iPad Mini, MacBook Pro And iMac
Photo courtesy Apple
At long last, Apple has unveiled the much anticipated iPad mini. It is precisely what I thought it would be: a slightly smaller version of the 9.7-inch iPad 2.
“iPad mini is every inch an iPad. With its gorgeous 7.9-inch display, iPad mini features the same number of pixels as the original iPad and iPad 2, so you can run more than 275,000 apps designed specifically for iPad,” says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing. “iPad mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper, yet packs a fast A5 chip, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras and ultrafast wireless – all while delivering up to 10 hours of battery life.”
The device comes in a aluminum and glass design that is 7.2 mm thin and
weighs 0.68 pounds. The 7.9-inch Multi-Touch display delivers the same iPad experience you have come to expect, in a design that has 35 percent more screen real estate than 7-inch tablets, and up to a 67 percent more usable viewing area when browsing the Web. The dual-core A5 chip delivers responsive graphics and a fast, fluid Multi-Touch experience, while still providing all-day battery life. iPad mini seems to be aimed at people wanting to use it as a reader or keiki with smaller hands because of its size, not to mention the competing Barnes & Noble and Amazon readers. It’s 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the third generation iPad, and includes FaceTime HD and iSight cameras, as well as that Lightning connector everyone is still trying to get used to. Note the iSight camera includes video image stabilization, and both cameras feature backside illumination to let users capture great pictures in low light.
As with the original iPad, these come in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB in both Wi-Fi only ($329-$529) and Wi-Fi + Cellular ($459-$659). They will be available on Friday (Nov. 2) on Apple.com.
In addition to the iPad Mini, Apple unveiled the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display and an all new iMac.
“The 13-inch MacBook Pro is our most popular Mac, and today it gets completely reinvented with a new thin and light design, fast flash storage and a gorgeous Retina display,” says Schiller. “With vivid colors, razor-sharp text and more pixels than anyone else’s 15- or 17-inch notebooks, the Retina display completely changes what you expect from a notebook.”
The new Retina display on the MacBook Pro has a density of 227 pixels per inch, includes a Flash hard drive and is 20 percent smaller. Pricing starts at $1,699 (25GB Flash storage).
Apple’s all-new iMac features a completely different design, display with reduced reflection and faster processor. Each iMac comes with 8GB of memory (upgradable to 32GB) and a 1TB hard drive, and you can choose a 3TB hard drive or 768GB of flash storage. Additionally, it comes in 21.5-inch and 27-inch models.
