod Mini in the bedroom. I enjoy it because I use Apple Music. It's all intertwined and it seems my mini is also gonna get some of these new temperature sensing perks. Mac rumors pointed out that when you look at the Apple feature comparisons, the temperature and humidity sensor is also listed for the mini on Apple's website, and that sensor was reportedly inactive since it launched in 2020. So, hey, I'm a mini owner and I'm getting a new perk, but I [00:04:30] am really curious about how much better spatial audio sounds and if it's worth investing in two of these new home pods for a living room TV setup, and I can't help but wonder if I buy one. Is Apple gonna make any features incompatible for version three? Hmm, let's flip over to the other big news, updated MacBooks and the New Mac mini. Speaker 1: We now have the M two PRO and the M two max Apple silicon chips. So the CPU and the GPU are more powerful and these chips are now available in the newest line [00:05:00] of laptops. So Apple says, if your image processing in Photoshop an M two PRO and a 60 inch MacBook is gonna be 40% faster than the previous model with the M one Pro, and that came out in October of 2021. So if you're doing graphics sensitive projects that M two max, it's a beast. Apple says graphic speeds are generally 30% faster than the M one max. Now, besides the boosted processing power, the M two PRO and the max both are more energy efficient, so you could get up to 22 [00:05:30] hours of battery life on the MacBook Pro. And these new laptops, they get wifi six E. So if you have a compatible router, even faster wireless internet. Speaker 1: Now these laptops, they have the power of a desktop. That is awesome. And the Mac Mini desktop machine also gets a boost with the new version offering M two and M two Pro Chipps, and it starts at $600 for the M two version. So those new gadgets, they're available to order and they arrive in stores on January 24th. But where else could we see the new M two chips? [00:06:00] Well, it is possible Apple could roll it out this year to the 24 inch iMac, the Mac Studio and the Mac Pro desktop. But what didn't we get here? I'm not really talking so much about a missing feature. What I wanted to point out is the shock at how little folks are getting for a trade-in of an old machine. Mkb HD researcher, David Amel and Marcus Braley himself brought attention to the fact that you could have a Mac Pro that costs over 52 grand and it's still sold to that [00:06:30] same price today. Speaker 1: It's only three years old, and Apple is giving $970 in trade-in value. Others also chimed in on Twitter about their poor trade-in values for MacBook. Pros with M one chips from late 2021 and Mac Rumors, it pulled in a few of these comments together from its own forums. You know, it's nice to think about how Apple is being responsible about recycling and reusing parts, but maybe it's better to sell it on your own in some cases. Now, if you're wondering, hey, this whole MacBook announcement [00:07:00] does feel a little bit off. Well, the timing is off. These new MacBook Pros were expected to come out months ago. Bloomberg News reported in October that supply chain issues push this launch from last year to now. Some folks even highlighted on Twitter that the file names for these big splashy Apple videos are dated 2022. So what is that delay doing across the board? Well, I will be interested to see how this affects the launch of Apple's VR and AR headset Bloomberg's. Mark Goman says that Apple has indefinitely delayed [00:07:30] its AR headset. Instead, the company is gonna focus on the mixed reality headset coming later this year. The usual rhythm of Apple things is off for 2023, so you gotta stay on your toes. What about this product news is giving you mixed feelings. Sound off in the comments? I'm Bridget Carey. Catch you next time.