With another spring we get another Apple event. This time its called “Spring Loaded” which they had on 4/20…which they totally should of called it “Spring Baked” but I digress, this is one of Apples few conferences this year where they show off their new products coming out within that cycle. This spring event definitely caught me off guard with some of its new products so let’s get into it.

Lets start off with the big one. The iMac totally took me by surprise with the design, I wasn’t expecting something that thin, and it was because of the fact I was expecting something similar to the XDR display. You remember the XDR display? The one with the 1000 dollar stand, I was expecting something similar to that design, with the cheese grater back and giant metal  frame but Apple threw a curve ball and gave us something super thin.

The specs for the new iMac are pretty impressive, an 8 core M1 chip, a 24 inch 4.5K display and 8 gigs of memory starting at 1299. Now that is pretty good for an all in one in my opinion. Especially if it is a family computer and with everyone working from home this could very well be that computer for work and school. I have heard from my friends that their macs with the M1 chips feel faster and last longer on battery, we shall see how that translates to desktop time will tell on that. But for how thin and simple this mac is, I feel like this could be great for a home work computer and or a family workstation. Would I use something like this being a programmer? Well with how I am moving away from programming and going more into project management that is a possibly with me having to just manage a JIRA and Marketing Cloud Project it’s a possibility. I do like how the charging cable is a magnetic clasp that will detach if someone walks over it or pulls on it especially with everyone being home that could help avoid someone pulling and knocking it over. However my big gripe with it, is why didn’t apple give us a 27 inch version?

The iPad Pro to me has always been one of those missed chances that Apple has released. The “Pro” was meant to be something akin to a laptopish device similar to Microsoft’s Surface line but to most the iPad Pro is just a “more powerful” iPad that doesn’t really deliver the goods. I remember talking with a few people who own the iPad Pro and to them they like it cause of the bigger battery, better screen and also how they can semi multi task on business trips since they didn’t like having to use their laptop.

Now also talking with the users that own iPad Pros which is mainly business people, one of the things they wished for which it appears Apple is delivering on it is giving them a high speed USB-C connector so connecting to external storage and or display is possible now. I think in time this could very much become a go to business device if app makers jump on that but I know there are some apps that took advantage of the pro while others just offered what was on the iPad. Will I be picking this up? Possibly since I am due for a new iPad since mine is only lasting 3 hours since I am a power / business user.

We all knew these were coming eventually, and we all know there are quite a few tracking devices for keys and lost items. Now what I think Apple is doing right by these is having precision finding which displays on the screen and says “hey its 20 feet to your right” and literally points you in the right direction which other trackers will give you a general area and a loud beep.

What I don’t like about these items is why didn’t they include a hole for the keychain? Instead, you gotta buy an accessory? Some of the accessories are 12 dollars, while others are 350 dollars? That to me is just wild, there will probably be cheaper items in the future but with the accessories outpricing the 29-dollar tracker it just makes me wonder why?

The M1 chip is apples own internal chip, replacing intel and going for a more closed system so they can control what they want further. As I said earlier some of my fellow friends have gotten their hands on the Macbook Pro’s with the M1 and going over from Intel they can definitely tell a difference and with Apple putting it into everything, from their iPad Pros to the iMac’s now, does that mean the chip set will be unified across the ecosystem. I wonder if that will make it easier for developers, but does it also mean that Apple will be allowing M1 optimized apps to move cross device such as Transmit which is only a Desktop app, could we see it come to the iPad Pro? Will Apple make it easier for developers to move between ecosystems and devices since its all built on the same chip? Hopefully.

But I do have to raise one concern I have with everyone using the same chip, if an exploit is found does that put all devices that use the M1 chip at risk? I know apple is going for a more secure way of life with Privacy First. But if there is a massive compromise, will they have a plan?

Also there is a purple iPhone 12 if your into that sort of thing.

Apple stunned with a few cool items, such as the iMacs and Air Tags while upgrading existing items such as the iPad Pro. We shall see in time if moving everything to the internal chipset will be a good move for Apple. Also, if it is could we see more companies follow suit and start moving away from Nvidia and Intel to bring out their own internal chip sets? Maybe only time will tell.