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MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Touch Display

Apple says of their new MacBook Pro it is a screen come true, and claim.

The world’s best laptop display. With true-to-life colour and unparalleled brightness and contrast.

It ialso comes with touch.

Now, laptops with touchscreens are not new. Ten years ago I had a Microsoft Surface which came with touch. I do quite like the concept of a touchscreen, well my current MacBook has quite a few fingerprints on it, when I think it’s an iPad.

The new MacBook Pro is a standard laptop; there was some online talk about a more adaptable configuration converting the laptop into a tablet format. Twenty years ago, I had an HP tablet, there HP TC1100, which did just that. I really liked the form factor of the HP TC1100; however, it had a poor battery life (as did most laptops of that era) and of course Windows XP wasn’t really designed as a touch interface, well Windows XP Tablet PC Edition was supposed to be a touch operating system. The Apple iPad with smart cover was close, but iPad OS is great for many things but isn’t MacOS.

I like the idea of the new MacBook Pro, however with a base price of £2899 I am unlikely to get one anytime soon. However, in a few years’ time maybe the MacBook Air will get touch, then I might get a new MacBook.

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A deluge of new products

Over the last two weeks, Apple have released a range of new products.

I mentioned the new Apple TV last week. Alongside that release, Apple brought out the HomeView and new HomePod mini smart speakers.

Though many of my Apple purchases are because I am embedded into the Apple ecosystem, one reason I have an Apple TV, I never bought the Homepod. I think the core reason was that it was E319 when it was launched. The Amazon Echo was just £150, much cheaper. I also didn’t subscribe to Apple Music, and Prime Music from Amazon was included with my Prime subscription. I had gone with the Echo as my smart speaker. I still have and use that speaker.

The HomeView looks interesting, but not sure if I would find a use for it.

Then Apple released a new iPad mini with an 8.5-Inch OLED Display and A20 Pro Chip. I’ve never had an iPad mini, but I do quite like the form factor. As I mentioned in a previous blog post – I think even if I had a persuasive use case for the iPhone Duo I am probably more likely to keep my current iPhone and get an iPad mini to use alongside my phone.

They also released an updated iMac. Still has the 24” screen, I wonder if they will ever do a bigger 27” iMac like they use to. I might then be tempted. I really did like my 27” iMac computer and was disappointed when it became obsolete. I do like the form factor of the new 24” iMac, It’s just that I would prefer a 27” screen.

Their latest new item was an OLED MacBook Pro With Touch Display.  That is probably worth a whole blog post to itself, however at the    price Apple are charging, it’s not in my ballpark.

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Hands on with the iPhone Duo

I stopped by the Apple Store to try out the iPhone Duo.

This is Apple’s new foldable iPhone. Phones that fold are not new, they have been around for a while, but this is the first one from Apple.

It is a totally different form factor to the iPhone have now and the ones I have had over nearly twenty years.

The design is elegant, and the process of unfolding and folding is nice. I suspect you will get use to it, and what now makes it special will become normal. I liked the form factor and it’s a nice phone. I like the inner bigger screen, but then I do like big phones. It feels slightly unwieldy to use as an actual phone, but I suspect Apple will be saying you can use AirPods. It does have what sounds like a decent camera, but there is no zoom, there is no Fusion Telephoto

One reason I got the iPhone 17 Pro Max was the camera, and the camera which comes with the iPhone Duo is good, but not iPhone 17 Pro Max good.

I like it, but at £1999 (and then some) I am not sure I like it £1999 much. 

I think even if I had a persuasive use case for the iPhone Duo I am probably more likely to keep my current iPhone and get an iPad mini to use alongside my phone.

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Okay, this should be easy

Last weekend the clocks went back, well I think they did, as everything happened automatically. I finally confirmed it by looking at the oven clock. 

I half expected the clock in the MG IM5 to adjust automatically, well it didn’t.

However, what I thought would be an easy task in the end was a little challenging as I couldn’t find the menu item on the screens to adjust the time.

Later I couldn’t even find it in the manual. However, I wasn’t alone and you find the time settings in the Display menu item.

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Real world driving with the MG IM5

I plugged the car in to the fast charger (AC). I had 19% left on the car. Since I last charged to 100%, I had done 280 miles. This equates to a real world range of 350 miles on a full charge, less than the advertised 441. The car said I had about 100 miles range left, but I took that figure with a pinch of salt.

I kind of expected that to be honest. The real world figures for electric vehicles is like the MPG for petrol cars, figures gained through ideal test conditions.

Most of my driving over the previous two weeks has been motorway driving with the heating (or the air conditioning) on. 

I did some comparisons with my Funky Cat, driving 280 miles would have meant charging up at least twice or even three times with rapid chargers (DC), the ones I use limit you to charging to 80%.

When I got the MG IM5, I went with the Long Range model, with the 100 kWh battery. I did consider getting the Short Range version. That has a decent 75kWh battery, but even so, based on the consumption rate of my driving that would equate to 240 miles (rather than the 304 advertised range), so, if I had that car, I would have needed to charge up at least once during those two weeks.

The only challenge I currently have is keeping within my annual 10,000 mileage limit, so having had the MG IM5 for three months, I should have only done 2,500 miles, I have in fact done 2,712. Well, I enjoy driving this car. I am planning in November to do less driving get back under the limit.

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New Apple TV

I bought my first Apple TV in 2010. This was the second generation device.

I updated to the HD Apple TV in 2015.

This worked for many years. I eventually went with the third generation 4K in 2024.

I’ve always liked the Apple TV interface and even though my Sony TV has similar features (through the Google TV interface) I prefer using the Apple TV to utilise different streaming services. I would though prefer if the user experience across different apps was the same or very similar. Is it really too much to ask to have the same process for using a video streaming interface.

Another feature I like about the Apple TV is the integration with the Apple ecosystem, main use case for me is viewing my photographs from my phone on the TV.

This month Apple announced a new Apple TV. I knew it had been rumoured for a while. I did think that I might get one and push the existing model to another one. Then I found out about the price. The new model was £299.

When I bought my current model in 2024 it was £149. Recently it had gone up in price to £199, which I believe was down to the price of RAM shooting up.

I don’t know I was kind of expecting a similar price for the new model. So, seeing it was £299, I did wonder what new features it had compared to my existing model.

The main new features appear to be surround sound with four HomePod speakers (another £600) and an enhanced Siri experience. 

I did hear one rumour that a lower priced model may be available in the future. However, at £299, I won’t be getting the new Apple TV.

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That final few percent…

car charging graphic

Though I do realise when charging an electric car battery that the charge rate is not consistent. The optimum charging is usually from 20% to 80%. Then the charging rate falls.

However, my charging experience with the MG IM5 has been a somewhat different experience to the Funky Cat.

Though the charge rate would slow right down as the battery charge reached 100%, what I have noticed is that with the MG IM5 that the last few kWh seems to take much longer to finish that the Funky Cat. I don’t have the Funky Cat to hand to confirm this, it got handed back at the end of the lease, but though the final few kWh did take a while, with the MG IM5 it appears to be significantly longer. Note, that this is with the same fast (as in slow) AC charger.

It is like comparing apples and oranges, the Funky Cat battery was a 48kWh LFP battery, whilst the MG IM5 is a 100kWh NMC battery. 

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How to Disable Inline Predictive Text on Mac

I use Pages quite a bit, one feature that has been annoying me is the predictive text, this is more intrusive than auto-correct, which is useful (for me). No, this is when as you write, Pages suggests which word you are trying to type. Now, I can see how some people might find that useful, however, for me, I find too often that it is not just suggesting the wrong word, but also that act of suggesting actually is both distracting and annoying.

I initially thought it might be in the settings for Pages, but it wasn’t.

From Settings -> Keyboard

Screenshot

Scroll down to Input Sources and  click Edit.

Screenshot

Turn off Show inline predictive text.

Screenshot

As this is a Mac wide setting, this “feature” also appears in other applications.

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CarPlay, it just works now

One thing I have noticed driving the MG IM5 that I have not had the same CarPlay issues I had with CarPlay and the Funky Cat.

With the Funky Cat when I first got CarPlay there was a GPS issue that meant maps were essentially useless. I would find that starting CarPlay, opening Apple Maps or Waze the maps would place me in completely the wrong location. Apple Maps showed I was in Biggin Hill, which is 160 miles away…. Eventually it would sort itself out. However now and then it would flip back and forth. Finally an iOS upgrade seemed to fix it, but even then it would occasionally reoccur.

Another glitch I had with CarPlay was that the screen would become unresponsive. Switching back to the ORA screen interface, would then result in a grey blank screen. You would need to disconnect the phone from the car and then reconnect. Annoying when you were driving so often I would need to park and fix it before continuing my journey.

With the MG IM5 I have not had any of those issues, I did have a glitch when CarPlay failed to start, but apart from that, with the MG IM5 I have had none of the issues I had with CarPlay and the Funky Cat.

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Compared to the Funky Cat

I have now been driving the MG IM5 for two months, and I am comparing it my experience of the first two months with the Funky Cat.

This time the experience has been very smooth without issues. Back in 2023 with the Funky Cat I did have a major software issue, turtle mode, with a false reduced power warning problem. The car had to go back to the dealer for a software upgrade. Other issues in those first two months included challenges in finding working chargers. The situation though now three years later is much better. Back in 2023, I didn’t have a home charger and in Weston there were only two rapid chargers (150kWh). My experience with other fast (ie slower) chargers were that either they didn’t work, or were been taken out of commission. Since then many new rapid charging stations have come on stream. 

It should also be said that with the 100kWh battery there is less need for charging with the MH IM5 as I needed to with the Funky Cat.

So comparing like for like, my initial experience with the MG IM5 has been much better than the Funky Cat.