Apple Introduces iPad Mini

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller unveiled the iPad mini at a press event in San Jose today. 

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The new iPad mini features a 7.9-inch screen (aproximately the size of the new Kindle Fire HD or Google Nexus 7) and Apple's just-introduced Lighting connector (which replaces the familiar 30-pin dock connector). 

Apple is pricing the iPad mini at $329 for the base model with 16GB of storage and just wifi.  The 32GB model is $429 and 64GB is $659. 

Models with 3G wireless access will be priced at $459/$559/$659 for the 16/32/64GB configurations.

The new iPad wil ship on Nov. 2. The company will take pre-orders starting on Friday Oct. 26.

The smaller iPad features a 1024x1068 resolution screen, which is the same as the original iPad, meaning all existing iPad apps will work on the new Mini without change.

The new iPad mini is 7.2 mm thick ("as thin as a pencil," said Cook)  and weighs just .68 pounds. 

It has an aluminum back and sports a thin bezel akin to an iPhone. 

The new tablet features ten hours of battery life, has a front-facing Facetime HD camera and employs the magnetic smartcover Apple introduced on the third-generation iPad.

Apple updated the existing full-size iPad with a new processor that offers double the speed and graphics performance.

The fourth-generation tablet also features the new Lighting connector and upgraded Facetime cameras.

The price remains the same, with models starting at $499.

The company is also announced a 13-inch MacBook with a retina screen, featuring the second-highest resolution notebook screen on the market after the 15-inch MacBook.

The screen offers a 2560x1600 resolution.

The new MacBook also features USB 3.0, HDMI out and two thunderbolt ports. The case is just .75-inch thick and weighs 3.5 pounds.

Apple claims seven hours of battery life on the new laptop.

The new MacBook is priced at $1699 for the base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB of flash memory storage. It begins shipping today.

Apple unveiled a new iMac that keeps the existing design but shrinks the bezel to just 5 mm at the edge and decreases the depth of the computer by 45 percent.

The new desktop computers features the new "fusion drive," which combines 128GB of flash memory (for speed) with a 1-3TB hard drive (for storage). 

The iMac is available in 21.5-inch and 27-inch models priced at $1299 /$1799 to start.

The company also updated its Mac Mini computer with a faster processor and more memory.

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