Blog Archives

When iSensei said, in a recent post, that Apple had “a little more to show” us,  he couldn’t have been more wrong. They had A TON of new stuff to show us. And, in a big turnaround from all the leaks that sprouted prior to the release of iPhone 5, many of these announcements today were pretty much complete surprises. And and, it was as much Mac news as iPad. Let’s run them down, shall we? We’ll also note how surprised we were to see them. 

• iPad mini – (not surprised)
  Gorgeous little sucker. 7.9″ diagonal screen. 1024 x 768 resolution. That’s the same as the pre-Retina display iPad 2, but at the smaller size, looks amazing. Light and easy to hold. As expected, the new smaller Lightning connector. Available in Wifi and WiFi/LTE. 16, 32 and 64 GB storage. Starts at $329. As usual for Apple, not cheap, but it feels and performs like the premium product it is. Pre-order starting October 26. WiFi models available Nov. 2, WiFi+Cellular mid-November.
• iPad 4 - (trés surprised)
  Yes, they’ve already phased out “the New iPad” (3) with a similar but upgraded model! After only 8 months the iPad 3 is – poof – gone! New one has same price structure (starts at $499), more carriers (Sprint, finally), LTE+Cellular. Lightning connector, much faster chip/processor, advanced WiFi. (Not sure when this comes out. Unclear on Apple.com) It’s nice but no need to upgrade if you have the 3rd generation, we say. Oh, but get this: the iPad 2 is still available! From $399 and up. 
• Mac mini - (a little surprised. thought they forgot they made this)
  Not exactly the Black Sheep of the family. We just don’t see a lot of these around. It’s basically a Mac without the monitor, squeezed into a little box. Nice upgrade tho: Double the speed, Thunderbolt and USB 3 connectors. (You’re going to see USB 3 in all Macs going forward. USB 3 is VERY snappy. Uses same plug as USB 2 so older stuff will work just fine. Goes for $599. Actually, that and an inexpensive monitor of most any brand gives you the cheapest possible Mac desktop setup. Available today.
• MacBook Pro 13″ - (not too surprised)
  It was inevitable. The little brother to the spectacular 15″ MacBook Pro that debuted in June. This new one also has that amazing Retina screen. It’s now the thinnest, lightest and most powerful laptop on the planet. (The Air is thinner but not as powerful, y’see? This is the best combination of all those attributes) Nicely done, with an HDMI port, 2 USB 3 ports, 2 Thunderbolts and an SD card slot. Starts at $1699. Actually, the 13″ is only a little more than 1/2 lb heavier than the same size MacBook Air! (How thin are all these things going to be in 5 years?!) Interestingly, you can still buy the previous generation MacBook Pro, at a much cheaper price ($1199), non-Retina, heavier 13″ & 15″ models. 
• iMac - (gotta say, didn’t see this coming. there were rumors but…)
  Suh-weet! as the kids used to say. I think. Damn, this sucker is beautiful. Super thin! Less than half the volume of the previous model. 5mm at the edges, swells slightly towards the center of the back. The front and back of this are bonded together molecularly! Soon as it was shown, iSensei shouts: “No more Optical Drive!” Not out of joy, just that it explained how it could be so mad-thin. (Separate USB Superdrives are available for $79 if you really need one.) Uses half as much energy as the previous when idling. Yes, faster as all heck. The coolest thing is the new Fusion Drive concept. It mixes the speed of a solid state drive with the capacity of a traditional hard drive, while delivering speeds almost as fast if it was all solid state. Very impressive. 21.5″ model starts at only $1299, available in November. Monster 27″ starts at $1799, out in December. iSensei’s gonna have to have a long talk with Santa soon.

So, all in all, a very jam-packed presentation. Apple has revamped virtually its entire line of products in the last year. They are NOT slowing down. If anything, with the sooner-than-expected release of the iPad 4, it shows they intend to leave no breathing room for the competition. Macs sales have exceeded growth vs PCs for the last six years. The iPhone 5 is the fast-selling electronic consumer device ever. And, get this, 91% of ALL mobile web traffic is done on an Apple mobile device. As Apple’s delightful Head of Marketing Phil Schiller says: “They’re no longer even in our rear view mirror.” Apple stays strong, Steve. You’d be proud.