What They Say
Apple held an event to launch a number of non-iPhone (mainly) products that featured:
- New iPad Pros with a miniLED ‘Liquid Retina XDR’ display and using its own M1 chip
- A new re-designed iMac with a 24″ 4.5K Retina display and using the M1.
- Apple TV 4K and remote
- AirTag item trackers
- New subscriptions for the Podcasts app
The iPad Pros have displays with compelling specifications. There are 11″ and 12.9″ versions with different display levels.
The 11″ has a ‘Liquid Retina’ display with 2388 x 1668 resolution on an IPS LCD with P3 and 600 cd/m² (max) of output and with a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating and an AR coating with 1.8% reflectivity.
The 12.9″ has a miniLED IPS LCD display that us 2732 x 2048 pixels (264 ppi – the same as the 11″) and a backlight with 2596 zones (and over 10K LEDs) that has 600 cd/m² of brightness (typical), but can reach 1,000 cd/m² full screen brightness and 1,600 cd/m² peak brightness in HDR mode. It is said to support 1,000,000:1 contrast and has the same AR and fingerprint coating performance and P3 colour.
The tablets come with storage from 128GB to 2TB and 8GB or 16GB of memory and use the M1 processor. There are dual 10mp and 12mp cameras with 2X optical zoom. Video recording is up to UltraHD at 60fps.
There are Wi-Fi only and 5G models and both models have Thunderbolt 3 USB4 ports.
The 23.5″ iMac display has 4480 x 2520 resolution and 500 cd/m² of output with support for P3 colour. It can also support an external display up to ‘6K at 60Hz’ and has a Thunderbolt 3 output and can output ‘native’ DisplayPort over USB-C. Apaptors for VGA, HDMI, DVI and Thunderbolt 2 output are available.
Apple’s new iMac – click for other views
The Apple TV 4K supports up to UltraHD with HDR up to Dolby Vision. Audio supports includes Dolby Atmos and E-AC?3 (Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound). There is a new Siri Remote with Bluetooth 5.0 and a rechargeable battery. It has an IR transmitter for TV control. It uses the A12 bionic processor which is the same chip as the latest iPhones. iPhone users can use their handset’s light sensor to compare the color balance to compare color balance to “industry-standard specifications used by cinematographers worldwide” and automatically adjust your TV’s video output without needing to fiddle with menus and settings.
Pricing for the Apple TV 4K starts at $179. The new remote can also be used and bought with the current Apple TV HD which will cost $149, or the remote can be bought separately for $59.
What We Think
I’m looking forward to a chance to actually see the display in the iPad Pro or a good review. It should be quite spectacular. (BR)
