Rochester's
Apple User Group
since
1978…

Apple CIDER Macintosh User Group

The Apple Computer Information and Data Exchange of Rochester, is one of the oldest and largest Apple User Group. Our main purpose is educational; we demonstrate, inform, and instruct in the use of Apple computing technology. Since 1978, Apple CIDER has had a dedicated staff of volunteers who maintain the organization and help run meetings. Whether you’ve been using a Mac for years or just bought your first MacBook or iPhone, or iPad just last week, come and expand the horizons of your Apple world. Meetings are held September to June on the 2nd Wednesday of the month.  Special meetings are held at different locations during the summer.  Click here to subscribe to our calendar.

Remote Meeting
Wednesday March 11th, 2026 @ 7:00 PM

  • News – New Apple Products
  • Q&A
  • Claude AI w/Rick Harrison
  • Business Meeting and Election of Officers

Join us via the CIDER Google Meet, or via our YouTube channel.

Saturday Remote SIG

On hiatus until the spring.

Board Meeting: March, March 18th, 2026 @ 7:30 PM

Join us via the CIDER Google Meet

Upcoming Meeting:

April 8th, 2026 @ 7:00 PM

  • News
  • Q&A
  • Apple Continuity Features – cross device integration

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From our Blog

MacBook Neo Hands-On: Apple’s $599 MacBook Is Real

Apple just introduced the brand new MacBook Neo, a $599 Mac that could become one of the most popular laptops Apple has ever released. I’m in New York City at Apple’s Apple Experience event where I got hands-on time with the MacBook Neo along with the other products announced this week.

The MacBook Neo features a completely new design with color options like silver, blush, citrus, and indigo along with a color-matched keyboard. It also becomes the first Mac powered by an iPhone chip, using the A18 Pro from the iPhone 16 Pro lineup.

For $599 you get a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, 500 nits of brightness, Apple Intelligence support, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Apple claims it is up to 50% faster than the bestselling PC with Intel Core Ultra 5 and up to 3x faster for AI workloads.

The MacBook Neo also offers up to 16 hours of battery life, USB-C connectivity, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 6, and a lightweight design that makes it perfect for students and first-time Mac users.

In this video I also briefly recap the rest of Apple’s announcements including the Studio Display XDR with ProMotion, refreshed MacBook Air and iPad Air models, M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros, and updates to the iPhone 17e.

Preorders for the MacBook Neo are available now and it launches March 11.

MacRumors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FMwOe3ydtY

New Studio Displays, M5 Pro and Max MacBook Pro and M5 MacBook Air Announced!

Apple Announcement Week Day 2 delivered major hardware updates including two new Studio Displays, the debut of M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, brand new MacBook Pro models powered by those chips, and a surprise M5 MacBook Air.

The refreshed Studio Display lineup includes a 27-inch 5K Retina display with 600 nits of brightness, P3 wide color, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, 96W charging, a 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View, and an upgraded six-speaker system. The new Studio Display XDR adds 2000 nits of peak HDR brightness and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate for ultra-smooth performance.

Apple also unveiled M5 Pro and M5 Max, delivering up to 30 percent faster CPU performance for pro workflows, an up to 40-core GPU, over 4x peak GPU compute for AI tasks compared to the previous generation, and up to 35 percent faster ray tracing performance versus M4 Pro and M4 Max.

The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models feature these new chips, up to 24 hours of battery life, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 via Apple’s N1 chip, advanced thermals, and the XDR display.

Apple also introduced the new MacBook Air with M5, now starting with 512GB of storage, up to 4TB configurable, Wi-Fi 7, 18 hours of battery life, and available in 13-inch and 15-inch models.

from MacRumors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NBZP2cw9BE

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