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Apple unveils iPad mini, updates Mac lineup

iPad mini available for pre-order Friday, on sale Nov. 2.

Published October 23, 2012 • 2 comments

iPad mini comes in both black and white, a dual-core A5 processor, FaceTime HD, 5-megapixel iSight camera, updated wireless and LTE and has the new Lightning connector for charging and syncing. (Credit: Apple Inc.)

By TROY A. BLEVINS, Webmaster
Follow @TroyBlevins

On Tuesday, Apple introduced the iPad mini, a smaller model of the iPad that features a 7.9-inch diagonal display.

With an aluminum glass enclosure, Apple says the iPad mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper. In comparison to the iPad, the iPad mini is 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said at Tuesday’s Apple media event that almost every Fortune 500 company is testing and deploying iPad.

“We’re not taking our foot off the gas” said Cook.

The iPad mini comes in both black and white with a dual-core A5 processor, FaceTime HD, 5-megapixel iSight camera, updated wireless and LTE and has the Lightning connector for charging and syncing.

Promising ten-hour battery life, Apple prices the 16GB Wi-Fi model at $329, its lowest price for iPad yet. The device will be available for pre-order on Friday and will ship Nov. 2. The Wi-Fi with cellular model will ship two weeks later.

Schiller compared the iPad mini to tablets running Android, claiming tablet versions of their software as “scaled-up phone apps.” Apple says every app will run the same way on the iPad mini visually.

The iPad also received an update. The fourth generation model now comes with an A6X processor, claiming double performance in speed and graphics. Apple also promises improved LTE and Wi-Fi, and ten-hour battery life, while including FaceTime HD and Lightning.

Apple says it has sold more than 100 million iPads in just two and a half years. They claim that 91 percent of web traffic is executed on iPad.

New MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac

Prior to introducing the latest iPad and iPad mini, Phil Schiller announced updates to Apple’s MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini.

“You knew there’d be something called ‘Mini’ in this presentation, didn’t you?” joked Schiller.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display features Intel dual-core Core i5 or i7 ‘Ivy Bridge’ processors, 8GB of RAM, FaceTime HD camera and dual microphones.

Apple promises up to seven-hour battery life with the new MacBook Pro, with prices beginning at $1699.

“Everything about the new MacBook Pro has been reengineered from scratch,” said Phil Schiller.

Apple’s iMac and Mac mini product lineups also received updates. Their latest iMac has an edge that is only 5mm thin, which is 80 percent thinner than its previous model. Inside, the iMac features a new Fusion Drive, which combines a high-capacity hard disk with a high-speed solid state drive. Mac mini now features faster processors, four USB 3 ports and also be configured with a Fusion Drive.

Reported also on Tuesday, Apple says that iOS 6 now runs on more than 200 million devices, saying it’s the fastest upgrade rate of any software in the history that they’re aware of.