If you’ve been sitting on the fence waiting for Apple to finally update the iPad Pro, your wait is finally over.
This morning the Cupertino company introduced its 2020 refresh of both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro. They don’t feature a new design or the iPhone 11 Pro’s Super Retina Display, but they have been tuned up with an A12Z Bionic chip that promises to be faster than most Windows-based laptops.
Apple’s new tablet is also the first iPad to receive an Ultra-Wide camera—putting it on par with the iPhone 11—and studio-quality mics. Lastly, the new iPad Pro models feature a LiDAR Scanner for depth sensing and AR-powered apps.
What’s far more impressive is the new iPad keyboard Apple has rolled out. Firstly, it features a trackpad for the first time, allowing you to use your tablet like a genuine macOS device. This new Magic Keyboard also allows you to elevate your iPad Pro at a more comfortable typing and working angle.
The new 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro runs for $999. Both base models come with 128GB of storage space. Of course, you have the option of picking the larger 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities as well as adding 4G LTE cellular connectivity.
Of course, the iPad Pro doesn’t come with an included keyboard, so you’ll have to pony up $129 for the Smart Folio Keyboard. And if you want Apple’s new Magic Keyboard and its attached trackpad, that’ll be $299 for the 11-inch model, or $349 for the 12.9-inch one (yes, it really costs almost half as much as an 11-inch iPad Pro).
The MacBook Air is affordable again
Apple also announced a refreshed MacBook Air as its second laptop to receive the overhauled scissor switch-based Magic Keyboard.
Now that the new MacBook Air has ditched that Apple’s faulty butterfly mechanism, it should be a far more reliable typing companion. Plus, you get the same 1mm of keyboard travel as the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Air also features Intel’s latest 10nm Ice Lake Y-series processors with Intel Iris Plus Graphics, which promise to deliver 80% improved graphics performance.
Best of all Apple has dropped the price of the MacBook Air to $999—$100 less than the device’s initial $1,099 starting price—while also doubling the standard storage capacity to 256GB.
Speaking of doubling storage, the standard $799 configuration of the Mac Mini now comes with 256GB of storage as well.
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Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam
Source: IGN.com The New iPad Pro Gets Faster and a Fancy Keyboard With a Trackpad