What to expect from Apple 2013
– by Scot Morabito, TechTonic
Apple WWDC Announcements: New MacPro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)
Apple had a keynote address this afternoon ahead of Apple developer conference this week. We paid attention to every detail and have put together a few points that are relevant to business and education organizations.
New Mac Pro
With the release of the new Mac Pro, a big question has been answered after waiting for the past few years: Apple still cares about power users. Power users need the fastest I/O on the market and the Mac Pro will have some features we’ve never seen on a workstation: Internal SSD storage with 1.25GB/s read speeds via Flash PCIe (twice as fast as anything currently on the market) , a newly integrated Thunderbolt 2 for external transfers with 20Gbps throughput (up from 10), and extreme graphics with the base model supporting 3 4K displays using AMD FirePro Graphics cards. Yes, a new version of FinalCut is is in the works.
Coming this Fall: New version of OSX – Mavericks
Although many of the features in the upcoming OS are under NDA by developers, a few features have been announced that caught our attention:
File tagging – Anyone who creates a lot of files will appreciate will appreciate the new ability to tag files during saves. Tagging will allow you to create smart tag folders (similar to Mail.app) and you can stop worrying about file location and searching.
iBooks on OS X – To the frustration of educators, viewing purchased iBooks on a Mac was previously too difficult for the classroom and the experience/supported features was inconsistent. This is good timing for our fall semester planners.
MacBooks wireless & battery bumps
802.11ac networking support – TechTonic knows a few thing or two about wireless and we work with organizations to build fast, reliable networks. If you’ve used 802.11n you’ve appreciated the fast networking, and this is primarily due to the 4 MIMO streams (simultaneous radio streams) supported under the hood. What mostly makes 802.11ac twice as fast is the 8 supported MIMO streams. Its a new standard and this is the first serious implementation we’ve seen in a consumer product. Apple will be providing new consumer base stations and TechTonic will be integrating non-Apple enterprise class 802.11ac access points to support the new Apple hardware.
Battery – Business and education customers will finally have a laptop that can work for the entire day without needing to be recharged. Here’s how the new batteries look: 11″ now 80% more battery (now 9hrs of use), 13″ now 70% more battery (now 12 hrs of use). Now you don’t have to worry that the in-flight movie will derail your productivity.
iOS 7
iOS 7 looks incredible. Here are a few features we found that are of note for our business and education customers:
AirDrop – AirDrop on OS X is a great way to quickly share files and is invaluable for fast, ad-hoc collaboration and sharing. With support on iOS, this will be a great way to go mobile with your files and much faster than traditional sync or email methods.
Per App VPN – This will provide a great balance of privacy and security. Let your business app connect to work but keep your browsing at home.
AppStore updates – updates will occur automatically and stop prompting for AppleIDs. This is really going to help with supporting your business or education install base without having to distribute or manage organization owned Apple IDs.
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TechTonic helps organizations manage macs, build apps, integrate mobile devices, and deploy iPads. Through a process of strategic consulting, IT proficiency, and industry experience, the TechTonic teams assist Boston and New England based businesses and schools with their mobile initiative.
