Apple has announced its first wave of next-generation Mac models powered by the all-new M1 custom silicon chip, which delivers up to 3.5x faster CPU, up to 6x faster GPU, up to 15x faster machine learning (ML) capabilities, and battery life up to 2x longer than before.
As expected, Apple has started its transition to custom silicon for the Mac, something it says will take years to complete.
This run-through goes over everything Apple announced at its “One more thing” special event.
M1
Apple has unveiled M1, its first chip designed specifically for the Mac.
M1 is the first personal computer chip built using 5-nanometer process technology, packed with 16 billion transistors, the most Apple has ever put into a chip. It features the world’s fastest CPU core in low-power silicon, the world’s best CPU performance per watt, the world’s fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer.
Image: Apple
M1 delivers up to 3.5x faster CPU performance, up to 6x faster GPU performance, and up to 15x faster machine learning, while offering battery life up to 2x longer than previous-generation Macs.
The new M1 chip is built on the same five-nanometer process as the A14 Bionic chip, and supports Thunderbolt and USB 4.
MacBook Air
Starting with the MacBook Air, Apple’s most popular Mac, the company announced its next-generation, which has an 8-core CPU which performs up to 3.5x faster than the previous generation. With up to an 8-core GPU, graphics are up to 5x faster, and the M1 chip’s storage controller and latest flash technology deliver up to 2x faster SSD performance.
The new MacBook Air with M1 is faster than the chips in 98 percent of PC laptops sold in the past year, according to Apple. With the new MacBook Air, Apple has removed the fan, which means no matter what users are doing, it remains completely silent.
Image: Apple
The new MacBook Air features up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours of video playback — the longest battery life ever on a MacBook Air.
The machine is priced from $999 (US) and $899 (US) for education. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options, and accessories are available online now.
Mac mini
In a surprise update, Apple has also refreshed the Mac mini by including the new M1 chip, which brings an 8-core CPU with up to 3x faster performance than the previous generation. The overall design of the Mac mini is unchanged, but inside an 8-core GPU delivers up to a 6x increase in graphics performance, and when compared to the best-selling Windows desktop in its price range, the Mac mini is just one-tenth the size and delivers up to 5x faster performance.
Image: Apple
The machine received a price reduction, now starting at $699, $100 less than the previous-generation quad-core model.
MacBook Pro
Apple has supercharged the MacBook Pro, launching as the world’s fastest compact pro notebook, thanks to the all-new M1 silicon chip which features an 8-core CPU, which when paired with the MacBook Pro’s active cooling system, is up to 2.8x faster than the previous generation.
The 8-core GPU is up to 5x faster, making it 3x faster than the best-selling Windows laptop in its class.
Like the rest of Apple’s new Macs, the MacBook Pro with M1 hasn’t had any design changes, despite rumors which suggested the machine may get a screen size increase to 14.1-inches. Apple touts that customers will see ML tasks in Create ML up to 11x faster, as well as builds in Xcode being up to 2.8x faster.
Image: Apple
The new MacBook Pro is priced at $1,299, and $1,199 for education, with Apple describing it as the “ultimate expression of what the M1 chip can do.”
macOS Big Sur
The update features an all-new design, the biggest Safari update ever, improvements to Maps and Messages, and much more.
Apple has announced that it has optimized all of its Mac apps for M1, including developer technologies. Users who run apps on M1 machines that haven’t been optimized will still be able to use them with Apple’s Rosetta 2 technology.