iPad Air, Retina iPad Mini and more

In what has become an annual affair now, Apple unveiled its latest generation of iPad tablets on October 22nd at the Yerba Buena Center in downtown San Francisco. Coming a few weeks after the launch of the new iPhones (as has now become a tradition), the iPads, iPhones and Mac products are expected to power Apple's all important holiday season. In addition to the iPads, Apple updated a bunch of its products most of which was either announced or heavily rumored. Here is my brief take on the announcements.iPad Air and iPad Mini (2013 edition)Last year, Apple added a new member to its iPad family in the form of the iPad Mini. The 7.85 inch smaller sibling to the original iPad offered a lower price point for entry into the Apple tablet ecosystem. The iPad Mini was Apple's admission that the smaller tablet was here to stay (after being in denial for years). The Mini was a thin and sleek device that impressed with its dimensions and usability but disappointed with its internals. Specifically, the display stood out as inferior to its big brother, the iPad with the fantastic retina display. This year, Apple expanded the iPad family in all directions.iPad AirThe iPad Air is this year's version of the iPad. The "Air" moniker goes with the thinner and lighter version of the tablet that now looks more like the iPad Mini and less like the iPads of previous years. The iPad Air takes the iPad 4, slims it by 20% and reduces the weight by 28% to offer a one pound 9.7 inch tablet. Apple also packs in the latest generation 64 bit A7 processor found in the new iPhone family. Surprisingly missing is the TouchId sensor found in the iPhone 5S. Overall, the new iPad Air makes a better overall package than last years full-size iPad. Surprisingly, Apple has chosen to continue selling the iPad 2 at $399 while replacing the iPad 4 with the new iPad Air. I would guess that they are making sizable margins on that product that warrants it staying around.iPad MiniThe iPad Mini gets a retina display upgrade as expected. It also gets the A7 upgrade to make it a much better 7 inch offering than last year's iPad Mini which was definitely overpriced for what it offered. The new retina display Mini costs $399- a price hike of $70 to account for all the upgrades. Last years Mini now costs $299.Apple has done one other neat thing by offering one single SKU for all the cellular carriers. This means that they will have significant logistic savings and simplicity by building one WAN SKU across all carriers. They have Qualcomm to thank for this one.With the updated product line, Apple now offers a tablet starting at $299, two at $399 and one at $499. This does not include the cellular and memory upgrade packages. At this rate, Apple's tablet line resembles something like what Samsung has been hawking for the past few years - something for everyone and at every price point.Tablet Value PropositionSo the question that begs to be asked is, should you upgrade?. Here is my take on this. The larger iPad (a.k.a iPad Air) is still the best tablet package around. What I mean by that is the combination of the hardware product with the apps that are available for it. From a pure hardware standpoint, there are other tablets that compete well with the iPad. But from an app ecosystem standpoint, the tablet apps on the AppStore are still some of the best. So if you have $499 to spare, the iPad Air is still the best way to spend it although the competition is getting better fast.The iPad Mini is a different story. The $299 Mini from last year is a significantly inferior product to the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX at that price point. The display alone makes it a very expensive upgrade. The $399 iPad Mini with retina display is a great product but very expensive at that price. If you are thinking of buying the $399 Mini, I would recommend that you consider spending $100 more and getting the iPad Air. If you are definitely set on a smaller tablet, look at the Android offerings. They are very good products which compete well on price and features. In my opinion, the iPad Mini, however popular it may be is an overpriced product, unlike the iPad (Air) which is a much better overall package for the price.Mac ProEarlier this year, Apple took the lid off its complete redesign of the Mac Pro workstation/desktop. Today, Apple announced a ship date and specifics about the Mac Pro. The new Mac Pro will be assembled in the US and will ship in December. This desktop is targeted at professionals who need the compute power of this beast of a machine and it is priced appropriately so starting at $2999. A fully specced top of the line Mac Pro can cost over $4000 and will definitely find its own niche market of users.If you are a home computer buyer considering the Mac Pro, I would consider it a serious overkill. Look at the iMac or the Macbook Pro with retina display and have a good external monitor to make it a full desktop replacement. You will still save money compared to the $2999 Mac Pro solution.Macbook ProThe Macbook Pro's got their Haswell upgrade. Earlier this summer, Apple updated its Macbook Air's with Intel's battery sipping Haswell solution. Now Apple has updated its Macbook Pro's with the Haswell chipset also. Interestingly, Apple dropped the price of the entry level retina display based Macbook Pro by $200 and it now starts at $1299. But the big caveat here is that the retina Macbook Pro's do not have an optical drive. Apple now has a single laptop, the non-retina Macbook Pro that ships with an optical drive.Last years original 13 inch Macbook Pro with retina display had bad reviews due to the inability of the Intel graphics card to support the display and heavy duty applications. This years offering is supposed to have fixed this. If you are ready to move to a optical driveless era, this laptop should fit the bill nicely.OSX MavericksApple also announced that the next iteration of its Mac OSX- Mavericks would launch on the same day and much more importantly, free. I have since downloaded and installed Mavericks on my Macbook Air. I am liking what I see although there is not much in the obvious sense to see. Much of the updates are supposedly under the hood to improve system battery life and such. There is a new Mac version of Apple Maps and iBooks- something that was iOS only until now. The Maps can now be synced between an iPhone and the Mac, a feature Chrome-Android combo has boasted for a few years now. Otherwise, some of the core apps like Calendar and Notes are shorn of skeuomorphic design qualities and replaced by an iOS7 like simple interface.Far more significant is the fact that Mavericks is free. An OS update as significant as this and free has the potential to find far more converts and greater traction. Microsoft will be watching this closely for sure. If you are entitled for an upgrade, I would recommend that you take it. My upgrade process was smooth and whatever changes I see are all for the good.With the recent launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C and now the updated tablets and PC offerings, not to mention the completely redesigned iOS7, Apple has set itself up for its biggest holiday season ever. Time will tell just how well the market receives them.