New MacBook, Apple Watch Details

Apple announced a new MacBook today, as well as details for the release of the Apple Watch. The new MacBook is a super-thin 12-inch model with a retina display and touch-feedback trackpad. The Apple Watch will be available on April 24, with pre-orders starting April 10. Apple also announced a new price for the Apple TV and an HBO Now app for viewing HBO content without a cable subscription.

You can also watch this video at YouTube (but with ads).

Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. On today's episode let's take a look at today's Apple announcements.
There were two major product announcements today. One was a new MacBook and the other was the details of the release of the Apple Watch.
Before we get to that Apple had a little bit to say about Apple TV. Apple TV, of course, is the $99 device that you can get and hook up to your television. It is now going to drop down to $69 and have an important new app on it. 
The HBO Now app. This allows you to pay independently for HBO. It is a pretty significant change to the whole cable ecosystem because in the past cable channels like HBO required that you have a cable subscription or satellite TV subscription even if you wanted to use the internet version of it. Say HBO Go. So this kind of changes the game for that and moves things a little bit closer to being able to cut the cord for a lot of people.
Now we have the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro but Apple is once again going to start using the name just MacBook for this new product. It is a 12 inch super thin MacBook. Thinner than the MacBook Air in fact. It is not only thinner but it is lighter than any of the other models as well. There is a new keyboard that is super thin which it has to be in order for this model to be as thin as it is. In addition to that it also has a new type of trackpad. The trackpad doesn't actually move when you click it. But it does detect the force and it gives you feedback using tactic feedback so you can kind of feel your click.
In addition to that it looks like that feedback can be used by software for things and it can also detect levels of force. So for artists that draw or for just being able to do different types of clicks it should be interesting what new features of software come up now that we have a kind of force detection trackpad. 
This is not only going to be on the new MacBook but it looks like it is going to make its way to the MacBook Pro models as well.
So one big new change here with this new MacBook is a new type of connector. It is going to use standard connector called the USBC connector. It is a really tiny connection that can carry both power and data. As a matter of fact it can also carry video. There is only going to be one of them on this entire thing. So basically you can plug it into something for power or you can plug it into a USB peripheral. 
I'm sure that there are going to be these little devices, little docks, that come around that allow you to plug it into power and USB and external monitors all at once. People have been talking about the USBC connector for awhile predicting that Apple is going to start adopting it.
The price for the new MacBook is going to be $1299 with a model with a little bit more processor power in stores for $1599. It is going to be available on April 10th. You can go to Apple.com to look at exact specs for the new model.
Now the announcement of a new MacBook was a bit of a surprise for a lot people. But what wasn't a surprise is details on the Apple Watch.
So now we know the prices for them. There are going to be three different styles of the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch, and Apple Watch Edition. 
Apple Watch Sport is at the low end starting at $349. Then you've got a mid range Apple Watch that will be steel. The low end Sport will be aluminum. The steel one is going to start at $549 but customizable all the way up to over $1000. Then there is going to be the Apple Watch Edition which is the gold version of the watch at, a general price range of, around $10,000. 
We now know when we will be able to get an Apple Watch. On April 10th they will be in stores and you will be able to go and take a look at them. You will also be able to preorder one. It will be April 24th when you will actually be able to get your hands on your very own Apple Watch.
For the basics go and check the Apple website for details and product specifications. 
Thank you for watching.

Comments: 13 Responses to “New MacBook, Apple Watch Details”

Richard Fuhr

10 years ago

Apple has been extremely busy working on many things lately, so is impossible to do everything. But I was hoping they would also slip in an announcement regarding a retina display 21-1/2" iMac that would complement the 27" iMac.

JoeAllen

Yes, I am also waiting for the 21.5'' Retina ... breathlessly with quivering nostrils.

Andrew Phair

Such a shame there was no release for iPhoto replacement. The wait gLes onnnnnnn....

Martha Bunch

Will you be able to get HBO on the current Apple TV boxes?

Gary Rosenzweig

Yes. There is no "new" Apple TV box. They are talking about a new app for the current boxes (everything except that old original white Apple TV).

Santo

On the MacBook-Why no camera you think?

Excellent observation. I can't believe there is NO video camera ... .

There IS a camera http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs/

Thanks I can't believe I missed it 3 times when I looked.. Also I don't remember the keynote saying anything about the camera.

Jasper robinson

I wonder how easy will it be to get inside for adding memory or storage. I understand that the newish, slimmer iMacs are tricky to open up.

It will be impossible. Apple has moved away from that. You can see from the images they show of how the battery is packed in there that Apple doesn't build them like that anymore. The whole industry is moving away from "memory upgrades" and storage is going more and more into the cloud. Software is what requires you to have both of those, and the software industry is also moving away from that. There isn't a piece of Mac software that won't run on the new MacBook because of memory.

Des

Does the new Macbook supersede the Macbook Pro, or will an updated Macbook Pro come later??

No. The MacBook Pro was updated too, as well as the Air. It gets the new trackpad, faster processor and memory, better battery.

Comments Closed.

New MacBook, Apple Watch Details

Comments: 13 Responses to “New MacBook, Apple Watch Details”

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