Apple launches new MacBooks, iMacs and iPads during yesterday's keynote event

[Technology News]

During yesterday's keynote address, Apple announced a range of new hardware products including new 13-inch MacBook Pros with high-resolution displays (marketed as a "Retina display"), a new 9.7-inch iPad with an A6X processor, 7.9-inch iPad mini with a 1024 x 768 resolution display to compete with the Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 and other 7-inch tablets, and new iMacs sporting a high-resolution display like the new 13-inch MacBooks that have a high-resolution than other notebooks currently on the market.

MacBook Pro
The new 13-inch MacBook Pros with a high-resolution display will be sold alongside the prior MacBook Pros. The new 13-inch MacBook has a 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution, and is considerably thinner than the prior 13-inch MacBook Pros. The 13-inch high-resolution MacBooks start at £1,449.

The base model comes with a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB RAM and 128GB solid state storage with an Intel HD 4000 graphics card.

The high-end 13-inch model comes with the same processor, 8 GB RAM with a higher capacity 256 GB solid state drive and a hybrid Intel HD 4000 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1GB graphics cards.

IMac
The new iMacs have a substantially thinner profile than the iMacs that are being replaced. The base iMac starts at £1,099 (£100 more than the iMacs being replaced) and comes with a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM and 1 TB HDD with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M 512MB graphics card. The base iMac has the same display resolution of 1920 x 1080. The highest-end iMac priced at £1,699 comes with a 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM and 1TB HDD with an NVIDIA GeForce 675MX 1GB graphics card.

It looks like Apple are not selling any iMacs until they become available. With respect to availability, the 21.5-inch iMacs will be available in November and the 27-inch iMacs in December.

iPad
Apple has released a new iPad mini with a 7.9-inch display, 1024 x 768 pixel resolution and is priced at £269. Alongside the iPad mini is an updated 9.7-inch iPad with a faster A6X system on a chip with Apple claiming the new 9.7-inch iPad is "twice as fast".

The new iPad and iPad mini will be available for preorder on the Apple online store starting October 26 (coincidentally the day on which Windows 8 launches), and customers will be able to buy the WiFi-only models on 2 November in Apple retail stores.

[asherros]

Re: Apple launches new MacBooks, iMacs and iPads during yesterday's keynote event

The iPad Mini is disappointing. The display is not at par with other tablets in that category and there is only mono speaker which is not good. Apple should at least put features that match the competitors to justify the premium price.

The new nexus 7 is something to look out for i feel.

[Ben Stones]

Re: Apple launches new MacBooks, iMacs and iPads during yesterday's keynote event

The iPad Mini is disappointing. The display is not at par with other tablets in that category and there is only mono speaker which is not good. Apple should at least put features that match the competitors to justify the premium price.

The new nexus 7 is something to look out for i feel.

I don't know whether I agree with you to be honest - although I understand what you're saying and can see where you are coming from (heck, Brian will agree with you regardless - he doesn't like Apple much). I mean, while the Nexus 7 is likely a very good tablet to buy, I think the experience on the iPad mini will be much better than on the Nexus 7 because what Apple says about scaled up apps on the Google Play store on Android tablets is indeed true: while there are apps that are tablet optimised, there are apps that are phone apps that are scaled up to accommodate the larger screen. I just think Apple makes a better user experience with the iPad mini - of course, I've not tried it, but after trying out both iPads and Android tablets, Apple does perfect the user experience than some of their competitors. Even though I don't like the iPad being limited to a consumption/entertainment device, I do think the iPad has a better user experience and is great to use but only for entertainment and consumption.

If anyone says the iPad mini will not be a success is completely wrong - it will be a very good success for Apple and it seems they've done a good job at not compromising on the user experience and usage with the smaller 7.9-inch screen size. Although, speaking of the iPad, I do think Windows 8 tablets will be good competition to the iPad. It just seems so far that Apple has won the larger market share when it comes to the tablet market - while Android tablets have done reasonably well, they aren't a huge success in comparison to the iPad. There are some good Android tablets out there, but Apple seems to just make a better tablet; and user experience is a very critical factor of this. I personally think Windows 8 is a better compromise - you have both a touch-optimised UI (Windows Store apps) and being able to run traditional apps if you really wanted to on x86 devices running Intel or AMD processors.