Well iFans, here it is: Apple is having another event, and it looks like it could be the last before the end of the year, or at least the final event before the holiday season ramps up. Will Apple announce a new laptop, iPad, or something else?
Unless you’ve been living in a vacuum that can escape the sound and text of Apple rumours, you’ve probably heard that the iPad Mini is coming.
Expected to be a 7 inch version of Apple’s hit iPad tablet, this smaller touchscreen content consumption device would give customers the ability to play all manner of Apple iPad (and iPhone) apps on the go in a smaller size, something manufacturers of Google Android devices have been taking advantage of ever since the first 7 inch Android tablets started coming out over a year ago.
The seven inch size, smaller than the 9.7 inch form-factor currently held by the iPad, is seen by many as a proper tablet size, easier to hold and closer to the size of a book, compared to the laptop-esque size of the 9 to 11 inch tablets currently dominating the tablet world.
Rumours of an iPad Mini certainly aren’t anything new. We heard them two years ago, and Apple has yet to release anything like it, suggesting in the past that it has a product for that, cheekily referring to the iPhone.
Still, we might see an iPad Mini next week, but it’s also possible that this won’t be the only announcement on that day.
Talk is circulating, suggesting that a new MacBook Pro is coming, possibly a 13 inch model with one of those high-grade Retina screens that we liked so much in the 15 inch we reviewed recently.
Another computer is possibly getting a refresh at the same time, with reports that the Mac Mini might get an update, with new internals that bring it up to a faster speed.
Even the current 9.7 inch “new iPad,” also known as the iPad 3 by many, could receive a boost, with talks that the chip could change, well before an expected new iPad announcement between February and April in 2013.
Whatever’s happening, we’ll know next week, when on October 23 in America – or October 24 for us – Apple makes its intentions clear, and settles all rumours.
