shownotes_20121024

Opening
  Apple held it's latest event yesterday and while it was titled, "We've got a little more to show you" it was obviously a clever play on words as they have a lot to talk about.
  Here's a little recap and my thoughts on what Apple has to show us.
13" MacBook Pro Retina
  13" Macbook Pro #1 selling Mac
  13" Macbook Pro with Retina Display
    0.75" thin
    20% thinner
    3.5 lbs
    MagS
    Retina Display, 13.3" 2550 X 1600 at 227ppi
    Intel dual-core i5 or i7
    Intel HD 4000 Graphics
    720p FaceTime HD camera
    up to 7 hours battery
    MagSafe 2, 2 x Thunderbolt, 2x USB 3, HDMI, SDXC card slot, Headphone, dual mics (no audio in)
    Available now
      $1,699 - Dual-core 2.5 GHz i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB Flash
      $1,999 - Dual-core 2.5 GHz i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB Flash
    Great entry level for a retina display notebook and a nice compliment to the 15" Retina Macbook Pro
    $500 more than the base 13" MacBook Pro (non-retrina)
      With the Retina you're getting double the RAM and that display
      You get less storage, 128GB Flash, vs 500GB HDD
      The non-retina also has Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire 800, and a SuperDrive
      But no HDMI port on the non-Retina
    A 13" Macbook Air can be configured with a 2.0GHz dual-core i7 and 8GB of RAM for $1,699.00
      That will double the storage of the Retina Macbook Pro (256GB Flash)
      Air doesn't have Retina, but is same pixel resolution as a 15" Macbook Pro 1440 x 900
      One less Thunderbolt Port and no HDMI port
Mac mini
  New processors
    Dual-Core Intel i5 at 2.5Ghz
    Quad-core Intel i7 at 2.6GHz
  Updated Intel HD 4000 Graphics
  500GB or 1TB 5,400 RPM hard drive
    1TB Fusion Drive option
  4GB RAM, upgradeable to 16GB (2-slots)
  Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire 800, HDMI, Thunderbolt, 4 x USB 3, SDXC card slot, optical
  802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0
  Available now
  Nice bump up for the Mini which was long over due for an update
iMac
  Super thin
    edge to edge glass
    5 mm thin, 80% thinner
    still has chin
    Friction stir welding
    5 mm thinner display
    laminating display to glass, removes 2mm
    anti-reflective coating, 75% less reflection
    Does round out in the back significantly
  27" 2560 x 1640, 21" 1920x1080
  Graphics, discreet NVIDA GeForce processors
    21" NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M or 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory
    27" NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
    27" can configure up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX with 2GB of GDDR5 memory.
  Removed optical drive
  up to 8 lbs, lighter
  Apple Fusion Drive (Hybrid)
    128GB flash
    1TB or 3TB HDD
    It's NOT a RAID.
      Disk Utility will see both the Flash and HHD drives
      OS X Mountain Lion "marries" them at the OS level presenting one drive to the user and apps
      It then watches and moves stuff based on use so the things you use most frequently are on Flash
      Writes are done to fast Flash storage first
  Up 768 GB Flash, up to 3TB hard drive
    21" 1TB 5,400 RPM HD (standard), config with up to 1TB Fusion Drive
    27" 1TB 7,200 RPM HD (standard), config with up to 3TB Fusion Drive or 768GB Flash
  8GB RAM (standard)
    2 slots in 21" model, up to 16GB RAM
    4 slots in 27" model, up to 32GB RAM
  FaceTime HD camera
  Gigabit Ethernet, 2x Thunderbolt, 4x USB 3, SDXC Card Slot, Headphone, Dual mics (no audio in)
  802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0
  Pricing
    $1,299 - 21.5" Screen, 2.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M
    $1,499 - 21.5" Screen, 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
    $1,799 - 27" Screen, 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 512MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 660M
    $1,999 - 27" Screen, 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 675MX
  Ship in November 21" and 27" in December
  I tired to see what it would take to configure a mini with specs (RAM, Processor, etc.) as close to a 27" iMac as possible, and purchasing a 3rd party 27" display, BYOKM, to see if I could save money.
    $1,250 - 2.6GHz Quad-Core i7, 8GB RAM, 1TB (5,400 RPM), Intel HD 4400 GPU, 27" LCD display ($250)
    $1,799 - 2.9GHz Quad-Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD (7,200 RPM), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M with 512MB RAM
    Mini gives you Firewire 800 and HDMI out, but one less Thunderbolt than the new iMac
    Save about $500 bucks, but getting lower quality display and not all in one design, or discreet GPU.
    For another $250 you could add a 1TB Fusion Drive to the Mini, increasing HD performance. Don;t know upgrade pricing for the iMac yet, but would expect it to be similar
iPad with Retina Display (4th Generation)
  Adds new A6x processor
    2x CPU and GPU performance
    Quad-core graphics
    ArsTechnica may a good guess at specs and thinks two A6 ARM cores running at 1.5GHz with four PowerVR SGX543 cores running at 500MHz.
  Wider LTE support, seems to be the same or similar to the iPhone 5
  Lightning connector
  Pricing remains the same
  Pre-orders October 26th, on sale November 2nd.
  Should new iPad owners be upset?
    New iPad (3rd gen) has been out for 8 months
    Nice rev for the 4th gen iPad, but nothing earth shattering
  For recent new iPad (3rd generation) purchasers you may want to try Apple's 14-day return window. They've even been know to extend it to 30-days if the iPad is in good condition
iPad mini
  7.9" screen
    Extremely narrow bezel
    iOS will detect and reject presses that are holds on the edge
    Width is 5.3" and Apple says you can hold in one hand
      May depend on hand size
      iPhone 5 is 4.87", so hold one hand in landscape and then imagine 0.50" wider
  1024 x 768 at 163 ppi
  A5 Dual-core processor
  1.2MP 720p FaceTime HD camera
  5MP iSight Camera
  LTE Wireless
  Lightning connector
  802.11 dual band Wi-Fi, LTE Wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
  10 hour battery life
  All aluminum and glass design.
    White/Silver or Black/Slate
    Chamfered edges like the iPhone 5
  $329 for 16GB, orders start Friday 10/26 and ships November 2nd.
Conclusions
  Is this a sign that Apple has altered their product release cycles?
  Is Apple returning to more product options? Seems to be more overlap in the Notebook lines especially.