Better, Stronger, Faster, Thinner - Apple Reveals the New iPad Air

A new iPad announcement isn't exactly a shock, but Apple's new iPad Air is still quite impressive. As the name implies, the new tablet is both thinner and lighter than other full-sized iPads. The Air is 7.5 MM thick, only weighs one pound (as opposed to the iPad 4's 1.4 pounds), and features a 9.7" Retina display. It's pretty much the lightest full-sized tablet ever, so there's that. And this is with all the added features; such as a 5 MP iSight Camera, 1080p HD video, dual microphones, and improved backside illumination. It will also maintain the expected 10-hour battery life.

In addition, the iPad Air uses the new 64-bit A7 chip found in the iPhone 5s, along with an M7 motion coprocessor, making the CPU twice as fast as the iPad 4. This means big files will open noticeably faster, and games will perform even better. The WiFi has also received some TLC with the incorporation of MIMO technology that uses multiple antennas, which equates to faster overall speeds. Couple that with the expanded LTE coverage Apple also announced and we've got ourselves a party!

The iPad Air will be available in Silver/White and Space Gray/Black starting November 1 and set you back $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for the super-storage 64GB model. Although if $500~$700 still seems a bit steep for you, you'll still have the ability to get your hands on the iPad 2 for the standard price of $399 and up. Plus there's the iPad Mini, but we've got that covered in another post.

Seems pretty slick to me, but what do you all think? Will you be trading in your iPad 4 come November or would you rather stick with what you've got a little longer? If you don't already own an iPad, do you consider the iPad Air a good place to start? Chime in below and tell us what you think!