
Inside the lab: Why Apple still sweats the details on iMac - steven
https://medium.com/backchannel/exclusive-why-apple-is-still-sweating-the-details-on-imac-531a95e50c91
======
Demiurge
>The input device, dubbed the Magic Mouse 2, would look to users exactly like
the previous model....

>But one thing was totally unacceptable.

>The mouse didn’t sound right.

Yes, everyone loves the Magic Mouse so much, nothing else could be improved in
version 2, except for the sound, that has to be perfect, in a mouse.

~~~
coldtea
Well, I do love the Magic Mouse so much. It's the best Mouse I've had -- from
a history of crappy Apple (and earlier PC) mice, which includes SUN Spark's
optical mice (which required a special mousepad) when nobody on their PC had
optical mice yet...

Especially Apple's older mouse (with the too easy to jam with dirt wheel/ball)
I really hated...

~~~
dubya
The Mighty Mouse is the old one, which they still sell for $49! I like the
_idea_ of the ball better than a scroll wheel, but they clog after a week and
are never the same again.

------
DarkTree
This is a good write up, but as I was reading it I started to realize the
brilliant marketing behind it, and potentially why I buy some Apple products.
I wouldn't buy the mouse because Apple made it sound perfect. I would buy the
mouse because this article makes me see how much effort Apple puts into making
their products the best they can be. Whether or not they are actually the best
products is almost irrelevant after eliciting that emotion.

~~~
Tepix
The entire article is a marketing piece. The mouse is just a diversion.

For what it's worth, on my old Apple mouse, the battery lid frequently falls
off. It's so annoying that I don't use it any more. This is an issue that has
apparently been fixed as well.

~~~
madeofpalk
> This is an issue that has apparently been fixed as well.

Well, they fixed it by just not including a removable battery (and it's lid).

~~~
Tepix
Exactly.

------
reiichiroh
You also cannot use the new Magic Mouse v2 while charging. That's so stupid an
oversight.

~~~
dkonofalski
Are you sure about that? I haven't seen anything anywhere that suggests that.
:-/

~~~
reiichiroh
Look at how/where the Lightning cable is inserted on the bottom.

~~~
dkonofalski
Yup... Looks like you're right. I can't imagine why they wouldn't have it plug
in at the top. That does seem like a silly oversight.

------
virtuabhi
What do programmers think about 27inch iMac (2013)? I do not like it at all.
The screen is too glossy (reflecting not just the overhead lights but more
like a mirror). The screen is shaped like square rather than rectangle. This
forces you to move your eyes/neck in all directions. And it has old noisy hard
drives rather than SSDs.

I have removed the imac outer mirror screen to reduce glare [1] and am always
resizing windows. Now I mostly use imac as external monitor for macbook, in
target display mode. However, TDM is too fragile to use. For example, you need
to login to your account in iMac before you can send the key signal via ssh
from your laptop, otherwise the signal is ignored [2,3].

I can rant more about imac. For example, my imac speakers do not work.
Apparently, some time when I removed my head phone, the imac sensors got stuck
into believing that headphones are still plugged in [4].

With so many issues, I cannot believe that iMac is a labor of love, as the
article suggests.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSF84EoQBvk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSF84EoQBvk)

[2] [https://superuser.com/questions/540799/sending-key-via-
ssh-o...](https://superuser.com/questions/540799/sending-key-via-ssh-or-using-
mouse-to-activate-target-display-mode)

[3]
[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5211301](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5211301)

[4]
[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3694502](https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3694502)

------
pazra
So, not only 4k pixels on the iMac 21", but also 25% improvement in colour
gamut. This screen should look fantastic!

~~~
pietjepuk88
Just an honest question, but do you like the glossy screens? I personally get
quite annoyed by them at times, and find matte screens to be a more relaxing
(/dull) experience. The glossiness does however make the iMacs look good in
stores. The colors a bit more vivid, and they also tend to show mostly
whtie/bright footage on them which hides the mirroring effect.

~~~
coldtea
If one has to use their laptop/desktop out in the sun (and in a fixed
position), or under non controlled light, then a non-glossy is probably the
better option.

Personally I love glossy screens. They get glare sometimes, under direct
light, but nothing that an angle change can't fix. Besides I don't want to be
using a laptop under direct light anyways -- and for a desktop which is used
inside, that's a non issue.

Non glossy screens (which I started with), I now find smudgy and hazy, and
with much worse (gray-ish) blacks.

Under controlled

------
chris-at
I bought a Magic Mouse a few years ago. I couldn't use it because getting the
cursor from one side to the other required me to move the mouse so far that it
caused shoulder pain. I had to replace it with a 1000 dpi Logitec.

Do the new mice have higher dpi as well?

~~~
mcphage
One side of the screen to the other? With tracking speed set all the way up?

~~~
chris-at
Yep. I had to "shuffle" to get it to move all the way.

~~~
mcphage
That's really weird. I didn't love (or even particularly like) the mouse when
I used one, but it was at least functional. I wonder if the one you had was
physically defective somehow?

------
draw_down
I wonder if this will be the apple mouse I finally like. Probably not, though!
As much as I like their keyboards, their mice are terrible. I do like the
trackpad, though.

Edit: I just realized they now do not offer a keyboard with a numpad. Crap.

~~~
arm
They still do actually (the wired one). They just don’t advertise it anymore:

[http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MB110LL/B/apple-
keyboard-w...](http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MB110LL/B/apple-keyboard-
with-numeric-keypad-english-usa)

------
binaryapparatus
Previous keyboard did work well for a short travel keys. Nothing extraordinary
but decent when I had to use it. Otoh new switches are too far away from
decent. Ecosystem, I get it.

------
melling
I use Logitech wireless mice with my Macs. When I was shopping for them I
noticed that Bluetooth is not widely used. What's the reason for using a
different wireless standard?

~~~
smackfu
I can think of a few reasons:

1) You can tailor the wireless protocol to exactly your needs, rather than
using something general purpose. That can help things like battery life and
latency.

2) You don't have to work with buggy Bluetooth hardware or drivers that you
don't make, and your hardware works with any computer with USB. Bluetooth was
not common on PCs for a long time, especially on the desktop.

3) You can ship your peripherals pre-paired with the receiver, which means
users don't need to do any setup besides plugging the receiver in.

------
there4
Can anyone explain why they don't put more RAM in modern Mac computers? I
think I can remember debating 8 versus 16 almost ten years ago. Why are they
still stuck on 8?

~~~
nerdwaller
Because not everyone is a techie that reads HN. Most people I know, even many
developers, could easily get by with 8g of RAM.

~~~
protomyth
Its a struggle with 10.10 and 10.11. The RAM requirement went up and it is a
lot more sluggish. I got a lot of complaints and we ended up putting 16g in
every iMac. The airs just became painful.

------
post_break
No discreet graphics kind of kills the deal with the smaller model. 4k display
powered by Intel graphics is a bitter pill.

~~~
rangibaby
I think if Apple put real graphics cards in the 21" models people would buy
them instead of the 27" models, which is bad from Apple's perspective.

Having said that, Intel graphics should be able to adequately display 4K at
this point. My MBP from 2013 can drive close to that (2560x1600 internal+1080p
external) without a hitch.

