Apple Upgrades Old Tech and New iPad

William Hsieh, Director of Photography|November 7, 2018

Photo Courtesy of Apple

The new iPad Pro with Apple Pencil allows for it to be both a computer replacement and a more hand-held device.

Apple held an event in New York on Oct. 30 unveiling the new Mac mini, Macbook Air and iPad Pro. While Apple had an event just last month for the new iPhone XS, this event showcased major improvements made for the other devices.

The biggest announcement made was the iPad Pro. It has even smaller bezels for more screen space and an improved display. Although it lost the headphone jack and Touch ID, Apple added Face ID and a USB-C port instead of a proprietary lightning port.

“Putting USB-C in an iPad further cements the device’s place as a computer alternative — if not yet a full replacement,” Verge News editor Chris Welch said.

The new USB-C port gives more flexibility and speed to connect with other devices, such as an external drive or another computer. The iPad Pro also supports the new Apple Pencil for drawing and note-taking, which magnetically clips onto the side and charges wirelessly.

The most important upgrade is the new 8-core A12X Bionic processor with 7-core graphics processing unit (GPU) which gives the iPad Pro its speed. This iPad is faster than most entry-level Macbooks and can even beat some $2,000 PCs with a benchmark test.

“Apple is adding a quad-core 8th Gen Intel processor [to the Mac mini] instead of the 4th Gen Intel Core i5 dual-core processor that shipped in the device four years ago,” Verge Senior Editor Tom Warren said.

The new processor makes the Mac mini a computer worth buying. It features a space gray color, faster storage and options for more random-access memory (RAM). Additionally, there are four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports along with ethernet, HDMI 2.0 and regular USB-A ports.

“Apple has brought the MacBook Air back to life today, announcing the first proper refresh of its super thin laptop line in three years during its October hardware event,” Verge News editor Nick Statt said.

The 2018 Macbook Air is also a notable upgrade from the 2015 Macbook Air. It has some newer features that were previously found only on Macbook Pros, such as Touch ID. The retina display is now Full HD.

The keyboard is also updated to the shallower butterfly keys, and the glass trackpad now feels more responsive. Similar to the Mac mini, there is faster storage with more RAM and USB-C ports, all while decreasing size and weight.