An iPad Pro or iPad Air with a Magic Keyboard is a better choice for most students than a MacBook Air. Photo: Apple
Dear university students: While it’s tempting to buy the hot new MacBook Air, doing so would mean a huge loss of flexibility. You simply don’t need to pay hundreds of dollars more for a laptop that’s less versatile. An iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard and Pencil fits your needs much better, especially now that it has the very same M2 chip inside.
And beyond the versatility, the whole iPad lineup can do just about everything you can expect a Mac to do every day.
To be clear, there are exceptions to this — some students really do need a Mac. But odds are you’re not one of them.
Keep your iPad protected in luxurious leather. Photo: Harber London
For this week’s giveaway, we partnered with Harber London to offer you an opportunity to win an exquisite, handmade Magnetic Envelope Sleeve for iPad Pro valued at $118.
This gorgeous, full-grain leather iPad sleeve exudes elegance and durability, boasting a sleek design and robust construction. Crafted in either black or tan, the sleeve is made of top-quality leather, with 100% wool felt on the back and inner sleeve. This combination ensures comprehensive protection for your prized iPad, shielding it from potential scratches and impacts while providing a comfortable touch.
Turn your 11-inch iPad Pro into an MacBook Lite with Brydge Pro+, now available at a rock-bottom price. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac
Clip the Brydge Pro+ keyboard to an 11-inch iPad Pro to make an ultraportable laptop ready for school or work. And the useful add-on is available now for just $29.99.
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your first, second or third-generation iPad Pro 11-inch with a keyboard and trackpad, there’s never been a better time.
Apple's working on a folding iPad and it could look like this rendering from Midjourney. Render: Midjourney/Lewis Wallace
Apple has its eye on a folding iPad, according to a new report coming out of Asia. This might be the flexible tablet that a reliable tipster predicted was coming in 2024.
Or it could only be a sign that Apple is simply doing basic research on this policy category.
That Apple keyboard looks mechanical but it's not. Photo: [email protected]
Mechanical keyboards are all the rage for those who love the old-school typing feel and don’t mind the clackety-clacking noise. Today’s featured MacBook Pro and Studio Display setup features an old Apple A1048, which certainly looks the part of a mechanical keeb (but it’s not).
Read on the learn more about Apple’s past keyboards that are mechanical — and some that only look like it.
Final Cut Pro for iPad's first update is here. Photo: Apple
Apple on Tuesday rolled out the first update for Final Cut Pro for iPad since its release in May this year. The v1.1 release adds support for new keyboard shortcuts and improves the app’s overall stability and performance.
Final Cut’s iPad version is not as feature-rich as its Mac version. Apple is working on reducing that gap, with the latest update taking a small step in achieving this.
You might not always have to charge six devices at once, but with this charging station, you can. Photo: ESR
ESR just launched a Kickstarter campaign for an unprecedented, Apple-certified 100-watt 6-in-1 charging station with GaN technology to juice up all your devices.
The company called the device — which can charge iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously — the “world’s first” of its kind. You can preorder it now at a 20% discount. And it may serve all your charging needs.
Apple Maps' use of 3D imagery led the way, but in other ways it trailed Google Maps. Photo: Apple
After its launch in 2012, Apple Maps performed so badly that Apple CEO Tim Cook actually apologized for the service and fired the company’s head of software (for the disastrous launch and other reasons). But now, many people actually choose Apple Maps over Google Maps and other services, according to a new report.
Basic Apple Guy's "Trip Around the Sun" wallpaper puts things in perspective. Photo: Basic Apple Guy
Mac maven Basic Apple Guy seemingly never stops creating gorgeous wallpapers you can download and put on your Apple screens — Mac, iPad and iPhone. Just in the past couple of weeks he’s made three beauties for you to try out.
Check out the images and see descriptions and links below.
The 15-inch MacBook Air is new but you can still find a discount on it, and other Apple products, in after-Prime Day sales. Photo: Apple
Although Amazon’s Prime Day is over, you have not missed your chance to save money on iPad, MacBook or AirPods. These Apple products are still on sale with enticing discounts.
But don’t wait — these deals could disappear at any time.
iOS 17 hasn’t quite come into focus yet. Photo: Cult of Mac
Apple just gave the general public access to the latest iOS 17 beta, but before you put it on your iPhone, the Cult of Mac staff has some warnings. We’ve used the betas for weeks, and while it’s gone well for some people, it’s been a dumpster fire for others.
Public betas for macOS Sonoma and iPadOS 17 are also available, and we also have comments for anyone thinking of putting those on their Mac or iPad.
Amazon's Prime Day event is a great time to find Apple deals. Here are the best we've tracked down so far. Photo: Brooke Cagle/Unsplash License/Modified by Cult of Mac
Looking for the absolute best Amazon Prime Day deals on Apple gear and accessories? Us too. In fact, the only thing we like more than Apple gear is a great deal on Apple gear.
So far we’ve found cheap MacBooks, AirTag competitors that cost less than $15 a pop, rock-bottom pricing on must-have software like Microsoft Office for Mac, and sweet deals that will save you hundreds on power banks and solar generators to keep your gear powered up. We even put together an inexpensive bundle that can add Apple CarPlay to your ride.
We’ll update this post as we continue to search for the best Prime Day deals — on Amazon and beyond.
An iPad with a beautiful OLED display should be out in under a year. Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Apple will upgrade the next iPad Pro with an OLED display in 2024, according to a market research firm. This is the latest in a long series of reports indicating that these top-tier tablets are moving beyond traditional LED screens.
However, the same source indicates that the first MacBook with OLED won‘t be out before 2027.
Yes, it’s a 10-year-old tablet that recently aged out onto Apple’s obsolete list. However, it’s still got a beautiful Retina screen that makes it great for many things, including watching videos. It’s great for kids, and you can’t beat the pricing on this bundle, which also includes some extra perks in addition to the two main items.
Don’t sit on this deal, though. There’s a limited quantity available. And even if the bundle doesn’t sell out, this limited-time offer expires July 14 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.
Deep Field transforms kids’ drawings to 3D with AR and iPad. Photo: Apple
With all the buzz about its upcoming Vision Pro augmented-reality headset, Apple sent out a reminder that iPad Pro also has AR capabilities. The tablet powers Deep Field, an application that lets children use an Apple Pencil to draw plants inspired by works of art, and have their creations rendered into 3D via the magic of augmented reality.
Insta360's new Go 3 action camera shoots by itself, but also fits into its Action Pod for charging and use with a flip LED screen. Photo: Insta360
People love shooting video with their iPhones, but action cameras are gaining in popularity as they get smaller and even easier to stick on a ski helmet or bicycle handlebars.
Case in point: Insta360 just released its Go 3 action camera, which is about the size of your thumb when detached from its remote charging pod with flip LED screen.
The iPad's slender bezels won't make drawing a challenge any more with Darkboard. Photo: Astropad
The Astropad Darkboard is a new lightweight, ergonomic drawing surface for iPad. It gives artists a place to rest their arm while drawing without covering the tablet’s screen.
After a successful launch on Kickstarter, the product is now available worldwide.
Would you buy an iMac with a 30-inch+ display? Photo/Graphics: Apple/Rajesh
Aside from the inevitable iPhone refresh (and the headset everyone’s buzzing about), Apple reportedly has several other major new products lined up for launch in 2023 and the first half of 2024. This includes revamped iPad Pros with OLED displays, new Macs powered by a next-gen M3 processor and an upgrade to the Apple Watch Ultra.
Apple also is supposedly in the early stages of developing an iMac with a display that measures more than 30 inches.
Charge up to three devices at once from the new power bank's big 25,000mAh battery. Photo: Ugreen
Ugreen introduced its latest on-the-go charger for MacBooks and other gear Thursday. The new Ugreen 145W Power Bank offers fast charging and a rather large 25,000mAh battery capacity.
The company said, “the intelligent power bank can charge three devices simultaneously and even charge a 13-inch MacBook Air in just 90 minutes.” If you’re looking for the best GaN charger, check out this great option that provides high-speed charging in a compact design.
Almost every Apple computer just got operating system updates designed to deal with pesky bugs. Photo: Cult of Mac/Egor Kamelev/Pexels
Apple just introduced a slew of operating system updates. That includes iOS 16.5.1, macOS 13.4.1, watchOS 9.5.2 and iPadOS 16.5.1, which fix bugs in the most recent versions.
But it also released bug-fix updates for older versions of the operating systems going back as far as 2020.
What hasn’t yet arrived on Wednesday are the much-anticipated second round of betas for iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma.
Nine new subcategories of Podcasts with their own popularity charts help you narrow down the search. Photo: Apple
If you feel lost in a sea of podcasts without a paddle, Apple offered some new rowing implements Tuesday. After all, navigating podcasts can feel as hopeless as floundering among streaming TV shows and movies.
The company said Apple Podcasts will elevate nine “new and noteworthy” subcategories for browsing, plus related popularity charts and the new Podcasts by Language browsing tool.
Certain new iOS 17 features will not come to all iPhones capable of running the new OS. Photo: Apple
iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma are not big upgrades. However, they will bring plenty of little improvements that add up to a better experience on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Despite that, Apple dropped support for some older iPhones, iPads and Macs with its upcoming OS releases.
That’s only part of the disappointment equation, though. Several new features won’t work on older Apple gear, even though the devices can run the new operating systems.
Many of the new features in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 that won’t make it to older iPhones and iPads will go missing primarily because they are very resource-hungry. As for Macs, several macOS Sonoma features won’t come to Intel-based machines. This is sort of a given, since Apple switched to in-house chips that deliver better performance while maintaining ruthless power efficiency. The list of features not available on Intel Macs will only expand over time until Apple eventually drops support for them altogether.
Now that you the reasons for the omissions, here’s a rundown of new features in iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma that won’t work on older devices.
iPhone 14 is easier to disassemble than its predecessors, but Apple might have to go further. Photo: iFixit
The European Parliament passed sweeping legislation last week intended to make recycling batteries easier. The new rules will require Apple to redesign iPhone and iPad so their batteries can be replaced by users. (Android devices will face the same mandate.)
This will be the second major hardware change to Apple products to result from EU legislation. iPhones soon will come with a USB-C port in place of Lightning because of a European requirement.
It's pretty much all Apple here, with special appearance by other companies for recording and lighting purposes. Photo: [email protected]
The only reason today’s featured setup isn’t 100% Apple is that Cupertino doesn’t make its own condenser USB microphones, lighting or desks.
Literally everything else in the setup is from Apple, including a computing “hat trick” of desktop Mac, laptop Mac and Apple tablet, plus a second hat trick for peripherals, with an Apple display, Apple input devices and Apple audio.
