Apple Announces New M1 iMac, iPad Pro and AirTag

In today's special Spring Forward announcement, Apple debuted a new M1 iMac with a new design, a new iPad Pro with a Mini-LED screen, and the AirTag tracking device.

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Video Transcript: 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.

Comments: 12 Responses to “Apple Announces New M1 iMac, iPad Pro and AirTag”

Mark

1 year ago

Do you think a 27” model will come down the road or do you think that has been discontinued and only the 24” will be offered?

Gary Rosenzweig

Mark: I can only speculate. They could just be moving forward with this one size. But they could also come out with a 30-inch screen later on. Maybe that will use a different chip. So we may get a 30-inch iMac with an M1X or an M2 or something, but it may be a much higher price point.

Andy

Any idea why the 16" MacBook Pro did not get the M1 chip?

Andy: I can only speculate. All we have now in the MacBook Pro line is the lower-end 13-inch model.So we are still waiting for the higher end 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 16-inch MacBook Pro to move to the new chips. My guess is they may have a new processors, like a M1X or M2 in store for those. They will probably be a much higher price. They could also be working on a case redesign. We may hear about these in June with the WWDC, or they could be fall.

Hal

I have never been able to get Touch ID to work (with my old iPhone or MacBook Air.) I do not have very pronounced fingerprints, and I have heard of others having the same problem. Do you have any idea why Apple has not gone to face identification on newer computer models rather than Touch ID?

Hal: Face ID requires more than just a simple camera. The "TrueDepth Camera" used by Apple for FaceID includes a infrared emitter and an infrared camera. So to do Face ID on Macs, they'd need to add those as well.

Chris

Hey Gary I need to up grade and the M1 desk top is a overdue welcome, Do you think the "top" model is with the extra $, I always get the top model and always end up upgrading before I've really utilize its extra capibilitys. Tx

Chris: Do you mean the top model available now? Like an M1 iMac with max memory and storage? Depends if you need the storage, and what you do with your Mac. We don't even know the price of the 16GB version yet. If you really want the top model, I'd wait. I think there will be more higher-end Macs later this year.

Ed Robidoux

My wife has he iMac with the new Apple M1 chip, the 4.5 is a great screen.
I'd like to buy the M1 iMac, with 16 G of RAM, but first I'd like to know if anyone is using Photoshop with the new iMac M1 chip with 16 G of RAM. How well does the iMac handle Photoshop?

Ed: I'm not using it on my M1, but they have an M1-native version of Photoshop out now, so I assume it works well. 16GB is the maximum memory for an M1, so they must be building it for that, right? Why not install it on your wife's iMac and test it out for yourself?

Zebulah

10 months ago

I am (finally!) going to replace my 10-year old IMac with the new M1. Any opinions on the 8GB vs 16GB memory question? I don't do much heavy processing (beyond Audacity, IMovie and GarageBand). "They" say that 8GB is quite powerful, but I'm wondering how important 16GB might be for future-proofing. Has M1 really eliminated the need for needing more and more memory? Looking forward to hearing feedback on this issue.

Zebulah: I have been using an 8GB one and haven't had any problems. But I would expect to replace this model in about 3-4 years so I wasn't thinking of a 10-year span like that.

Comments Closed.

Apple Announces New M1 iMac, iPad Pro and AirTag

Comments: 12 Responses to “Apple Announces New M1 iMac, iPad Pro and AirTag”

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