The choice of venue for announcing new products is often revealing. For its second keynote of the autumn, held on Tuesday 30 October, Apple chose not its Cupertino headquarters, which usually hosts its major conferences, but a New York theatre in Brooklyn. The event was an opportunity to highlight the changes made to Apple's famous iPad tablets and its new ultraportable notebook, both of which are nomadic tools dedicated to professional creativity. Both the tablets and the MacBook Air had not undergone any major changes for more than two years. This revival is being orchestrated around lighter, ever-larger screens. These trends are reminiscent of the world of smartphones, starting with the latest generation ofiPhones Both the iPad Pro and Apple's ultrabook share a number of features.
Apple has come up with a whole host of innovations for its new iPad Pro in a tablet market that is lagging behind in the face of competition from XXL smartphones. So it's hardly surprising that Tim Cooke has compared iPad sales figures to those of laptops!
Available in two versions, 11" and 13", this resolutely professional tablet boasts a new design featuring an edge-to-edge screen that is reminiscent of the Latest-generation iPhones while being lighter and slimmer. The 11-inch version is slightly larger than the previous smaller 10.5-inch version, but offers the same dimensions and almost the same weight.
The 12.5-inch XXL version also benefits from a lighter chassis, and weighs 40 grams less than its predecessor.
Both versions of the iPad Pro are equipped with Apple's latest-generation processor, with an even more powerful chip than the new iPhones. Connectivity has also undergone a complete overhaul, with the disappearance of Apple's proprietary Lightning port in favour of the USB-C port, which is becoming increasingly common on both smartphones and tablets, as well as the disappearance of the jack socket. Note that the USB-C port makes it easy to connect your tablet to a monitor, as well as charging your smartphone.
In terms of security, Apple's own Face ID principle is used to unlock the tablet using facial recognition via the front camera. Finally, the launch of the iPad Pro is accompanied by new accessories, starting with a new stylus. As well as being partly touch-sensitive, it can be magnetised to the edge of the tablet for inductive recharging.
What the two iPad Pro versions have in common is the substantial price increase compared with previous generations, with the 11-inch model priced at €899 and the larger 12.9 model costing more than €200 compared with the previous version, with a starting price of €1120.
Slimming down for MacBook Air
Apple's 13.3-inch ultraportable also benefits from the features typical of the latest generation of iPhones, with a screen with much thinner margins and the integration of a fingerprint reader.
Its one-piece, recycled aluminium chassis houses a 13.3-inch Retina display with a 4 megapixel resolution that is far superior to previous models. In twig mode, this MacBook Air weighs around a hundred grams less, at 1.25 kg and 15.6 mm thick. It is, however, more powerful, with an eighth-generation Intel Core i5 processor combined with 8 or 16 GB of RAM, depending on the version. Storage capacities also vary according to the version on offer, from 256 to 1.5 terabytes! Apple T2, the chip developed by the Cupertino-based firm, takes care of security, just like the MacBook Pro, with the ID key, Apple's fingerprint reader for securely unlocking your Mac. In addition to a larger touchpad, this ultraportable designed for resolutely mobile use boasts a battery life announced by Apple of 12 hours for normal use. Thinner than its predecessor, the new MacBook Air is also more expensive, with a price starting at €1,349, €250 more than its predecessor.
The tablet that replaces the laptop - iPad Pro 11 and 12.9 inches by Apple
Screen: 11-inch Liquid Retina display (2388 x 1668 pixels)
Dimensions: 247.6 x 178.5 x 5.9 mm
Weight: 468g for iPad Pro 11
Screen: 12.9-inch Liquid Retina display ( 2732×2048 pixels)
Dimensions: 280.6 x 214.9 x 5.9 mm
Weight: 633g for iPad Pro 12
Processor: Apple A12X Bionic
Operating system: IOS 12
Camera: 12 MP and 7MP sensor for Face ID, HD and 4K video
Storage: 64, 256, 512GB and 1TB
Connectivity: WiFi, BT 5.0 and 4G
Autonomy: 10h
Price: from €899 for iPad Pro 11 inch and from €1119 for iPad Pro 12.9 inch
Availability: from 7 November
Ultra-light - MacBook Air by Apple
Screen: 13.3-inch Retina display (2560 x 1600 pixels)
Dimensions: 30.41×21.24×0.41 to 1.56 cm
Weight: 1.25 Kg
Processor: Core i5 (1.6 GHz base),
RAM memory: 8 GB/16 GB
Storage: 128 GB SSD up to 1.5 TB
Connectors: 2 USB-C ports and a mini jack socket
Price: from €1,349
Availability: from 7 November
