iMac with Retina 5K display.
The iPhone and iPad will prove popular presents this holiday season
Last week, I had an email from Apple with information about what is on offer for the holiday season. With the mellow colour scheme and the motif of kids silhouetted in a tent, it showed pretty much what is on offer online. There are no Black Friday deals here (Chinese New Year sees some), but the advent of December signals the season of gift-giving whatever one's faith.
Top of the list for many will be an iPhone or iPad. The iPhone 6 Plus is more popular in Asia than Europe or the USA. The split is 63:37 and 64:36 for the Philippines and Vietnam respectively. I have no figures for Thailand.
The iPhone 5s (16 and 32GB) and iPhone 5c (8GB) are still available, so there is a good range of options with the 4.7-inch screen of the iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch screen of the iPhone 6 Plus. I went for the iPhone 6 because of the way I work and because I wanted the largest capacity (128GB). It is around 4,000 baht more for the larger device.
iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, left.
There are two new iPads: the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3, but the whole range still includes iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad mini 2. Again the size and capacity reflect the price, but larger may not always be better. I use the iPad Air 2 that arrived recently and the larger size is fine when sitting down at home. A friend carries an iPad mini everywhere and loves the smaller size.
A check of some iStudio stores at the weekend — and the Apple Online Store for Thailand — show that only the Wi-Fi versions of the newest iPads are available here. Those with Wi-Fi + SIM (Carrier) have yet to arrive. I was told, "end of the month". That is four days. iPads with SIM cards are big sellers here. Apple, the stores and the carriers will lose if these are not on sale soon. Those older models are available with SIM cards.
All iOS devices come with some apps ready-installed and it is easy to set up an account in the iTunes App Store to access the thousands of free apps available. I would also recommend investing in a few of the paid apps.
The Mac has seen something of a resurgence in recent months. Some put this down to being associated with the iPhone and iPad: a halo effect. Whatever the reason, like the iOS devices, Apple limits the ranges: desktop machines are Mac Pro, Mac mini and iMac; notebooks are 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro computers and the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air. All the notebook computers come with solid state drives (SSD) from 128 to 512GB.
The Mac Pro is a heavyweight computer: highly-configurable. Options include several processor types and hard disk sizes, as well as RAM up to 64GB. It is not a machine for the average home user, that crown belongs to the iMac.
The all-in-one iMac has always been a good-looking and safe machine, but recent updates have upped their game. At the lower end is a 1.4GHz iMac with 21.5-inch screen (37,900 baht). It may seem slow to those who are seduced by speed and will not be the best choice for those who work in photography or imaging, but as a home machine, for a family, this is a good choice.
At the other end of the iMac spectrum is the recently-announced 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display: 5120x2880 pixels. This 3.5GHz machine costs 85,900 baht. Between these two iMacs are several 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac models. All iMacs have a number of configurable options.
iPhone 6.
The Mac mini was originally announced as a way to bring users over from PCs to Macs. Users can use most modern screens, almost any keyboard with a USB connector and any USB mouse. OS X does not need drivers for these. Macs of course can also run Windows and there are a number of ways that allow users to do this, including Apple's Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion.
I know a number of people with these and the Mac mini has a good record of reliability. With the full options available, the 2.8GHz Mac mini would make a powerful machine. Apple also has a server option.
Like the iMac, the Mac mini starts with a 1.4GHz processor (16,900 baht) and 4GB RAM. There are two other models with 2.6GHz and 2.8GHz processors. Note, however, the way the Mac mini is built these days. Like the MacBook Pro, RAM is not upgradeable by the user. That is why I ordered my MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM instead of its normal 8GB.
Next time: Apple notebook computers.
Mac mini.
Graham K. Rogers of Mahidol University's Engineering Faculty, has OS X-flavoured web pages at www.extensions.in.th/index4.html
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