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Apple fans got an iPad Mini, as expected, at an Oct. 23 event, but also so much more.
Over roughly 75 minutes, Apple executives introduced a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display; two all-in-one iMacs with displays that thin to just 5mm; an even more mini Mac Mini; a fourth-generation 9.7-inch iPad with an A6X processor and Lightning port; and of course, that iPad Mini, which features a 7.9-inch display and will go on sale Nov. 2 starting at $329.
“iPad Mini is every inch an iPad,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said in an Oct. 23 statement. Schiller added that its display features the same number of pixels as the original iPad and iPad 2, so more than 275,000 apps for the iPad can run on the Mini.
“iPad Mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper,” Schiller added.
During the live presentation, Apple designer Jony Ive called it, compellingly, “a concentration of, not a reduction of, the original.”
At a glance, those packed 75 minutes resulted in:
The Apple iPad Mini:
• 7.9-inch display, offering 35 percent more screen area than 7-inch tablets and 67 percent more viewing area in the browser;
• 7.2mm thin, 0.68 pounds;
• Apple A5 processor;
• a front-facing FaceTime HD camera and a rear-facing 5-megapixel iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording; and
• Lightning connector.
The iPad Mini will be available in black and slate or white and silver. WiFi-only models will go on sale Nov. 2 at $329 for a 16GB model, $429 for a 32GB model and $529 for a 64GB model. Smart Covers, in pink, green, blue, light gray, dark gray and red will sell for $39.
Versions with WiFi and cellular will become available a “couple of weeks” later in the United States, through Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint. The 16GB model will run $459, the 32GB $559 and the 64GB $659.
The Fourth-Generation Apple iPad
• 9.7-inch Retina display;
• Apple A6X processor, with twice the CPU performance and twice the graphics performance of Apple’s A5X chip;
• 10 hours of battery life;
• FaceTime HD camera;
• twice the WiFi performance, plus support for more Long Term Evolution (LTE) carriers; and
• Lightning connector.
The new iPad, in black or white, will also be available Nov. 2, in WiFi-only or WiFi and cellular models. The WiFi-only version will run $499, $599 and $699 for 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models, respectively.
Arriving a few weeks later, again from Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint, cellular models will run $629, $729 and $829 for 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models, respectively.
13-Inch MacBook Pro With Retina Display
“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,” Schiller said in a statement, of the new MacBook Pro.
It’s available today and features:
• a 13-inch Retina display with a 178-degree viewing angle and 227 pixels per inch, which is nearly twice the pixels of an HDTV;
• 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 processors with the option of Core i7 processors, Intel HD graphics 4000, 8GB of 1,600MHz memory and up to 768GB of flash storage;
• two Thunderbolt ports;
• two USB 3.0 ports;
• improved speakers, dual microphones and a FaceTime HD camera;
• a MagSafe 2 power port;
• seven hours of battery life; and
• OS X Mountain Lion.
Pricing starts at $1,699 for the Core i5 version with 8GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage and $1,999 with 256GB of flash storage. Configure-to-order versions are available with the Core i7 processor with up 768GB of flash storage.
iPad Mini Shares Stage With New iMac, iPad, MacBook, Mac Mini
All-in-One 21.5-Inch and 27-Inch iMacs
Two new iMacs feature a considerably slimmed-down design that takes up 40 percent less volume and features an edge that’s just 5mm thin. With them, Apple also introduced what it calls a Fusion Drive—a new storage option that combines the capacity of a hard drive with the performance of a flash drive.
“Fusion Drive adapts to the way you use your iMac and automatically moves the files and apps you use most often to flash storage to enable faster performance and quicker access,” Apple said in its statement, also calling the new iMac “the most advanced desktop Apple has ever made.”
The new iMac additionally features:
• Third-generation quad-core Intel Core i5 processors that can be upgraded to Core i7;
• Nvidia GeForce processors that boast 60 percent faster performance;
• standard configurations of 8GB of 1,600MHz memory and a 1-terabyte hard drive that can be upgraded up to 32GB of memory with a 3TB hard drive;
• Two Thunderbolt and four USB 3.0 ports; and
• OS X Mountain Lion.
The 21.5-inch iMac will arrive in November priced at $1,299 for a 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.2GHz and Nvidia GeForce 640M graphics. A version with a 2.9GHz Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz and a Nvidia GeForce 650 processor will be priced at $1,499.
The 27-inch model, arriving in December, will be priced at $1,799 for a 2.9GHz quad-core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6GHz and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M; with a 3.2GHz quad-core Core i5 with Turbo Boost up to 3.6 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 675MX, expect to pay $1,999.
Mac Mini
Completing Apple’s announcements was a new Mac Mini with:
• third-generation dual-core Intel Core i5 and quad-core Intel Core i7 processors;
• a standard configuration of 4GB of 1,600MHz memory with support for up to 16GB;
• four USB 3.0 ports;
• Thunderbolt, High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Secure Digital Extended Capacity (SDXC), Gigabit Ethernet and FireWire 800 ports; and
• 50 percent less energy use than the previous generation, when idle.
The new Mac Mini, available today, is priced between $599 and $999.
Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the event with a slew of statistics that included news that Apple sold its 100 millionth iPad two weeks ago. He concluded by telling the audience, “We hope you love these products as much as we loved creating them.”