New Retina MacBook Air, Mac Mini, iPad Pro Released
Apple has announced notable updates to the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and iPad Pro. The new MacBook Air features a Retina display and Touch ID, the Mac Mini features powerfully revamped internals, and the iPad Pro now features slimmer bezels and support for Face ID and a new Apple Pencil.
Aside from new hardware updates discussed below, Apple also released various operating system updates to their product lines as well, including iOS 12.1, tvOS 12.1, watchOS 5.1, and macOS Mojave 10.14.1.
New MacBook Air with Retina Display (late 2018 model)
The revamped MacBook Air with Retina display weighs in at 2.75 lbs and now features a 2560×1600 13.3″ display with greater color support and smaller screen bezels.
The late 2018 MacBook Air has a 1.6Ghz dual-core Core i5 CPU and includes two USB-C ports and a headphone jack, removes MagSafe as a charging mechanism in lieu of one of the USB-C ports, adds a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and is available in space gray, gold, and silver color options. Users can customize the MacBook Air to have up to 16 GB of RAM and a 1.5 TB SSD.
The keyboard is apparently the same third-generation Apple butterfly keyboard as what is available in the latest MacBook Pro models, though there is no Touch Bar included meaning you will get a hardware escape key and function row instead.
The new Retina MacBook Air starts at $1199 and can be ordered today, becoming available on November 7.
Apple has posted an introductory video of the New MacBook Air with Retina display (late 2018) which you can view below:
New Mac Mini (2018 model)
The revamped Mac Mini has a space gray finish and comes with a quad core Intel i3 CPU, upgradable to up to 6 cores. Users can also customize the new Mac Mini to have up to 64 GB RAM and up to 2 TB SSD.
The new Mac Mini has rich port options compared to other Macs, including gigabit ethernet, 4 Thunderbolt / USB C ports, HDMI output, 2 USB-A ports, a headphone jack.
Mac Mini now starts at $799, with orders available today for availability on November 7.
Apple has provided an introductory video about the new Mac Mini (late 2018), posted below:
New iPad Pro (3rd generation, 2018)
The new iPad Pro slims down the devices bezels, remove the Home button, removes the headphone jack, replaces the Lightning port with a new USB-C connector, includes Face ID as an authentication method, and can now magnetically attach and charge the new Apple Pencil.
iPad Pro is available in 11″ and 12.9″ screen options, features an A12X CPU with 8 cores, and is available with storage sizes available at 64 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB.
The iPad Pro 11″ model starts at $799 and the 12.9″ model starts at $999. You can order the new iPad Pro today with delivery on November 7.
Apple has posted a video introducing the new iPad Pro, available to watch below:
Tucked away in a press release for the new MacBook Air, Apple also states that the existing MacBook Pro will have an optional Radeon Pro Vega graphics card option starting next month for users requiring additional GPU performance on the MacBook Pro line.
As mentioned earlier, Apple also released software updates to macOS Mojave 10.14.1, iOS 12.1, watchOS 5.1, and tvOS 12.1. Mac users running prior versions of MacOS Sierra and MacOS High Sierra will also find security updates available for their Macs.
