Apple rumor overload: 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, a curvy iMac and an iPad Mini price list

Monday is off to a flying start with a selection of new Apple rumors, including a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and an iPad Mini price list.

Monday is off to a flying start with several Apple rumors already “confirmed,” including a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display, a curvy iMac and an iPad Mini price list for good measure.

Let’s start with the big one. 9to5mac.com has heard from a “consistently reliable source” that Apple will introduced a Retina display-equipped 13-inch MacBook Pro during the iPad Mini’s launch event later this month. It will apparently be thinner and lighter, and offer different combinations of processors and storage options too.

Macrumors.com has found a few potential features for the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro on a Chinese website, which claims the smaller computer will still have two Thunderbolt ports, a USB port, a headphone socket, an HDMI-out and an SD card reader; just like its bigger brother. There’s also talk of an interesting battery design — although it’s not elaborated upon — and the report is accompanied by a couple of pictures that, frankly, could show absolutely anything.

Before we move on, it’s best to clarify that we’re talking about a product that doesn’t exist being launched at an event that hasn’t been announced for another non-existent product. That said, it’s logical for Apple to produce a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, but at the moment we don’t know when that will happen.

The curvy iMac rumors seems to originate from the same Chinese website, where it’s said that the new model will have a curved shell that’s something like “a water droplet,” which sounds more like Samsung’s design philosophy than Apple’s. Naturally, it too is going to arrive at the small “intimate” event apparently set for October 23.

iPad Mini prices

Finally, we’re onto the event’s main attraction, the iPad Mini. A picture supposedly showing a list of iPad Minis that will possibly be stocked by German electronics retailer MediaMarkt has been leaked, complete with prices and basic specs. In addition to the usual 16, 32 and 64GB models, an 8GB iPad Mini appears, each with the choice of a black or white finish, and either Wi-Fi only or “cellular” and Wi-Fi.

The most basic 8GB Wi-Fi iPad Mini is priced at 249 euros, and the top 64GB Wi-Fi with 3G or 4G at 649 euros. A quick currency conversion gives us $322 and $840 respectively, the latter of which will probably have seen wallets everywhere twitch nervously.

Just like all the other iPad Mini rumors, there’s no way to know if this is really a screenshot from MediaMarkt’s computer system, and equally we can’t take those prices as final either, as Apple’s US pricing is often lower than it’s European equivalent.

October 23 is one week away tomorrow, which means that if an event is to take place, Apple will start to send invitations out very soon. We really, really hope it does too; if only to put an end to these infernal iPad Mini rumors.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/13-inch-retina-macbook-pro-curvy-imac-and-ipad-mini-price-list-leaked/

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Selected Amazon Kindle Fire tablets go on sale in Europe, but are they enough to fight off the competition?

Amazon has launched a selection of its new Kindle Fire range of tablets in Europe, but it may not be enough to beat the competition.

Amazon has done a great job with its new Kindle Fire HD tablets, and an even better job of capturing the headlines, as the launch prompted everything from comparisons between the new tablet and its competitors, to much talk of how the aggressive pricing will hurt everyone from Apple to Microsoft.

At first glance, Amazon has announced a series of winning products, neatly avoided the thorny issue of advertising — sorry “special offers” — and is undoubtedly listening to the sound of virtual cash registers ringing right now.

However, that old Amazon problem — international distribution of its hardware — is still exactly that: A problem.

This stretches back to the original Kindle e-reader, which took a couple of generations to make it elsewhere in the world, and now continues with the Kindle Fire and most importantly, the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD.

Here’s the good news. Amazon has done the decent thing and launched the updated Kindle Fire in five international stores — the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. All these countries will also get the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD.

Pricing looks like this: The Kindle Fire will be sold for £129/159 Euros, the 16GB 7-inch Kindle Fire HD for £159/199 Euros, and the 32GB for £199/249 Euros. They’re all up for pre-order now, with a release date of October 25.

Limited international availability.

Notice anything about those lists? Right, there’s no 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, nor is there a new Kindle Paperwhite. Also missing is Canada, as it appears it won’t get any new devices at all, and Asia too.

While the Kindle Fire is cheap — and with a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution screen, it wants to be — it’s the Fire HD that will be most desired. Except, the 7-inch model isn’t really that desirable. It has a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and a dual-core processor, plus features regular folk won’t care about, such as dual-band, twin antenna Wi-Fi and Dolby Digital Plus.

Without the exciting 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD at the top of the list, will anyone be rushing to buy a 7-inch Fire over the Google Nexus 7? After all, the Nexus 7 is the same price and has the same screen size and resolution, a quad-core processor, the much-improved and completely un-abused Android 4.1 OS, no forced advertising, movie rentals, plus at the tap of a button, a free Kindle and Amazon app store app too. The Kindle Fire HD has twice the memory for the same price, but that’s all.

What’s more, the Nexus 7 is on sale in Canada and some European countries, and has been for a while, plus it has recently gone up for pre-order in parts of Asia.

Regarding the Kindle Paperwhite, which is exclusive to the US Amazon store at the moment, Kobo’s Glo will become even more tempting to international buyers now.

This will inevitably all change in the future, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has made it clear that he wants to “get into as many places as we possibly can over time.” But for now, while Amazon is welcoming its US customers with open arms, it’s nudging its international customers into the equally welcoming arms of its competitors.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/amazon-kindle-fire-europe-uk-release/

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