I confess that I didn’t expect today’s Apple Press event to surprise me. The whole world expected an iPad Mini and new Macbook. We even heard that there would be a new version of iBooks, Apple’s eReading app. What I don’t think many of us expected was desktop refreshes and yet another new iPad.
Let’s start with the expected, shall we? The iPad Mini is clearly not targeted at the low-end of the market, starting at $329. That’s a bit higher than the $250 some (us) were guessing, and that’s not even the model with LTE and there’s no Retina Display. Essentially a pint-sized iPad 2 with some spec bumps, the iPad Mini is a device that confuses me. This smaller iPad is a device targeted at the people who would buy a Nexus 7 or a Kindle Fire HD, but want access to Apple’s ecosystem. Seems that another $130 is a bit much for that privilege. Is there really that big a market of people who want an iPad, but just dodn’t want to deal with a 10″ screen?
iPad Mini: For people who find ten inches intimidating.
(Also? That dude’s arm is freakishly long)
In the same press release, Apple let us know that the New iPad (aka the iPad 3) was no longer new. Instead, we have a fourth generation iPad with a Lightning connector and a bumped up A6X processor. We’ll have more on the shock of Apple refreshing the iPad line later. I’m already seeing people calling this the iPad 4S though, and that’s quite apt.
Apple did update the MacBook line as expected, giving us a 13″ Macbook Pro with a Retina Display. I, for one, can’t wait until Retina Displays get a tad cheaper. Don’t get me wrong, they’re stunning. However, $1,699 for a 2.5 GHz i5 chip is steep in the era of Ultrabooks.
Stunning, but you absolutely pay for it.
One announcement I didn’t expect was for a new Mac Mini. The new Mac Mini’s base model is a dual-core Core i5 chip at $599 with a Core i7 costing $999 and aimed at the server market. I hear the Mac Mini makes for a good server too, so that’s not a bad deal. Apple hasn’t backed off from its decision to make the Mac Mini media drive free, so if you intend on taking the HDMI port on this and hooking it to your flat screen for a media center, be aware that you need an external drive. Other specs include:
The Mac mini is available with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz, 4GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive for a suggested retail price of $599 (US); a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, 4GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive for a suggested retail price of $799 (US); and a 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, OS X Server, 4GB of memory and two 1TB hard drives for a suggested retail price of $999 (US). The Mac mini is available today through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The Mac Mini isn’t a massive product though (no pun intended). Most people use iMacs, right? Not like they updated that.
Come to POPPA!
Forgive me if this is unprofessional, but do you see those thin, stunning machines? The new iMac body cuts down on 40 percent of the previous model’s body and throws some anti-glare on there to boot. I’m too busy trying to get my jaw off the floor, so I’m going to cut and paste the specs from Apple’s press release.
The 21.5-inch iMac is available with a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.2 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US); and with a 2.9 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US). The 21.5-inch iMac will be available in November through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
The 27-inch iMac is available with a 2.9 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US); and with a 3.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US). The 27-inch iMac will be available in December through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
Imagine what those iMacs would cost with Retina Displays. Apple is introducing a cool bit of tech with this with the Fusion Boost drive, a SSD/HDD hybrid meant to boost performance. All of the iMacs start with 8 GB RAM and a 1TB HD, unless you chose to customize. Normally, I suggest not getting your upgrades direct from Apple, but I don’t think anyone in his or her right mind wants to DiY this puppy.
All in all, an impressive day for Apple. The iMac is stunning, the iPad Mini is puzzling, the iPad 4 is bemusing, and the Mac Mini is, as always, just there.
That verdammte company makes it easy to WANT things. Our home iMac isn’t old enough to justify considering an upgrade, though, and the iPad mini is probably way too small for my old eyes and clumsy fingers… but the Mac Mini sounds like a good deal to replace my mom’s computer. I don’t mind the lack of a media player for desktop machines. The ones that come with the computers break more often than any other part (in my experience, at least) and pretty good external drives are available at very low prices.