Apple debuted a number of videos at its special event yesterday and it has now posted a number of them on YouTube.
Before introducing the company's newest iPads, Tim Cook ran this 'Life on iPad' spot "to celebrate our customer's creativity and genius in using their iPads." The two-minute film shows the iPad being used in a wide variety of different situations, including in a surgery suite, by musicians, firefighters, tourists, football players, and many more.
No Apple product launch would be complete without a Jony Ive-led video showcasing how much detail and thought went into the design of the new product, and the iPad Air is no exception. The videos are so iconic that they have been endlessly parodied in commercials and on late-night comedy shows.
Finally, the company produced a new television ad for the iPad Air in keeping with the theme from the keynote that the iPad can be used for a limitless variety of tasks. The ad, called 'Pencil', starts with a pencil on a desk, with a voiceover suggesting the ad is about that simple writing implement. At the end, the new iPad Air is revealed from behind it.
It's an extremely simple tool, but also extremely powerful. It can be used to start a poem, or finish a symphony.
It has transformed the way we work, learn, create, share. It's used to illustrate things, solve things, and think of new things.
It's used by scientists and artists, scholars and students. It's been to classrooms, boardrooms, expeditions, even to space.
And we can't wait to see where you'll take it next. Introducing the thinner, lighter, more powerful iPad Air.
During yesterday's media event, Apple played a video highlighting the production process for the upcoming Mac Pro, a machine that will see Apple bring Mac production back to the United States and is already seeing over 2,000 people in 20 states working on the project.
The video showed a number of steps in the production process, taking an initial chunk of aluminum and sculpting it into the shape of the Mac Pro enclosure before subjecting it polishing, anodizing, and other steps. Brief segments also provided glimpses of the massive heat sink in production and chips being placed on boards to be installed in the machine.
Product designer Greg Koenig has offered an expert overview of what exactly is shown in the video, explaining for the layperson the tools and processes Apple is using. Koenig notes that the "big story" is Apple's use of hydraulic deep draw stamping for the Mac Pro's enclosure, a process that stretches the initial chunk of aluminum into the general shape of the enclosure.
Deep drawing is a process that very efficiently produces a "net shape" part. Apple could have just chucked a giant hunk of aluminum in a lathe and created the same part, but that amount of metal removal is extremely inefficient. Deep drawing efficiently creates a hunk of metal that is very close to the final shape of a Mac Pro in just a couple of operations. After that, the Mac Pro enclosure is lathe turned to clean up the surface and achieve desired tolerance, polished, placed back in a machining center to produce the I/O, power button and chamfer features and finally anodized.
Koenig goes on to share a number of stills from the video with captions explaining what is going on in each step, including lathing, polishing, grinding, protective film application, I/O cutout milling, and anodizing.
Other stills capture production on some of the other parts of the new Mac Pro, including bead blasting of the main triangular heat sink, pick-and-place assembly of circuit boards, and parts delivery for final hand assembly of the machines themselves.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Flextronics is in the process of hiring 1,700 workers at its facilities in Austin, Texas to work on a "next generation desktop computer". That computer is presumed to be the Mac Pro, given that Apple had previously revealed the machine would be assembled in Texas, Apple and Flextronics had previously been reported to be working together on the project, and Flextronics' Austin facilities are only a mile from Apple's large and growing operations campus in the area.
The game, described by Anki as a "video game in the real world", is somewhat similar to slot car racing, but uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and iPhone-based controls.
The Anki Drive starter kit includes the vinyl "track" and two cars for $200. Two additional cars are available for $70 each, the red RHO, and the blue and gold KATAL.
Each Anki Drive car has its own unique name, personality, and statistics, with some offering greater acceleration speeds while others having more energy. There are multiple gameplay modes, including multiplayer and single player modes, with cars lacking a human controller using a proprietary AI system.
Anki will also be holding a series of special events at prominent Apple Retail Store locations around North America over the next few weeks, hitting San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, and Montreal.
Following the announcement of Apple's iPad Air and Retina iPad mini, multiple accessory manufacturers are preparing cases and other products to accompany the new iPads ahead of their November release. Below are some of the new product offerings from a number of well-known vendors, which should be able to ship before or shortly after the new iPads are available to consumers.
Belkin has announced an array of new accessories for the iPad Air, including several keyboard cases and standard folio cases. Belkin's keyboard cases start at $80, with the $100 version offering a front cover and the $130 version offering an extremely thin aircraft-grade aluminum body.
Zagg has invisibleSHIELDs and keyboard Folio cases ready for the iPad Air. The screen protectors range in price from $30 to $35 and are available in high-definition and smudge proof varieties. The $100 ZAGGkeys Folio is available in black, with white coming soon.
Zagg
Incipio has announced several different folio-style cases for the iPad Air, ranging in price from $35 to $70. There are also a range of folio and shell cases for the Retina iPad mini priced at $30 to $45, including the popular Smart Feather.
Incipio
Otterbox has announced Defender Series cases for both the Retina iPad mini and the iPad Air. While the Retina iPad mini version can be pre-ordered for $70 in three different colors, the company has yet to announce pre-orders or pricing for the iPad Air version.
Otterbox
Griffin has multiple products coming for the iPad Air, including the $80 Slim Keyboard Folio and the $80 Survivor Case, which is similar to Otterbox's offerings. The company also plans to debut a $50 Back Bay Folio and a folio-style $40 Journal Case. Griffin is currently selling multiple cases for the Retina mini, including the Folio and the IntelliCase for $45 and $40, respectively.
Griffin
Cygnett has debuted a range of folio cases for the iPad Air as well, each with varying colors and designs. Prices range from $40 for a basic fabric folio case to $70 for a leather origami-inspired case that can be folded into multiple stand angles. The company's flexi-folding Paradox cases are also available in several colors for $40.
Cygnett
In addition to the cases listed above, the following companies also have iPad Air and Retina iPad mini cases available for purchase: Grove, Speck, M-Edge, Gumdrop, Hard Candy, iLuv, and X-Doria.
While the iPad Air has taken on a full redesign necessitating all new cases, the Retina iPad mini is just 0.3 millimeters thicker than the previous generation. It is unclear whether existing cases will fit the new Retina iPad mini, so consumers would be wise to check with vendors about fit before purchasing a first generation iPad mini case for the Retina mini.
Apple will begin accepting orders for the iPad Air on November 1, with orders for the Retina mini commencing later in November. As with the iPhone 5s, the company does not plan to offer pre-orders.
Less than 24 hours after OS X Mavericks launched for free in the Mac App Store, roughly 7% of Mac traffic is already coming from machines upgraded to the new operating system, according to a live tracker hosted by analytics firm GoSquared. The tracker shows adoption sitting at around 0.5-0.7% yesterday until beginning its upward march upon the public release.
While analytics data is difficult to compare between services, last year Chitika found 3% of Mac traffic coming from OS X Mountain Lion as of 48 hours after its launch. Unsurprisingly, GoSquared's data hints that Mavericks may be seeing significantly faster adoption compared to Mountain Lion due to the free nature of the new upgrade.
GoSquared CEO James Gill tells MacRumors that his firm currently provides analytics for over 40,000 sites, allowing it to monitor billions of page views per month. That base allows the firm to offer a reasonable snapshot of activity at any given time.
While Mavericks is growing rapidly, it still represents a small fraction of the Mac user base, with GoSquared's numbers showing just under 50% of traffic coming from OS X Mountain Lion and almost all of the remainder split nearly evenly between OS X Lion and OS X Snow Leopared. Users on any of those systems can upgrade directly to Mavericks at no cost through the Mac App Store.
Following yesterday's introduction of new Retina MacBook Pro models, the machines have already begun showing up in Geekbench benchmarks, offering the opportunity to see how their raw performance compares to the previous generation.
While several of the entries appear to be fakes, there are enough legitimate results to begin to get a sense of the new machines' performance, which arrive with the following 32-bit Geekbench 3 averages so far:
As is fairly typical for updated machines, most of the benchmarks come in at approximately 4-10% higher than their predecessors, while the increased efficiency of Intel's Haswell chips has allowed Apple to improve overall battery life. Apple has also made the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro thinner, matching the thickness of its larger sibling but at the cost of a slight decrease in battery capacity from 74 Whr to 71.8 Whr.
The base 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro had shown up back in June in results from Geekbench 2 benchmarking software, which uses different baseline scores than the current Geekbench 3. A 15-inch model also showed up in early July, but with a chip that Apple ultimately elected not to use in yesterday's update. The chip in that early machine was Intel's i7-4950HQ at 2.4 GHz, but Apple bumped the high-end chip in the released lineup to the i7-4960HQ at 2.6 GHz, a new chip that was officially launched just last month.
Some users with legacy versions of iLife and iWork that were not purchased through the Mac App Store are having difficulties upgrading to the new versions released earlier today, according to Macworld.
Users who own iWork '09 or iLife '11 are supposed to receive the latest versions of both those app suites for free through the Mac App Store, but some are having difficulties.
Some users (including yours truly) are reporting issues where the Mac App Store doesn’t recognize their copies; when they click on an iLife or iWork app’s price, they receive the following alert: “[App] is already installed and was not purchased from the Mac App Store. Do you want to buy [app]?” Macworld spoke with an Apple spokesperson who noted that there’s currently an issue with some legacy customers, and the company is working on a fix.
Users who do not yet own iLife '11 or iWork '09 can purchase them from the Mac App Store. The iLife apps are $14.99 each, while the iWork suite is $19.99 per app.
Image editing software Pixelmator was today updated to version 3.0, adding several new enhancements including OS X Mavericks support, new liquify tools, non-destructive Layer Styles, and a new image editing engine.
Pixelmator has been designed to take advantage of OS X Mavericks features like App Nap and Compressed Memory, making it more responsive and power efficient. The app’s new image editing engine is also designed to take advantage of multiple OS X technologies to make file manipulation faster than before.
Pixelmator 3.0 FX became dramatically faster and more powerful. Pixelmator’s development team took an extra step to build a truly modern and innovative image editing engine that takes advantage of the full power of OS X, by combining technologies like Core Image, OpenCL, OpenGL, 64-bit architecture, and Grand Central Dispatch, giving you the speed you need to keep pace with your creativity.
Layer Styles allow users to quickly apply shadows, gradients, outlines, and reflections to their images, while Liquify provides a new way to manipulate images. Layer Styles are non destructive, and the Liquify tools include Warp, Bump, Pinch, and Twirl.
Pixelmator 3.0 FX is the most advanced version of Pixelmator to date, introducing lots of new features and improvements, including the following:
- Layer Styles: Thanks to non-destructive Layer Styles, creating polished and advanced compositions is now so much simpler, faster, and more enjoyable - Liquify Tools: Shape images in multiple ways—slightly twist an element, add an artistic detail, or completely distort an entire image - New Image Editing Engine: The new state-of-the-art image editing engine harnesses the full power of the latest OS X technologies making Pixelmator feature rich, yet blistering fast - OS X Mavericks support: Tags, Multiple-Displays, App Nap support and more
Pixelmator is only third-party app mentioned on Apple’s Mac Pro performance page, where it is used to demonstrate the new tower's blazingly fast performance.
Pixelmator 3.0 is a free upgrade for existing users, while new users can download the app from the Mac App Store for $29.99. [Direct Link]
The company has since followed that up with a number of new software updates to some of its more minor apps, as well as small compatibility updates for more prominent apps. It also released the Mavericks version of OS X Server.
- OS X Server 3.0 is the server version of OS X Mavericks. It is available for $19.99 on the Mac App Store and includes a number of new features related to file sharing; development; calendar, contacts and mail servers; profile management and more. [Mac App Store]
- iTunes 11.1.2 adds support for OS X Mavericks, the Arabic and Hebrew languages, as well as additional performance and stability improvements. It's available through the Mac App Store software update page and on Apple.com.
- Xcode 5.0.1 adds new SDKs for Mavericks, Mountain Lion and iOS 7, along with a few other features. [Mac App Store]
- iBooks Author 2.1 allows users to preview books in iBooks for Mac, while fixing other unmentioned issues. [Mac App Store]
- Apple Configurator 1.4.1 adds an option to configure which Setup Assistant steps will display during device setup, alongside unmentioned improvements and bug fixes. [Mac App Store]
- Apple Remote Desktop 3.7 includes support for OS X Mavericks, improves support for Macs with multiple displays and IP addresses, enhances multi-observe with gesture support for swiping between screens, and fixes several other issues. It is available for $79.99. [Mac App Store]
- Logic Remote 1.0.2 supports the new version of GarageBand for Mac, as well as some other stability and performance improvements. [App Store]
- WorkGroup Manager 10.9 is for use with Mountain Lion and OS X Server. [support.apple.com]
- Migration Assistant Update is actually two separate updates to provide support for Lion and Snow Leopard systems looking to migrate to Mavericks. [Lion, Snow Leopard]
Apple has added a new iMovie Theater channel to the Apple TV, designed to work in conjunction with the iMovie Theater feature that was added to both the iOS and Mac versions of iMovie in today’s update.
iMovie Theater is a cross device feature designed to allow users to watch shared clips, movies, and trailers on all Apple devices, including the Apple TV. Projects that are created within iMovie for iOS or Mac and shared using iTunes Theater within those apps will automatically show up within the Apple TV channel.
The channel is activated by signing into an iCloud account that is connected to an iOS or Mac version of iMovie. It is available through an over-the-air update and should be available for users running the most recent Apple TV software. Apple also bundled a number of other new features into its iMovie update, which is available for download today.
iMovie for Mac and iOS have been redesigned to make it easier than ever to browse your video library and instantly share your favorite moments. iMovie for Mac includes simplified editing tools that let you quickly improve the look of your movie, add fun effects, and speed up or slow down your video.
iMovie for iOS brings desktop-class moviemaking to your iPhone® and iPad, so you can create split screen and picture-in-picture effects or advanced audio edits in just a few taps. And with iMovie Theater, you can watch your shared clips, movies, and trailers on all your Apple devices, even your Apple TV®.
iMovie is available for both iOS and Mac, priced at $4.99/$14.99. [Direct Links: iOS/Mac]
The three apps have all been updated for iOS 7, with the Podcasts app in particular seeing several new features, including an updated Top Charts section, a new Search tab, and auto-updating so the app will automatically download new episodes even when it isn't open.
All three apps are free downloads from the App Store for the iPhone and iPad.
Alongside the new iPad Air and Retina iPad mini, Apple debuted new Smart Covers and Cases for the devices. Like existing products, the Smart Covers product the device display while Smart Cases wrap around the entire device.
The polyurethane Smart Covers will retail for $39 for both the iPad mini and the iPad Air, and the iPad mini version will fit both the first and second-generation tablets, which means existing iPad mini Smart Covers will fit the second-generation Retina devices. The covers will come in yellow, blue, green, black, pink, and Product (RED).
Apple’s new Smart Cases feature a dark leather exterior and a microfiber interior and will be available in 6 colors: brown, beige, black, blue, red, and yellow, much like the iPhone 5s. Smart Cases will retail for $79 for the iPad Air and $69 for the iPad mini.
Both the new Smart Cases and the new Smart Covers will be available for order on November 1 from Apple’s Online Store. Apple's iPad Air will also launch on November 1, while the Retina iPad mini is expected later in November.
During today’s iPad-centric event, Apple announced that more than 20 iOS and Mac apps would receive updates over the course of the day. Aperture, Apple's photo editing and management software, has just been updated to version 3.5 adding new features and bug fixes.
The update includes support for iCloud Photo sharing, allowing users to post content to shared streams and add videos to photo streams. Aperture’s "Places" feature uses Apple maps to display photo locations, and integration with Smug Mug has been included. Multiple bug fixes have been bundled into the update, and stability and performance improvements have been added as well.
- Adds support for iCloud Photo Sharing, including the ability to post videos to shared photo streams and to have multiple subscribers contribute to a shared stream - The Places feature now uses Apple maps to display photo locations - New integration with SmugMug, with support for publishing and syncing galleries directly to a SmugMug account - Adds support for iOS 7 camera filters applied to photos imported from iOS devices - Fixes an issue that sometimes resulted in Retouch adjustments not being applied to exported images - Addresses an issue that could cause the black and white points in Curves to shift incorrectly when using the eyedropper tools - Fixes a problem that prevented caption data from being embedded correctly when exporting versions of some RAW file types - Improves reliability when adding names to Faces - Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to hang after adjusting a very large panorama - Fixes a problem that could prevent memory cards or hard disks from ejecting properly after import when clicking the Delete Items button - Improves reliability of slideshows on a 15" Macbook Pro with Retina display - Addresses an issue that could cause thumbnails to display incorrectly in the iLife Media Browser - Videos up to three minutes long can now be shared to Flickr - Captions instead of version names are now synced between Aperture and Facebook for newly-created albums - Improves reliability when printing a light table - Fixes an issue that could prevent adjusted images from being published to My Photo Stream - Includes stability and performance improvements
Following the introduction of both the Retina iPad mini and the iPad Air, Apple has lowered the prices of its refurbished iPads. The entry-level first-generation iPad mini is now priced at $249, down from $279 and $50 less than a new model, priced at $299, with price cuts across the board for all Wi-Fi and Cellular configurations.
Apple’s fourth-generation iPad with Retina display is now available for $379 for the 16 GB version, a total of $120 off the original retail price of $499, and $20 less than the $399 iPad 2. Entry level cellular models are now priced at $409, which is a $170 total savings.
The entry-level iPad 2 is priced at $319 for the Wi-Fi model, which is a 20 percent savings off of the original price of $399.
All of Apple’s refurbished units come equipped with the same one-year warranty that brand-new products carry and have been thoroughly tested for reliability. The units also come with brand-new batteries and outer shells.
Stock fluctuates based on availability, but at the current time, most models and capacities of the fourth-generation iPad, the iPad mini, and the iPad 2 can be purchased.
"This is the biggest day for apps in Apple’s history," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "These new versions deliver seamless experiences across devices that you can’t find anywhere else and are packed with great features like iMovie Theater, Drummer and a new unified file format for iWork documents across all your devices."
The iLife suite has been revamped for both platforms, with iPhoto receiving a new look on iOS along with the ability to create and order photo books on the iPad. Both iPhoto for Mac and iPhoto for iOS are 64-bit-optimized, allowing for faster browsing and editing. New tools are included that allow users to create more dramatic images, and favorite images can be saved as custom slideshows.
iMovie has been revamped with a design that makes it easier to browse through the video library, also including enhanced sharing tools. iMovie for Mac offers simplified editing tools to quickly improve the look of a movie or add fun effects, while iMovie for iOS introduces desktop-class moviemaking to the iPad and the iPhone. Users can create split screen and picture-in-picture effects, along with advanced audio edits. iMovie Theater, a newly added feature, allows users to watch shared clips, movies, and trailers on all Apple devices, including the Apple TV.
GarageBand has also been updated, with the Mac version adding a new Sound Library, Smart Controls, and a new feature called "Drummer," that plays music automatically along with a user. GarageBand for iOS includes an iOS 7-style redesign and Inter-App Audio, allowing users to record third-party music apps into GarageBand. On 32-bit iOS devices, 16 tracks can be added, while 64-bit iOS devices support 32 tracks. iCloud integration allows for seamless editing between iOS and Mac.
iWork for Mac, iOS, and iCloud have been updated to make it easier to create and share documents with a unified file format. With a new collaboration tool, iWork for iCloud allows multiple users to edit the same document at the same time, regardless of the device they're working with. iWork has gained a new, simpler user interface, with content-sensitive toolbars in Pages including and object-based design and interactive charts in Numbers. Keynote includes all new transitions and other object-based effects.
iWork for iCloud is fully supported on the latest versions of Safari (OS X), Internet Explorer (Windows), and Google Chrome. Apple says on older versions of Safari and Chrome, and all versions of Firefox, iWork for iCloud will work, but not all features will "work as expected".
For iWork for Mac, Apple appears to be updating the existing iWork apps, meaning users who have previously purchased iWork on the Mac App Store get the new apps for free. Both the iLife and iWork apps are free with the purchase of any new Mac or iOS device, but for users with older devices that don't own the apps, they are available for $14.99/each on the Mac App Store and $4.99/each on the iOS App Store.
Update: Some users with older copies of iLife and iWork are reporting difficulties with upgrading to the new versions.
Following Apple’s iPad-centric event where the company unveiled its latest iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display, event attendees have been able to go hands-on with the new devices, which will be available in November. Below are some first impressions of Apple’s newest tablets, both of which feature some radical improvements.
According to Engadget, the iPad Air is much slimmer and lighter, but it doesn’t feel cheap. While the size differences aren’t immediately apparent, the lighter weight is noticeable and the A7 processor is a major improvement.
Naturally, iOS 7 looks great on that Retina display – but you knew that already right? What’s really notable here, however, is just how zippy things are, thanks to the inclusion of an A7 chip, the same one introduced on the iPhone 5s. You really notice that speed when launching apps like iMovie, which boots up in an an instant. With a chip like this, you should be getting around the new free version of iLife pretty swiftly.
The Verge calls the iPad Air "really beautiful," with "cleaner bezels" and a thinner profile. It’s notably faster with the A7 processor, and fits better in a single hand.
Long story short: it looks and feels like a larger (but not that much larger) iPad mini, and that’s mostly a really good thing. It’s really beautiful, with cleaner bezels, a much thinner profile, and sharper, boxier edges.
Along with the new A7 processor and a handful of under-the-hood improvements, this is just about the upgrade we expected, but more than ever the iPad Air feels like you’re just holding a big screen full of the internet. That’s probably a good thing.
SlashGear notes that there’s a definite "wow-factor" when picking up the iPad Air.
The slimmed down bezels on the sides make a considerable difference to how it feels in your hand, leaving the tablet as a whole feeling somewhere in-between the 4:3 aspect of its display and the 16:9 of most rival Android slates. There’s still enough room to grip it, however, without overlapping the display too considerably.
It’s the little details that you notice after a while, however. The chamfering to the casing where it meets the toughened glass of the fascia, for instance, or the slimline side controls and lock-switch. Unfortunately there’s no Touch ID embedded into the home button, but we can see ourselves holding the iPad Air for longer periods since the 1-pound weight is almost a third reduction on the old model.
iPad mini with Retina Display
Apple’s newest iPad mini is similar to the first iPad mini, though it is slightly thicker and heavier. Engadget didn’t notice any major changes to the feel, but did note that the processor seems faster than the original.
There isn’t much on the outside that we haven’t seen before – in fact, it still sports the same home button, indicating that it doesn’t feature Touch ID – but there is one glaring exception: the Retina display. When compared to the original iPad mini that came out last year, this is a rather significant bump in pixel density, and we came away much more impressed with the mini as a result.
According to CNET, the iPad mini feels exactly like the first generation version and looks even sharper than the full-sized iPad Air.
However, while it feels great, it’s all about that screen. And given the Mini’s smaller 7.9-inch size, it looks even sharper than the full-size iPad Air. But to take advantage of the new pixel-dense screen, you will be paying up over last year’s Mini. It’s gorgeous, though, so I’d imagine the new premium will definitely be worth it to some people.
The Verge notes that the Retina mini is noticeably faster and smoother, with sharper, more readable text.
The same 7.9-inch display now features four times the pixels, a full 2048 x 1536 resolution, which makes text sharp and readable. Just as importantly, it makes iOS 7 look much better than it does on the original iPad mini, which often feels a little out of place on lower resolutions. iOS 7 also benefits from the iPad mini’s new 64-bit A7 processor, making scrolling and everything else notably faster and smoother.
TechCrunch calls the Retina mini’s screen "excellent," noting that it will be a dramatic change for users who are coming from a first generation device.
The eye-boggling 2048 x 1536 screen looks excellent in person, and for anyone coming from a generation one device it’s going to be a dramatic change. The iPad mini itself is very slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor to accommodate the Retina Display with the same battery life, adding 0.01 inches and 0.05 pounds to the specs of the original, but that makes minimal difference to the actual feel of the product in the hand.
Apple’s iPad Air will be available beginning on November 1, while the Retina mini will come later in the month. Both tablets feature a 64-bit A7 processor, Retina screens, and ultra-thin designs.
A number of news sites have been able to go hands-on with Apple's newly announced 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros with Retina Display, both of which come with Intel's newest processors, offering increased battery life with improved performance.
TechCrunchsays that the slightly slimmer 13-inch model is a "big change" compared to the older model and will likely be much easier to carry around.
The 13-inch version is a big change, however – the 3.46 lbs compared to the 3.57 of the last generation may not feel like much, but combined with a thickness of just 0.71 inches, it feels like a lot, and will probably be even more impressive if you’re carrying one around with you every day.
The Verge echoed that sentiment, noting that its new processor is a large improvement over the previous model.
Where the old model would stutter and lag on web pages and while working with images, the new model's Haswell processor with upgraded Iris graphics was totally smooth. Obviously we didn't get to test it too harshly, but if it holds up when we review it, the 13-inch Pro just reentered the conversation in a big way — especially since the base price is now just $1,299.
Unlike the 13-inch model, the 15-inch model doesn't seem to have a massive noticeable improvement on first impression. TechCrunch notes the new model seems "speedier" and "generally more responsive", while The Verge says the difference "isn't quite so clear."
Apple is offering the entry level 13-inch version for $1,299 and the entry level 15-inch model for $1,999. Apple's updated MacBook Pros are available today from its Online Store and at retail locations and come with Mavericks included.
After the announcement and subsequent release of Apple's new Retina MacBook Pros with updated processors and faster storage, the company has apparently discontinued the 15-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro which leaves only the 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro alongside the current line of Retina MacBook Pros.
The 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro being sold is of the exact same model and specification that was introduced in 2012, featuring no significant changes aside from OS X Mavericks coming pre-installed on the system. Priced at $1,199, the 13-inch non-Retina MacBook Pro is now just $100 cheaper than the Retina version. Apple has been long expected to discontinue its standard MacBook Pros in favor of an all Retina lineup and with a $200 discount on its entry-level Retina models, pricing is nearly on par with its former non-Retina offerings.
Apple today unveiled new 13 and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros, which have been updated with Intel’s latest processors for enhanced performance and significantly improved battery life. The entry-level 13-inch version is available for $1,299 while the entry-level 15-inch model is available for $1,999. Both models are available today from Apple's Online Store and at its various retail locations.
Some users with legacy versions of iLife and iWork that were not purchased through the Mac App Store are having difficulties upgrading to the 
Image editing software 
During today’s iPad-centric event, Apple announced that more than 20 iOS and Mac apps would receive updates over the course of the day. Aperture, Apple's photo editing and management software, has just been updated to version 3.5 adding new features and bug fixes.
The 
