It Came from Discord: Apple’s WWDC announcements

In addition to the stream, I’m trying something new today. To promote Damage Control’s Discord server, I’m sharing an impromptu discussion from there about a then-current event. Today’s Monday’s topic: Apple’s announcement of new OS features, the Mac Pro and their new pro display at the Worldwide Developers’ Conference.

What follows has been lightly edited to correct spelling, complete sentences and include any missing punctuation.

Drew Young (Features Editor): With Voice Control, Siri finally overcomes its baffling inability to adjust volume.

Angela Moseley (Executive Editor): To be honest, I don’t know crap about Siri. XD The only Apple products I own are a 4th-gen iPod Touch, and an even older iPod Nano with a touch screen.

Drew: They did finally unveil the new Mac tower today. Sure doesn’t look like they’ve been working on it for 2+ years.

Angela: Though I do admit, Apple is making some interesting moves on privacy:

CNET – Apple privacy push takes on all the creepy ways you’re tracked online.

Hopefully, that tower is worth it for you, Drew.

Drew: Of course, the second Apple turns on us, we’re even more screwed than we would have been with the other guys [on privacy].

The tower starts at $5,999, so it’s not for me.

Angela: Yikes, that’s an expensive PC.

As for Apple turning, I guess that would be when hardware sales aren’t so profitable?

Drew: I love the software, but Apple continues to not make a hardware product for my market segment.

Angela: What is your market segment?

Drew: Power-user: Wants more muscle than the iMac, but doesn’t need their face melted by the Mac Pro.

Angela: Ah. Is this why things like the Hackintosh exist?

Drew: Yep. It fills in the gap.

I was hoping there would be a wider range of desktops under the new paradigm; but it’s just the bottom-feeder Mac Mini and “Edit 8K video out of the box” Mac Pro.

Angela: You would think they’d give consumers a wider range of options. That lack of flexibility is why I don’t really use Macs to begin with. I guess I don’t like being told what parts can and can’t swap out on my PC.

Drew: That’s allegedly what they say the iMac is for; but I want upgradeable/replaceable parts and better thermals than any iMac can offer. In the iMac, the SSD and the RAM are soldered onto the motherboard. If anything goes wrong, the whole thing is a brick — integrated monitor included.

Angela: Again, I think this is why I’m good with my desktop PC.

Drew: [The iMac] is a nice package, but I feel a lot better about my stuff when it’s fault-tolerant. The whole non-upgradeable thing is such a scam. They charge two to three times fair-market value for the upgrades because you can’t change it once it comes off the assembly line. I’d totally buy a bare Mac and pick up my RAM, SSD, etc. from other vendors if it were an option.

Angela: Yeah, but their current system is working, so they don’t have an incentive to allow buyers to do upgrades on their own.

Drew: Since you’ve been shopping parts recently, you’re in a good spot to try this exercise. Configure a Mac Mini and keep an eye on the costs: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini

Angela: I’m done getting my parts, but I’ll do the exercise.

First issue. The processor. I can’t find one with the options presented that matches mine.

The Mac Mini processor: 3.0GHz 6-Core Processor with Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz 256GB Storage

The AMD processor I bought: AMD RYZEN 7 2700X 8-Core 3.7 GHz (4.3 GHz Max Boost) Socket AM4 105W YD270XBGAFBOX Desktop Processor.

So off the bat, I’m going with the more expensive Mac Mini…

Just adding a more power processor to get closer to the AMD one I have has brought my price up by $200. Right now this Mac Mini is at $1,299. (My total build, sans the GPU) cost $1,330, but I’m just getting started with the Mac Mini…

Okay I’m done. And this thing is still more expensive than the parts I just ordered.

This is the final customized build for the Mac Mini:

• 3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)
• 16GB 2666MHz DDR4
• Intel UHD Graphics 630
• 1TB SSD storage
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet using RJ-45 connector)

Total price: $2,099

Oh, wait I need to change the specs. I ordered a 2TB hybrid hard drive. That means my rig has a total of 2.5TB, with a 500GB SSD that will serve as the C drive, and a 2TB drive that will be purely for storage.

Adding a 2TB hard drive to the Mac Mini brings the total up to $2,699.00.

So my build even if I had gotten the new graphics card for my own PC, the cost would have been about $1,550.

My build:

• AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Processor with Wraith Prism LED Cooler – YD270XBGAFBOX
• Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz
• ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Extreme AMD Ryzen AM4 DDR4 M.2 USB 3.1 EATX X370 Motherboard
• Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB 2.5 inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E500B/AM)
• Seagate FireCuda 2TB Solid State Hybrid Drive Performance SSHD – 3.5 Inch SATA
• LG Electronics Blu-ray DVD Writer (UH12NS40)
• Lite-On 24X SATA Internal DVD+/-RW Drive Optical Drive IHAS124-14
• Rosewill Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case Cases Thor V2 Black
• Acer SB230 Bbix 23″ Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS Ultra-Thin Zero Frame Monitor
• I’m going with a amd radeon hd 7990, graphics card, but that was given to me by a friend. (If I hadn’t gotten that card, I would have gone with a MSI Gaming Radeon RX 570 256-bit 8GB GDRR5 DirectX 12)

So if I went with a Mac build closer to my actual budget of $1,600 we get:

• 3.0GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz)
• 16GB 2666MHz DDR4
• Intel UHD Graphics 630
• 512GB SSD storage
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet using RJ-45 connector)

Not quite the powerhouse I would have wanted to build on my budget. XD

Drew: And that processor will be heat-throttled all the time.

Angela: Yeah. I always knew I could build a more powerful rig by just putting it together for myself, but I didn’t know HOW much cheaper it would be compared to some lower-end Macs. That’s around a $1,200 difference.

If I was going for an even more budget-friendly rig, I could probably still run price circles around the Mac Mini’s starting prices of $800 and $1,100

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Drew: I neglected to mention yesterday the part of the Mac Pro announcement where they reached peak Apple: They’re selling a monitor without a stand and that sold-separately stand costs $999.

Geoffrey Barnes (News Editor): That’s pretty much exactly what I would have expected from them.

Drew: I’m going to start using monitor stands as a unit of price. As in, “I bought a car for 16 monitor stands.”

Geoff: I still cannot believe that $999 price.

Drew: Apple has reached self-parody

Geoff: When I first saw your comment above, I thought it was in jest. I should have known.

Drew: I’d be willing to pay up to 2 monitor stands for a proper Mac desktop, but the product I was waiting for didn’t come into existence. I was hoping for something more scalable.

Okay, this [monitor stand] metric is handy. It helps keep other purchases in perspective because the idea that the monitor stand’s price is unnecessarily excessive gets transferred into the large, but common-enough dollar amount of $1,000.

So, saying “2 monitor stands,” sounds much more expensive than saying “$2,000,” even though 2 monitor stands is actually cheaper by $2.

I wonder if I can quantify this feeling. If a monitor stand doesn’t carry the emotional weight of $1,000, what does it carry? Is it $1,500 instead?

Geoff: [Apple] should list “Emotional Weight” as a bullet point.

Angela: I wish I could vent a little about Apple products, but it’s nearly time for me to go to work.

I’ll just say I’m super disappointed with my iPod Touch. Not only did the power button stop working (even after keeping it in a case) for no good reason, it just stopped working with my Bluetooth headset.

I’d be less disappointed if it had NEVER worked with Bluetooth.

Geoff: I’m still using a circa-2010 [iPod] Touch, but I did have to get it repaired at one point after the power button got stuck.

Angela: I guess the power button problem is common.

Geoff: It sure sounds like it. Now I’m wondering how much longer it will last.

Angela: Who knows? XD

Drew: I have come to the conclusion that a monitor stand feels like about $1,300.