New Apple products highlight updated features, designs

Image+Courtesy+of+Laptop+Mag

Image Courtesy of Laptop Mag

Alex Hu, Contributing Writer

Apple is back with the launch of three new products. On Oct 30, Apple announced the new iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini. Each product updates their previous versions with improved performance and new features.

The new iPad Pro gains many new features over its predecessor. It’s faster, slimmer, and carries a USB-C port, a new Apple Pencil, and a completely new design. Similar to the iPhone X, the new iPad Pro’s screen stretches from edge to edge. The iPad Pro comes with a larger 11-inch Liquid Retina LCD screen compared to last year’s 10.5 inch screen, while actually being thinner. Along with the similar redesign to the iPhone X, the iPad Pro also gets rid of the home button and adds Face ID. The base 11-inch model starts at $799, and the larger 12.9-inch version bumps that up to $999.

Sophomore Abhiram Vallebhaneni believed that the new redesign of the iPad Pro was a step in the right direction for Apple.

“I really like how the screen gets so much bigger,” Vallebhaneni said. “It’s like you’re just holding a screen.”

However, Junior Maya Poyraz was not excited about the base $799 price tag.

“I wouldn’t spend $800 just to use my face to log in instead of my finger,” Poyraz said. “It’s just not worth the price.”

Like the iPad Pro, the new MacBook Air also comes with a complete redesign. The MacBook Air is smaller than its predecessor, being slightly thinner and cutting down its weight to just 2.75 pounds. The MacBook Air also slims down its screen edges as well, making it look almost identical to the $1400 MacBook Pro when compared side by side.

Performance-wise, the MacBook Air scores extremely similar to the MacBook Pro in speed tests. A new feature of the MacBook Air is the addition of Touch ID, making logging in more convenient. The most standout feature of the MacBook Air is the screen. The MacBook Air comes with a 13.3-inch Retina display with a 2,560-by-1,600 pixel resolution, significantly larger than its previous LCD screen with only 1,440-by-900 pixels. The improved screen allows for greater color accuracy and detail. Although sporting impressive features, the new MacBook Air has the highest price in the history of the device, racking up the price from $999 to $1,119.

Unlike the other two products, the new Mac Mini doesn’t introduce any new features. It comes with four new Thunderbolt 3 ports, allowing for connections to many new products and upgrades. It also has the option for upgraded memory, and adopts PCIe-based flash storage, allowing for increased performance and storage. The new Mac Mini has the same small design and quiet performance as its predecessor, except now it comes in a new anodized aluminum space gray color. The $799 starting cost is significantly lower than many other Apple computers while providing some of the same performance and features.