We all knew the iPad mini was coming.  It may have been the worst kept secret in technology.  What we didn’t know was that Apple had a lot more up their sleeves in Cupertino.  The refresh on the normal iPad with the A6x chip was really a no-brainer.  They released the iPhone with the new chip so it makes sense to put out a new version of the iPad with it at the same price point as the iPad 3.  It’s not as much a re-design and a new device as it is an update for their flagship device- the one not yet having had its margins squeezed hard like the iPhone- out for the holiday season.

I’m not an Apple guy.  At this point I’m not sure what kinda guy I am with a Windows 7 notebook for more things while I type this on my 4 year old desktop running Gnome 3.4 on top of Ubuntu 12.04.  But, I must say I’m most impressed, this time through, with their updated iMacs.  Very thin, very good looking pieces of kit at an almost reasonable price starting at $1300 for a 21″ model.

With the slew of Windows 8 devices ready to hit the stores on Friday and reports of Microsoft selling out Surface RT tablets and Best Buy pre-selling all of their Nokia Lumia 920′s this was a necessary product refresh by Apple to fight for the biggest slice of the holiday pie they could while blunting any potential momentum that Microsoft may gain between now and Black Friday.