Only one day after rumors about an impending iPad Pro refresh hit the web, Apple has made it official — releasing a new iPad Pro (with Magic Keyboard) alongside a refreshed Mac Air and Mac Mini.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new Apple products.
2020 iPad Pro: Magic Keyboard, LiDAR & A12Z 8-core processor
The biggest thing about the new 2020 iPad Pro isn’t actually the tablet itself, but the new Magic Keyboard which includes a trackpad — indicating the first time we’ll see mouse support on the iPad.
Highlights of the $299 Magic Keyboard ($349 for the 12.9″ version) includes a built-in USB-C port for charging, a full-sized keyboard and of course the trackpad.
Unfortunately, it won’t be available until May.
Taking a look at what Apple has changed within the tablet itself, a lot is surprisingly the same with a few key changes.
First off, Apple has seriously upgraded the whole camera system with the addition of an Ultra Wide camera and LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) sensor.
This marks the first time that Apple has included a LiDAR sensor in any of its products and will help to significantly increase the accuracy of AR apps.
The new ultra wide camera is only 10MP but can still record 4K/60fps video like the main wide-angle lens.
Rounding out the improvements to the iPad Pro is the increased processor and graphics performance thanks to Apple’s new A12X Bionic chip.
While we’ll have to wait for third party testing to really see how well it performs, its upgrade to 8 cores of graphics processing power (from 7 in the previous version) should help Apple’s flagship tablet stay ahead of the competition.
The new 2nd generation iPad Pro 11″ and 4th generation iPad Pro 12.9″ are available to preorder now (arriving March 25) for $799 and $999 respectively.
Early 2020 Mac Air: Faster & more storage with improved keyboard
Following up on the fall update of the Mac Book Pro 16″, Apple has refreshed its entry-level laptop with the all-new Magic Keyboard design that uses “a redesigned scissor mechanism” to remedy the problems seen by previous generations which used the “butterfly key” design.
The new Air also offers double the performance, according to Apple, featuring 10th-gen Intel Ice Lake processors (Y-series) up to a 1.2GHz quad-core Core i7.
However, the most enticing feature for some people will be the price.
The new 2020 MacBook Air will start at $999 with 256GB of storage instead of $1099 for 128GB like the previous generation.
Students will be able to purchase Apple’s new ultralight laptop for even less with a $100 education discount and education only $799/128GB model.
Mac Mini 2020 refresh: More storage for the same price
The Mac Mini had become the long-forgotten Mac before its 2018 update, so it isn’t shocking that it didn’t receive much attention here.
Everything stays the same as the previous generations but now potential buyers can get double the storage for the same price.
The entry-level Mac Mini will come with 256GB of SSD storage for $799 and users can configure the computer with up to 2TB now if they wish.
