Apple October Event: Mac Creativity

Apple today have announced a plethora of new pieces of hardware designed with the creative in mind. The Apple October Event focused on the creative people of this world and how Apple are at the forefront helping them achieve their goals. We saw brand new Macbook Air, Mac Mini and iPad Pro’s. These update’s weren’t minuscule, they were HUGE and will help creatives big and small around the world.

Mac Mini

New Mac Mini

Mac Mini got a huge upgrade in performance. The Mac Mini now comes with quad and 6-core processors, up to 64gb memory and up to 2TB of all-flash storage. Therefore increasing the speed to up to 5 times faster performance than the previous generation.

Mac Mini: Display

The quad-and 6-core 8th generation Intel Core processors with up to speeds of 4.6GHz and Intel UHD graphics is responsible for this massive increase in performance. As a result rivalling many larger, more powerful machines. Allowing users to perform tasks such as video editing, software development and photo editing at a much faster rate than previously.

Mac Mini: Lots of ports!

Mac Mini is not shy of ports either. It has 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, each with double the performance of the previous Mac Mini. It can connect to high speed storage, 4K & 5K Thunderbolt displays and output video in three different formats. The Mac Mini also has a HDMI 2.0 port, 2 USB-A ports, an audio jack and 10gb Ethernet ports.

The Mac Mini starts at £799 is available to order from today (Oct 30th 2018) and ready to pick up from November 7th 2018. (Apple)

Macbook Air

Apple have announced a new version of the Macbook Air to replace the current Macbook Air. This new Macbook Air features slimmer bezels on a stunning 13-inch Retina display, Touch ID and the latest processors. Making the worlds most loved notebook, the Macbook Air, even better!

The display on the new Macbook Air has over 4 million pixels of resolution, making text and images look sharp and stunning. Apple have even managed to include a FaceTime HD Camera in the small bezels, three camera array and making it perfect for Group FaceTime. Macbook is now more secure than ever and includes Face ID, built right into the keyboard. Unlock your Macbook Air, authenticate purchases using Apple Pay and your identity.

The keyboard has been improved to share the same quality keyboard than that of Macbook and Macbook Pro. But it’s in it’s 3rd generation, with a slight improvement on the ones in the Macbook and Macbook Pro’s. Furthermore the Macbook Air’s trackpad has also been improved. Pressure sensing capabilities and haptic feedback on a 20% larger trackpad offering a quieter and more capable trackpad experience.

Audio experience on the new Macbook Air has also been improved seeing a 25% loudness imcrease and 2x more bass than the previous generation. The Macbook Air also comes with 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports. Allowing connections to external storage, docks for additional ports and 4K and 5K displays.

MacBook Air is available in three gorgeous finishes — gold, space grey and silver. Starting at £1,199 it’s available to order from today October 30th and pick up from November 7th. (Apple)

iPad Pro

The iPad Pro has seen an incredible upgrade, marking the biggest change to iPad ever. The display has been transformed into a beautiful edge to edge Liquid Retina display. It now includes Face ID, USB C and out performs many PC laptops. Furthermore there are updates to Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard Folio. The second generation Apple Pencil now connects to the iPad Pro magnetically, wirelessly charging at the same time. The Smart Keyboard Folio has a brand new design that’s adjustable for added versatility.

The display on the iPad Pro is now edge to edge Liquid Retina Display, made capable by the rounded corners that follow the curves of the iPad Pro’s unibody enclosure. It is Apple’s brightest and most colour accurate iPad display ever. Featuring wide colour support, True Tone capabilities and anti-reflecting coating for natural, accurate viewing experience. Either inside or outside viewing. ProMotion tech automatically adjusts the display refresh rate up to 120Hz for ultra smooth scrolling!

The new 11inch iPad Pro packs a bigger display but on a smaller form factor than the older 10.5inch model. The larger iPad Pro has the same inch screen as before (12.9″) but also on a smaller form factor. The size difference between current and previous generations? 25%! Both models are an

incredible 5.9mm thin. The thinnest iPad ever. FaceID comes to iPad and it is designed to work in landscape mode, upside down, there is no wrong way to hold the iPad and FaceID will work no matter what. USB-C replaces lightning connector. USB-C offers power charing for the iPhone, supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 for high bandwith data transfers between cameras and musical instruments and connect to external displays up to 5K.

The new 11inch / 12.9inch iPad Pro’s are available to order today, October 30th and ready to pick up from November 7th. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at £769for the Wi-Fi model and £919 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at £969 for the Wi-Fi model and £1,119 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model (Apple)

Apple October Event Bonus: iOS12.1

iOS 12.1 is avaiable from today, Tuesday October 30th 2018. Bringing with it a plethora of new features. Such as Group Facetime and 70 new emoji to iPhone and iPad. Dual Sim is now turned on and depth control is available to use in camera preview, as well as post production. This is available to iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR users.

Group FaceTime

Facetime has got a HUGE update, allowing users to call from 2 to 32 people at once. You can use all the same camera effects that you can use in messages in Group Facetime. Such as stickers and filters. Even use the brand new Memoji! Not forgetting Animoji either! Users can choose to join a group facetime call with audio or video from iPhone, iPad and Mac.

There are also a bunch of other advancements to Facetime coming aswell!

Automatic detection of active speakers: Facetime will now use on-device intelligence to display the most prominent speaker on the call. Automatically bringing the person who is talking to the forefront of the screen. Furthermore a users Facetime box will change depending on how active they are during the call. This is based on the duration of speech, how loudly they talk and even how much motion they use when talking. Those who aren’t talking will be placed at the bottom of the screen. Tapping will bring a participant to the front.

Ringless notification: When calling more than one person, FaceTime displays a notification that lets you instantly join a call without being disruptive.

Messages integration: If you are in a group chat, Group FaceTime is integrated directly into the messages. So you can host a group call from right within the chat. If people within the chat have already started a group call, it will show as active within the message thread.

Emoji

There’s 70 brand new emoji on it’s way to iPhone and iPad with iOS 12.1. Including characters with red, grey and curly hair, bald people get the emoji treatment too! There are some more emotional smiley faces and several new animal, sport and food emojis.