🔥New Apple Hardware: What You Need to Know

Details on the new iPad Air, iPad, MacBook Air, and Mac Studio

March 06, 2025

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Hey there!

Tim Cook teased it and then Apple brought the goods this week.

The iPad Air and iPad were updated on Tuesday, along with an updated Magic Keyboard for iPad Air. Then on Wednesday, Apple dropped updated MacBook Air and Mac Studio models.

What exactly did we get? Let’s take a look.

1️⃣ iPad Air with M3 Chip

Image: Apple

The headline: A spec bump for the best iPad for most people.

  • M3 chip

  • Four colors: Space Gray, Blue, Purple, and Starlight

  • 11” or 13” Liquid Retina Display

  • Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

  • Apple Intelligence support

  • Battery life: Up to 10 hours surfing the web on Wi-Fi; 9 hours on cellular network

  • USB-C

  • Still Touch ID 🙄

  • Supports Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C)

  • Compatible with the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air

  • 11” model: From $599 Wi-Fi/$749 cellular with 128GB

  • 13” model: From $799 Wi-Fi/$949 cellular with 128GB

  • Pre-order now, available starting March 12

The updated Magic Keyboard for iPad Air is $269 for the 11” model and $319 for the 13” model.

2️⃣ iPad with A16 Chip

The takeaway: Storage now starts at 128GB, up from a weak 64GB previously.

  • A16 chip

  • Four colors: Silver, Blue, Pink, and Yellow

  • 11” Liquid Retina Display

  • Apple Intelligence is not available on this iPad

  • Battery life: Up to 10 hours surfing the web on Wi-Fi; 9 hours on cellular network

  • USB-C

  • Still Touch ID 🙄

  • Supports Apple Pencil (USB-C) and Apple Pencil (1st gen)

  • Compatible with Magic Keyboard Folio

  • Wi-Fi Only: 128GB $349, 256GB $449, 512GB $649

  • Wi-Fi/Cellular: 128GB $499, 256GB $599, 512GB $799

  • Pre-order now, available starting March 12

Apple Intelligence isn’t very good right now, but it’s still lame the new iPad doesn’t support it. We’ll deploy 1,000 of these to our students this year, and it would have been nice to have it for them. Double the starting storage is a win, though.

Time to move on from Touch ID?

I’m ready for Apple to completely drop Touch ID, but I know some people love it and prefer it over Face ID. What’s your fancy? Leave a comment and let me know why.

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3️⃣ MacBook Air with M4 Chip

Image: Apple

The headline: New lower starting price and a new Sky Blue color.

  • M4 chip

  • Four colors: Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, and Midnight

  • 13” or 15” Liquid Retina Display

  • Starts at 16GB unified memory, max is 32GB

  • Storage starts at 256GB, max is 2TB

  • Battery Life: Up to 18 hours; and fast charging up to 50% in 30 minutes with the 70W power adapter

  • Connect up to two displays and continue using the built-in display (new)

  • Starts at $999 for the 13” model, and the 15” model starts at $1199

  • Pre-order now, available starting March 12

Price starts at $899 for education. I recommend adding the $20 70W power adapter to take advantage of fast charging.

4️⃣ Mac Studio

Image: Apple

The takeaway: Slightly confusing chip numbering, but a powerhouse of a Mac.

M4 is greater than M3 unless we’re talking about Max vs Ultra; in that case, the new M3 Ultra is greater than the M4 Max. Got it? No? Let’s break it down.

M4 Max:

  • Chip: Starts at 14-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 410GB/sec memory bandwidth

  • Unified memory: starts at 36GB, max is 128GB

  • Storage: starts at 512GB, max is 8TB

  • Displays: simultaneous support for up to five displays

  • Rear Ports: Four Thunderbolt 5 ports, 10Gb ethernet, two USB-A, HDMI, headphone

  • Front Ports: Two USB-C ports (up to 10Gb/s), SDXC card slot

M3 Ultra:

  • Chip: Starts at 28-core CPU, 60-core GPU, 819GB/sec memory bandwidth

  • Unified memory: starts at 96GB, max is 512GB

  • Storage: starts at 1TB, max is 16TB

  • Displays: simultaneous support for up to eight displays

  • Rear Ports: Four Thunderbolt 5 ports, 10Gb ethernet, two USB-A, HDMI, headphone

  • Front Ports: Two Thunderbolt 5 ports (up to 120Gb/sec), SDXC card slot

The Mac Studio M4 Max starts at $1999 while the M3 Ultra starts at $3999.

🎯 Tip: If you’re eligible, you can save some decent cash on your Apple hardware purchases by shopping on the Apple Education Store: https://www.apple.com/us-edu/store

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