Apple introduces iPad mini (S$448 – S$878), Fourth Generation iPad (S$658 – S$1,088), iMac and Mac mini (S$1,088 – S$2,788), as well as 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (S$2,388 – S$2,788) at San Jose, California. All prices include GST.
Philip Schiller introduces the iPad mini in San Jose, California. Schiller is Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing.
As rumoured, Apple has introduced the iPad mini, with a 7.9-inch (1024 x 768 pixels) non-Retina display and 7.2mm thick.
The new iPad mini with its bigger brother, the Fourth Generation iPad.
It is a quarter thinner than the Fourth Generation iPad and thinner than a pencil, according to Apple CEO, Tim Cook.
The Fourth Generation iPad is an update that includes a new A6X CPU, a 720p FaceTime HD camera, additional LTE carrier support and faster Wi-Fi.
Externally, the only difference is the 9-pin Lightning connector which replaces the old 30-pin jack.
The Wi-Fi only version of the two tablets will be available in 34 countries from 2 November and can be pre-ordered in 26 countries from 26 October. Singapore is in both lists.
The Wi-Fi + Cellular versions will only start shipping “a couple of weeks after the Wi-Fi models”, according to Apple.
Many expected the iPad mini to be priced to compete with 7-inch tablets such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD and Google’s Nexus 7, both of which start at US$199.
Apple’s new iMac is super thin at the edges – only 5mm on all edges.
However, the iPad mini will start at US$329 instead.
Apple has also updated its Mac mini and iMacs (21.5 and 27-inch).
The later is particularly stunning with its razor-thin all-in-one form factor that has excited the tech community.
It comes with a new storage option called Fusion Drive – which combines 128GB of flash with a standard 1TB or 3TB hard drive.
The Mac mini is available today, while the 21.5-inch iMac and 27-inch iMac will be available in November and December respectively through the Apple Online Store.
Philip Schiller – Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing – also unveiled a new 13-inch MacBook Pro that is 20 percent thinner than its predecessor and weighs nearly half a kilogram lighter.
New 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.
Starting at S$2,388, the new notebook has a 2.5GHz Intel processor, a high-resolution Retina display with more than 4 million pixels, and a solid-state flash drive instead of a spinning hard disk.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro is available from today through the Apple Online Store.
In the other big tech event for this week, Microsoft is releasing its Windows 8 cross-platform operating system for General Availability this Friday on 26 October.
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The 10 other countries getting the iPad 2 together with Singapore on Friday are: Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey and UAE.
