Apple announces new MacBook Air & iPad Pros with a trackpad & cursor
The big takeaway from Apple’s new announcements is the morphing of iPads into a notebook device.
Apple has announced a new iPad Pro and MacBook Air, but the big takeaway is the morphing of iPads into a notebook device. You can now use an iPad with a trackpad and cursor.
Apple today announced new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros with a swag of new features. iPad now has a LIDAR scanner with a five metre range which is designed to improve the performance of augmented reality applications.
Using an app you can look through the camera and measure the heights of your children using a virtual tape measure. A new iPad Pro can scan a room and supply a 3D map that can be used as a starting point for new designs.
The new iPad Pros also have a dual lens camera – there’s now 10MP ultra-wide and 12MP wide angle lens cameras that not only let you take more inclusive photos, but also allow AR-enhanced interior design and architectural design to show more of the real world when they superimpose virtual objects.
The most significant news is an optional, new iPad “magic keyboard” which includes being able to move around the screen with a circular cursor using an in-built trackpad. You can highlight text, copy and move it as you would on a notebook. You can use gestures on the trackpad, but they won’t be exactly the same as existing screen gestures.
The new keyboard is backlit, so you won’t find yourself struggling to type in a dark theatrette or seminar room, as I have done with the current standard iPad keyboards. The new keyboard offers a second passthrough USB-C connector, so you can charge an iPad Pro and connect a portable drive to the other USB-C port simultaneously.
iPads already are becoming compact substitutes for notebooks with the ability to store files in laptop-like directories, and to run multiple apps on the screen. They are not perfect productivity devices but they are getting better. Their big advantage is portability, a generous availability of apps and long battery life.
The issue with the new magic keyboards is cost. With the Australian dollar hovering around 58 US cents and heading south, you pay $499 for one, a price that’s just $30 shy of an entry level iPad.
The magic keyboard will be available for both the new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPads and the current generation ones of the same size.
Trackpad support will become available on March 25 when iPads update to the new iPadOS 13.4 operating system.
Apple says it has partnered with Logitech which is producing trackpad enhanced keyboards for iPad Air 3 and seventh generation iPad products. They are expected to come to market in May.
The new iPad Pro models will be faster with an eight-core A12Z Apple “bionic” chip and an eight-core graphics unit, and there’s a promise of 10 hours of battery life, faster Wi-Fi, and 60 per cent faster gigabit data transfers on LTE models with a cellular connection.
iPad Pros now have five microphones for apps that can make use of them. For example, a narration app might use a front-facing microphone, a video app the back microphone. Another app might capture the entire audio environment.
The new iPad Pros are now four figure sums in Australia, starting at $1329 for the 11-inch model ($1579 cellular) and $1649 ($1899 cellular) for the 12.9-inch model. Add a magic keyboard and you’re heading close to $2,000. There’s slightly lower pricing for the education sector.
You can order new iPad Pros now and they will be in stores from next week.
New MacBook Air
Apple has also refreshed its popular MacBook Air range. It says it sold more MacBook Air units last year than in any previous year. That’s not totally surprising, given the major makeover the MacBook Air had in 2018, but still good news for Apple.
The main differences in 2020 is faster processors, more powerful graphics, and the adoption of the “magic keyboard” configuration to Air keyboards.
The new keys have a rubber dome underneath each key to support the feeling of travel, and a scissor mechanism which is proving more reliable than the previous butterfly keyboard mechanism.
You get the latest 10th generation Intel core processors and Intel Iris plus graphics, which Apple says delivers up to 80 per cent faster graphics performance.
Apple has doubled the storage, so MacBook Air now starts with 256 GB of storage. You can opt for up to 2 TB solid state drive storage.
Models have 8GB of DDR4 memory, there’s a three-mic array for voice capture for FaceTime calls, two Thunderbolt 3 ports for fast data transfer, support for up to a 6K external display, and beefed up stereo speakers.
There are two main models: a new Air with a Core i3 processor and 256GB storage is $1599, while one with a Core i5 processor and 512GB storage is $1999. Again, there is slightly cheaper educational pricing.
Apple also announced that the Mac Mini would come with double the storage capacity.
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