Btchamp2 News

Up close and hands-on with the new MacBook Air - Why it seems like only yesterday that Steve Jobs first pulled the MacBook Air from a manila envelope for the world to see. It wasn’t, of course — that was 10 years ago this January. In that past decade, the ultraportable laptop has become a massive hit for the company, helping to redefine the notebook space. But the world moves on, of course. In fact, that was kind of a theme at today’s big event in Brooklyn — bringing some overdue updates to some of the company’s most iconic lines. Heck, even the Mac Mini got some love onstage today. But no Apple product deserved a makeover more than the MacBook. The big change to the product is the most obvious — and far and away the most requested. Apple FINALLY brought a retina display to the device. That puts the new 13-inch screen at 2560 x 1600 — and it looks great. The bump up will be like night and day for longtime Air users who are finally ready to upgrade. Of course, the upd...

Up close and hands-on with the new iPad Pro - The new Pro marks what is arguably the single most significant design change to the iPad line in its eight and a half year existence. In fact, the new slate is almost unrecognizable as an iPad from the front, on. That’s probably a good thing, of course. The tablet-defining line was long overdue do for a rethink. After nearly a decade in existence, it’s time to shake off the cobwebs. And naturally, most of the design upgrades on the new product will ultimately filter down to the rest of the line. As a starting point, however, Apple took a good, long look at the iPhone for a few insights into to how to remove some of that unsightly bezel. Not altogether, of course — after all, the user needs somewhere to put their hands. Anyone who’s ever held the iPhone X in their hands can tell you that your fingers and the edges of your hands still have the tendency to accidentally come into contact with the screen, which is a perfectly fin...

Here’s everything Apple announced today at its big hardware event - From new iPads to new MacBook Airs, Apple had a bunch of hardware refreshes to debut this morning. Here’s everything they showed off. New MacBook Air The MacBook Air is, at last, getting a Retina display. Roughly six years after the MacBook Pro went high-res, Apple’s slimline is following suit. It has a 13.3″ screen, with a slimmer bezel (now black, rather than aluminum.) There’s a TouchID fingerprint sensor near the upper right corner of the keyboard — a keyboard which, by the way, has been shifted over to Apple’s butterfly mechanism keys. Oh, and it’s got actual function keys. No goofy TouchBar here. It’s got a 20% larger Force Touch trackpad. The speakers are 25% louder than the previous generation with, the company claims, double the bass. Apple says the bodies of the new MacBook Airs are made of 100% recycled aluminum. It’s got two Thunderbolt ports, and crams an Intel i5 CPU, up to 16GB of 2133M...

The new Mac Mini is up to five times faster and starts at $799 - Now that the Air’s got the shiny new update, it’s time for the other major neglected entry in the Mac line. As Tim Cook noted on stage, the company’s got another “small” addition to the line. The pint-sized desktop is getting it’s “biggest updated, ever, according to the company. The footprint is the same familiar squircle design that’s defined the line since the begin, but now with space gray finish found on the rest of the line. The biggest changes, however, are on the inside. The new device features the latest generation six-core processor, up to 64GB of RAM and up to 2TB of solid-state storage. On the back of the device, you’ll find four Thunderbolt 3, an HDMI and USB-A ports. Like the new Air, the updated Mini is made from 100 percent recycled aluminum. As is fitting with the theme of the event, the company is positioning the product toward creative pros. Apple ’s clearly hoping to blur the lines ...