Apple's Spring Forward Event

Spring may not have yet sprung, but Apple's "Spring Forward" event last Monday had many eager to dial their watches forward. Apple's "Spring Forward" event was held on Monday, March 9th. The event was dubbed the Apple Watch event, where Apple would showcase new details on pricing, features, and battery life of is upcoming wearable. However, Apple rarely dedicates time and effort to just one product. The Spring Forward event introduced the audience to details on the iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, Macs and more.

Watch

The centerpiece for the event was, of course, the Apple Watch.Apple recapped many features announced back in September, along with hands on demos and an interview with a marathon runner about how the Apple Watch helps her train.

Details on battery life and pricing were announced at the event, both topics which were hotly debated online. The Apple Watch will boast an 18-hour long charge before needing to be re-charged overnight. The Watch will come in two sizes, 38mm and 42mm, and will be available in three different models.

Watch Sport

The Apple Watch Sport boasts a lightweight anodised aluminium case in silver and space grey with Ion-X glass with a variety of durable, colourful straps. The Watch Sport will be available for between $349 - $399.

Watch

The Apple Watch features highly polished stainless steel and space black stainless steel cases, protected by sapphire crystal. The Apple Watch comes with a choice of three leather straps, a stainless steel link bracelet, Milanese loop or a black or white sport band. The Apple Watch will be available for between $549 - $599.

Watch Edition

The Watch Edition is the most sought after collection, boasting a custom 18 carat gold body that’s twice the strength of normal gold. It’s partnered with uniquely designed straps with 18 carat gold clasps. That level of craftsmanship is reflected in the price though, as the Watch Edition starts at $10,000 and can escalate to $17,000.

Apple Watch will be able to available to preorder on April 10th, and will ship on April 24th. With two sizes, three different variations and a multitude of bands to choose from, there's an Apple Watch for you.

12" Retina Macbook

Apple announced a brand new MacBook, not a redesigned MacBook Air as rumours suggested. Every part in the new MacBook was redesigned in order to create a notebook that weighs 2 pounds and is only 13.1mm thin (24 percent thinner than the MacBook Air). As well as it being extraordinarily thin, the new MacBook comes packing a 12” retina display that’s also the thinnest display ever used on a Mac.

The most impressive feature may be the new Force Touch trackpad that brings you a new level of interactivity with your Mac. Similarly to how Force Touch works on the Apple Watch, you can set custom actions for a force touch on your Mac. If you force touch an address, it should open the Maps app and search for the address, for example. It also has a built in Taptic engine that gives you varying levels of feedback that are dependent on the interaction.

To make the new MacBook as thin as possible, Apple opted for the more compact USB-C port. The USB-C port doesn’t just deal with data transfer but also video out and charging. While there may be a need for adapters at the moment, Apple reassured the audience that other companies would adopt the hardware soon.

For the first time ever, there’s a variety of MacBook finishes to choose from – Silver, Space Grey and Gold, just like the iPad Air and iPhone 6. 

They’ll be available to buy from Friday 10 April, with prices starting at $1,299.

Macbook Refresh

Alongside the 12" Macbook, Apple quietly upgraded its existing Macbook lineup.

The early 2015 Macbook Air features improved Intel Broadwell processors, faster flash storage, faster graphics and an upgraded Thunderbolt 2 port. These apply to both 11" and 13" models.

The 13" Macbook Pro receives the same Intel Broadwell processor upgrades as the Air and also features the enhanced Force Touch haptic touchpad introduced with the 12" Macbook.

Apple TV

Apple also announced a new pricing point for the "hobby" streamer box. The Apple TV now starts at $69, rather than $99.

While not an Apple product, the CEO of HBO announced plans to partner with Apple and release its exclusive service HBO Now on Apple devices. Users with Apple TVs and iOS devices can subscribe for the service for $14.99 a month starting in April. Users who subscribe will get the first month free. Users will be able to sign up for HBO Now just in time for the season premiere of Game of Thrones on April 14th.

You can look up pricing and specs for all these new products at Apple.