WWDC 2013 has come and gone, and with it, we have news on Apple’s latest new products, such as OS X Mavericks, iOS 7, the new Mac Pro, and the latest iteration of the MacBook Air. However, there were quite a few announcements many people were hoping would be made that were not, and several new product updates that never happened.
In this article, I will list the biggest disappointments from this year’s World Wide Developer’s Conference.
No new MacBook Pro Arguably, the biggest disappointment this year was the lack of a new MacBook Pro. With Intel’s new Haswell CPUs having been released, it was all but expected that Apple would announce new MacBook Pros to take advantage of the new technology.
While Apple did release new MacBook Airs that take advantage of the Haswell architecture to significantly improve the Air’s battery life, it would have been nice to see a new MacBook Pro with better battery life and graphics as well.
No iMac update Similar to the lack of an update to the MacBook Pro, the iMac didn’t receive any love at this year’s WWDC either. Again, it would have been nice to see a new iMac that took advantage of Intel’s Haswell processors, along with a new graphics card in the form of Nvidia’s GeForce 780M.
While there is still a chance that Apple may silently update the iMac sometime this year, it would have created a lot more buzz had they showed it off at WWDC 2013 along with the latest version of OS X.
The name ‘Mavericks’ A complaint I have seen numerous times on various Apple forums is that the name ‘Mavericks’ is either “too silly” or that it doesn’t fit well with OS X and Apple.
For those that do not know, Mavericks is the name of a famous surfing spot in northern California. Apple chose this name because of the surfing spot being located near Apple’s headquarters and that they believe the name embodies the company’s attitude.
While Apple presents a good argument for why they choose the name Mavericks for the latest version of OS X, many of their fans disagree and would have preferred to see “Sea Lion” instead, or for Apple to continue with the theme of naming each version after a big cat such as Mountain Lion and Snow Leopard.
The new Mac Pro design At WWDC this year, Apple announced a brand new version of the Mac Pro, including a completely new design, much to the dismay of many current Mac Pro users.
The idea behind the new design was to provide a powerful desktop Mac like traditional Mac Pros, but in a slim, compact design akin more to a Mac Mini. The new Mac Pro design is small, cylindrical, and black. Many have begun referring to it as a “trash can” design.
The biggest complaints about the new design come from current Mac Pro users who fear that the new design will limit upgradability and expandability, which the Mac Pro is typically known for. Apple has previously said that users will be able to expand the new Mac Pro using external means, such as external hard drives, however many users still complain as they do not wish to have several external devices cluttering their desks.
Conclusion While many of the complaints are warranted, it’s safe to assume that Apple knows what they’re doing. They are widely known as one of the biggest risk-taking companies in the business and so far, it has almost always paid off for them, so there is little reason to think it won’t this time as well.
As for the disappointments of not seeing a new MacBook Pro or iMac at WWDC: there are still rumors that Apple will update both very soon. However, it still would have been nice to see them show off the new tech at WWDC instead of having a silent update.