Apple’s October Keynote has just ended and they’ve unveiled a new MacBook Air, Mac Mini and iPad Pros. As we know, the MacBook Air and Mac Mini have not received any revisions since those were first introduced.
MacBook Air
The much anticipated MacBook Air which was long overdue for revision is finally here with newer specifications. The most convenient and praised connector, the MagSafe 2 is gone for good. It was remarkably an amazing connector. The only ports that are available in the new generation MacBook Air are two Thunderbolt 3 ports which also doubles as a charging port.
It now has a smaller bezel around the 13.3 inch Retina Display. This undoubtedly also means the size of the MacBook Air is now much smaller and also thinner at 15.6mm. There are 48% more colours in the display and with Retina Display technology, it’s also sharper.
Touch ID make its way to the MacBook Air, for unlocking your MacBook. In addition to that, the Touch ID also supports Apple Pay and unlocks locked documents, notes and system settings. Speakers are also improved to deliver a wide dynamic range of sound with deeper bass.
Apple updates the keyboard on the MacBook air to use the Butterfly keys which are individually lit. An ambient light sensor helps to control the keyboard’s brightness automatically for you. Besides that, the trackpad is the latest Force Touch trackpad with haptic feedback. There are four sensors at each corner of the trackpad which contributes to tracking precision and accuracy. Multi-touch gestures are now even better with a 20% bigger trackpad size.
Internal hardware is also as new as the new generation MacBook Air. It comes with Intel’s 8th generation i5 dual core processors with up to 16GB of memory and 1.5TB of SSD storage. In terms of battery life, Apple claims it is able to last as long as 12 hours in a single charge.
The MacBook Air is available from USD1199 in three colour options; Space Gray, Gold and Silver.
Mac Mini
The updated Mac Mini now comes with Intel’s 8th gen 4-core and 6-core processors. Apple claims that the new Mac Mini is five times faster and the most powerful compared to previous Mac Minis. It is capable of supporting up to 64GB SODIMM memory and 2TB of Solid State Drive storage. The entry model comes with ethernet port, 4 Thunderbolt 3, a HDMI 2.0 and an optional 10 Gigabit ethernet port. The Mac Mini retails with a starting price of USD799.
iPad Pro
There are no news on the iPad mini or the regular iPad. However, Apple did unveil the latest iPad Pros. The smaller iPad Pro now features an 11 inch display in the same dimension as its predecessor. As for the bigger iPad Pro, it still has the 12 inch display but in a much smaller footprint compared to its predecessor.
The displays now have a stretched, rounded corner Liquid Retina technology. Surprisingly enough, the display has a refresh rate of 120Hz. As expected, Apple did remove the home button and included the Face ID for both the iPad Pros. With the deletion of the Home button, the gestures which were introduced first to the iPhone X is now introduced to the new iPad Pros.
Both the new iPad Pros now has an A12X bionic chip with neural engine built into it for Machine Learning ML). Face recognition for unlocking the iPad as well as Apply Pay is made possible with the help of ML. Single core performance is 35% faster and 90% faster for multi core compared to its predecessors.
Furthermore, gone is the infamous Apple’s lightning port. A USB-C is fitted to the new generation iPad Pros. This allows connectivity with your iPhone, secondary display and so much more. There are 4 speakers with each featuring tweeters paired to a woofer to produce high quality, rich in bass sound.
Magnets are placed around the iPad Pros to be able to hold the Apple Pencil at any edges. Moreover, the Pencil now can charge wirelessly upon attaching to the edges of the new iPad Pros. Another subtle update brought to the Pencil is double tap gestures.
New generation iPad Pros are available in four storage options; 64GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. Colours available are Silver and Space Gray. Prices for the new iPads start from USD799.
Preorder for all the latest Apple products starts today and delivery will start from November 7 in the US.
