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Apple’s New iPad Mini, Fourth Gen iPad and More!

by | Oct 24, 2012 | New Products, Tech News | 0 comments

It’s Here!! (Almost)

Apple’s long anticipated iPad Mini was announced yesterday at a special conference. You can pre-order yours starting October 26,
or buy the Wi-Fi only model at your favorite Apple Retail Store starting at 8:00 a.m. on November 2.  The Wi-Fi + Cellular models will be available mid-November. (All in time for the Holidays.)  It is available in both black and white.

1) The New iPad Mini is essentially the same as the full size iPad with a few “small” differences.

  • The most obvious difference is the size.  It has a 7.9″ display (instead of 9.7″).
  • Weighs 0.68 lbs (compared to 1.44 lbs).
  • Only 0.28″ thick (compared to 0.37″).
  • Standard Quality display – 1024-by-768 resolution at 163 pixels per inch (ppi) (not the retina display – 2048-by-1536 resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi) ).
  • Improved front and back camera.
  • Has the new Lightning connector (not the older 30 pin dock connector).

Apple also introduced a few other products, mostly updates to the existing line:

2) New 4th Generation iPad called the iPad with Retina Display.

  • This is basically an upgrade to the “New” iPad, aka iPad 3.
  • Faster processor (went from A5 to A6). Now it is almost twice as fast.
  • Faster wireless (wifi & cellular).
  • Has the new Lightning connector (not the older 30 pin dock connector).
  • Improved front (FaceTime) camera.
  • This is an upgrade to the existing iMacs.
  • Much thinner, sleeker design.
  • New processor and video graphics chips. Faster and improved performance!
  • Improved graphics and video display. (No retina display yet.)
  • 2 Thunderbolt and 3 USB 3 I/O ports. You get superfast data transfer speeds and expansion capabilities. Thunderbolt supports 10-Gbps data channels per port, each up to twice as fast as USB 3 and up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800. With Thunderbolt you can daisy-chain as many as six devices and a display.
  • Optional Fusion Drive
4) New ‘Fusion Drive’ as a build-to-order option for the new iMac.
  • This is a new product, a new type of hybrid disk drive.
  • It combines a very high speed SSD (solid state drive) with a traditional, slower spinning, HDD (Hard Disk Drive).
  • 128 GB SSD, 1 Terabyte or 3 Terabyte HDD.
5) Apple Mac Mini – Updated
  • There’s not a lot to say about the Updates.  It’s faster. Up to twice as fast.
  • Can add a SSD (Solid State Drive)
  • 1 Thunderbolt and 4 USB 3 I/O, 1 HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire 800 ports. You get superfast data transfer speeds and expansion capabilities.
  • 1 SDXC card slot.
  • Optional 1 Terabyte Fusion Drive
6) 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display
  • Joins the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display.
  • 2 Thunderbolt, 1 HDMI, and 2 USB 3 ports.
  • Thinner and lighter.

7) New Version of iBooks

  • Integrates better with iCloud.
  • Allows for quote sharing on Facebook and Twitter.
  • Continuous scrolling.
  • New templates and fonts.
  • Available now for download from the App Store.

There is always more, but these were the highlights.

I’m not one to go buy every new Apple product when it comes out, but all my devices need updating.  These announcements make it very hard for me to choose which one to buy first.

Richard
Your iTech Tutor

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