From iPad Air to New Mac Pro: Key features of Apple's latest launches

Apple on Tuesday launched a new iPad line up, slashed the price of its Mac computers and announced that it wouldgive away Macintosh operating and work software free to its users, challenging Microsoft Corp’s near-stranglehold on personal computing.

Tuesday’s unveiling of Apple’s latest products primes the company for a holiday shopping season onslaught aimed at a list of rivals that includes Google Inc., Samsung Electronics, Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Here is a look at everything that has been launched.

iPad Air:

The iPad Air still has the 9.7-inch screen (diagonally) but is considerably thinner and lighter than the iPad 4. In fact, if Apple’s ad is to be believed it is thinner than a pencil.

The iPad Air weighs only one pound (which is 0.45 kg), and according to Apple, this is the lightest full-sized tablet in the market.

The screen resolution is still the same at 264 pixels per inch. Apple has also reduced the bezel on the side (it’s apparently 43 percent narrower than the previous version), which makes the iPad Air only 7.5 mm thin, much less than the iPad 4 which was 9.4 mm.

The iPad Air also comes with the new A7 chip like the iPhone 5s, and Apple says that the tablet is eight times faster than before. The chip is 64-bit which allows for faster processing.

The chip, while faster will only make a significant difference when developers make more 64-bit apps. Like the iPhone 5s, the iPad Air has the M7 motion co-processor. Where graphics are concerned, the iPad Air is 72 times faster than the original iPad in GPU performance, according to Apple. Apple has kept the camera at 5 megapixels and a 1.2 megapixel front camera.

The iPad Air will go on sale on 1 November. The new iPad Mini will be available at a still-to-be-determined date later in November.

iPad Mini with Retina Display:

A year after the launch of the iPad mini, Apple has upgraded the 7.9-inch tablet’s screen to Retina Display quality.

The screen resolution is now 20481536 resolution at 326 pixels per inch (ppi) which is way better than the previous version which had a 163 ppi screen resolution.

The iPad mini with Retina Display also has the A7 chip, M7 co-processor. The camera is still the same at 5 megapixels but the mini now has an improved 1.2 megapixel camera for FaceTime on the front. The iPad Mini with Retina will sell for $399 for the 16GB WiFi model. Wi-Fi plus cellular connectivity is $529. iPad mini with Retina display goes on sale in November end.

The iPad upgrades, coming a year after the release of the tablet’s previous generation, fell largely in line with analyst expectations.

In a surprise, Apple is introducing slightly revamped MacBook Pros at prices 9 percent to 13 percent below the previous versions. What’s more, Apple is giving away its latest Mac operating system - Mavericks - for free, as well as several pieces of software, including programs called iWorks and iLife that provide many of the same tools as Microsoft’s Office.“We are turning the industry on its ear,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said of the company’s strategy.

Mavericks:

According to Apple, Mavericks enables improvement of battery life, longer web browsing, etc. The software’s ‘Compress Memory’ feature will compress inactive memory components. It fits 6GB of data in 4GB of RAM which means that users can run more applications without lag.

The other focus of Mavericks is improved graphic support, with a specific focus on integrated graphics. If you are doing something that is graphics intensive Mavericks will allot more memory to that.

Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said other features included Notifications, Tags in Finder, Multiple Displays, etc. The Maps app is also available with Mavericks.The Notifications feature looks cool since it allows users to reply to iMessages from the Notifications itself, get updates for sites you’ve subscribed to etc.

iBooks is also coming to Macs with Mavericks. Federighi who gave users a pretty extensive demo showed off some neat tricks on the new OS. Notifications, Calendars, Safari’s new features are what stand out.

New Macbook Pro:

The 13-inch Macbook Pro now has 9 hours of battery life (up from an estimated 7 hrs before). It’s now lighter (3.46 lbs), and thinner (0.71-inch). It’s powered by a 4th-gen Haswell core, with integrated Intel Iris graphics. Also its cheaper than previous models!

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is priced lower at $1299 and starts shipping today. (The previous one was priced at $1499) The 15-inch MacBook Pro is coming with the fifth generation Intel Crystalwell chip. (Haswell are the fourth generation processors) It has eight hours of battery life. 2.0 GhZ quad-core i7 processor. It starts shipping today and is priced at $1999. (The previous version was priced at $2199. Both have Retina Display screens.

According to Apple the Macbook Pro has the fastest processor they have ever put in a processor. It has the Intel Xeon processors, dual workstation-class GPUs for Graphics and is only is 9.9-inches tall.

It has the Intel Xeon E5 chipset with up to 12 processor cores and it also has two AMD FirePro workstation-class GPUs. According to Apple, the all-new Mac Pro is up to 2.5 times faster than the current Mac Pro and delivers up to an amazing 7 teraflops of compute power.

It has 4 USB 3.0 ports, and 6 Thunderbolt ports. Users can connect three 4k displays to the machine. The new Mac Pro also features PCIe-based flash storage that is up to 10 times faster than conventional desktop hard drives. It has a PCIe based flash with upto 1TB capacity. Definitely a device that would be considered great for video editing.

Apple also showed off the Mac Pro’s rear-facing illumination system: When you turn on the device, the lights on the rear ports light to help you find your ports. The Mac Pro was assembled in the US.

What analysts think:

Technology analyst Patrick Moorhead predicted the discounted MacBook Pros will force personal computer makers to cut the prices of their machines by at least $100 for the holidays.

And Ovum analyst Jan Dawson thinks Apple’s giveaway of the operating system and software programs “is now teaching people to expect both of those things to be free. While this won’t disrupt Microsoft’s business overnight, it will create further pressure on Microsoft to bring down prices.”

If that happens, it would be another blow for Microsoft, which has seen its Windows revenue suffer in recent years as personal computer sales sink amid a shift to smartphones and tablets.

Apple triggered the upheaval with the 2007 release of the first iPhone followed up with the 2010 introduction of the iPad.

While both products have a fierce following, Apple has been losing market share to rivals who primarily make mobile devices running on Google’s Android software. As Apple is now doing with its Mavericks software for Macs, Google gives away Android to device makers who can afford to undercut the prices for iPhones and iPads.

Despite the competitive pressure, Apple has steadfastly refused to cut prices on its top-of-the-line products. Instead, it has sold older versions of its Phones and iPads at slight discounts to consumers who are willing to settle for something less than state-of-the-art technology.

The Cupertino, California company is hewing to that philosophy with its latest tablets. The iPad Air will start at $499, just like its predecessors, while the new iPad Mini will sell for $399 - a 21 percent increase from the price of the first Mini. The price of the original Mini, which runs at slower speeds and lacks a high-definition display screen, is falling from $329 to $299.

Apple’s stock dipped $1.49 to close at $519.87 Tuesday. The shares remain about 25 percent below their peak reached 13 months ago.

The research firm Gartner Inc. estimates that Android tablets will end 2013 with a 50 percent share of the worldwide market versus 49 percent for the iPad. Just two years ago, the iPad commanded a 65 percent market share compared to 30 percent for Android tablets.

Apple sold 14.6 million iPads during the three months ending in June, down 14 percent from the same time last year. It marked the first time Apple has posted a year-over-year decline in iPad sales.

It might have happened again in the latest quarter ending in September. Although Apple isn’t scheduled to report its results for the latest quarter until next Monday, a statistic released at Tuesday’s event gave a hint of how the iPad fared in the period.

Cook said Apple’s total iPad sales since the device’s inception surpassed 170 million units earlier this month. Given that Apple sold 155 million iPads through June, that means fewer than 15 million were sold in the quarter ending in September. Apple sold 14 million iPads in last year’s quarter ending in September.

With inputs from agencies