We look forward to seeing you again soon. Have a great day.
I wasn't expecting all that. Apple announced so many exciting things
at their spring-loaded event that I don't even know what to talk about first.
Actually, of course I do.
The all-new, completely redesigned iMac.
We haven't really seen a substantial redesign of the iMac
since the aluminum Unibody was released in 2009.
That's over a decade ago. But here we are now with something that is colorfully refreshing.
Seven colors, that is. They really do harken back to the fruity colors available
on the old iMac G3 of oh so long ago, allowing users to really personalize their office space.
No fruity names, though. The press release lists the available colors as
blue, green, pink, yellow, orange, purple, and silver.
I'm really digging this design. The white frame around the display is a refreshing contrast to the black and aluminum
we've been placing on our desks for years now. And the hinge is very reminiscent
of the old Apple Cinema design from way back when.
It really takes me back to when I was a kid, wowed by all the bright colors of the original iMac
and just how outside of the beige box they were.
Just look at that orange one. I really want that on my desk.
Clearly, this is a replacement for the old 21.5-inch iMac,
the desktop for normal people. Exporting a brand new 24-inch 4.5K retina display,
the new design is very thin at 11.5 millimeters,
which Apple says is possible thanks to the efficiency of the M1 chip, which, yes, it gets in here.
That thinness has dictated quite a few of the design choices on the iMac.
Interestingly, the chin remains, though now it's behind the front glass
and no longer sports the Apple logo. Within the chin is where Apple has placed
the new much smaller board, speakers, and cooling.
And Apple claims the whole thing will run at under 10 decibels during normal use.
That small footprint also means that the power supply is external now,
which I'm pretty sure is a first for the iMac. This power brick, which is meant to sit under your desk,
has an optional gigabit Ethernet port, keeping those infrastructural connections down below.
This will leave only a woven color-matched cable visible
up on the surface of your otherwise clean desktop.
It connects magnetically too. Apple also took quite a bit of time
to note the updated speakers, camera, and microphone.
Because of the thin enclosure, there are now six speakers to drive all the frequencies
with support for Dolby Atmos. This smaller iMac also gets the 1080p FaceTime HD camera
we saw in last year's Intel 27-inch iMac update.
Connectivity has slimmed down quite a bit with the new iMac. The headphone jack remains,
but there are only up to four USB-type C ports, two of which are Thunderbolt,
and they can support a 6K Pro Display XDR.
No word on multiple lower res screens though. On the peripheral front,
keyboards, mice, and trackpads are also color-matched.
And, better still, is the addition of optional touch ID.
It communicates wirelessly through what the company says is an encrypted channel
that links with the secure enclave in the M1. It's about time fingerprint readers made it to the desk.
Starting at 1299, the basic iMac has a seven-core GPU M1,
eight gigs of RAM, 256 Gigabyte SSD,
only two Thunderbolt ports, no Ethernet,
and four of the seven available colors. Personally, I'm disappointed to see
the limited connectivity on this SKU, which will make it harder to recommend.
So perhaps the grandma model, or the I love dongles model.
The upgraded 1499 iMac is where you'll get the full eight-core GPU M1,
an extra two USB type C three ports, Ethernet, the magic keyboard with touch ID,
and you can choose from all the available colors.
After this event, it's clear that the M1 chip is becoming a centerpiece of Apple's hardware,
unifying quite a line of devices, which now includes the iPad Pro.
In a funny action-packed interlude, featuring Tim Cook disguised as a me,
Apple showed the M1 gets stolen from a Mac and inserted in an iPad.
It shows just how efficient and powerful the M1 is, but I think it's also good for Apple,
because during the great silicon shortage of 2021,
they can rely on fewer chip varieties for their products.
It's also a substantial spec bump for the iPad Pro,
enabling a Thunderbolt port and 5G connectivity, but blah, blah, there's a new screen.
Mini-LED is a thing now. With the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro,
Apple has added what they call the Liquid Retina XDR screen.
They're claiming it matches the performance of the Pro display XDR.
What they've done is use 10,000 mini-LEDs, which they grouped into 2,500 local dimming zones.
The claims are 1,001 contrast ratio and 1,000 nits full-screen brightness.
I'll have to see it to believe it. For that screen, you're looking at paying
a minimum of 10.99, while the entry price
for the basic small iPad Pro remains at 7.99.
The iPad Pro has always been an expensive technical showcase for what Apple has to offer in its mobile devices,
like the new ultra-wide movement tracking front camera for web calls,
but iPadOS is still iPadOS. And I worry that while it's being provided
real true desktop-class hardware, the mobile-class software still can't fully
let you take advantage of it all. I'll explore this a little more in another video.
Get subscribed for that. But how about an entirely new product?
I have to confess that I never thought air tags were going to happen.
Rumors of their impending release have persisted for years now, but here they are.
At $29 for one and a hundred for four, they provide an interesting solution
for the forgetful among us. If your iPhone has a U1 chip,
you can be led with an arrow to your lost air tag with precision finding.
And if it's really lost, it integrates with Apple's recently announced
Find My Network. So it'll connect to any nearby iPhone and ping its most up-to-date location.
If you put it in lost mode, a helpful stranger can NFC connect to the air tag
and be taken to a website that will display the owner's contact info if provided.
It's powered by one of those small replaceable but not rechargeable cell batteries, though,
which Apple claims should last for over a year. Pretty neat, but the only thing I seem to misplace
are my AirPods, which, by the way, hmm.
In the world of the Apple TV, there were two things that many of us wanted.
One, a redesign of the Siri remote, God, that touchpad was finicky.
Two, lower prices. The streaming box market is flooded
with simple to use, low-cost devices that get viewers connected.
Well, we got one of those things. The new Siri remote is very exciting.
There's a five-way D-pad like we got years ago,
but it's touch-enabled, so you can use a circular gesture to jog through your content,
as well as still use directional swipes. Though, if that works like the outgoing remote,
I hope that can be turned off. There's a power button now too,
and the Siri button has moved to the side next to the D-pad.
It does look like it might be easy to mistakenly press it,
but I'll have to hold it to find out. The prices, however, are the same.
149 for the Apple TV HD, and 179 for the Apple TV 4K.
For that price, you get an updated A12 chip, which supports higher frame rates
at 4K HDR and Dolby Vision. Cleverly, you can calibrate the new iPad TV screen
by using your iPhone, simply by holding it up to the display.
How well it compares to a proper calibration tool is something I'm very curious to try.
But regardless, that sounds a lot easier than faffing with the TV settings.
Grandma will love it when you do it for her. There were a couple of service announcements too.
Apple Podcast gets an updated app that I hope is much improved from the old one.
But more interestingly is Apple Podcast subscriptions.
They didn't provide too many details on this, but creators can register with the Apple Podcasters program
for $20 per year, and then set their own pricing for their subscriptions.
I'm curious how much of a cut Apple will be taking from that. There's also Apple Card Family,
which sounds like a way to share your credit card and score with your partner,
and provide allowance to your children digitally. Oh yeah, and the iPhone is available in purple,
if that's your favorite color, and you haven't got one already. Oh, I hope this and the new iMac shows
a playful new direction the company is looking to take with their consumer designs.
Perhaps a MacBook Air a la clamshell iBook.
That'd be cool. There's still a lot to parse through as we get our hands on the products to really try them out.
So keep your eyes peeled on the channel for more coverage in the coming weeks.
Thanks for watching this Mac Address. Thanks for popping by.
If this is your first time here, you can watch my first video, and the end screen cards will now be working,
which is great. See you around.