We pretty much know what is coming at this point. An iPad Pro which will be more like an iPhone X, no home button, Face ID, and with a slimmer bezel.
Probably just speed bumps for Macs. New Mini maybe?
Anyone looking to buy anything? I am still using a 3+ year old iPad Air 2, so I am definitely getting a new iPad Pro. My iMac is only a year and half old, so nothing there. Maybe a new 4K Apple TV if they do anything interesting there (still doesn’t seem to be much 4K content though).
Thoughts?
Yeah definitely a new iPad coming, we’ve even seen pictures of the front. Will be interesting if they actually replace the Thunderbolt port with USB type-C, which is the rumor. It makes sense from the perspective of a “pro” machine, but it’d just make Apple’s port decisions weirder, at least until they do the same with the iPhone (unlikely).
An open question about where the new AirPods are. They could show up tomorrow as well. And everyone is betting on a new Mac mini, which will be interesting considering Apple doesn’t sell a monitor anymore.
My launch 12.9" is still going strong, so I won’t be upgrading. The issues I have with the iPad are more software, so I want to see what iOS13 brings. At that point, I might as well wait for next year’s model.
I’m definitely purchasing an iPad Pro, since my long-in-the-tooth iPad 4 is over 6 years old. I’ve been waiting for this Apple event for a very long time!
I bought an iPad Pro last month because Micro Center had a killer sale ($200 off) and I’d rather have Touch ID than Face ID. I’m very happy with it – it is blazing fast compared to my previous iPad Air bought five years ago.
There had better goddamned better be. I’m still using a mid-2011.
That’s the whole point, though. A non-Mac-pro for people that already have a monitor they want to use.
Heathen! :-)
I thought Touch ID was great, but Face ID has won me over. I know some people have issues with it, but it works 99% of the time for me. And I much prefer gestures over the home button now. Using my old iPad feels awkward having to hit a button now. Gestures just feel natural.
My iPad Air OG is getting a little long in the tooth but it still basically works fine so I can’t really justify getting something new. Thin bezels and no home button doesn’t really so much for me. Blazing speed does sound nice though.
If they do a replacement for the 12.9" OG iPad Pro that has the same screen size but is lighter and smaller overall, I might be tempted to sell mine and upgrade. Lighter would be good for bedtime magazine/comic reading.
New MacBook Air. Pretty much what you’d expect. Retina display, 2 usb c ports, and a new “gen 3” keyboard, which probably still sucks.
Only a dual core CPU, though, but I guess that’s to make sure it doesn’t become the default Pro machine.
Interesting - every Air is made from recycled aluminum. That’s cool. Woke college kids can buy with a newfound sense of smugness!
$1199 for the base model. To expensive imo by $200 for the low end.
New Mac Mini! It’s black!
8th gen four and six-core processors. Up to 64GB of RAM. Up to 2TB ssd.
$799 for the base model. $100 too expensive imo.
New iPad Pro
Thinner bezels. Magnetic Apple Pencil. Thinner, square-er. Face-ID. Same size as the previous Pro but an 11” display instead of 10.5. Also comes in 12.9”. Up to 1TB storage.
A12X processor, which will be plenty fast. They are indeed moving to USB-C. More dongles!
You can now charge your iPhone from your iPad. Fancy?
Apple Pencil attaches magnetically to the iPad, pairs automatically, and charges wirelessly from the iPad. Fancy!
I dropped my iPad Air 2 on its corner and broke the screen last December so I’m definitely getting a new iPad after the announcement (sadly, I also dropped and broke the screen of my phone last December too… it was a sucky month. Still waiting to replace the phone though).
Why on earth would I need 1TB of storage on my iPad? I don’t do a lot of content creation on it, so maybe I’m an outlier, but I don’t hardly need ANY storage on it.
iPad mini update?
That is for the true laptop replacement crowd. Especially with Photoshop coming I can see the possibility of high-end pros needing it.
So far, I still have no idea why they held this in NYC. I was expecting Logic or something since it is at a music school.
Note, no headphone jack on the iPad 11".
The iPad is only a laptop replacement for two very distinct types of people.
The first one has very simple needs, email, browsing, facebook, facetime, no big deal. The kind of person that previously would be best served by a cheap piece of crap windows laptop. You know, your aunt.
The second kind listens to apple-oriented podcasts and relentlessly optimizes their workflow with the shortcuts app. He can work around the limitations of the platform because he treats it like a puzzle to be solved. He doesn’t mind all that extra effort, and he tells you so every time you meet.
I guess I’m the first kind of user. I like the form factor of the iPad when I’m watching tv in the evenings because I don’t want to lug my laptop onto my lap when I’m just knocking around in a browser. So maybe 70% of the time I’m using the iPad instead of the laptop. Plus I read on it in bed. The only annoyances are sites that insist on using hover on their webpages (dealing with hover is a supreme PITA on the iPad).
I tried using an iPad as a laptop replacement and it just doesn’t work. Honestly if you want the Apple ecosystem the Macbook 12" really is the perfect “iPad” laptop.
The one thing the iPads always did well though was standby power. You could leave the thing in your bag for days and it would be well over 90% charged. However, if you ever did use your iPad hard it would deplete its charge in a very laptop-like fashion.
The iPad Mini, otoh, does two things really well; books and games. And it’s still larger than any phone for all media related wastes of time. But books/pdfs is my main use for it. Trying to use an iPad 12.9" old version for book reading made me feel a bit like a tool.
If you still use a laptop, the ipad isn’t really a laptop replacement for you. You’re like the vast majority of iPad users, you use it as an iPad. Just like me. I browse around on the couch while watching TV and the toilet while expressing my bowels.
At least Lana Del Ray got some work.
I am most excited about…the new pencil. I can’t put into words how much a pain it is to keep this thing charged, keep track of a tiny piece of plastic to charge it when not connected to the iPad, etc. I will be buying the new pencil!!!
I use my iPad as my primary mobile device that is not my iPhone. I use Affinity Designer and Photo for editing, Ulysses for writing, and Procreate for drawing. I like that it is a convertible device. For me, it’s the pencil that pushes it over the edge of an Air.
I do agree it’s a niche device, but I fall into that niche.