Or how something fantastic can be ruined with one little tweak.
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Plugged In

This week, Plugged In took a bite of delicious fruit but ended up with its mouth brimming with weird brown mush.

Friends! It's Apple time. Again.

On Monday, the tech giant announced a range of products — the most interesting of which was the new MacBook Pro. (Sorry, AirPods 3).

AirPods-(3rd-generation)If you're interested, here are the AirPods 3, basically an AirPods Pro Lite.

 

The reason for my interest in the MacBook Pro is all about redemption.

To put it bluntly, Apple has spent the good part of a decade fucking up its laptops.

Whether it was the lack of ports or the horrendous butterfly keyboard, the company completely abandoned making machines its customers wanted.

But... signs of a resurrection have been on the horizon.

First, Apple backtracked on the butterfly keyboard. People! Could! Type! Again!

Secondly, it launched its M1 chipset — a breathtaking bit of engineering that gave its devices incredible processing power and battery life.

giphy-Oct-22-2021-07-34-59-27-AMThis is what it was like seeing the M1 Geekbench scores.

 

It was this world of fresh hope that the new MacBook Pros were entering. A glorious return to form was on the cards.

And it happened. Almost.

In the days preceding the announcement, a rumor circulated that the new MacBook Pros would have a notch.

Yes, a notch.

I hoped and begged that this wasn’t the case. And — just like all my other dreams — this was crushed by cruel, cold reality.

The MacBook Pro has a notch.

macbook-pro-2021-notchARRGGHHHHHHHH

 

But here’s where things get trickier — everything else about the new laptop looks amazing.

There’s a HDMI output. An SD card slot. Plus, the lightning fast new M1 Pro and M1 Max chipsets.

Hell, even the screen is bigger and sharper and brighter and better than ever before.

In other words, it's everything I could want from a new MacBook Pro.

Apart from that damn notch.

It's a strange situation to be in. Having to weigh up the positives and negatives of a multi-thousand dollar computer are not exactly my idea of a Good Time™.

Especially when I know exactly what's gonna happen: I'll buy one anyway.

Because if there's one thing I've learnt about my relationship with Apple, it's that if the company made a slick enough video, it could get me to eat my own shit.

Mmm, delicious.

News you need

PUT PILES AND PILES OF TURDS ON MY PLATE AND CALL THEM APPLE POOPS AND WATCH ME EAT A BOWL OF THEM AND TELL YOU THROUGH TEARS THAT THEY'RE ACTUALLY REALLY GREAT.

👀

This one is gonna be Apple heavy, people! First up — everything you need to know about this week's event.
🌝

THE NOTCH IS FOREVER.
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There's now an Apple Music plan you can only use with your voice?
👗

This cleaning cloth is the Liz Hurley's dress of the Apple Event.
❌

Fuck the MacBook Pro — we want a MacPad instead.

A review you’re required to read

Here is a review

of the iPhone 13 we

wrote using haikus.

header image apple iphone 13 review haiku

Here’s a cool thing (also, cya)

giphy-Oct-22-2021-08-37-41-37-AM

The reason Már took over Plugged In for me last week (THANK YOU BBZ) was because I was on holiday.

And, while I was gallivanting about, one of the books I read was Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald.

This is the first book in a series that follows an amoral journalist cracking crimes in California.

It wasn't a perfect — and it definitely shows its age at points — but it's also one of the most taut and compelling detective stories I've read in years.

The dialogue is crisp, the plot clever, and the characters funny. 

I can't say whether other books in the series meet or exceed Fletch, but I can say this first novel is ideal if you're after a fun crime read you can fly through.

Pun intended.

51D9+dEi+JL

Tell your enemies all about Plugged In. I'll see the rest of you later.

callum

Peas & Louvre,

Callum.

(Heckle me on Twitter here and on Instagram here).

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From Amsterdam with <3