Apple’s latest keynote was full of announcements for iPad and Mac enthusiasts. Apple has finally unveiled its second generation iPad Air, a slightly revised iPad mini, and the long rumored iMac with Retina display. Apple’s keynote went on for about 90 minutes, but in case you didn’t have time to sit through the entire thing, we’ve put together a recap to get you up to speed…
First up, if you own a Mac, you’ll now be able to upgrade to OS X Yosemite. It’s currently available for free in the Mac App Store and is packed with a ton of new features. More than ever, your iOS device and Mac will become somewhat of a unified experience. Continuity adds some amazing features that cross over between iOS and OS X and if you’d like to find out more information, check out our Yosemite top features article.
Apple is also preparing to release iOS 8.1 which will (hopefully) bring some needed bug fixes, some handy features, and also add support for Apple Pay to iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. This will allow you to easily make purchases using an iOS device in a wide variety of retailers and online apps/stores. You’ll be able to update to iOS 8.1 on October 20, 2014.
Check out our October Apple event recap video below:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEFZP5SLm1s]
As far as product announcements go, Apple did unveil a new iPads as expected. The iPad Air 2 features an improved laminated Retina display, Apple’s A8X chip, a new 8-megapixel iSight camera and FaceTime camera, improved Wi-Fi/LTE (depending on model), and Touch ID. The iPad Air 2 is also 18 percent thinner than the previous generation at just 6.1mm. Apple’s iPad Air 2 will be available in Space Gray, Gold, and Silver starting at just $499 for the 16GB model. Though, like the iPhone 6/Plus storage configurations the next tier jumps up to 64GB for $599 and 128GB for $699.
Apple also announced the iPad mini 3. This was one of the most disappointing products during the keynote. In a nutshell, iPad mini 3 is an iPad mini (2) with Retina display that has a Touch ID sensor. Seriously. All of the internal specifications match its predecessor, but it’ll also be available in Gold. That being said, you can pickup an iPad mini 2 for only $299 now. If you need to have Touch ID or fancy the color gold, you’ll have to shell out $399 for the iPad mini 3.
One of the most exciting announcements has to be Apple’s new iMac with Retina 5K Display. This new breed of iMac features a 27-inch display with a resolution of 5,120 x 2,880 and packs 14.7 million pixels. Apple noted that its the world’s highest resolution display and has 7x more pixels than full HD (1,920 x 1,080). This beautiful display is packaged in the same body as the standard 27-inch iMac with a thin 5mm edge. On top of everything, it’s starting at just $2,499. When you consider that a lot of decent 4K displays run between $1,700 and $3,000, this Retina 5K iMac seems like a great deal.
Sadly, Apple did not announce a new Thunderbolt Display. I was really looking forward to at least a 4K or UHD display to pair with the Mac Pro, but it seems that it’s not in the cards just yet. Another bit of bad news is that the iMac with Retina 5K display will not have the ability to be used as a secondary monitor due to the technology required to push that many pixels. So those of you (including myself) who were waiting for a 4K display from Apple, may have to start looking in another direction.
Finally, Apple announced a revamped Mac mini. Unfortunately, there’s nothing too special about this refresh. It features slightly updated internals, but Apple has axed the quad-core model and we’re left with dual-core configurations across the board. The refreshed Mac mini is also $100 cheaper for the base model, which starts at just $499.
I wasn’t too impressed by everything announced. The iPad Air 2 seems like a nice refresh, the Retina 5K iMac is beautiful, but everything else was just kind of “meh.” For more information from the keynote, check out the above video. What do you think about the announcements from Apple’s October keynote? Let us know in the comments.
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Would of been nice to see a ipay system in place for mass transit and pike passes for toll roads. Guess i’ll have to wait till next year.
So Apple didn’t intoduce waddle baby with something to wipe it’s bum-bum with. Guess poow Witte baby need to wait to next year. Try not to kill yeself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjkNNDuAb9A&sns=em
I ordered a new iMac a week ago and they say it may be delivered next week, this leaves my trust of the Apple store at a new low
Why? You bought it, clearly it was doing what you wanted it to do at the price. Is it no longer fit for purpose?
Regardless, you can still return it and other different one. What’s the problem?
So the whiners up Tim Cooks ass about no new products or updates can shut the hell up now (for 4 fucking months).
And Yosemite rocks
No 4K display from Apple? It’s the iMac. Just like the article stated, High quality 4K displays cost the same (or more) than the new iMac. Hook the Mac Pro to the new iMac to use as a display then use the iMac as the media server to your AppleTV. DUH.
DUH.
That’s not what spec page says…
“Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built‑in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560×1600 pixels) on an external display”
https://www.apple.com/ie/imac/specs/
no mute switch :(
When does it go on sale? I thought it would be available at 12:01am PT from Apple. Still waiting….it’s 44 minutes late!
Oh, God, and now what? Do you think you can survive? My fingers are heavily crossed for you mate. Hope you’ll be okay.
Everyone is expecting something EXTRAORDINARY every time from Apple. That won’t happen. Ever. It didn’t happen with iPhone, it didn’t happen with iPad… They are not inventing the hot water, guys, they are just taking the already-inventions to a whole new level. They are game changers, they are not Tesla (no one is, in that matter). So stop whining about “I didn’t get my truly explosive new, cosmic and super unique thing from Apple”. I don’t want to be rude, I am just being realistic. Thought for a second and you’ll be where I am. Or, if you don’t believe me, go and try any other devices that Apple offers and prove to yourself that Apple so much better than the rest.
P.S. The Mini was disappointment, indeed. I was keen and eager to go for mini any time soon, but I guess I’ll have to wait another year, or just get the Air 2. Other than that, all the things in the pipeline are superb.
Case closed.
Finally, someone who said it.
But to me, the Mini wasn’t a disappointment. It’s just not Apple’s priority right now. As Jobs would have said, at any given moment, there are different ‘horses’ a company like Apple can choose to ride on.
I feel the same way as products. Apple made an incredible choice to spend lots of time to work on its Watch, iMac and iPhones that it didn’t have much time for the other products like the iPad Mini and iPods. Which turns out to be great, I think. I mean I’d rather have a radical Apple Watch, a great iPhone 6 Plus and an stunning new iMac with Retina 5K, than a superbly-updated iPad Mini or iPod Touch.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. This year they just “skipped” the upgrade, so I guess next year we’ll have some major improvements.For sure better everything. And they’ll definitely go for ~20% thinner design. And maybe won’t focus that much Air 3? We’ll see. :)
Was there anything for developers in the keynote?
Ordered me that 5k baby. Boy am is my daily work gonna be happy about this as its replacing a 2012 Mac mini. :D
Couple thoughts….
1. The iPad mini 3 is shocking. Touch ID, and thats it, is supposed to command a $100 premium over the iPad mini 2? How the hell did that pass Phil Schiller’s marketing team?
2. The Mac mini update is puzzling. I can understand the lack of a quad core option, and the new GPU’s are great, and so is PCI-Flash…..but soldiered RAM too? By the time you spec one out, you are better off getting an iMac…which is the whole idea…
3. iPad lineup overall is extremely attractive now. The range, and price points, are all outstanding. As nice as the iPad Air 2 is……the iPad Air is still an amazing iPad, and now you can get it for $399. The iPad mini 2 is still an amazing iPad…and now you can get it for $299. That is a great deal. Holiday iPad shopping should be booming, as this is a great lineup with very attractive prices.
4. The Retina 5k iMac is a beast, and will be mine shortly :D.
5. The lack of a new Thunderbolt Display is a bit disorienting….It doesn’t have Thunderbolt 2….it doesn’t even have USB 3.0!! Let alone a new resolution. Apple has yet to make a 4k panel, they went straight to 5k with this iMac. The iMac itself explains why there is no 5k Tb display…its not currently possible. If the iMac itself can’t be used in Target Display mode at 5k….then there’s your answer.
Clearly Apple thought it was in their best interest to knock 5k out of the park (something no one else is doing yet)…rather than join the wealth of 4k panels out there. Apple will undoubtedly release their first 4k panel in the 21.5″ iMac, whenever they get around to that, probably next year. And there is definitely no shortage of 4k panels for Mac Pro users on the market. So, arguably, this was the best choice for the time being.
Ipad air 2 and imac retina are fantastic. Ipad mini 3 with just touchID for $100 more is absolutely ridiculous. Don’t know what happened to Apple on this one. At least they should have included an A8 chip.