Recalling this article, I thought perhaps of commenting on it, but although interesting, it’s not an ideal match because it ultimately deals with an open MacBook Pro and I suspect this topic will also be of interest to non-MacBook users.
Anyway, if you’re interested, my scenario is this: I’m keeping the 27-inch Retina Imac 2020 on my desk because I simply can’t bear to part with it yet, to live out its remaining life running either dual-boot Sequoia and hacked-up Windows 11, and eventually just Windows 11 (or whatever comes next, if it still runs); sadly, Tahoe is out of the question unless Apple unexpectedly fixes a bug they introduced when Tahoe was released that causes Fusion to crash when VoiceOver is in use. The iMac will then be joined by my M5 Max MBP and TS5 dock to run Golden Gate and updated ARM virtual machines. The display on the iMac will be useful for Intel software, and to people with working eyeballs; the MBP will run in clamshell mode with sleep permanently disabled and, except when I cart it away for whatever reason, no display at all in use.
The question, then, is this: how good is using an iPhone microphone as part of the Continuity Camera feature, in practice? It is a shame that I can’t use the mic and camera in the MBP while it’s on the desk, of course, but if a feature that will help Mini or Studio users works well enough in practice, it need not be a tragedy. The iMac can’t help, especially when booted into Windows, but the camera is terrible anyway, so no big deal. However I worry that if I try to use Siri in macOS with the mic set to my iPhone, it will either not work or the performance will be poor. Strapping my phone to my iMac would definitely be preferable to me than grabbing yet another desktop microphone, though, and as my phone is always nearby it could even be wired to the dock for syncing and backing up. I often use AirPods Pro As well, so I need not even lose Hey Siri on the macOS side while they’re the current mic input. I think the arrangement will work, I see no obvious drawbacks, and that’s why I’m enormously suspicious that I’ve overlooked something obvious that will somehow bite me (and anyone else who doesn’t use a display as an expensive dock for a camera and mic).
I have no doubt that I will appreciate your thoughts. Thanks in advance!