There were several items unveiled at Apple's latest press event this week and shifting through all of the new items can be complicated. Here is a breakdown of the hardware updates that were presented.
iPads – Available later this year
As expected the iPad was front and center for Apple during the press event and closed the show with a couple of "wow" moments. The company unveiled two new devices, an upgraded version of the iPad mini and a new iPad Air.
The Air is a significant hardware boost for the tablet. With a nearly 10-inch screen, the device is only 7.5 mm thick, which is 20 percent thinner than the previous version. On top of that it will only weigh one pound, making it the lightest full-size tablet in the world.
On the inside, the tablet features the A7 systems chip that gives it eight times faster CPU performances and 72 times faster graphics. The chip can also handle 64-bit architecture and monitor the Motion Coprocessor that manages the inputs from iPads built-in sensors. The Wireless connection has also been updated with MIMO, which is twice as fast as the previous model. Battery life is expected to last 10 hours, the camera was slightly upgraded and price ranges from $499 to $930 depending on options.
The iPad mini saw little overall design change aside from the much asked for Retina display. On the inside, however, there were many updates that are on par with the iPad Air and iPhone 5s. The A7 and M7 chips and MIMO wireless connection are all present. Price wise it will range from $399 through $699.
Both of the previous models of iPad will still be offered with at a price reduction.
Mac Pro – Available later this year
The Mac Pro received a major design upgrade and was one of the talks of the Worldwide Developers Conference back in June. During the press event, Apple reiterated all of the changes to the machine that included Intel Xeon E5 processes with between four and 12 cores, topping out at 7 teraflops of computing power. On top of that, there is up to 12 GB of GDDR5 RAM with 30MB L3 cache.
"Apple's pulling out all the stops on its venerable Mac Pro line," a Gizmodo article about the device said. "This year's edition offers more computing power than the entirety of some developing countries."
The graphics are also upgraded with dual standard workstation GPUs run AMD FirePro graphics which supports 4k video output. The 2013 Mac Pro will feature four USB three ports, six thunderbolt two ports, two 1Gb Ethernet ports, HDMI and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
It will be priced starting at $3,000 and will start shipping later this year, most likely in December.
MacBook Pro – Available now
While a MacBook Pro upgrade was expected, this was a significant jump. The 13-inch models are now slightly thinner and feature a 2.4 GHz Core i5 processor with 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. The Retina display is also upgraded. It retails starting at $1,299, which is $200 less than the previous model.
The 15-inch Pro was also bulked up. It now packs a 2.0 GHz quad-core i7 with 8GB of DRAM and a 256GB SSD. It will also see a $200 price drop and start at $1,999.
All of these devices will soon be making their way into offices around the country and an IT consulting firm that specializes in Mac integration can help any organization deploy them successfully.
