What is Apple doing?

Over the past month or so, you would have seen the news about a forced degradation in the performance of many iPhone batteries.

This is the result of Apple admitting that it was deliberately slowing down the processor via updates in iOS. According to Apple, this was necessary to prevent ageing iPhone batteries from failing whilst at the same time to help maintain a smooth performance.

“Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 and plan to add support for other products in the future.”

Battery degradation is one issue that is faced by all mobile technology manufacturers, but many experts are arguing that Apple should have been more transparent with their customers.

Since the release of this news, Apple has announced that it will be replacing batteries for iPhone 6 and later for $39. This is down from $118 and only available through to December 2018. You can either hand your device directly to an Apple store or alternatively, you can simply mail your devices to an Apple store.

Have an older iPhone?

Then why not read a previous article of ours: 4 ways to speed up your iPhone.

The Apple iMac Pro is now available for ordering. With that said, due to expected demand, shipping may not occur until after Christmas.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $7,299.00. After customising the iMac Pro with all the top specs the price jumps up to an incredible price of $20,419.00. Clearly, Apple has intended for this to be a serious workhorse for the creatives and Pro users who are willing to pay this premium price tag for the best performance in tasks such as coding, virtual reality and app developers, just to name a few.

Should you intend on purchasing one of these powerful beasts, it is also worth considering spending a further $199.00 for AppleCare Protection Plan.

Want to know more?

If you are keen on getting your hands on one email us at support@macaid.com.au with your desired specifications.

You can also Click here to read more about the iMac Pro’s features from our November newsletter article.

Watch this video for a six-minute summary of the features of the iMac Pro.

High Sierra Bug: Root user

There is a serious flaw in macOS High Sierra that allows an unauthorised user to log in to your computer as “root”.

The “root” user is a special user that has the highest administration rights.

This only affects High Sierra (10.13) users and doesn’t effect Sierra (10.12) or earlier users. To establish if you are running High Sierra, go to the Apple menu, and select “About This Mac”.

You can read about it in more detail here:

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/macos-gives-users-fulladmin-rights-without-password-478686

This is a very serious security risk. To mitigate against it, until Apple issues a security update, you need to set a password for the “root” account. If you are unsure how to do this, please contact us and we will be happy to help you.

High Sierra Bug: Root user UPDATE

Apple has released Security Update 2017-001. Please install this update as quickly as possible.

You will need to go to the ‘App Store’ and click on ‘Updates’ at the top right-hand corner of the window.

Add password to ‘Root’ User

Should you wish to add a password to this. Here are the steps:

1. Go to the Apple icon and open System Preferences and click on “Users & Groups”.
2. Click on the lock to make changes. Making sure that the padlock is unlocked. It will prompt for a User Name and Password.

3. Select “Login Options”, located on the bottom left-hand side of the window.

4. Click on “Join” at the bottom of this same window.

5. Click on “Open Directory Utility”

6. Click on the lock to make the change. It will prompt for your User Name and Password.

7. At the top of the menu bar, select “Edit” and click on “Enable Root User”.

8. You will then be prompted to enter a password for the root user account, thus preventing access with a blank password.

Apple’s most powerful iMac

Announced at the 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference, the iMac Pro is the top of the line iMac.

Due to be released in December 2017

Key Features

• Starting at 8-Core to 18-Core Xeon Processor
• Starting at 32GB to 128GB of memory
• Storage configurable from 1TB to 4TB SSD
• Contains four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports
• 27-inch Retina 5K Display
• 10Gb Ethernet port

This power machine is encased in Space Grey and the same colour goes for the Numeric Keyboard, with a choice of Magic Mouse 2 or Magic Trackpad 2.

Pricing

Given that this is Apple’s most powerful desktop ever built, it is not a cheap buy. An Australian price is yet to be announced. So watch this space if you want to get your hands on one or let us know and we can discuss what we can do for you.

Update 15/12/17. The ‘base’ price for the iMac Pro has been listed at $7,299.00

Lowdown

With all of these high-end features packed into the new iMac Pro, it will make doing complex tasks easier.

The iMac Pro also includes 10Gb Ethernet port, a first for a Mac. It supports industry-standard 1Gb link speeds.

The 5K display will bring with it 14.7 million pixels, this will end up being about 43% brighter than the iMac.

The iMac Pro is set to feature A10 Fusion coprocessor, which is possibly for always-on ‘Hey Siri’.

By having four (USB-C) Thunderbolt 3 ports, the iMac Pro can connect up to two high-performance RAID arrays and two 5K displays at the same time. This will then give you the capacity to work better and more efficiently than ever before.

In summarising, the iMac Pro packs incredible performance for advanced graphics editing, virtual reality content creation and real-time 3D rendering. The iMac Pro provides a great experience for video editors and software developers to users who demand the best that there is.