Leaf&Core

What to Expect from Apple this Week

Danielle from Leaf and Core
Reading Time: 3 minutes.

On October 30th, Apple is heading to Brooklyn to discuss their latest hardware. We’re expecting new iPads, to be sure, but what else? Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman thinks he knows what Apple will release, and he typically has an inside track. Gurman’s so famous for his insider information, Bloomberg snatched him up from 9to5Mac to work at Bloomberg.

At the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Apple will reveal new iPad Pros, as well as new Macs. Apple will update their long forgotten MacBook Air and Mac Minis as well. This has been speculated before but, given Gurman’s track record, I say we give him a listen.

Making

Apple’s theme isn’t just drawing, as they frequently do with the iPad. It’s about “Making.” Apple’s highlighting the products they’ve created for makers, creators of all types. Often, when Apple discusses this, they’re talking about artists. They’re referring to photographers, video editors, painters, musicians, and the like. However, Apple’s releasing a few products that will appeal to a different kind of creator: developers.

Hurray, my actual profession is getting a shout out!

Mac Mini

A Mac Mini server. Tons of processor and app building power in one place.

The Mac Mini isn’t a tool you’d expect to be popular among developers. Us tech nerds love our superpowered hardware. A Mac Mini is a consumer level computer that requires its owner to bring a screen, mouse, and keyboard. It’s a little box. It doesn’t even have dedicated graphics. How could a nerd like that?

Well, give us nerds some credit! We’re not rich, you know. The Mac Mini is an affordable machine that can build iOS apps. Often, software development companies will buy a bunch of these. We use them as shared machines to build our app and run tests against them.

The latest Mac Mini is from 2014. It’s far too ancient to use for this anymore. We desperately need to replace our Mac Minis. But we can’t. None of us can. So, we’ve been using iMacs, old Mac Pros, and Linux machines to do our dirty work. Some teams are even using the iMac Pro, far more than we need for a simple server. A server doesn’t even need a screen, we typically remote in, viewing the information on them either through a terminal or VNC.

What we need is a new Mac Mini.

MacBook Air

Hop around to meetings and stay connected

When I first got started at a larger, more modern software company, I saw a lot of product people and business/marketing folks carrying around MacBook Airs. Product and business folks have many meetings. They’re running around uniting the various teams towards a single goal. It’s very important, but not important that they have powerful machines. Also, when you’re traveling often or running back and forth between meeting rooms, you want a light computer.

The go-to computer for this was the MacBook Air. But now, that’s far out of date. The MacBook, with its single USB-C port, isn’t practical. They often use the 13″ MacBook Pro now, which is still a bit more than they need. What they really need is a MacBook with a little bit more utility. That’s what an update to the MacBook Air could be.

iPad Pro

The iPad Pro is an obvious creative tool for artists of all kinds. I’ve learned how to DJ (sort of) from a deck that was powered by an iPad Pro. I’ve sketched tattoos, edited photos, drawn for fun, plotted out app designs, edited video, and more from an iPad Pro. And I’m not even an “artist type,” so to speak. It’s a tool that enables creation, and it only makes sense that Apple would view it as a “maker’s product.”

The new iPad Pro will be a larger departure than any of the past updates. Sure, they’ll have larger screens, better cameras, likely from the iPhone XS, and much faster processors, but there will be other updates as well.

We’ll see Face ID in landscape orientation for the first time, a new USB-C connector to replace or augment the Lightning connector, nearly bezel-less LCD screens, and a new Apple Pencil, with better and easier syncing. I wonder if it’ll still be awkward to charge.

And the Rest

Apple will also have mild refreshes for the iMac, iMac Pro, and the 12″ MacBook. They’ll all receive upgraded internals, but it’ll be a refresh, not an overhaul.

Apple’s maker’s event will start off at 10am eastern. Apple will stream it from their website, so be sure to tune in early. That’s 7am for those of you on the sunnier coast. For once, I won’t be jealous of that west coast weather, even if it is only for an hour in the morning on the 30th.

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