While we didn’t get to see everything we were hoping for during Apple’s Special Event — there was no mention of new AirPods or the AirPower wireless charger — we did see some well deserved and long-sought-after updates to some beloved lines.
There is a new MacBook Air, the diminutive but mighty Mac mini, and an update for the iPad Pro that comes with two new sizes, an updated design, and the all-new Apple Pencil.
Just in case you missed out Apple’s October 30 Special Event where it announced a bunch of hardware refreshed, from new iPads to new MacBook Airs. There is a lot to get into, and you can check out our full articles on each product to find out more about each. Here’s everything Apple announced at its October 30 event.
New MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is, at last, getting a Retina display. Roughly six years after the MacBook Pro went high-res, Apple’s slim line is following suit.
It has a 13.3″ screen, with a slimmer bezel (now black, rather than aluminum). There’s a TouchID fingerprint sensor near the upper-right corner of the keyboard — a keyboard which, by the way, has been shifted over to Apple’s butterfly mechanism keys. Oh, and it’s got actual function keys. No goofy Touch Bar here.
It has a 20 percent larger Force Touch trackpad. The speakers are 25 percent louder than the previous generation with, the company claims, double the bass. Apple says the bodies of the new MacBook Airs are made of 100 percent recycled aluminum.
It has two Thunderbolt ports, and crams an Intel i5 CPU, up to 16GB of 2133Mhz RAM and up to 1.5 TB of storage into its 2.75-lb body. It’ll start at $1,199. Orders start today, and will ship out starting November 7th.
New Mac Mini
Given that it’s been four years since the last Mac Mini refresh, you might’ve assumed Apple was done with the line. Nope!
The new Mac Mini will come in 4-core or 6-core models, up to 2TB of SSD storage and up to 64GB of memory. It has got a new thermal system that doubles the airflow to keep things cool. It has gigabit Ethernet (or 10 gigabit Ethernet, as an upgrade), 4 thunderbolt ports, HDMI and 2 USB-A ports. Like the new MacBook air, it’s made of 100 percent recycled aluminum.
The base model starts at $799, and will start shipping out on November 7th.
New iPad Pro
Goodbye home button! Like many an iPhone before it, the new iPad Pro ditches the home button in favor of a much slimmer bezel.
By slimming down the bezel, they’re able to cram an 11″ screen into the same body that previously fit a 10.5″ screen. They’ll also continue to offer an even larger model with a massive 12.9″ display.
On the inside, it’s running Apple’s new A12X Bionic chip — a chip packing an 8-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, Apple’s secure enclave and a storage controller that lets the new iPads handle up to 1TB of storage. Apple claims this new iPad Pro is faster than “92% of portable PCs.”
It has FaceID for unlocking your iPad with just your ol’ noggin, with a 7-megapixel camera on the front and a 12-megapixel camera on the back.
Perhaps most notably, the iPad Pro is dropping the Lightning port in favor of USB-C. That USB-C port can drive an external 5K display — or, in a pinch, charge your phone.
The 11″ iPad Pro will start at $799, while the 12.9″ model starts at $999. Orders start today, shipping out starting November 7th.
New Apple Pencil
The new Apple Pencil is built to snap magnetically to the edge of the new iPad Pro. Once snapped, it automatically pairs and starts wirelessly charging. No more goofy pencil sticking out of your iPad! Tap the Pencil to the Pro and the iPad wakes up and launches right into Notes. It has support for gestures now, like double-tapping the edge of the pencil to zoom way in or out in Photoshop.
iOS 12.1
As expected, the first big update to iOS 12 ships today, its biggest feature being Group FaceTime for chatting with up to 32 people at once. It’s also got 70 new emojis, and brings dual SIM support to the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.
