Apple announced the 2018 models of iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini at its Brooklyn event today. The biggest change that has come down to the new members of iPad and Mac lines is the arrival of Face ID on the iPad Pro 2018 and Touch ID on the MacBook Air 2018. The iPad Pro 2018 comes with narrower bezels, ruling out the need of the Home button in favour of Face ID that is facilitated by the TrueDepth camera located on the top bezel. The MacBook Air 2018 model now sports the Liquid Retina Display, which is similar to the one on iPhone Xr, however, with 4 times resolution. It has Touch ID now, that is already available on the MacBook Pro models. And finally, the Mac mini, which was in a dire need of an update since its last update, now features up to 6 cores and 64GB RAM.
Apple iPad Pro 2018, MacBook Air 2018, Mac mini: Price
The US pricing for all the three products that have been launched at the Brooklyn event:
The new Apple Pencil comes with a price tag of $129 while the new Smart Keyboard Folio costs $179. The pre-orders open October 30 and the sale starts from November 7 in the US. The India pricing of iPad Pro 2018 and MacBook Air 2018 have not been announced yet.
The MacBook Air 2018 base model with 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, and 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor costs $1,199. It will also go on sale starting November 7 while the pre-orders are live in the US. The Mac mini costs $799 for the base model with a quad-core Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage space. The pre-orders are available and sale starts November 7 in the US.
Apple iPad Pro 2018, MacBook Air 2018, Mac mini: Specifications, Features
The Apple iPad Pro 2018 comes in two display variants – an all-new 11-inch and the 12.9-inch versions. There is a Liquid Retina Display on the iPad Pro that stretches out to the edges – left to right and top to bottom. The bezels have become 50 per cent thinner than those on the predecessor models. The major redesign is the removal of the Home button in favour of the Face ID facial scanning technology that Apple introduced with the launch of the iPhone X last year. This year Apple bid adieu to the Home button not only on the iPad Pro but the new iPhone models – the iPhone Xr, iPhone Xs, and iPhone Xs Max. The interface now includes gestures to go to the home screen, jump between the apps, and go the all apps screen.
The iPad Pro 2018 models are powered by the new Apple A12X Bionic that the company says is a lot better and faster than the A12 Bionic that debuted on the iPhone Xr and iPhone Xs. It has an 8-core CPU and a 7-core GPU that supports intensely-rich graphics such as those in the AR apps. Apple even compared the graphics performance on the iPad Pro to that of Xbox One S. The iPad Pro 2018 also lets go of the 3.5mm headphone jack and welcomes the USB Type-C for both charging and audio output. The iPad Pro 2018 supports up to 5K displays via the port.
There is a 7-megapixel FaceTime camera on the iPad Pro 2018 alongside a TrueDepth camera required for the Face ID technology to work. There are other elements as well such as Flood Illuminator, Dot Projector, and an IR camera. There are two Ambient Light sensors and a Proximity sensor on the top bezel of the iPad Pro 2018. On the rear, the tablet has a 12-megapixel camera capable of recording 4K 60fps videos. Apple has given stereo speakers on the iPad Pro 2018 that are significantly louder than the ones on the predecessors. The battery has also been improved to give about “13 hours of iTunes movies playback”. The iPad Pro 2018 comes in Silver and Space Grey colours.
The MacBook Air 2018 comes with a 13.3-inch Liquid Retina Display that has thin bezels on the sides. The MacBook Air comes running eighth-generation Intel Core i5 processor with integrated graphics, coupled with up to 16GB of RAM and 1.5TB of SSD storage space. The MacBook Air now supports Touch ID, which is predominantly seen on the MacBook Pro. It is secured by Apple’s T2 chip that is embedded on the MacBook Pro models. The touchpad has also been redesigned to give 25 per cent more service area.
The Mac mini has been updated after many years. It now comes with up to 6-core eighth generation CPU and up to 64GB RAM. It has Gigabit Ethernet, two USB ports, HDMI ports, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet port. The Mac mini entry-level model with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD costs $799 in the US and it will be available starting November 7. Pre-orders are now live in the US.
