Apple Announces New M1 iMac, iPad Pro and AirTag

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Today Apple announced a new iPad, a new iMac and some other things. Let's take a look.

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So the big story was the new iMac. Apple has a completely new iMac with a new super thin design. As a matter of fact is looks like a giant iPad that's on this stand. It comes in seven colors and is now one size. It's a 24 inch screen. So splitting the difference between the old iMac models which were 21½  and 27 inches. This new iMac uses the same M1 chips that are in the latest MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air and also the Mac Mini. They have also improved other things like it's now a 1080p facetime camera and they have improved the microphones and speakers. 

There's some new innovations here as well. For instance the power supply is now external. There's, of course,  no room for it in this thin design. But you've got a magnetic connector to connect the power supply to the iMac. The power supply includes an ethernet port. So by connecting the power supply to your Mac you can then plug in an ethernet cable to the power supply and you don't have to have that cable running all the way up onto your desk. 

Now a really cool new feature that I didn't even hear any rumors about is that there is a new keyboard that you can get. It's optional but you can get a Touch ID keyboard. So that's Apple's first wireless keyboard that is Touch ID. There's both the smaller standard size and the extended keyboard with a Touch ID key at the top right. 

There are two base models of the new iMac. A $1299 model and a $1499 model. The differences are a slightly better processor in the more expensive one. The more expensive one, in addition to have the same two thunderbolt ports that the less expensive one has, it also has two additional USB ports. You'll be able to order this new iMac on April 30th and it will ship in May.

As predicted Apple also introduced a new iPad Pro. The most surprising thing about it it that it's not just using a newer normal chip. It's actually using the same M1 chip that's in all of these new Macs. So Apple has taken that same chip and using it in both Macs and in the iPad Pro. There's new ultawide camera in the front and it comes in the same two sizes, an 11 inch and a 12.9 inch, but the 12.9 inch has a brand new screen that Apple compares a lot to the really expensive Pro display. This is the mini LED screen that a lot of people have talked about that Apple can possibly introduce here with new iPads. So that's on the newer large model, the 11 inch model just has a regular screen. The 11 inch model comes in at $799 and it's $1099 for the larger model. But then from there, of course, you upgrade things like storage. In fact now you can go up to 2 TB of internal storage. Oh, and also the connector on the bottom is not just a USB connector anymore. It's now a Thunderbolt connector as well. So you can plug in Thunderbolt devices including getting a full 6K out of Apple's big expensive display. This is also available for order on April 30th and then shipping towards the end of May. 

Now there's one other brand new product that Apple introduced. This is the long awaited AirTags. So the AirTag is this small little device that you can attach to your keys or your dog or whatever and it will track that object. You can use your iPhone and kind of find it using Find My just like you would find an iPhone or a Mac or any other Apple thing you might loose. These are actually available for order this Friday and will ship by the end of the month. It's $29 for one and $99 for four. You can also get them engraved with characters and emoji and there's a whole bunch of accessories like things to hold onto keychains and stuff like that. 

Apple also has a new Apple TV. So this is still the Apple TV 4K but it has some new features. Like a new processor that will enable higher frame rate. It also comes with a new aluminum remote that's got some new things on it. A new kind of circular little pad at the top instead of a square one and a Siri button on the side. It also has a power button and a mute button with the idea being that more people can use just the Siri remote to do everything and not have to reach for the TV's remote control to turn the TV on or off for mute.

There were a few other announcements at the beginning. Most notably Apple Podcasts. So they are revamping the Podcast app and they are adding a subscription level to podcasts. There weren't too many details about this but the idea is that if you subscribe to the service you get access to all these podcasts at a fee and some of that money goes to the actual podcasters.

There's also Apple Card Family which is a feature for your Apple Card that allows other people in your family to also use it. In addition to that Apple introduced a new iPhone. Well, not really a new iPhone. It's the same iPhone but a new color in the lineup. Purple. 

That sums up all of Apple's announcements from today.