Apple's Mac brand got a surprising amount of love during today's WWDC Keynote. Not only did Apple announce refreshes for its iMacs, but it also announced the iMac Pro for those who need a little more power. The company didn't stop there, though, as it also revealed some updates to the MacBook and MacBook Pro.
If you dream of owning a MacBook Air, now is as good a time as any to pick one up. While used and refurbished models are still the cheapest options, nothing beats buying new, and that makes Best Buy's recent price cut a great incentive. The retailer recently slashed the 13-inch MacBook Air's price down to $799 USD, and that's for a new model with 8GB of memory and an Intel i5 processor. The 'open box' models are even cheaper.
Even, or especially, good things must come to an end. While the usual turnover for smartphones and computers is usually claimed to be two years, various laws mandate that manufacturers offer parts and repairs far longer than that. That said, there’s always a hard limit to that life extension. By the end of this month, Apple will reportedly be shuffling a few of its devices over to its “vintage and obsolete” list, practically putting an end to the iPhone 4’s and late 2010 13-inch MacBook Air’s long lives.
Apple has been tipped to be speaking with Foxconn startup Sonder, a company which creates some of the strangest keyboards in the world. The keyboards Sonder makes don't look significantly different from Apple's current MacBook Pro and iMac offerings - just so long as their keys keep their standard characters. Sonder's big differentiator in keyboards is their ability to switch keys at a moment's notice using E-Ink technology.
Apple’s fans have been bemoaning the lack of new devices from the company’s Mac portfolio but, if insider sources are to be believed, that languishing will soon come to an end. Apple’s new Macs could start hitting stores as early as October, starting with new MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros, followed by new iMacs as well as a new standalone monitor from LG. And it doesn’t stop there either, as Apple is also said to be working on software improvements that will make the Apple Pencil a lot more useful and widespread on iPad Pro apps.
This morning it's been reported that a new MacBook Pro could be arriving by the end of this year from Apple. This new MacBook Pro for 2016 would have a very similar look to previous models - albeit a bit thinner and more "MacBook-like". It'd also have its own Touch ID sensor, allowing Apple to once again push the world of passwords further away from the mainstream.
Xiaomi is getting into a lot of "smart" products these days beyond smart phones and smart tablets. There are smart rice cookers and smart bikes, for example. So why not a smart portable computer, a.k.a. a laptop? It just so happens that the Chinese company is rumored to be doing exactly that. In fact, it has an even scheduled later this month to unveil a new product and, while most of is fans think it will be a new smartphone, sources are claiming it will, instead, be two laptops in the style of the Apple's MacBook Airs.
The following images were made by Martin Hajek, an illustrator you likely know well by now if you follow SlashGear closely. If you follow SlashGear's Apple leaks and tips, that is to say. Hajek is the sort of person who has access to blueprints for iPhones well before they're released, taking the data he's got on hand and making what end up being spot-on renderings of Apple devices before they're revealed. Today he's made a row of keys that fit on your MacBook. Why in the world would I need these keys, you might ask.
The flatness is here - a set of images of what could some day end up being a glorious new generation in MacBook aesthetics. This is a concept by Martin Hajek, who you might most recently remember for his renderings of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 "Pro". Here you'll see keys that are a lot closer to the surface of the keyboard. Here you'll see a display bar above the rim. Here you'll see a new way to interact with a machine that - to be entirely honest - didn't need much to change in the first place.
The refresh of the 12-inch MacBook last month, and the noticeable lack of new MacBook models, has had some scratching their heads over Apple's vision for the notebook line. That confusion may soon give way to clarity in the next two quarters of the year. According to respected KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the second half of the year will not only see Apple's MacBook products settle along more discernible lines, it could also see Apple's most significant upgrade to the MacBook Pro in a very long time.
One of the coolest features that the iPhone and other smartphones have gained in recent years is the ability to unlock the devices with a fingerprint rather than a passcode. A report claims that Apple is looking to make it easier to unlock your Mac computer by being able to swipe a finger on your iPhone to unlock the computer via Touch ID.
As predicted yesterday, Apple is giving their line of 12" MacBooks a refresh this week. While they might not be major changes, the update is definitely a welcome one. The refresh includes bringing the latest, sixth-generation Core M processors. The new CPUs clock in at up to 1.3GHz, with Turbo Boost speeds hitting 3.1 GHz.
