Apple's iPad, Mac, OS X Yosemite event: Here's what to expect
It's barely been a month since Apple's last event, but the company is getting ready to unveil more products.
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The event, which is being held at the Town Hall auditorium on its Cupertino headquarters campus, represents the company's last big product push before the holidays.
But what can we expect from this event? While Apple is – as usual – tight-lipped about what's coming, we can make some educated guesses.
The event kicks off on October 16 at 10 am PDT, 1 pm EDT, or 6 pm London time. For information on how to watch this event, click here.
New iPad Air
The iPad Air is ready for its yearly refresh, and while we expect the new tablet to look pretty much like the old tablet, we should see a few improvements:
- Faster processor: Likely to be the A8 and M8 chips found in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
- Touch ID: Seeing how integral this feature is to the iPhone, it's time to bring it to the iPad.
- Improved display: Possibly see a higher pixel density, along with a rumored anti-reflective coating.
- Revamped storage lineup: 16GB/64GB/128GB, the same as the iPhone 6 line.
- New finish: Yes, the gold finish.
New iPad mini
It would be odd for Apple to update the iPad Air but leave the iPad mini untouched.
The rumors currently circulating suggest that the iPad mini will be updated in such as way as to make it a scaled down version of the iPad Air.
OS X 10.10 'Yosemite'
We know that OS X 10.10 'Yosemite' is coming, and that it will land sometime this fall. Also, thanks to a public preview, we have a very good idea of what's coming.
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One of the biggest changes to hit OS X is tighter integration with iOS devices. Users will be able to answer call and send and receive text messages directly from their Mac. Users will also be able to switch from working on a document on their Mac to working on it on their iPhone or iPad, or vice versa.
We expect to be given a release date for this release.
Here's a listing of the oldest Apple hardware capable of running OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
- MacBook: Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009
- MacBook Air: Late 2008
- MacBook Pro: Mid/late 2007
- Mac mini: Early 2009
- iMac: Mid 2007
- Mac Pro: Early 2008
- Xserve: Early 2009
To find out what Mac you are running, click on the Apple and then select About This Mac followed by More Info…. This will bring up a dialog box that tells you what hardware you are running.
New Macs
Given that OS X 10.10 'Yosemite' focuses so much on integration between Macs and iOS devices, then it makes sense that Apple should update the Mac line.
Here's what we could expect:
- Updated iMac: More power, and there's rumors of a Reina display 27-inch iMac with 5K resolution.
- Updated MacBook: Again, more power, and possibly an updated MacBook Air featuring a Retina display.
- Updated Mac mini: The current Mac mini is the late 2012 model, so it's long overdue for a refresh.
Possible iPod refresh
It's certainly been a while since Apple updated the iPad lineup, and while there's no doubt that the iPhone and iPad has superseded the iPod, the iPod still pulls in some $450 million a quarter for Apple, and much more during the holiday quarter.
The iPod touch – Apple's iOS-enabled iPod – could certainly do with a performance bump to bring it in line with the iPhone 6.
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