Apple Spring Loaded Event – Expected and Exciting!

Well, the Apple Spring Loaded Event is over, and despite the cheesy action sequences where Tim Cook broke into his own company, there is a lot to be excited about. New iMacs, Airtags, and iPad Pros. Let’s break down everything that you might have missed during the Spring Loaded Apple event.

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iPad Pro

The new iPad Pro has the M1 chip, the same on the MacBooks and iMac. The M1 seems to be Apple’s CPU for every device. The powerful chip is going to mean that this iPad can run more demanding apps, and will hopefully have a better battery life. The M1 is going to be sort of wasted in iPadOS’s current state, as most apps don’t need a laptop CPU. The iPad Pro is pricey, starting at $1099 for the model with a liquid retina display. 

iMac

Harkening back to the colors of the first iMacs, the new all-in-one from Apple comes in blue, green, red, silver, yellow, orange, and purple. The computer comes with a M1 chip, unifying the Macbooks, the iMacs, and the iPad Pro all under the same chip and architecture. Starting with the design, it is thin. The device is 11.5 millimeters to be exact. To get that thinness, it sticks with the large bottom bezel which ditches the logo. It only has a maximum of two USB 3 and two Thunderbolts. Staying with the M1 means this is not going to be an epic gaming setup, but for most people this will be a good enough device. The display is 4.5K, making it one of the best displays on a base level iMac. 

Apple seems to be migrating towards using something similar to the Pro Display XDR in all of their high end products. The Magic Keyboard gets a Touch ID option, and the Magic Mouse now has new colors! Those beautiful colors, however, aren’t gorgeous enough to make up for the fact that you have to charge your mouse from the bottom. Makes you wonder if Apple has their priorities straight.  

Apple’s quest to make everything as clean as possible means the gigabit ethernet and the power connect to a separate brick. The charger itself attaches magnetically, and is the same color as the iMac. The price of this machine, however, may be tough to swallow. The base model, with only four colors, is $1300. The cheapest model with an 8-core GPU is $1499. 

Purple iPhone 12

This one is as simple as it seems. The iPhone 12 is getting a nice lavender finish. The phone is available to preorder starting on the 23rd. This color option is currently only announced for the iPhone 12, not the Pro or Pro Max. 

Airtags

The rumor about the Airtags was true. The Airtags will be available for preorder on the 23rd as well. You might want to be prepared to get up before 5:00 am if you want to get them before the bots do. 

The Airtags are round, about the size of a keyring or dollar coin. They are also thick, at least as far as we can tell from the Augmented Reality Demo on Apple’s website. They use the Find My network, meaning it can be found wherever a Bluetooth device is in range. They also feature a speaker that emits a sound to help you locate the device. The most interesting feature, however, is being able to get directions to your AirTag using the U1 chip. Apple has dubbed this “Precision Finding”. 

This device will set you back $29 dollars for one and $99 for four. If you like Hermes, and spending money on designer items, you can buy the speciality luggage tags for $449 and up.  f For some of us, however, this is not a logical option since the luggage tag will inevitably end up being more valuable than the luggage and its contents. But hey, there is free engraving for all AirTags (not only the Hermes)!

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Apple TV 4K

The Apple TV 4K is a somewhat marginal upgrade for the average user. The main selling point of the TV box itself is a higher frame rate (side note: frames are the pictures that make up a video. The more frames, the more smooth the video feels.) 4K HDR. Most content, however, is only in 24fps, or at most 30. Most TV shows won’t be taking advantage of this. For sports events and other higher frame rate content however, this is perfect. 

The A12 chip that the Apple TV uses is the exact same chip as the one in the XS, XS Max, and XR from 2018. The truly exciting thing about the new Apple TV is the Siri Remote. Reminiscent of the iPods click wheel, Apple ditched the much loathed touchpad on the top of the remote. They also added a dedicated on/off button and moved the Siri button to the side. 

The Apple TV 4K is more expensive than comparable streaming boxes. This item will set you back $179 for 32GB and $199 for 64GB.    

Now comes the age old question of should you bother preordering any of these potentially fantastic new items? Well, it depends on who you are. If you have thousands of dollars burning a hole in your pocket, then the answer is likely a resounding yes. The rest of us, however, might need to ask ourselves a few more questions. All the items seem great, but if you are looking for more robust software you might want to wait and see what Worldwide Wide Developers Conference will have to offer. WWDC, here we come!  

All image credits: Apple

Source: neatorama

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