Apple made a few announcements at their ‘Spring Forward’ event. Including more details about the Apple Watch, a refresh on the MacBook Pro and Air and also a new MacBook.
Apple Watch
Apple has confirmed that the Apple Watch will be coming on April 24th 2015. It will be coming to nine countries including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK and the US.
The battery life of the Apple Watch will be about 18 hours. It’s better than people expected but it’s not at the same level as some of the competition from Android Wear or Pebble.
Pre-orders for the Apple Watch will start on April 10th. Also on that day, Apple will be offering an in-store preview of the Apple Watch to see how it fits.
In Canada, the Apple Watch starts at $449 for the Apple Watch Sport.
One model up (simply called the Apple Watch) will start at $699 (which has a Stainless Steel Case with White Sport Band) and go up to $1,459 (which has a Space Black Case with Space Black Stainless Steel Link Bracelet).
The high-end model is called the Apple Watch Edition, will be available in eight variations and styles. The Apple Watch Edition features a 18-Carat Rose Gold Case with White Sport Band. This one starts at $13,000.
Replacement bands for the Apple Watch will go as follows:
Replacement Sport band
- 38mm/42mm: $69
- Available in green, blue, pink, white, black and black with a space grey closure pin.
Replacement Leather Loop band
- 42mm: $199
- Available in medium/large in black, blue, light brown, and stone leather
Replacement Modern Buckle band
- 38mm: $329
- Available in small/medium/large in soft pink, midnight blue, black and brown
Replacement Classic Buckle band
- 38mm/42mm: $199
- Available in black
Replacement Milanese Loop band
- 38mm/42mm: $199
- Available in silver
Replacement Link Bracelet band
- 38mm/42mm: $599
- Available in silver
Note: These are the Canadian pricing for Apple Watch replacement bands.
Apple has also said that there would be thousands of apps will be available for the Apple Watch at launch. Developers have had lots of time to create new apps to be used on the device.
Apple has also given a sizing guide to help you find the right model. You can find that here: Apple Watch Sizing Guide (PDF)
Apple MacBook
Apple has announce their latest Mac laptop, the Apple MacBook. It weighs about 2 pounds and is only 13.1mm thin which is thinner than the current MacBook Air (which just got a refresh alongside the MacBook Pro).
The MacBook has a full-sized keyboard, a 12-inch Retina display (with a resolution of 2304 x 1440) and in a aluminum case. It also features a all-new Force Touch trackpad where do certain tasks depending on how much pressure you apple to the trackpad.
There is only two-ports on the MacBook, one 3.5mm headphone jack and on the other side, a USB-C port. The USB-C port will be used for data transfer, video out and charging the laptop.
Apple will also be offering a adapter that has that another USB-C port , a USB 3.0 port and there are two versions of the cable, one with the other two USB listed and either an HDMI port or an VGA port. Each will be available for $79.
Apple will also offer a Apple 29W USB-C power adapter for $49, a two meter USB-C charge cable for $29 and a USB-C to USB adapter for $19. These adapters will be available alongside the MacBook, when is launches in April.
The MacBook has a battery life of 9 hours while browsing the web and up to 10 hours of iTunes movies.
There will be two models: one with a 256GB of flash storage, a 1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core M processor, 8GB of RAM, Intel HD Graphics 5300 and will cost $1,599. The other will come with 512GB of flash storage, a 1.2GHz Intel Core M processor, 8GB or RAM, Intel HD Graphics 5300 and will cost $1,899.
The MacBook will come in three colours, gold, silver and space grey. It will be available on Friday April 10th.
TheCanadianTechie 