Just The Good Stuff From Today's Apple Event

Today — just over a month since everyone's favorite one-trillion-dollar technology company unveiled two new phones and a new smartwatch — Apple announced updates to the MacBook Air, the Mac Mini and the iPad Pro. They're all more powerful, smaller and made from recycled aluminum. You can order them all today, and they'll all be available on November 7.

Below are the highlights from today's event in reverse chronological order. If you want to start from the beginning, just scroll all the way down and work your way up. 

They said the word "creativity" a lot. There were a lot of images of people using productivity software on a wide variety of Apple computers. Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff performed. Computers!

iPad Pro

In Short: The new iPad Pro gets the A12X Bionic processor and the Liquid Retina Display from the iPhone XR. It comes with a USB-C port, new Apple Pencil that attaches to the tablet and charges. Prices start at $799 for the 11″ and $999 for the 12.9″ version. Orders start now. Available November 7.

 Of course, this iPad Pro announcement wouldn't be complete without a demo of Photoshop — which Adobe just recently released a "full" version for iPad. It works, well, like Photoshop. 

 Weirdly, Apple is touting the iPad Pro as a mobile gaming platform. Here, they're demoing NBA 2K Mobile. They're playing using the tablet's touchscreen, which seems, less than ideal. But hey, they're really proud of the graphics.

 Here's all the updates in a single image. If that's your thing.

 A new smart keyboard provides for two different viewing angles, one for your lap and one for your desk — one of the most pernicious problems of using a tablet like a laptop.

 Another new cool feature is a new Apple Pencil that will magnetically connect to the iPad Pro and charge right on the device. 

 Most importantly, the iPad Pro will feature USB-C connectivity, ditching the Lightning port to enable better I/O for people who actually want to use their iPad Pro as a work computer. 

To power all of this is the A12 X Bionic processor found in the new iPhone XS. Taking a shot at Microsoft, Apple says the new iPad Pro has graphics performance equivalent to an Xbox One S.

 The lack of a home button means that you'll need some way to unlock it. Apple wants you to unlock it with your face. The lack of a home button actually makes the gesture system from the iPhone X useful on the iPad Pro. Just look at how much of a computer it looks like here.

 First up is the display. It features the Liquid Retina display featured in the iPhone XR. The display now takes up more real estate on the device, which is nice. The iPad Pro will now come in a 11″ and 12.9″ displays. Here's a comparison between the old and the new.

 Hey, there's a new iPad Pro! It doesn't have a home button. If you can believe it, Apple has made it better in every way.

 Let's talk about the iPad! Tim Cook wants you to know that they've sold more iPads in the past year than all the other notebook manufacturers. It's the "most popular computer in the world," says Cook. I guess he doesn't consider the iPhone a computer.

 Mac Mini

In Short: New Mac Mini is more powerful in every concieveable way: faster processor, more RAM, bigger SSD. Starts at $799. Orders start now. Available November 7.

Because it is literally just a computer, updates are limited to the innards. New Mac Minis come with 4-core and 6-core CPUs. Memory support is expanded to 64GB. Hard drive support increases to 4TB SSDs. Here's a picture of all the inputs. Since that's what really matters here. USB-A ports! All of this starts at $799. Which seems kind of reasonable?

 Wow hey, check it out it's a new Mac Mini. It's a computer!

 Macbook Air

In Short: The popular Macbook Air gets an update. Retina display running at 2560 x 1600. Faster CPU and expanded SSD support. Touch ID. The speakers are louder. Prices start at $1199. Orders start today. Release is November 7.

The specs seem OK? It'll come with a dual-core 1.6 GHZ Intel i5 CPU with integrated graphics, support for up to 16 GB of RAM and a 1.5 TB SSD. Sadly, it'll only come with two Thunderbolt 3 inputs. It's slightly smaller than the old Macbook Air, and weighs just 2.75 pounds.

And some good news! It'll come with better speakers. Which is nice. 

 Now some bad news. The new Macbook Air inherits the terrible butterfly keyboard and ForceTouch trackpad.

 Next, it'll also come with TouchID — enabling enhanced security, and conveniently, ApplePay.

First up, the display. It has a 13.3″ Retina display, that loses the aluminum bezels. They won't give resolution specs, but it has 4 million pixels, for what it's worth.

 Here it is, the new Macbook Air. From the side.

Well, I guess the rumor reporting was true. We're going to hear about a new Macbook Air. Which is great! The Macbook Air is a great computer.

"It's time for a new Macbook Air," says Tim Cook. "What we all want in a Macbook Air is a Retina display."

 Tim Cook is very proud of the Mac. According to Apple's own data, there are 100 million active Macs right now — this is about 7 percent of the overall PC market share.

Opening Remarks

Today's theme is creativity. They're going to talk about "their most creative products." Here is what Apple believes is the platonic ideal of Brooklyn Creativity.

Apple starts out with a video about New York, Tim Cook comes out on stage and the crowd goes absolutely wild. Goes to New York once. 

Good morning! We're live from a computer, watching a livestream hosted by computers that will deliver us news about some new Apple computers. Computers! Ya just gotta love 'em.