On March 9, Apple held a new press event in San Francisco to unveil the remaining pieces of the puzzle on the Apple Watch, such as launch date, pricing, and hardware details. However, the company also unveiled a new pricing for its Apple TV, and introduced a new fanless, thin and light MacBook laptop.
Below is the roundup of announcements from the computer giant:
Apple Watch
The Apple Watch was the focus of the event, the company talked about the many features customers will be able to enjoy, such as workout app, taking calls, reading emails, checking weather, interacting with Siri, Apple Pay, personalizing the wearable and much more.
As pricing goes, the Apple Watch Sport will start at $349 for the 38mm model and $399 for the 42mm model. While the steel version will cost $549 up to $1049, depending of the band you choose, the 42mm could cost $599 to $1099.
There is also an Apple Watch Edition made of 18kt gold, which will cost $10,000 and the company will only make a limited amount of them.
The computer giant claims that the watch will have a battery life of 18 hours of regular use. Pre-order begins on April 10, and it goes on sale on April 24, in selected countries including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States. Apple is also working to bring the Apple Watch to more countries following the release.
Apple TV
As for new content, Apple has announced that is partnering with HBO to bring HBO NOW service for $15 per month, which will not require to have a TV subscription. Customers who opt to sign-up will get the first month of HBO NOW free of charge on iOS devices, including iPad, iPod, and of course, Apple TV.
MacBook
At the San Francisco press event, Apple also introduced a new MacBook. Perhaps one of the most interesting details to take away from this device is the name. The new computer isn’t a “MacBook Air” or “MacBook Pro”, it’s simple called “MacBook”.
This is the thinnest computer ever built by the company; it’s only 13.1mm thin and 24 percent thinner than the 11-inch MacBook Air.
The device only weighs 2 pounds and it’ll be available in gold, space gray, and silver, which match the same color scheme available in the iPhone line.
Even though the MacBook is super thin and small, Apple made it possible to include a full-sized keyboard with new keys design and redesigned trackpad, and 12-inch retina display with 2304 x 1440 screen resolution.
It’s worth pointing out that the new device doesn’t include any of the traditional ports customers are accustomed to find on such device, like USB 3.0, displayport, and charging port, instead Apple is using a single USB-C port that can be used as a charging port or a way to connect peripherals in daisy chain.
No, the MacBook doesn’t feature a touch-enabled display, but it does come with the new Force Touch trackpad designed to offer responsive and uniform experience. The new force sensors detect how much pressure you’re applying, which enables a new way to interact with the trackpad, and it also feature haptic feedback.
Apple claims 9 hours of battery life when web browsing and around 10 hours for video playback.
The basic model starts at $1299 with a 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of Solid-State Drive. There is also more capable model with a 1.2GHz CPU and 512GB of SSD.
The new MacBook models will be available on April 10.
You can now also watch the full 95 minutes Apple keynote to get more details.
