Apple October 2018 launch: the new iPad and MacBook as it happened

10.27 - Every Mac Mini will have SSD storage up to 2TB, the T2 chip and a new thermal management system. In terms of ports, Ethernet, four Thunderbolt 3, Two USB and something else that I missed because I accidentally spelled it Thunderboop and had to correct it.

More behind the scenes facts, there. But the beginning spec will be 8GB of RAM, and starts at $799. It can go up to a 6-core i7, 10Gbps Ethernet, and 64GB RAM too.

It'll be available to order today and the Mac Mini release date is November 7. 

The case is made out of the 100% aluminum again - although only 60% recycled plastic.

YES SOMEONE SCREENGRABBED THE FACTS FOR ME.

YES SOMEONE SCREENGRABBED THE FACTS FOR ME.

10.23 - There's a Space Gray finish for the new Mini - it's going to have more power, so every device starts with four cores. 

It's also getting six cores as an option. 8th generation CPUs and 60% faster graphics performance, making it five times faster than before.

It'll go up to 64GB of memory if you need it - 2666MHz and SO-DIMMs.

10.21 - Tim is back - what's going to be next? The fact we're in the Mac section says something. I think it's going to be the Mac Mini...

Does Apple not know how scary it is to grab previews of all these products at once? People get very pokey trying to get pictures.

We're watching a video of the new Mac Mini landing now... literally. Plenty of small jokes.

10.17 - Now we're ragging on aluminum - Apple's designed an aluminum alloy that uses excess materials, and every MacBook air will be made from 100% recycled aluminum. People lost their minds over that.

That aluminum is 're-engineered down to the atomic level'. OK.

It'll come with 8GB of memory, and will start at $1199. You'll be able to order it today and it'll be on the shelves from November 7.

10.14 - There's going to be TouchID, a better Force Touch trackpad, better backlit keys, and basically a lot of the features you'll have seen in recent MacBook Pro launches.

Audio us getting better, with 25% louder speakers, and improved bass (twice as good, apparently) and a three microphone array to make it easy to hear Siri.

There's two Thunderbolt ports to connect to all kinds of things, and a dual-core i5 CPI, and up to 16GB of 2133MHz memory too.

There's support for up to 1.5TB SSDs too. But we're more into the more stable butterfly keys - four times better, in fact. There's also 13 hours of iTunes move playback too. Note the 'iTunes' element there.

The new MacBook Air is 17% smaller too, in terms of volume. Which it should, after all this time, and it's 10% thinner at 15.6mm too.

10.12 - We're hearing about the new device - with a display that goes right to the edge of the enclosure and features a 13.3-inch display, with four times the resolution with over 4 million pixels.

10.10 - I literally can only see half of what's happening behind this camera.

10:07 - AAAAAAAAAND we're getting a new Macbook Air.

Just a load of chat now about why the Air is the best thing ever made and how Steve took it out of an envelope.

But it's time for a new MacBook Air. The room just went wild at hearing that.

He is really pumping the crowd right now. 'What we all want in a MacBook Air... a RETINA DISPLAY!'

I swear someone just fainted at hearing that.

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10:04 - We're now hearing about how much people love the Mac. And how well people make so many great things with it.

According to Tim, 51% of Mac users are new customers, with 76% in China. That's a 100 million active user install base. But does it mean that's good for market share?

Behind the scenes Gareth-Chat: there's a flipping camera right in front of my face. It's mostly what I can see, allowing you people to have a clear live stream.

Not all heroes wear capes.

10:01 - Everyone has been banging on about there different Apple logo designs for days. See if you can spot my favorite, with the cheeky face.

OK, we're starting with the Mac. A bit of chat about how much Apple likes New York, and we're right into the meat of this thing today.

Man, I would love it if this whole thing was 10 minutes long.

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10:00  - It's game time - Tim Cook is on stage and everyone is going BONKERS. Seriously, who is in this room? His entire extended family? It's going on for ages! Does he have sweets?

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9:50 - We're all ready for it to kick off now. Hold on to your hats...

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9:25 - We're now in and sat down at the Apple event. What you can see above is where Tim Cook will be standing in around half an hour's time. The excitement is building in here.

9:04 - We're inside! It's warmer here, and getting increasingly busy...

8:53 - The crowd is growing for the event, which is only just over an hour away! Will we see a new iPad Pro? Perhaps some MacBooks or a refreshed Mac mini? Not long to wait to find out!

8:36 - Here's a glimpse of our Senior Editor of Mobile & Buying Guides, Matt Swider, post-burrito and looking excited for the Apple Event.

8:26 - Look where we are! We're outside where Apple will be holding the event, and it's cold. Very cold. But, Apple have kindly given us breakfast burritos to keep us warm.

7:55 - Tim Cook is awake... well, it's more than likely he has been up and at 'em for the last few hours but he has now tweeted. Below you can see an image of the event hall in New York.

As always, there's no clear messaging in his image or tweet that suggests what exactly we'll see in the next few hours. There's no fooling us though Tim, we know it's set to be iPads and MacBooks.

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6:30 - It's worth reminding you now that you can watch the launch later through a variety of livestreams from Apple. You can use Safari, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox and even Twitter to watch the launch.

Here's our guide on how to watch the Apple launch, but be sure to keep this live blog open too so you can read alongside while you're watching it.

6:20 - OK, we're up and ready to go. This is being written from the UK, but our US team is going to be out of bed very soon to shower, and more importantly eat, ahead of today's big launch.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.