Top stories: iPad Pro with Thunderbolt ?, Intel makes fun of M1 Macs, iMac Pro is officially discontinued

We’ve been through mid-March with no sign of an Apple media event, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see an event or just some product launches in the press release in the coming weeks, as rumors about future products continue to circulate.

Perhaps this week’s biggest news topic was Justin Long in Apple’s “Get a Mac” ad more than a decade ago, who starred in a new campaign by Intel promoting Windows machines. based on the company’s processors, superior to Apple’s new M1-based Macs. Check out our video above and read below for details on these stories and more!

iPad Pro with Thunderbolt port and Mini-LED display coming “since April”

BloombergMark Gurman reported this week that Apple plans to announce new iPads “as early as April,” including new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models.

In particular, Gurman claimed that the new iPad Pro models could have a Thunderbolt port. This rumor certainly sounds plausible, as the new iPad Pro models are expected to be equipped with a faster A14X chip based on the M1 chip from the latest Macs, and the M1 chip supports Thunderbolt. And since Thunderbolt uses the USB-C connector design, the new iPad Pro models would still work with existing USB-C chargers and accessories.

As widely rumored, Gurman said that Apple wants to include Mini-LED backlighting on the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, at least suggesting that the display technology could be exclusive to the larger model.

Well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has given credence to this timeframe, claiming that mass production of Mini-LED iPads will begin in mid-to-late April. Kuo expects a new MacBook Air with a Mini-LED display and potentially a new iPad Air with an OLED display to follow in 2022.

Apple event in April? Recap of the latest rumors about iPad Pro, AirPods and AirTags

It was a month-long whirlwind for Apple rumors. First, I heard from leaker Jon Prosser that an Apple event was scheduled for March 16, but was later ruled out by BloombergMark Gurman. Once the date passed, Prosser and other leakers suggested that an Apple event would take place on March 23, which doesn’t seem to be happening.

With the focus now shifting in April to potential Apple announcements, we’ve recapitulated the latest rumors about the iPad Pro, AirPods and AirTags from sources such as Gurman and well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Beyond the new iPad models, the new products rumored to be underway by Apple include its long-awaited AirTags trackers, a new Apple TV with a stronger focus on gaming, new AirPods and AirPods Pro and more Macs Apple’s silicon, but some of these products are not expected until the second half of 2021.

Former “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long casts a shadow over M1 Macs in new Intel ad campaign

Justin Long, who starred in the iconic Apple ad campaign “Get a Mac” in the mid-2000s, turned against the Mac in a new Intel ad campaign.

Intel is trying to punch holes in Apple’s new M1 Macs, including their official support for a single external display (DisplayLink adapters can be used as a solution), support for a limited number of games, lack of a full touch screen, and more .

The Intel campaign has so far included a series of videos with Long, a website that compares the M1 chip to Intel processors and social media content, including a photo of Long holding several dongles in his hand.

The first M1 Macs received rave reviews, with the M1 MacBook surpassing a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i9 processor in Geekbench benchmarks.

The iMac Pro is officially discontinued, removed from the Apple website and is no longer available for purchase

Two weeks after Apple announced that it is discontinuing the iMac Pro and noted that orders will only be available during consumption, it seems that the latest generation all-in-one desktop has reached the end of the line. This week, Apple stopped taking orders for the car and removed it from the Mac section of the company’s website.

Apple recommends users looking for a high-end Mac choose the 27-inch iMac, which was last updated in August 2020. The current 27-inch iMac configured with a 10-core Core i9 processor is faster and more affordable than the standard ‌iMac Pro‌ with a 10-core Xeon W processor was. Apple is also expected to introduce a redesigned iMac based on Apple silicon chips later this year.

Hands-On: Kensington’s new $ 400 StudioDock for iPad Pro

Kensington, in February, began accepting pre-orders for the StudioDock docking station it launched for the iPad Pro, and now those StudioDock orders have begun to arrive to customers. We picked up one of the new StudioDocks to see if it’s worth the high purchase price for an iPad workflow.

Available for 11-inch iPad Pro, 12.9-inch iPad Pro and 10.9-inch iPad Air, StudioDock has a magnetic base on which a PiPad can be attached and can be used in either landscape or portrait mode. We have the 12.9-inch iPad Pro version and it looks like the Apple Display Pro XDR stand. Watch our practical video for our complete impressions.

IPhone 13 models will “probably” have “Touch ID” under the display

The iPhone 13 models, which will be launched later this year, will “probably” have a fingerprint scanner built into the display for authentication, in addition to Face ID, according to Barclays Research analyst Andrew Gardiner and three of his colleagues.

The “Touch ID” under-displayed for the iPhone has been rumored several times in recent years. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg and Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal also claimed that Apple is testing at least one fingerprint scanner under the display for iPhone 13 models, so time will tell if the feature makes the cut.

Apple has filed various fingerprint scanning patents under the display as part of research and development of this feature.

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