Apple Delivers More Than Expected

Today, Apple announced the much anticipated iPad Mini. The cute little 7.9 inch tablet is pretty cool. With pretty much the same specs as the iPad 2 (except for the size of course), it drops itself neatly in at the high end of the small tablets. But at a price of $329.00 it also sits at the high end price-wise!

While the popular press is all over the new tablet, personally, I find the other announcements made today much more interesting.

iPad 4th Generation

I think that most tech journalists were taken completely by surprise with the announcement of the 4th generation full size iPad. It's barely been half a year since the release of the 3rd gen machine (the first one to just be called "iPad"). With a blazing fast new A6X processor, Apple is firmly establishing the iPad as the top of the line tablet, a necessary pre-emptive strike against Microsoft's new Surface tablet.

Mac Mini Alive and Well

Reports of the demise of the Mac Mini have be going around for over four years. With this new upgrade, the Minis are proving that reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated. The top of the line Mini with a quad core i5 processor, and 4 GB of ram, is a serious computer for only $599. And anyone looking for a small business server would be silly to not consider the Mac Mini Server with an i7 Quad Core and TWO 1 TB hard drives.

iMac Still Impresses

It has been 3 years since the last revision of the iMac. Oddly, what' the big new feature of the new iMac? It's really thin! While it is totally unnecessary for a desktop computer to be incredibly thin, if you can do it without breaking a sweat, why not? The new display, 75% less reflective, sounds impressive. I look forward to seeing it. I am particularly interested in the great connectivity of this new machine. Four USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt ports makes this iMac a serious production machine. I am a bit disappointed that Apple didn't find room for an HDMI port, but they do offer a Thunderbolt to HDMI adaptor, so I guess I can't complain too loudly. And no optical drive! But more on that later.

13 Inch Retina MacBook Pro

I don't think that the new 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro came as too much of a surprise to many Apple followers, but it is nice to see Apple rounding out the Pro line. In all, these changes prove that Apple is not just about phones and tablets. They are still in the computer business.

Optical Drives Say Goodbye

Finally, it should come as no surprise that none of the new computers include an optical drive. Apple has been steadily moving away from them for a few years now, and Apple is always the first manufacturer to drop old technology. And at least (thank goodness!) Apple still offers the external Super Drive for only $79. I am pretty sure that I will include one with my first purchase of an optical driveless Mac. But hey, all of my Macs are still working fine, so it could be a few years before I shell out for a new machine. Maybe by then I won't care about optical drives.

For now, I'll sit patiently in my office, drooling over the new tech. And for certain, I will be dropping by the Apple store when the new machines comes in, for some hands on time.