Get Your Wallets Ready For The New iPad Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Mini

By Adam Kerr

Now that you’re all settled with your new iPhone XS Max and arsenal of cases, it’s finally time to update your slew of Apple productivity devices. While we may have been a wee bit disappointed that there were no updates on the iPad at last month’s Apple Special Event, tonight’s Special Event (30 October) sure made up for it.

MacBook Air

MacBook Air, from $1,789. Available in gold, space grey and silver today.

It’s been three long years since we saw any huge change to the MacBook Air, and it’s about time too. For students and people who work on-the-go (and generally anyone who has to lug a laptop everywhere), the new MacBook Air now boasts a 13-inch Retina display, Touch ID, cutting-edge processors, a new wedge-shaped design and three new colours that are currently available with the new MacBooks – gold, space grey and silver.

An 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor, Intel UHD Graphics and 2,133 MHz system memory (up to 16GB) power the new MacBook Pro for all your working needs. And with up to 1.5TB capacity, you can pretty much leave your portable HDs at home.

The metal bezels have been stripped away for more screen real estate and are 50% narrower than before, so you can enjoy the 4 million pixels of resolution in its entirety. Also built into the new chassis are Apple’s third-gen butterfly keyboard and a bigger Force Touch track – 20% larger than the previous generation – for better pressure-sensing capabilities and haptic feedback.

They’ve also rejigged the speakers: they’re now 25% louder with twice more bass than before, so you’ll hear better quality audio when you’re watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix, or listening to the latest album by Robyn.

The new MacBook Air is now available in gold, space grey and silver, and is priced from $1,789.

Mac Mini

Mac Mini, from $1,179. Available for pre-order today.

Much like the MacBook Air, the Mac mini has been sorely neglected over the years of Apple’s tech developments. But after a four-year wait, they’ve dusted the lil’ thing and added a couple of new stuff to make it relevant again. The promo video, as expected, unveiled the Mac mini in dramatic fashion a la great space odyssey type films of the ’80s.

https://youtu.be/hVEaL9izgjs

While most of us might opt for an iMac as a desktop because of its integrated monitor and better specs, the new Mac mini does serve as a more affordable alternative without compromising on performance. They’ve replaced the fourth generation Intel Core i5 dual-core processor in the previous Mac Mini with a new quad-core 8th Gen Intel processor (there’s a six-core option as well), making it up to five times faster.

Combine that with 64GB of 2,666 MHz memory and capacities of up to 2TB, the new Mac Mini lets you work smoothly when editing photos and videos, creating music and a whole bunch of other stuff without the fear of the infamous wheel of death popping up. There are also four Thunderbolt 3 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, two USB-A ports, an audio jack and Gigabit Ethernet.

Mac Mini will is available for pre-order today and priced from $1,179. Shipping starts 7 November.

iPad Pro

iPad Pro 11-inch, from $1,199. iPad Pro 12.9-inch, from $1,499. Both available in silver and space grey in 64GB, 256Gb, 516GB and 1TB capacities today.

For the past year, the iPad Pro 10.5 reigned supreme in the word of tablets, with few competitors that could match up. But at this year’s Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, the Korean tech giant unveiled the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, which shares near-identical specs. Not to be dethroned, Apple released the all-new iPad Pro.

https://youtu.be/YJ5q8Wrkbdw

As expected, the new 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pros come with an edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display and Apple’s TrueDepth camera system for Face ID (yes, there’s the Animoji and Memoji too). It was only a matter of time before they brought the aesthetic of the iPhone X to their iPads.

They’ve also done away with the rounded side bezels and adopted a boxier aesthetic, reminiscent of the early-day iPhones. It’s currently the thinnest iPad in the family, standing at a stunning 5.9mm.

The powerful A12X Bionic chip with Neural Engine makes this new iPad Pro 92% faster than most PCs, which means you’ll be able to work on Photoshop, surf the web for inspiration and send artworks to your collaborators over Text seamlessly.

What really takes the cake though are the 102 magnets within the iPad Pro itself, which helps to align the Smart Keyboard Folio perfectly. And with the second-gen Apple Pencil, you can magnetically attach it to the iPad Pro so you’ll never lose sight of it again (it also charges wirelessly on the iPad Pro).

Besides having no more home button, Apple has also completely taken away the headphone jack (time to invest in Bluetooth headsets) and replaced the Lightning port with a USB-C connector.

The Apple 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (64GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB) are now available in silver and space grey, and priced from $1,199 and $1,499 respectively.