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Any fans of the Power Mac G5?
Remember that machine? It was Apple’s first pro tower with a full-aluminum chassis — and “the world’s fastest personal computer.”
It marked a major design shift from colorful plastics to austere aluminum. The metal casing greatly enhanced its appearance, making it look like a very powerful machine. And it weighed a ton!
I still have mine in my basement, collecting a lot of dust. I haven’t turned it on in years, but I can’t bear to get rid of it. It’s just too iconic.
I was at the Macworld show when Apple launched it, and got an impromptu tour of the machine from Jony Ive himself. He passionately bent my ear for more than 30 minutes, geeking out about all the design details. Eventually, Apple’s tight-lipped PR people stepped in to stop him from giving away too many secrets.
The iconic design carried over to the original Mac Pro and continued through 2013 (a robust 11 revisions), when it was replaced by the much-maligned cylindrical “trash can” design.
Some of these wonderful aluminum towers show up in today’s featured post — a roundup of the best Mac Pro setups we’ve seen — and so does the trash can, which makes a surprising number of appearances.
Other people’s setups, especially those built around the highest-performing computers Apple’s made, are always interesting to peruse.
Also in today’s newsletter:
Tons of flagship Android phones use a wonderful 200MP camera sensor from Sony. Luckily for us, it might make an appearance in next year’s iPhone.
This is a welcome change to Apple Watch — the old way of starting workouts annoyed me, too.
Apple’s making a big deal about four new companies joining its underwhelming American Manufacturing Program, which seeks to onshore production. Call me cynical, but it seems designed to appeal to one person in particular.
The brand-new AirPods Max 2 headphones haven’t been released yet, but they’re already on sale!
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🔥 DEAL OF THE DAY: We were debating whether to feature this crazy portable cinema as today’s 🔥 deal, especially as it’s $1,000 off, but no one’s gonna buy it — although I wish you would. A better choice: these wonderful Space One Pro headphones from Soundcore, which we reviewed. We can confidently say they are equivalent to Apple’s AirPods Max, but are way, way cheaper. I’ve had my eyes on these forever, and this is the first deal I’ve seen: a solid 25% off.
There are some nice pics and a very cool video in this roundup of Apple’s 50th birthday parties around the world.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
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Tweets of the day
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One more thing ...
We’re in uncharted territory. We’ve never sold this many of anything before.
Today’s poll
Which Mac Pro design is your favorite?
Results from yesterday’s poll: Now are you excited about Apple's AI plans?
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