It's been a busy day of Apple news thanks to some new iPads, but the company has plenty of other M-series devices, including the iMac. Apple slotted M3 chips into its desktop computers late last year, and now the base version of the 2023 iMac is cheaper than ever. Thanks to a coupon at Amazon (make sure to clip it!), you can snap up an iMac with an M3 chip, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage for $1,149. The deal is available for the silver, pink, green and blue versions of the system.
A word of warning: while this is a decent deal on the surface, we do feel that the specs of the base 2023 iMac aren't quite up to scratch. It's difficult in this day and age to earnestly recommend a computer with just 8GB of RAM as apps become more and more demanding. That's why the iMac didn't score higher than 86 in our review.
On the plus side, the M3 chipset is very fast and the iMac's display remains terrific. Although this is a desktop system, it's lightweight, so it's not too difficult to move from one room to another or prop it up on something — the inability to adjust the screen vertically is a little disappointing.
There are some caveats to keep in mind here, but if you're looking for a nice, pretty new computer for relatively basic tasks (you're not going to be doing much gaming or video editing on a system with these specs) and don't mind splashing some cash, then this iMac might do the trick for you.
You may have heard Apple updated its top-of-the-line tablets at its Let Loose event on Tuesday. The 2024 model has some big improvements, including the new M4 chip, a “noticeably thinner and lighter” build, a superior OLED display and upgraded accessories. We broke down the key differences between the latest iPad Pro and its 2022 predecessor to help you figure out if it’s worth the (hefty) investment.
Display and dimensions
iPad Pro: 13-inch (2024) vs. 12.9-inch (2022)
Apple / Will Shanklin for Engadget
In Engadget’s hands-on at Apple’s “Let Loose” event, Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham said the new iPad Pro’s thinner and lighter build and its Tandem OLED display are the first big changes you’ll notice when you pick up the latest model.
“In Apple’s extremely bright demo area, the iPad Pro screen showed its quality — everything was extremely clear, blacks were pitch-black and colors really popped,” he said after using it at Apple’s event. “After looking at the iPad Air display, it was obvious how much better these screens are.”
iPad Pro: 11-inch (2024 vs. 2022)
Apple / Will Shanklin for Engadget
Another change you’ll notice when you compare the two iPad Pros side-by-side is camera positioning. The 2024 model moves its front-facing camera to the top-center when viewed in landscape orientation. The older model used Apple’s original iPad configuration, where the camera was centered above the screen when holding it upright in portrait mode.
The new iPad Pro is also noticeably lighter and thinner than its 2022 predecessor. The 13-inch model is a mere 5.11mm (0.2 inch) thick and weighs only 579g (1.28 lbs), making it 20 percent thinner and 15 percent lighter than the 12.9-incher from 2022. Meanwhile, the new 11-inch variant is 5.3mm (0.21 inch) thick and weighs 444g (0.98 lb), making it 10 percent thinner and five percent lighter than the older one.
Considering the 2022 model was already a svelte machine, it’s no wonder we found the new iPad Pro surprisingly thin and light relative to its processing power. Speaking of which…
Processor
Apple / Will Shanklin for Engadget
The iPhone maker unveiled a new Apple Silicon version on an iPad instead of a Mac for the first time. The all-new M4 chip has up to a 10-core CPU configuration (four performance cores and six efficiency cores), which the company says translates to one and a half times faster performance than the M2 silicon in the 2022 model.
I say “up to” because, similar to MacBooks and some older iPad Pro models, Apple is shipping different chip variants depending on your pricing tier. The 1TB and 2TB versions of the 2024 model have that 10-core chip, while the 256GB and 512GB models drop down to a nine-core M4 with three performance and six efficiency cores.
The lower-tier and high-end M4 variants include a 10-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a 16-core neural engine, 120GB/s memory bandwidth and 16GB of RAM. So the different models don’t sound dramatically different — you just get an extra performance core in the more expensive tiers. We’ll have to wait until we get some extended time with them to see how that translates into real-world experience.
By comparison, the M2 in the 2022 iPad Pro has an eight-core CPU with four performance and four efficiency cores. It also has a 16-core Neural Engine (of course, an older version than the one in the M4), 100GB/s memory bandwidth and either 8GB or 16GB of RAM.
Accessories
Apple / Will Shanklin for Engadget
The new iPad Pro also has some new accessories you can’t use with the 2022 model. That includes a new Magic Keyboard that Apple claims makes “the entire experience feel just like using a MacBook.”
You can thank its bigger trackpad with haptic feedback (like on modern MacBooks) and an aluminum palm rest. The older model used a microfiber-esque material and physically clicking trackpad, so the new one should feel more solid underneath your hands and aligned with MacBooks’ look and feel.
The new Magic Keyboard also adds a new 14-key function row (also similar to a MacBook) with shortcuts for things like brightness, Spotlight search, Siri / dictation and media controls.
Meanwhile, the Apple Pencil Pro — exclusively compatible with the 2024 iPad Pro and iPad Air — looks much like its predecessor but adds some extra goodies. Those include a new sensor in its barrel that lets you squeeze it like the lovely little stylus it is.
The new squeeze gesture can bring up tool palettes or activate shortcuts. Third-party developers can even customize the actions for individual apps. For the first time, it also adds haptic feedback to let you know if your squeeze was accepted or if something you moved has landed in its intended spot.
The new Apple Pencil also works with Find My (another first), so you can check on its most recent location in Apple’s location app if you lose it.
Well, it can’t all be good news. With all those upgrades, Apple is once again asking you to consider paying more for a high-end tablet. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999, and the 13-inch model starts at a whopping $1,299. Those are each $200 higher than the starting prices in the 2022 model (when it was available).
But wait, it gets worse. Those prices don’t take into account the $299 (11-inch) or $349 (13-inch) you’ll pay if you want to add the new Magic Keyboard, nor does it factor in the $129 for the Apple Pencil Pro. You’ll have to pony up to make the new iPad Pro as much like a MacBook as possible: It will cost you almost what you’d pay for an entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 chip.
On the slightly brighter side, you get more storage this time around. The 2024 iPad Pro starts with 256GB, double the 128GB in the 2022 model. Moving up from there, the other storage tiers are identical to its predecessor (ranging up to 2TB for those with Scrooge McDuck bank accounts).
Full specs comparison
Here’s a table showing the full specs comparison between the 2024 and 2022 iPad Pro models, including separate charts for the 13 / 12.9-inch and 11-inch variants.
13-inch iPad Pro (2024) vs. 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022)
12.9-inch iPad Pro (2024)
12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022)
Price
$1,299, $1,499, $1,899, $2,299
$1,099, $1,199, $1,399, $1,799, $2,199
Dimensions
281.16 x 215.5 x 5.1 mm
(11.09 x 8.48 x 0.20 inch)
280.6 x 214.9 x 6.4 mm
(11.04 x 8.46 x 0.25 inch)
Weight
1.28 pounds / 579 grams (Wi-Fi)
1.28 pounds / 582 grams (cellular)
1.5 pounds / 682 grams (Wi-Fi)
1.51 pounds / 685 grams (cellular)
Processor
M4
M2
Display
13-inch Ultra Retina XDR
2752 x 2064 (264 ppi)
12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR
2732 x 2048 (264 ppi)
Storage
256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB
128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB
Battery
38.99 Wh
10 hrs (Wi-Fi), 9 hrs (cellular)
40.88 Wh
10 hrs (Wi-Fi), 9 hrs (cellular)
Camera
Back: 12MP, ƒ/1.8
Front: 12MP, ƒ/2.4
Back: 12MP wide, ƒ/1.8 / 10MP ultrawide, ƒ/2.4
Front: 12MP, ƒ/2.4
Compatible Apple accessories
Magic Keyboard (2024)
Apple Pencil Pro
Apple Pencil (USB-C)
Magic Keyboard (2020)
Apple Pencil (2nd generation)
Apple Pencil (USB-C)
11-inch iPad Pro (2024) vs. 11-inch iPad Pro (2022)
Beats might have some newaudio gear to blab about, but its older models are nothing to sniff at, especially when you can score solid deals on them. Take, for instance, the Beats Fit Pro. Those true wireless earbuds have dropped by $40 to $160. That matches the Black Friday price and it's just $10 more than the all-time low.
The Beats Fit Pro are our pick for the best workout headphones as well as our top choice for headphones for running. They're rated for IPX4 water resistance, which is always welcome to have while you're working up a sweat. They're comfortable to wear and have solid battery life (six hours plus an extra 21 hours from the charging case).
None of that would matter if the Beats Fit Pro sounded terrible, but they deliver great sound quality with the help of Adaptive EQ. Spatial audio is always a nice feature to have, while the active noise cancellation and transparency modes are solid. Multipoint connectivity is a plus too.
On the downside, we thought that the charging case felt cheap with a poor build quality. We also found it too easy to accidentally press the onboard controls. Still, if you're looking for a pair of earbuds for your workouts, you can't get much better than the Beats Fit Pro right now.
Elsewhere, the Beats Studio Pro are also on sale. At $180, they're effectively half off and just $10 more than the record low of $170.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-beats-fit-pro-wireless-earbuds-are-on-sale-for-160-right-now-190035110.html?src=rss
Google has made the 128GB Pixel Tablet available as a standalone device, without the charging dock. It costs $400, as compared to around $500 at most outlets with the dock. This is a great deal on paper, but there’s one elephant-sized caveat. We had some issues with the tablet on its own and were mostly enamored by that dock.
You can’t cast streaming content to the device without the dock, which is one major negative. We also found the camera placement to be slightly awkward, particularly when participating in video calls. The 2,560 x 1,600 LCD panel isn’t as vibrant as an OLED panel, but it gets the job done. All of the specs of this device are “just fine” but, at $400, that’s probably to be expected.
The dock brings some nifty stuff to the table, like a durable stand, fantastic speakers and, of course, charging. However, there are some things that the Pixel Tablet excels at, even without that charging dock. The battery life is superb, lasting well over 21 hours per charge at 50 percent brightness. That’ll handle even the longest international flight. We also found the tablet to be useful as a smart display, particularly if you’ve fully bought into the Google smart home ecosystem.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-buy-a-pixel-tablet-without-a-dock-for-400-if-thats-your-bag-185329549.html?src=rss
Just moments after Google announced its latest smartphone, both Amazon and Best Buy swooped in with deals to convince you to get yours from one of them. Right now, the Pixel 8a is open for pre-orders at Google's storefront, but if you go through Amazon, you'll get a physical $100 Amazon gift card once the phone ships. Purchase through Best Buy and you'll get a$100 gift card for its store, plus a one-month membership to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Whichever way you go, your new phone will ship May 14, the same day as Google's I/O developer conference.
On both Amazon and Best Buy, the offer apples to the 128GB model in any of the four colorways, including the new Aloe hue. The model with a larger 256GB capacity, a first for A-series Pixel phones, goes for $559 and also includes the $100 gift card, but only if you order it in Obsidian.
New for this latest generation of Google's most affordable smartphone is a screen that's a little brighter and smoother thanks to a higher peak brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. The battery is slightly larger than it was on the Pixel 7a and software improvements should help it last longer. The camera array stayed the same as with the previous generation, but a few more of Google's AI tricks, like Best Take and Magic Editor should help you get more out of what the lenses pick up.
Engadget's Sam Rutherford had a chance to check out the new Pixel 8a ahead of its release and, while a full review is still forthcoming, he said the new handset is "shaping up to once again be the mid-range Android phone to beat." And if a $100 gift card sweetens the deal for you at all, now might be a good time to pre-order. Amazon says its deal will run through 5/19 or until supplies run out, so if you want to wait to see what we think, you may have some time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pre-order-the-google-pixel-8a-from-amazon-or-best-buy-and-get-a-free-100-gift-card-181519020.html?src=rss
Designers, photographers and other creators may want to check out this deal from Adobe. From now through May 13, first-time subscribers can save 40 percent on the monthly cost of the Creative Cloud All Apps plan for a full year. That brings the price down from a hefty $60 per month to a slightly more palatable $36. To get the deal, you'll need to agree to a 12-month subscription commitment. After the year is up, the plan will automatically renew at the regular price, unless you cancel. If you want to pay for the whole year at once, it'll run you $396, which is also 40 percent of the standard $660.
Creative Cloud All Apps includes online access to Adobe stalwarts like Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Illustrator, and InDesign, plus about 20 additional apps — including Firefly, the text-to-image generative AI tool and the social-content-focused Adobe Express. The plan also comes with 100GB of cloud storage, tutorials, Adobe Fonts and 1,000 credits per month to use towards generative AI creation in Firefly and others.
Adobe doesn't often run discounts on their service, so this is a rare opportunity to catch a break on the tools that, for some creative pursuits, are tough to replace. The $36 monthly price tag is likely the closest most of us will get to the enviable student and teacher pricing of $20 per month.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/adobes-full-creative-cloud-suite-is-40-percent-off-in-a-rare-deal-170847284.html?src=rss
We all think we’re pretty good at identifying images made by AI. It’s the weird alien text in the background. It’s the bizarre inaccuracies that seem to break the laws of physics. Most of all, it’s those gruesome hands and fingers. However, the technology is constantly evolving and it won’t be too long until we won’t be able to tell what’s real or not. Industry leader OpenAI is trying to get ahead of the problem by creating a toolset that detects images created by its own DALL-E 3 generator. The results are a mixed bag.
OpenAI
The company says it can accurately detect pictures whipped up by DALL-3 98 percent of the time, which is great. There are, though, some fairly big caveats. First of all, the image has to be created by DALL-E and, well, it’s not the only image generator on the block. The internet overfloweth with them. According to data provided by OpenAI, the system only managed to successfully classify five to ten percent of images made by other AI models.
Also, it runs into trouble if the image has been modified in any way. This didn’t seem to be a huge deal in the case of minor modifications, like cropping, compression and changes in saturation. In these cases, the success rate was lower but still within acceptable range at around 95 to 97 percent. Adjusting the hue, however, dropped the success rate down to 82 percent.
OpenAI
Now here’s where things get really sticky. The toolset struggled when used to classify images that underwent more extensive changes. OpenAI didn’t even publish the success rate in these cases, stating simply that "other modifications, however, can reduce performance.”
This is a bummer because, well, it’s an election year and the vast majority of AI-generated images are going to be modified after the fact so as to better enrage people. In other words, the tool will likely recognize an image of Joe Biden asleep in the Oval Office surrounded by baggies of white powder, but not after the creator slaps on a bunch of angry text and Photoshops in a crying bald eagle or whatever.
At least OpenAI is being transparent regarding the limitations of its detection technology. It’s also giving external testers access to the aforementioned tools to help fix these issues, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company, along with bestie Microsoft, has poured $2 million into something called the Societal Resilience Fund, which hopes to expand AI education and literacy.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-says-it-can-detect-images-made-by-its-own-software-mostly-170012976.html?src=rss
Apple refreshed its iPads in a major way today with new launches in both the iPad Pro and iPad Air lineups. Both have significant hardware updates, but somehow the iPad Pro now weighs less than all of its Air equivalents.
The 11-inch iPad Pro is 0.98 pounds (444 grams for the Wi-Fi model and 446 grams with cellular), while the same size version of the iPad Air is 1.02 pounds (462 grams with no difference between the Wi-Fi and cellular models).
The weight difference is more evident in the 13-inch tablets — the iPad Air comes in that size for the first time. The 13-inch iPad Pro starts at 1.28 pounds (or 579 grams) for the Wi-Fi model, with the cellular version coming in three grams heavier. Meanwhile, though the Wi-Fi and LTE variants of the 13-inch iPad Air are only one gram apart, they both weigh 1.36 pounds, which is noticeably heavier than the iPad Pro.
Apple says the latest iPad Pro is the thinnest product it has made, with a switch to dual OLED panels helping make the tablet more slender than ever. On the flip side, that makes the name of the iPad Air a little janky at this point.
Sure, it's just a name and it doesn't matter that much. But at 1.03 pounds, the original Air was nearly half a pound lighter than the iPad 4. The latest model is essentially the same weight, but it's now heavier and chonkier than the iPad Pro, making Apple's premium tablets literally lighter than Air.
Follow all of the news live from Apple's 'Let Loose' event right here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-m4-ipad-pro-is-literally-lighter-than-air-164942372.html?src=rss
Another Apple event is in the books and, as expected, the Let Loose showcase was all about iPad. We now have our first Apple device powered by an M4 chip in the iPad Pro, with the company surprisingly choosing to debut it there rather than in a Mac. There's also an upgraded iPad Air that's available in two sizes: 11 inches and 13 inches.
There are some accessory updates too, which isn't a big shock given that an Apple Pencil was prominent in the event's teaser image. So, without further ado, here's a rundown of everything Apple announced at its blessedly brief Let Loose event.
iPad Pro
It had been expected for a while that any updated iPad Pro would have an M3 chip, but Apple decided to upend the expectations of many by instead slotting the brand new M4 into its highest-end tablet. Apple says the new device delivers 50 percent faster performance than the M2 iPad Pro.
Rendering performance is said to be four times faster than on the M2 Pro as well. For the first time on an iPad, Apple is bringing support for dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and hardware-accelerated mesh shading to the Pro with the M4.
There are some power efficiencies here too. Apple says the M4 can deliver the same performance as an M2 using half the power. So, if you're using the tablet for tasks that aren't too strenuous, it stands to reason that the battery should last for longer.
The other major upgrade for the iPad Pro is new display tech called Tandem OLED. As the name suggests, it uses two OLED panels layered on top of each other. That means this tablet should have richer colors and deeper blacks on what Apple is calling the Ultra Retina XDR display. Apple says the brightness levels max out at 1000 nits for standard and HDR, and 1600 nits for HDR.
Despite the dual layer, the OLED panels are still thinner than an LCD display. To that end, Apple says the iPad Pro is now somehow thinner than an iPod nano (RIP, you beautiful thing), making it the company's most slender product ever. There's a nano-textured glass option for the first time on an iPad Pro too, but only if you opt for at least 1TB of storage.
One other notable change is that the Ultra Wide 12MP front-facing camera is now on the landscape edge. The Magic Keyboard users out there may be pleased about that tweak.
The new iPad Pro starts at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299 for the 13-inch, each with 256GB of storage. Add $200 to each of you want 5G cellular connectivity via eSIM.
We've already had a hands-on with the iPad Pro and, at first glance, the display seems like the show stealer.
M4
We have to chat a bit about what's powering the iPad Pro: the all-new M4 chipset. The Pro is the first Apple product to use the M4, even before any Mac.
The M4 has a new CPU with up to four performance cores and six efficiency cores. There's a 10-core GPU as well. Notably, the chipset's neural engine is focused on machine learning and AI. Apple says the neural engine is capable of 38 trillion operations per second — it's 60 times faster than the first neural engine that debuted in the A11 chip. AI features that the M4 will power on the iPad Pro will include real-time Live Captions, the ability to isolate subjects and remove backgrounds in videos in Final Cut Pro and automatic musical notation in StaffPad.
Odds are high that we'll start seeing Macs with the M4 pop up later this year, which might put folks off from buying the M3 MacBook Air Apple started selling just a couple of months ago (though the company says the MBA is now the best-selling 13-inch and 15-inch laptop on the planet).
The main reason for Apple skipping a silicon generation with the iPad Pro is likely to start a transition into AI hardware ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Expect the company to talk much more about what it plans to do with AI across all its products next month.
iPad Air
Apple
The iPad Air was well overdue for an update after being stuck with an aging M1 chipset for over two years. The latest model (or models) boast an M2 chipset. Still recent enough to make it a notable upgrade from the previous Air while keeping the more powerful iPad Pro distinct.
As I mentioned, the iPad Air now comes in two sizes, the existing 11-inch form factor and the new, larger 13-inch variant. That makes the Air the most cost-effective large screen iPad as things stand. Oh, and the front-facing camera is also positioned on the longer edge of the Air now. Thanks, Apple.
The company has doubled the base storage from the previous generation to 128GB. The 11-inch model starts at $599 and the new 13-inch Air is $799. For 5G cellular connectivity, you'll need to pay $150 extra. As with pretty much everything else Apple showed off today, the new iPad Air will drop next Wednesday.
We've also had some hands-on time with the new iPad Air. With the combination of the price and the various hardware updates, Apple could be onto another winner here.
Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard
Apple
There's a new Apple Pencil around town and it has some nifty tricks up its sleeve, including haptic feedback. The Apple Pencil Pro supports a new squeeze gesture too. If you rotate the barrel, you can change the orientation of brush and pen tools, just as you would with a pen and paper.
Find My support for the first time in an Apple Pencil is very welcome, considering how easy it is too lose the dang thing if you don't store it securely on the side of your iPad.
The Apple Pencil Pro costs $129. Preorders are open today and it ships on May 15.
Apple
Meanwhile, there's a new Magic Keyboard that's only compatible with the iPad Pro. This one is made from aluminum to give it a more premium feel and perhaps help users believe that the iPad Pro is the laptop replacement Apple has long envisioned its tablets being.
The latest version has a larger trackpad with haptic feedback, while there's a row of function keys, à la a more traditional keyboard.
The new Magic Keyboard also ships next week. If you want one for the 11-inch iPad Pro, it'll run you $300, while the larger variant is $350.
Follow all of the news live from Apple's 'Let Loose' event right here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/everything-announced-at-apples-let-loose-ipad-event-161005007.html?src=rss
Apple is all over the place today on the hardware side of things, having just announced a slew of new iPads. However, some of Apple’s most beloved software is also getting some love. There’s a new version of the video editing suite Final Cut Pro for tablets that brings plenty of long-requested features.
The big news for video editors? Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 (actual name) now supports external drives. Video editing projects are typically gigantic when you consider all of that raw footage. It’s easy to fill up all of the available space of an iPad with footage from one or two scenes, let alone an entire project. This fixes a major barrier of entry for those curious about editing on a tablet. It also makes it easier to hand off footage to another editor or import footage to Final Cut Pro for Mac.
The software is even bringing live multicam recording to iPads. This lets creators capture up to four different angles of a single scene spread across multiple devices. Everything connects wirelessly via a new app called Final Cut Camera, which gives a real-time “director’s view” on four iPhones or iPads. Each feed has its own settings that can be adjusted, like focus, zoom and more. Editable preview clips immediately get passed on to Final Cut Pro for editing.
As for customization options, Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 brings 12 new color-grading presets, eight basic text tiles, 20 new soundtracks and more dynamic backgrounds. These will be especially useful when creating title sequences and the like.
Apple
The Mac version of Final Cut Pro is also getting a fairly substantial update, with a focus on AI. The software leverages Apple silicon’s Neural Engine to bring a bit of AI flourish to basic editing tasks. The update allows users to change up colors, color balance, contrast and brightness all at the same time. There’s also something called Smooth Slo-Mo that pairs with AI, in which “frames of video are intelligently generated and blended together, providing the highest-quality movement.” The timeline has also been refreshed and looks a bit more intuitive.
Finally, there’s an update to Logic Pro for iPad, with a new session player feature and a stem splitter tool. The updates for Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad are available for free to current users and cost $5 per month for new users, which is the same pricing model as last year when both software packages were first released. Final Cut Pro for Mac costs $300 for new users, but the update is free for pre-existing users. All of these updates drop later this spring.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/final-cut-pro-for-ipad-gets-support-for-external-drives-and-live-multicam-recording-161244729.html?src=rss