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Apple Holds Launch Event In Brooklyn

Source: Stephanie Keith / Getty

Led by Tim Cook, Apple ditched its usual Cupertino Campus location and brought its act to Brooklyn to unveil the company’s worst kept secret—the new environmentally safe MacBook Air, iPad Pro, and Mac Mini models.

Techies and Apple fans flocked to BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) which is conveniently located next to Apple’s newest state of the art store to get the first glimpse of Apple’s new line of products.

New MacBook Air

The MacBook Air was in dire need of need of a proper upgrade or a replacement, and this new model is what people have been waiting for. The new MacBook Air is 2.75 pounds making it lighter than its predecessor which weighed 2.96 pounds. It features a 50 percent thinner bezel, retina display, 13.3-inch display, two USB-C ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Basically, it’s now a MacBook Pro in MacBook Air body minus the touch bar.

It now has Touch ID for secure logins and is powered by the T2 series chip which is also found in last year’s MacBook Pro and iMac Pro. Inside it ships with up to 16GB of RAM, and 1.5TB SSD alongside a powerful 8th Gen Intel dual-core CPU with integrated graphics. The base model of the MacBook Air comes with 8GB RAM, a 1.6GHz Core i5, and a 128GB SSD and is on sale for $1,199 starting today.

New Mac Mini

The Mac Mini hasn’t seen an upgrade since 2014 so its safe to say this has been a long time coming. While the new Mac Mini may look the same on the outside, it is boasting some significant upgrades on the inside. The new model now has a quad-core 8th Gen Intel processor, and a six-core Intel Core i7 model.

Another significant change from the previous model is the new Mac Mini will support up to 64GB of RAM with every model featuring flash storage with up to 2TB of space. Like the new MacBook Air model, it will also have the T2 security chip and will be modernized thanks to having a bevy of new ports. On the back of the new Mac Mini, there are Ethernet, HDMI, two USB-A ports and our USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Starting at $799 the base model goes on sale November 7th and will ship with a quad-core Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage with room for configuration.

New iPad Pro

Last but certainly not least the new iPad Pro which is apparently the next device not called the iPhone where Apple is putting most of its attention into. The long-rumored new model sports a complete redesign with a much more slimmed-down look, Face ID, USB-C port ditching the lightning connector. Also gone from the new model is the classic home button meaning it now utilizes the gesture navigation first introduced with the iPhone X as well as Face ID and the TrueDepth camera setup.

The new iPad Pro comes in two sizes 11 inches ($799) and 12.9 inches ($999) that sports Liquid Retina Display alongside Apple’s ProMotion technology that will provide smooth and fluid display performance. Thanks to Apple’s new A12X Bionic chip with an 8-core CPU and 7-core GPU the new iPad Pro boasts 35 percent faster single-core performance as well as a significant 90 percent bump in speed for performing multicore tasks. The headphone jack is now gone, and if you want to use wired headphones, you will have to purchase a USB-C to headphone dongle.

If you’re into gaming on your tablet, the new iPad Pro is the way to go because it boasts “Xbox One S class graphics performance in a package that is much smaller” thanks to its powerful GPU according to Apple’s Jon Ternus. Alongside the iPad Pro a redesigned Apple Pencil ($129 ) that features new touch gestures and ditched its old charging method for new wireless one by magnetically attaching it to the iPad Pro thanks to series of magnets installed inside the device.

The new Smart Keyboard Folio was also unveiled that will allow users to type in various angles but the price has gone up to $179. Even though Apple still has interest in its MacBook Air model, it seems they are focused on making the iPad the replacement for the desktop and the laptop. With CEO Tim Cook pointing out the device outsold the biggest notebook vendors Apple ditching the MacBook and other desktop models would seem almost inevitable.

Photo:  Stephanie Keith / Getty

New MacBook Air, iPad Pro & Mac Mini Unveiled At Apple Brooklyn Event  was originally published on hiphopwired.com