Apple Event Wrap-Up

ByMike Moffit

Apple didn’t lie when they said that there was still a lot to cover in an event that was held earlier today. Here’s a quick wrap-up the event for those of you who weren’t able to tune in and would like the short and sweet synopsis.

  • Mac Pros — These were originally announced at WWDC in June, but Apple had yet to set a release date for them. While there still wasn’t an official date released today, we do know that they will ship sometime in December and will start at a price point of $2,999. Vague, but ok.
  • MacBook Pros — The original MacBook Pro (without Retina display) is now only available in a 13-inch screen. Retina display seems to be the primary option for 13 and 15-inch models, but the good news is that Apple cut the prices on both by $200. The 13-inch MBP with Retina now starts at $1,299.The 13 and 15-inch MBP also now pack a Core i5 or i7 Haswell processor.
  • Updated to the iLife Suite — iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand all got makeovers with new features and will be free for customers who purchase a new Mac or iOS device.
  • Mavericks — The latest operating system for Mac finally got a release date: today! And it’s free. What? Yup. Free! You can head over and download that for free if you are running 10.6.8 or newer.
  • iPad mini with Retina — It looks the same, but now with Retina display. This new version will have a 2,048×1,536 resolution and offers 326 pixels per inch compared to 163 in the first model. The new mini is gonna look so fresh and so crisp and will start at a price point of $399.
  • Original iPad mini — It’s still available and will dropped in price from $329 to $299.
  • iPad Air — What everyone was waiting for; the new iPad! Not called the iPad 5, but rather the iPad Air. Apple states it’s “thinner, lighter, and more powerful than ever before.” The iPad Air’s weight is just one pound and has slimmed down to 7.5mm in thickness (20% slimmer than before). These will start at $499 like they always have. Apple is hanging on to the iPad 2, which will still be available for $399.

That’s a wrap! Stay tuned for more in-depth articles on the new iPad Air and Mavericks.

Similar Posts

  • If Apple makes this…

    … I will have to buy it. It’s the ultimate dream device! Read about it here. Chameleon Patent of 2004

  • iOS 5 Available October 12 (that's next week!!)

    On Tuesday Apple announced the October 12 launch of iOS 5—a free upgrade for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 2nd and 3rd generation, iPad and iPad 2 and a standard feature on iPhone 4S. iOS 5 will include over 200 new features, and Scott Forstall—senior vice president of iOS software—gave an overview of the top ten new and enhanced iOS 5 apps:

    Notifications
    All of your notifications—from email and text messages to social media updates—will be housed in one location that you can access by swiping down from the top of the screen in any app or on the home screen. New notifications will be briefly displayed at the top of the screen in apps so as not to interrupt whatever you’re doing when they arrive. You’ll also be able to swipe to notifications from the Lock Screen.

    iMessage
    Send unlimited text messages to other iOS 5 users from your device via Wi-Fi or 3G. iMessage will support photo, video, location and contacts as well. Messages will be synced to all your devices so you can seamlessly switch from one device to another during a conversation.

    Reminders
    This brand-new app will help you organize your life with to-do lists that integrate with iCal, Outlook and iCloud. Location-based reminders will alert you to to-do items when you when you’ve reached the point where you want to be reminded. iPhone 4S users will be able to use Siri’s voice recognition capability to set reminders.

    Twitter integration
    Now you’ll only have to sign into Twitter once—in Settings—and you’ll be able to Tweet from multiple apps, including Camera, Safari and Maps.

    Newsstand
    Organize your newspaper and magazine subscriptions so you can access them from one location. Subscribe to a publication on the App Store and it will automatically be directed to Newsstand and updated when a new issue drops.

    Camera
    Accessing Camera will be easier than ever in iOS 5 because you can open the app right from the Lock screen. The volume-up button will function as a shutter button for added usability.

    Game Center
    A number of new features will be available in Game Center, including friend recommendations, new game notifications and enhanced opponent score information.

    Safari
    Enhancements to the built-in browser will include Reader, which allows for easier reading of articles, and Reading List, where you can save articles to read later (saved articles will be synced across your devices via iCloud). Tabbed browsing in Safari will be available on iPad.

    Mail
    Text formatting, flagging, mailbox creation deletion, search features and more will be available in Mail. Plus, you’ll be able to create a free email account that iCloud syncs across your devices.

    PC Free
    Device activation, software updates, back ups and more will no longer require syncing your device to your computer. (This is huge!)

    According to Forstall, Apple has seeded iOS 5 to 100,000+ developers who “love it,” and we’re sure we will too! Visit apple.com/ios for more details.

  • iDonate Your Original iPad

    MacNN today reported Apple has launched a program enabling those upgrading to an iPad 2 to donate their original iPad to a good…

  • Apple Releases Safari 5

    With Apple’s announcement of the revolutionary iPhone 4 yesterday, it would be easy to overlook the release of Safari 5 that coincided with it. While certainly not as glamorous as Apple’s latest device, the newest version of Safari does bring some changes that will give it a serious leg up in the browser wars.

    Performance is easily the biggest deciding factor when choosing a browser, and Apple has upgraded Safari with a faster “Nitro” engine to keep themselves ahead of the game. Apple claims Safari 5 will run JavaScript 30 percent faster than Safari 4, 3 percent faster than Chrome 5.0 and more than twice as fast as Firefox 3.6.

    In addition to significant speed boosts, Safari 5 also includes the Safari Reader. This utility automatically detects if you are browsing a page with an article on it, and allows you to view it in a continuous and clutter-free manner. To enable Safari Reader, simply navigate to an applicable page and click the Reader icon in the Smart Address Field. Upon doing so, onscreen controls, similar to those seen when viewing a PDF, will appear and let you email, print, and zoom. Safari Reader even saves text settings so font size is the same if you revisit the page.

    Though not apparent by simply glancing at the UI, Safari 5 also includes a robust set of HTML5 tweaks under the hood. The new browser brings over a dozen new features including full-screen mode and closed captioning for HTML5 video as well as HTML5 geolocation. To view some examples of the HTML5 web standard in action, check out Apple’s showcase of demos here.

    Other more subtle refinements include DNS prefetching and improved catching. DNS prefetching means that if you are viewing a web page with links, Safari detects them and looks them up behind the scenes. When you click a link, the page loads faster as a result. A web cache is essentially an index of pages previously viewed. Since Safari 5’s cache has been expanded, more pages fit into it and load faster upon being revisited.

    Appending the aforementioned features are other upgrades such as a smarter address field, integrated Bing search, hardware acceleration for Windows and an improved web inspector. Safari 5 is available today, and is a free download for Mac + PC. Download it here.

  • A Greener Apple!

    This is excellent news: today Steve Jobs released a message detailing how Apple is committed to becoming a more environmentally responsible company –…