Word on the street is The uber-reliable Gurman says that will happen. Obviously, anything else at this point would seem a bit odd. IMHO if they just replace the port with USB-C on the mouse though, they might as well leave it Lightning. I really hope they make use of the transition to fix the design. This has got to be one of the dumbest Apple designs in quite a while. Definitely on par with the hockey puck mouse.
On a related but O/T note, can anybody here tell me if I get Apple’s extended Bluetooth Keyboard (the latest and greatest with TouchID) but connect it over USB, can I leave BT off? Or will that break functionality?
I just tested that for you. The latest extended keyboard and trackpad work with Bluetooth off when connected to the computer (in my case, via the Studio Display). I tested touch ID by bringing up the Password Panel in Systems Settings.
Now, I will restart Bluetooth and go back to my usual setup.
Thank you, @aforkosh. That’s great news. If they now adapt their mouse to allow for a USB-C cable to be plugged in while using it, I’d be all set.
I have nothing against BT at all, but at work I have a setup where I control multiple Macs (and one Linux beast) from a single location. They’re all plugged into the same monitor on which I just flip from input to input. I have a fancy USB mouse plugged into an old Apple Extended KB. To move from one computer to the next (when I’m not using VNC) all I have to do is switch what that KB is plugged into (each one of those Macs and the Linux box have a USB cable that ends female at my desk). It’s a very simple solution and it works perfect for my use. But some day that old Apple KB is going to break (or I drown it in spilled coffee). And of course I like the idea of getting TouchID for my desktop Macs too.
Until then, perhaps there’s an opportunity for an enterprising entrepreneur. Maybe call it the “half-pad”. It’s a mouse pad that hangs off the edge of your desk, so you can use just the front half of the mouse while it’s plugged in.
It’s a measure of how important they’ve become to the bottom line. The time for tech journalists to get these, if ever they did from Apple, has passed.
It wasn’t all that uncommon for companies to send journalists things like this in conjunction with a product release or announcement. It’s basically the same as sending out review units for relatively inexpensive devices that the company doesn’t expect to be returned because they can’t be resold anyway.
I haven’t seen such a thing in quite some time, not being a YouTuber, but most grown-up companies don’t see such gift boxes as all that effective either, on top of the perceptions of trying to buy good coverage.
Good thing I received this as I hadn’t heard anything about an event today. OK I have about 50 minutes to get ready for it. I hope I’ll be able to get it via my TV 4K so I’m not restricted to the small screen of my iPad Mini.
Edit. OK was able to watch it using my TV and my 70" TV. They missed the boat by not bringing back the 27" iMac. Why should someone have to downgrade to a 24" iMac?
