Apple has introduced its latest iPad, the iPad Air, which we got our hands on earlier today. Following this, Belkin has announced three keyboard models for the new slate, each offering its own features for users of many varieties, whether an on-the-go casual user or a business power user. All three will be available for […]
The iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display will each support fourteen LTE bands, the greatest number of any of Apple’s 4G-capable devices so far, with carriers like T-Mobile already trying to differentiate themselves from the crowd with the promise of bundled data. The two new tablets, announced this morning, will work with nine […]
Apple wrapped its October event at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco earlier today and, as promised, there was plenty to dig into. We’ve pumped out plenty of stories dissecting Apple’s myriad announcements, but in case you’re looking for a highlight reel of sorts, we’ve put together a quick rundown of everything Apple pulled back the curtain on.
New MacBook Pros: Yeah, people tend to swoon about new iGadgets, but the company’s refreshed batch of Retina Macbook Pros are nothing to sneeze at. Apple showed off slimmer 13- and 15-inch versions that sport Intel’s latest Haswell chipsets and bigger batteries and come preloaded with OS X Mavericks.
In the event these things struck your fancy, you can lay claim to yours in the Apple Store starting today. Here are Darrell Etherington’s thoughts on how they compare to past versions based on initial impressions.
New Mac Pro: Many a nerd has salivated over Apple’s curious Mac Pro redesign, and today we got a better look at what’s ticking away under the hood. Long story short, the back provides you all the access to input/output/expandability you could want, and the otherwise unbroken smooth cylinder evokes a ‘Darth Vader’ vibe.
It’s got dual workstation GPUs (proprietary in design but potentially upgradeable down the line) and an amazing Intel processor, making it an awfully powerful machine housed in an awfully pretty body.
The new Mac Pro will be available in December starting at $2,999, and you can see our hands-on impression of the computing powerhouse (courtesy of Matthew Panzarino) here.
iPads: And who could forget the iPads – Apple pulled back the curtain on two new models, the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina Display.
The two actually have plenty of things in common: both sport the same 64-bit A7 chip that recently debuted in the iPhone 5s, both have screens that run at 2048-by-1536 resolution (though the smaller screen on the mini will make for much crisper images), and both are going to hit store shelves starting in November. They even resemble each other to an extent – the Air essentially looks like a 10-inch iPad mini, making it significantly slimmer and lighter than the model that came before it.
If you’re not looking to spend too much, though, Apple is keeping some older models around to make sure that anyone who wants to jump on the iPad bandwagon can do so. The (non-Retina) iPad 2 is still kicking and will set you back $399 to start.
Today it seems the name of the game was ‘free.’ Apple announced that two of its most prominent software suites – iLife for content creation and iWork for, well, work – would now be free with the purchase of any new Mac or iOS device.
But that’s not all. Apple’s next big OS X update, OS X Mavericks, is also free and it’s available right now for all to download. This should help dramatically raise the rate at which users update their software, which has a benefit for security and for developers, too.
Considering that the Apple has been charging for these annual updates since the earliest days of OS X, this is an unexpected (though very welcome) change. It’s true the company has been reducing the cost of updates with each new version, but going completely free was a move almost no one saw coming.
Apple also delivered an update about how quickly people are taking to iOS 7, and the numbers aren’t too shabby. It’s been just over a month since the update went live and started getting pushed to iDevices across the globe, and so far a full 64 percent of those Apple gadgets are now running iOS 7.
And that’s about everything there is to know about Apple’s big fall event, without getting too deep into the nitty gritty. Safe to say, Apple has a lot of new stuff for people to get excited about going into the holiday shopping season.
Today was a banner day for new Apple goodness. We got a thinner, lighter, iPad—the iPad Air—as well as a new retina display iPad mini, new Haswell chip-packed MacBook Pros, and a deeper look at the new Mac Pros. Do you feel like you need a cheat sheet to keep track? We’ve got just the thing:
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The war is on for the most sought-after tablet on the market, and the differentiation between the front-runners appears now, more than ever, to be strikingly high. What we’ve got from Apple is the iPad Air, a new far-smaller iteration of the same Retina display as the 4th generation unit. From Google there’s the Nexus […]
Today, Apple presented to the world its new iPad Air and iPad mini, along with details about OS X Mavericks, updated MacBook Pros, and the Mac Pro. But why waste breath talking about all that when we can just enjoy it in series endless loops instead?
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Apple has just updated its online store with the new products it has been officially unveiling today at the iPad event we’ve been liveblogging. Most notably, Apple has eliminated the 15-inch MacBook Pro with optical drive, but kept on the 13-inch version due to its popularity among students. Featured front and above the fold, the […]
The first-generation iPad mini was near-perfect in terms of a small tablet, with the one big shortcoming being that it lacked Apple’s impressive Retina high-resolution display. It was hard to go back to a standard-res screen after the iPad 3 and iPhone 4, which is why it’s great that the new version offers a Retina screen.
The eye-boggling 2048 x 1536 screen looks excellent in person, and for anyone coming from a generation one device it’s going to be a dramatic change. The iPad mini itself is very slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor to accommodate the Retina Display with the same battery life, adding 0.01 inches and 0.05 pounds to the specs of the original, but that makes minimal difference to the actual feel of the product in the hand.
Also new to the iPad mini is a new space gray color scheme, which is lighter than the dark black of the original version. As with the iPhone, it’s an attractive color option, and I suspect also less susceptible to scratches. It’s actually quite close when compared side-by-side to the silver version, but it’s still got the solid black front bezel.
The new case options feel about the same as the existing versions, though they come in new color variants. I’m always a fan of the smart cover, and this time around is no exception. Everything else aside, though, the big attraction here is the Retina display.
Apple may have beefed up the iPad mini’s processor power with the A7 chip and added a 128 GB storage option, plus much better global LTE coverage, but the Retina is what’s really going to make it worth the extra $70 over the original cost of the gen-one iPad mini. And considering that you do get an iPad essentially as powerful as its larger sibling in such a small, one-hand holdable package, it really is worth the minor price hike, based on my initial impressions.
If you’ve been holding off on buying Apple’s iPad mini because you wanted a Retina resolution screen, then wait no further. Today, Apple announced the new iPad mini, which still offers a compact 7.9-inch screen, but now has a razor-sharp Retina display.
While the new iPad mini Retina hasn’t changed much on the outside, it now has a gorgeously sharp 2048×1536 resolution Retina screen – the same resolution as the current 9.7-inch iPad models. This means it can run all Retina apps as-is, only they’ll look even sharper since the pixels are even more dense.
It still measures just 0.29″ thick, and weighs just 0.73 pounds, just a hair heavier than the original iPad Mini.
Under the hood, the iPad Mini Retina got a big CPU boost, using the new A7 64-bit CPU found in the iPhone 5S and iPad Air. It also has the M7 motion coprocessor along for the ride. Battery life for the iPad Mini Retina is rated at 10 hours, which is pretty solid, given the fact that it’s so small, and now has to push 4x as many pixels to its display.
It also has a 5MP iSight camera, Facetime HD camera, dual microphones and MIMO Wi-Fi for improved wireless throughput. All iPad minis now come with iOS7 and a huge number of pre-installed apps, as well as iMovie, iPhone, GarageBand, Keynote, Numbers and Pages – for free.
For all practical purposes, the iPad Mini Retina is the same tablet as the new iPad Air, just with a smaller display and battery. In fact, the iPhone 5S, iPad Air and iPad mini Retina are virtually the same devices, with the exception of the display size, lower resolution camera, and lack of fingerprint sensor on the iPads.
It’s available in both Silver and White or Space Grey and Black colors. Pricing for the new iPad Mini Retina in the Wi-Fi version is $399, $499, $599 and $699 (USD) for 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models, respectively, and the 4G LTE models going for $529, $629, $729 and $829 in the same memory configurations. This makes it a bit more expensive than the original iPad mini, which you can now get for as little as $299.
Apple hasn’t announced an exact date for the iPad Mini Retina to hit stores, but does say it will be available in late November.
As had been rumored, Apple introduced the second-generation iPad mini today. This one will be arriving with a Retina display and similar to the iPad Air — it will be available in two color options. Apple has the iPad mini with Retina display shipping in a Space Gray and also in a Silver option. The […]
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