Live from Brooklyn on October 30th at 10:00 am, was the Apple Event with an exciting array of products released. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, took the stage to announce the new MacBook Air, Mac mini, and iPad Pro. The MacBook Air and Mac mini were long overdue for upgrades, while the iPad Pro was completely reworked with faster graphics and CPU. This was the second Apple Event this month, following the releases of the Apple Watch Series 4, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR.
With the MacBook Air last receiving an update to the product line in June 2012, Apple’s lightest laptop was starting to lack the essentials to keep up with the competition. The most noticeable change at first glance would be the removal of the grey bezel in addition to the new retina display. With the tap of a finger, MacBook Air users can now easily login into their device and make purchases. Touch ID has now become part of the MacBook Air lineage. Although, unlike iPhone and iPad Pro, the MacBook Air includes a headphone jack along with two USB-C ports. Before the event, there was a lot of anticipation about a low budget Mac, but the Air ended up smashing the dreams of many coming in with a starting price of $1199.
Following the keynote of the MacBook Air, Tim Cook brought a wonderful surprise for all: the next generation Mac mini. Mac mini, unknown to most of the general population, is all the power of a Mac in one small package meant for use as a home desktop computer or even a server. With the last model being released in 2014, it has been a little while for the Mac mini. Only available with a dual-core processor before, Apple used viewers’ impatience to bring on a wow factor by delaying the announcement of a 6-core Mac mini with a presentation of the quad-core Mac mini. The late 2018 Mac mini boasts up to 5 times faster system performance and up to 60% faster Intel integrated graphics, according to Apple’s website.
Apple seems to be a true believer in saving the best for last as the iPad Pro was the final device to get time on the stage. According to the Apple ad campaign, “It’s the biggest change to iPad since iPad.” Following the paths of the iPhones, the iPad Pro comes equipped with Face ID and nothing but a glossy, black bezel where the home button once was. Instead of a lightning connector, the iPad Pro supports a USB-C port that’s useful for connecting, for instance, a camera directly to the device. The lightning connector is slowly beginning to go the way of the 30 pin charger. Coming in an 11” and 12.9” size, the iPad Pro supports a beautiful Liquid Retina display in addition to even more power behind the screen with the ability to run the full version of Photoshop and AutoCAD. With the iPad slowly becoming more and more similar to a laptop, the largest amount of storage available is one terabyte. The Apple Pencil also got an upgrade which allows it to respond to touch, making switching between brushes and the eraser a much easier task. The Apple pencil can be charged off the iPad Pro via a magnetic connector. Apple even upgraded the keyboard that customers can purchase for the Pro.
With the iPhones pushed out of the way, Apple was able to make yet another wonderful event out of devices that were long anticipated and huge changes that came with the iPad Pro. Since Apple is always innovating, the next Apple event will surely be as exciting as the previous.
