Announcements during Apple October 30 Event

[OtinG]

Apple October 30 Event Highlights

I will update this as the event unfolds. I will focus on hardware.

New Macs

MacBook Air with Retina 13.3" Display

• Touch ID
• backlit keyboard
• larger trackpad
• 2 Thunderbolt ports
• i5 8th gen CPU
• up to 16 GB RAM
• up to 1 terabyte SSD
• smaller, thinner, lighter
• Starts at $1199
• order today and available next week

Mac mini

• 4 or 6 cores 8th gen CPU 3.2 to 4.6 GHz
• up to 64 GB RAM
• SSD up to 2 terabytes
• 4 Thunderbolt ports
• HDMI ports
• 2 USB-A ports
• 10 Gigabit ethernet
• Starts at $799 and $1099
• order today and available next week
• Note: I didn't hear any mention of user modifiable capability as in adding more RAM yourself, etc.

New iPads

iPad Pro

• flat sides like the iPhone 5
• 11" or 12.9" LCD Liquid Retina
• smaller, thinner, lighter
• Face ID
• A12X Bionic 7 nanometer 8 core CPU, 7 core GPU, Neural Engine
• All day battery life
• Up to 1 terabyte storage capacity
• USB-C connector that allows charging out (charge your iPhone, etc.) and connects to peripherals like cameras
• 2nd Gen Pencil, automatically pairs and charges constantly
• New smart keyboard portfolio case
• Starts at $799 for 11" and $999 for 12.9"
• order today and available next week

Older iPads Still Available (not updated)

• iPad mini 4 (no update)
• iPad (no update)

That's All for This Event

Well that is it, two Macs and two iPad Pros. No new updates to Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, iMacs, or iMac Pro, iPad mini 4, iPad, AirPower, or AirPods. Seems like the updates they did make were actually decent ones this time around. I'm especially glad to see a decent Mac mini update, though still concerned that it likely is not user upgradeable like the Mac minis from 2012 and back.

....

[OtinG]

You will need to look up the exact specs when they are available. I'm old and might not have heard all the details correctly. But this gives you a quick overview of new hardware.

[kyrilson]

I just ordered the 11" iPad Pro 64gb to replace my aging iPad Air. I only have about 24gb used out of the 32gb on that, so I figure the 64gb should do me just fine.

Having USB-C will be nice, as I already have a Samsung S8 phone that uses it for charging. No more carrying around two cords!

[OtinG]

Wow, Apple is sticking it to the buyer really hard with the add-ons for the new Mac mini! Here is the higher end base model which starts out at $1099, and it includes the following:

• 3.0GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz)
• 8GB 2666MHz DDR4
• Intel UHD Graphics 630
• 256GB SSD storage
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet using RJ-45 connector)

Now let us max out the available options by adding these add-ons:

• +$200.00 to upgrade to 3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)
• +$1,400.00 to upgrade to 64GB 2666MHz DDR4
• +$1,400.00 to upgrade to 2TB SSD storage
• +$100.00 to upgrade to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb, and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ‑45 connector)

So now the well equipped Mac mini will cost a whopping $4,199.00. Way too rich for my blood. Maybe later on I'll get a slightly upgraded model, but not for a year or two at least. But on the other hand, I'm not in the market for a new Mac now.

[ilovejedd]

iPad Pro 10.5 is still available, too.

at the prices of new models.

11" WiFi/WiFi+LTE
64GB $799/$949
256GB $949/$1099
512GB $1149/$1299
1TB $1549/$1699

12.9" WiFi/WiFi+LTE
64GB $999/$1149
256GB $1149/$1299
512GB $1349/$1499
1TB $1749/$1899

Last year for comparison:
10.5" WiFi/WiFi+LTE
64GB $649/$779
256GB $749/$879
512GB $949/$1079

12.9" WiFi/WiFi+LTE
64GB $799/$929
256GB $899/$1029
512GB $1099/$1229

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

I just ordered the 11" iPad Pro 64gb to replace my aging iPad Air. I only have about 24gb used out of the 32gb on that, so I figure the 64gb should do me just fine.

Having USB-C will be nice, as I already have a Samsung S8 phone that uses it for charging. No more carrying around two cords!

You’ll be able to charge your S8 from the iPad as well.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Wow, Apple is sticking it to the buyer really hard with the add-ons for the new Mac mini! Here is the higher end base model which starts out at $1099, and it includes the following:

• 3.0GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz)
• 8GB 2666MHz DDR4
• Intel UHD Graphics 630
• 256GB SSD storage
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet using RJ-45 connector)

Now let us max out the available options by adding these add-ons:

• +$200.00 to upgrade to 3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)
• +$1,400.00 to upgrade to 64GB 2666MHz DDR4
• +$1,400.00 to upgrade to 2TB SSD storage
• +$100.00 to upgrade to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb, and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ‑45 connector)

So now the well equipped Mac mini will cost a whopping $4,199.00. Way too rich for my blood. Maybe later on I'll get a slightly upgraded model, but not for a year or two at least. But on the other hand, I'm not in the market for a new Mac now.

As they mentioned in keynote, Mac mini’s are being used in server farms. That’s who is going to be buying most of the high end mini’s (with 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 2TB SSD, 64Gb RAM etc). For $4200 you can get an 8-core iMac Pro that includes a 5K display, keyboard and trackpad, and whose memory can be upgraded.

[nimapourkarimi]

The prices of the new iPad pros are ridiculous!

[Dylrob]

I do hope that they actually deliver on the connectivity for the iPad Pro.

[DaleDe]

I have generated a new wiki page for this iPad Pro 2018 model. Note the aspect ratio on the 11" model favors Euro paper.

Dale

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

I do hope that they actually deliver on the connectivity for the iPad Pro.

I agree. Simply having the port doesn't mean they will open it up to allow a wide variety of connections. They might lock it down to a large degree.

[pwalker8]

Don't really see anything that really makes me want to whip out my wallet. I've still got plenty of room on my 512 G iPad Pro that I bought last Spring. I'm not terribly focused on price, but $1750 for a big iPad Pro with 1TB is a bit much for my blood.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Don't really see anything that really makes me want to whip out my wallet. I've still got plenty of room on my 512 G iPad Pro that I bought last Spring. I'm not terribly focused on price, but $1750 for a big iPad Pro with 1TB is a bit much for my blood.

Also, there‘s usually no need to buy a new device once the old one‘s memory is full

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

Also, there‘s usually no need to buy a new device once the old one‘s memory is full

Very true! I'm retired now and that means watching my budget like a hawk and pinching pennies until they scream! But even when I was still working and making good money, I rarely replaced a computer or other devices until they broke beyond my ability to repair them, became too slow to get my tasks done adequately, or became so old that the OS could no longer be upgraded and I had a good reason to upgrade the OS. I always figured that if I could complete the computing tasks I needed to in the timeframe I wanted or needed to, then upgrading was still a luxury and not a necessity. Of course temptation sometimes wins out!

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tomsem

As they mentioned in keynote, Mac mini’s are being used in server farms. That’s who is going to be buying most of the high end mini’s (with 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 2TB SSD, 64Gb RAM etc). For $4200 you can get an 8-core iMac Pro that includes a 5K display, keyboard and trackpad, and whose memory can be upgraded.

True. Personally I have never ever bought the highest end, not even close, of any computer line, even before I retired. I mostly use my Macs/PCs for photography post processing and similar types of tasks. So I need at least a few steps above the lower end models as far as CPU and RAM and SSD go, but I don't need to climb the stairs all the way to the top floor, if you get my drift. For me, if I had to buy a Mac today I would likely go for something like this:

Mac mini $799 base model plus add the following to bring the total up to $1,499:

• +$300 3.2GHz 6‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz)
• +$200 16GB 2666MHz DDR4
• +$200 256GB SSD storage

I'm currently using a MacBook Pro 15" Retina (mid-2014) with 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, and 256GB SSD. It is more than adequate for the tasks I use it accomplish. The Mac mini example above is quite a step up from what I have now, so it would obviously be good for my tasks. Thankfully though, both my MBP and my Mac Mini i5 late 2012 or both in great working shape, so no upgrades are currently in the plans and hopefully won't be for a long while.