So the time is finally upon us. Apple finally shows us what they’ve been working on during the “One More Thing” event that was held today. Today Apple unveiled a new lineup of Mac computers that feature their new chipset dubbed Apple M1. The rumors floated around for months prior to Apple making the official announcement back in June during WWDC 2020. Stepping away from the traditional Intel-based processors they’ve been using for years.
It all starts with the MacBook Air, the first device announced with the new silicon. The M1 chip in the new MacBook Air features eight CPU cores, seven GPU cores and 16 neural engine cores. Although it isn’t noticeable the design of the MacBook Air is slightly different. We get a new fan-less design but with a similar chassis to the previous generation MacBook Air. The performance upgrades are big here with a 3.5x boost in CPU performance over the previous generation and a 5x increase in graphics performance. The 13” MacBook Air configuration options get a bump too. Now with a configurable 16GB of memory, up to 2TB of SSD storage and a whopping 18 hours of battery life. It’ll start at $999 USD base configured with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
The next in the lineup is the lesser known Mac Mini desktop computer. Which will also feature the new M1 architecture. This gives the Mac Mini claims of 3x faster CPU and 6x faster GPU performance compared to its predecessor. You won’t find any aesthetic changes here either. It looks exactly the same as the 2020 model that came before it. Okay, now the Mac Mini was always a silent computer. We use a lot of them here at WAVYPACK but during Apple’s event they claimed they’ll be even more quite due to the efficiency of the M1 chip. We’ll have to test that to see for sure. The base configuration comes with 8GB of “unified memory” and a 256GB of SSD storage. As a plus we also get support for Apple’s 6K Pro Display XDR and more for a solid price of $699 USD.
They of course saved the best for last with a “one more thing” type of announcement. A M1-enabled MacBook Pro. The 13” MacBook Air gets the same treatment the MacBook Air got. Except it gets the Pro treatment you’d expect from a professional grade notebook. With the new M1 there’s no need for discreet graphics chip. So this means all MacBook Pro 13” will continue the trend with integrated graphics, but now with eight powerful cores. There’s no new design here unfortunately which means we get the same active cooling system but now it allows for 2.8x faster CPU processing and up to 5x faster graphics. What blew us away was the battery life claims. Apple claims the M1 MacBook Pro will allow up to 20 hours of video playback performance, 10 hours more than the previous generation!
With M1 and Mac OS, Big Sur. Apple users can now run iPhone and iPad apps natively on desktop/laptop hardware. Furthermore, if you still have intel-chipset-reliant apps. The M1 chip will be able to run them via Rosetta 2, which is a binary conversion application that will help with the transition from Intel to M1. The M1 MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro 13” are all available to order now, with units shipping November 17. Mac OS Big Sur will release on November 12.
