Video time again

Schiller: It's been really fun to watch the migration of the Retina Display.

Apple hasn't yet reported its most recent quarter, but research firm IDC last week said the company moved into the No. 5 ranking for global PC sales in the calendar third quarter. For the past several years, Apple has controlled a much smaller chunk of the market, but its sleek designs, such as the MacBook Air, have attracted customers.

The company now generates less than 15 percent of its revenue from Macs, but the devices help flesh out its family of products -- which are increasingly designed to work together.

Schiller: Last quarter, Mac grew 18% year over year why the rest of the industry didn't do as well. Our customers love their Macs

Schiller: As iPad continues to evolve and challenge what a computer can be, that challenges us to move those forward at the higher end. Let's talk about what's going on with the Mac. We have the best lineup we've ever had.

There are usually board members and top executives at the launches, as well as other friends of Apple. Al Gore, the former vice president who’s also an Apple board member, is speaking at the Salesforce Dreamforce conference in San Francisco today, so we don’t expect him here.

Because this is a smaller venue, it’s easier to see who’s actually here. There were lots of celebrities at the iPhone 6 event (including singer Gwen Stefani and musician Will.i.am, but because the auditorium was so big, I couldn’t see any of them from my seat. I did see Stefani and comedian Stephen Fry hanging out in the white cube demo area after last month’s keynote.

For the Macs, we’re expecting a new Mac Mini and an iMac desktop with a higher-resolution screen. Neither machines have been significantly updated in a few years, and these new models could be what Apple was hinting at in its invite when it said, “It’s been way too long.”

But don’t hold your breath for a bigger, so-called “iPad Pro” today. That probably won’t go on sale until next year -- at least that’s what we’re hearing from analysts.

In terms of the new 9.7-inch iPad, we’ll likely see a gold version that adds the TouchID fingerprint sensor already in the iPhone. We could also see an antireflective coating on the tablet, a faster processor and a thinner and lighter design.

Town Hall is a notable location and has a lot of history for Apple. But in terms of product news in recent times, it’s been used for what some consider the lesser events. Apple most recently used Town Hall for its iPhone 5S and 5C launch a year ago, and the iPhone 4S event in the fall of 2011. Those devices were incremental updates rather than the a major upgrade like the 4, 5 and 6.

We're getting the warning this will start soon.

There were posters outside the room of Steve Jobs, as well as a quote: "If you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should do do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what's next."

Apple is holding the event at the Town Hall auditorium at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. The venue seats a few hundred people, much less than the 2,000 or so present at the September launch of the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch at the Flint Performing Arts Center.

Scott Stein -- who reviews Apple devices, wearables and pretty much anything else you throw at him -- sadly is ill and couldn’t make it today. But stay tuned to CNET for his ongoing iPad and iPhone coverage.