Macworld UK May 2020

Apple isn’t cancelling its annual Worldwide Developers Conference this year, but it is changing the format. According to a statement, Apple will hold WWDC 2020 online in order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In the statement, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller referred to the pandemic as the “current health situation”. He also said Apple aimed to create a “new WWDC 2020 format that delivers a full programme with an online keynote and sessions, offering a great learning experience for our entire developer community, all around the world”. Schiller did not specify the actual dates, but he confirmed that the event would be held in June as usual. In our event calendar, we speculate that the most likely dates for the event are June 1-5 or 8-12 in…

Apple still has plenty left in store for iOS 13 before moving on to iOS 14. iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 add significant new features. For iPad users, you’ll get new support for bluetooth keyboards and trackpads, making productivity tasks a lot easier. Developers can now publish apps and in-app purchases as ‘universal purchases’ that work across Mac, iPad and iPhone. And iCloud folder sharing is finally here. Mouse and trackpad support In an unexpected surprise, Apple is adding mouse and trackpad support to all iPads starting with iOS 13.4. The feature was widely expected to be a part of iOS 14 in the autumn, but it’s already ready to go. The feature is marketed for the new iPad Pro and it’s Magic Keyboard (which will be available in May),…

Even in these trying times, it’s good to have something to look forward to. The recent release of new models of the iPad Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini and Powerbeats may be small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but they at least give us a distraction from everything else that’s going on. More than that, though, they may be the first real indication of Apple’s behaviour during this current world situation. Not just in terms of the products that the company is delivering, but how it’s prepared to deliver them. Because the Apple that we’ve all become accustomed to watching, the one that has the business of product releases down to a science, has to deal with these major upheavals like the rest of us, and that means…

There might not be any retail stores to visit for a while, but that’s not slowing Apple’s roll. It has launched a brand new MacBook Air with more storage, more speed, and a better keyboard, all for hundreds of pounds less than the current model. With a 10th-generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processor, Apple claims the new MacBook Air delivers “up to two times faster CPU performance and up to 80 percent faster graphics performance” than the previous MacBook Air. Both base models have lower clock speeds than their predecessors (1.1GHz vs 1.6GHz), but the new chip architecture, Intel Iris Plus Graphics and LPDDR4X memory should deliver a noticeable boost. In addition to the faster chip, Apple has also doubled the storage across the board to 256GB and 512GB…

When we reviewed the 2018 MacBook Air – a newly renovated version of what had been an aging laptop – we found it to be good, but not great. It brought the venerable ultraportable up to modern times with a Retina display and Thunderbolt 3, but it also ratcheted up the price, switched to a disappointing CPU, made the keyboard a lot worse, and tossed aside USB-A and MagSafe. With the revision of the MacBook Air, it seems that Apple is listening... at least a little. It addresses several of our biggest gripes with the previous model, though not all of them. An important CPU leap In reviewing Apple’s 2018 MacBook Air, I lamented that the company went from a CPU with a 15-watt TDP (thermal design power) to one…

The Mac mini is Apple’s smallest desktop Mac. It may not be as fast as Apple’s other desktop computers – the iMac and the Mac Pro – but it remains fast enough for general-purpose use, and even for pro apps. The Mac mini not only appeals to first-time Mac users, but long-time Mac users like the price and use the Mac mini as a server or an entertainment Mac connected to a TV. Apple increases the storage Apple updated the Mac mini on 18 March with increased PCIe-based SSDs in the standard configurations. The £799 model now includes 256GB (up from 128GB), and the £1,099 model has 512GB (up from 256GB). Everything else about the new Mac mini is the same as when it was released in October 2018. If…