Apple held the October keynote address. While just last month they introduced three new iPhones and an Apple Watch, Apple on Tuesday announced a new iPad Pro, a new MacBook Air, and a new Mac Mini, three products that users had on their wishlists, especially for macOS hardware, as new versions of these had not been seen for a long time.
Macbook Air
source: Apple.com
It’s the oldest model in the MacBook lineup yet sold by Apple, and the last update to this ten-year-old laptop was in 2013.
Of course, as an Air model, it has to be thin and light. Made from 100% recycled aluminum, it weighs less than three pounds and is only 15.6mm thick. It can include up to 16GB of memory and up to 1.5TB of SSD storage to let you store it all. The eighth generation Intel Core i5 processor lets you do it all.
The MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, each offering twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 2. These ports allow the output and charging of data transfer videos, as well as integration with USB-C . The budget laptop has up to twelve hours of battery life throughout the day.
Like the iPhone X series, the 13.3 ″ high-resolution Retina display goes side to side. With four times the pixel count of an HD display, you get crisp images and text. There are 48% more colors than the last model to add vibrancy.
The facial ID has not been transferred to the MacBook Air, but it uses Touch ID to unlock it and access locked documents and settings, as well as the Apply Pay app. Everything stays secure with the Apple T2 security chip.
It made a lot of amazing improvements, but frankly it had to be done to make up for the missing five years.
Mac Mini
It’s been almost as many years since we’ve seen a new Mac mini; we haven’t seen a new one since 2014. Even more advantageous than the MacBook Air, this pay-per-view desktop is simply the hard drive without a mouse, keyboard or monitor.
Apple claims the Mac mini has five times faster system performance and 60% faster Intel integrated graphics, but then again, that compares to a four-year-old model. It’s like comparing an iPhone XR to an iPhone 6. Stupid, right? It also includes a 6-core Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and Turbo Boost up to 4.6 GH.
Still with the comparisons, Apple says the 64GB option on the Mac mini is 7.8 times faster than the 16GB option. It includes 2TB SSD storage, with sequential read speeds of up to 3.4 GB / s, or four times faster.
Like the MacBook Air, the Mac mini also incorporates the Apple T2 security chip for ultimate security. It has multiple ports to connect it however you want: four Thunderbolt ports, Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, USB 3, and unlike iPhones, there’s always a headphone port.
iPad Pro
source: Apple
But like the new iPhones, the new iPad Pro has eliminated the headphone port. Similar to iPhones, it doesn’t have a home button, uses a Face ID, and is bezel-less.
It comes in two sizes: 11 “and 12.9”. The Liquid Retina display is edge to edge and delivers true color.
Face ID works on the iPad whether you hold it in portrait or landscape mode; so you can use it to unlock your iPad Pro, sign in to your apps and to Apple Pay. The USB-C connection means you can finally connect it to external devices like a camera.
The new iPad Pro features the A12X Bionic chip, which Apple says is the most powerful ever and graphics twice as fast. The Neural Engine performs five trillion operations per second, which means it’s faster than most PC laptops.
Joining the new iPad Pro, a new Apple Pencil magnetically attaches to the iPad for charging and a new Smart Keyboard Folio for using the tablet as a laptop.
Ready to buy?
Are you ready to buy? Some of them are already available. The iPad Pro and Mac Mini will be available from November 7, while the MacBook Air will be available next week. The cheapest iPad Pro and Mac Mini cost $ 799, while the most expensive hardware is the more sophisticated MacBook Air at $ 2,599.
Was any of these items on your Apple Wish List? Will you buy one or are these prices a bit steep for you? Let us know what you think of the Apple releases in the comments.
