iPhone 5C

Although the iPhone 5 had been a runaway success, there were some problems with the case bending, as well as battery issues with units built through January 2013 (see the iPhone 5 page for more details). The iPhone 5C was designed to address bending with its thicker plastic polycarbonate enclosure.

iPhone 5S

The iPhone 5S marked the beginning of 64-bit power. While the Android world was going with 4-core 32-bit processors, Apple raised the bar with its dual-core 64-bit A7, which has about twice the power of the A6.

11″ MacBook Air (Mid 2013)

The big breakthrough for the Mid 2013 MacBook Air (MBA) is improved battery life. The 11″ model is now rated at 9 hours in the field, a huge jump from the 2012 model. And if you don’t use your MBA regularly, it has 30 days of standby power.

13″ MacBook Air (Mid 2013)

The big breakthrough for the 2013 MacBook Air (MBA) is improved battery life. The 13″ model is now rated at 12 hours in the field, a huge jump from the 2012 model. And if you don’t use your MBA regularly, it has 30 days of standby power.

4th Generation iPad

Apple promoted the 4G iPad as having twice the performance, faster WiFi, and a new FaceTime HD camera. It was the first iPad with a Lightning connector, introduced with the iPhone 5 earlier in the year, and had improved 4G LTE support compared to the 3G iPad.

Mac mini Server (Late 2012)

The 2011 Mac mini Server was a normal Mac mini with two hard drives, a quad-core i7 CPU (vs. dual-core CPUs in regular Minis), and OS X Server installed. The 2012 Server is essentially the same as the top-end consumer model, but with OS X Server installed and two hard drives instead of one. You […]

Mac mini (Late 2012)

“Way more power” is Apple’s claim for the Late 2012 Mac mini, and that’s certainly true for the top-end quad-core i7-based model. It has the highest Geekbench score yet for a Mini at 10642 (vs. 6741 for last year’s 2.7 GHz dual-core i7 model), which is an impressive 58% better. However, at the entry level, […]

iMac (Late 2012)

Slimmer than ever, the Late 2012 iMac is the first iMac ever not to include a built-in optical drive. Apple has also managed to make the iMac’s glossy screen 75% less reflective than before.

iPhone 5

With the iPhone 5, Apple left behind the 3.5″ display every previous iPhone had used, replacing it with a taller (or wider – in landscape mode) 4″ screen displaying 1136 x 640 pixels, the same 16:9 aspect ratio of HD TV. That’s 18.3% more pixels.

5th Generation iPod touch

The 5G iPod touch uses the same 4″ widescreen display as the iPhone 5 and the same dual-core Apple A5 CPU as the iPhone 4S. It was also the first iPod touch available in colors other than black and white and the first to use the Lightning port.

11″ MacBook Air (Mid 2012)

For the first time, Apple has Macs with built-in USB 3.0 support. The improved USB specification is over 10x as fast as USB 2.0 and has half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt. There are already a lot of USB 3.0 drives on the market, and they are far more affordable than Thunderbolt drives. Best of all, […]

13″ MacBook Air (Mid 2012)

For the first time, Apple has Macs with built-in USB 3.0 support. The improved USB specification is over 10x as fast as USB 2.0 and has half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt. There are already a lot of USB 3.0 drives on the market, and they are far more affordable than Thunderbolt drives. Best of all, […]

15″ MacBook Pro (Mid 2012)

For the first time, Macs have built-in USB 3.0 support. The improved USB specification is over 10x as fast as USB 2.0 and has half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt. There are a lot of USB 3.0 drives on the market, and they are far more affordable than Thunderbolt drives. Best of all, Apple uses the […]

13″ MacBook Pro (Mid 2012)

This was the last of the 13″ MacBook Pro models with a 1280 x 800 pixel display. After this, Apple only made 13″ models with Retina Displays. This model was on the market from June 2012 until it was discontinued in October 2016, by which time its base price had dropped to $1,099. That is […]

MacBook Air (Mid 2012)

For the first time, Apple has Macs with built-in USB 3.0 support. The improved USB specification is over 10x as fast as USB 2.0 and has half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt. There are already a lot of USB 3.0 drives on the market, and they are far more affordable than Thunderbolt drives. Best of all, […]

3rd Generation iPad

In 2012, The New iPad – as Apple called it – got its first Retina Display with a 2048 x 1535 pixel screen. It also received a quad-core graphics processor as part of its dual-core A5X CPU. It is commonly known as the 3G iPad.

17″ MacBook Pro (Late 2011)

The Late 2011 MacBook Pros represented a small step forward from the Early 2011 models introduced just 8 months earlier. The 17″ model goes from 2.3 GHz to 2.4 GHz, a 9% improvement. This was also the last 17″ MacBook Pro; it was discontinued in June 2012.

15″ MacBook Pro (Late 2011)

The Late 2011 MacBook Pros represent a small step forward from the Early 2011 models introduced 8 months earlier. The 15″ model advances from 2.0 GHz to 2.2 GHz, a 10% speed bump. The top-end version goes from 2.2 GHz to 2.4 GHz, a 9% improvement.

13″ MacBook Pro (Late 2011)

The Late 2011 MacBook Pros represent a small step forward from the Early 2011 models introduced 8 months earlier. The 13″ model advances from 2.3 GHz to 2.4 GHz, a relatively insignificant 4.3% speed bump. The top-end version goes from 2.7 GHz to 2.8 GHz, an even less impressive 3.7% improvement.

iPhone 4S

The iPhone 4S looks like the iPhone 4, but there are a lot of differences under the hood. Hardware includes Apple’s dual-core A5 processor, superior graphics, and support for both GSM and CDMA networks. And to top it off, there’s Siri.

iMac for Education (Late 2011)

This version of the Mid 2011 iMac is stripped back and only available to educational institutions; it is not available for sale to individuals. To cut $200 and make this a $999 computer, Apple scaled back from a 2.6 GHz quad-core i5 CPU to a 3.1 GHz dual-core i3, removed the Thunderbolt port, and reduced […]