Apple announces new Macs and silicon M1 chip, quicker than any other Mac
M1 Chip
Apple’s new silicon M1 chip has caused a storm online as early benchmark results reveal the M1 chip to be more powerful than we could have imagined.
Apple silicon emulating x86 is faster than every single other Mac in single core benchmark, and earns a multi-core benchmark of over 7500 in Cinebench and Geekbench results.
The M1 chip has beaten the likes of the intel 10-core i9 processor and 8-core i7 processors. It will be necessary to see how it performs in real world conditions.
The M1 chip uses a fraction of the power with much less wattage, making it more efficient than all competitors.
It does however have integrated graphics .. which we thought was a problem, until benchmarks were released. The M1 chip apparently beats dedicated graphics cards such as the GTX 1050 Ti and Radeon RX 560. Sure these aren’t the most beastly graphics cards, but for an integrated graphics card, that is seriously impressive.
MacBook Air
Apple announces new MacBook Air with a new ARM based M1 processor.
Apple has launched their new 2020 MacBook Air powered by their first ARM based processor designed for the Mac.
The new MacBook Air starts at $1,599AUD which is the same price as the previous 2018 MacBook Air. Apple is continuing to phase out their unreliable “Butterfly Keyboard” with a new “Magic Keyboard” which promises a more reliable key mechanism compared to the previous model, featuring the same 1mm of keyboard travel and inverted-T arrow keys of the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The new Air sports the brand new ARM based M1 processor (also found in the new 13” MacBook Pro and 2020 Mac Mini). The new processor boasts a 5-nanometer architecture with 16 billion transistors, offering 3.9x faster video processing and 7.1x faster image processing.
The new 8-core CPU offers 3.5x performance, complemented by an 8-core GPU boasting 5x performance. The new 5-nanometre architecture of the apple M1 processor offers 3x CPU performance per watt.
All of these improvements allow the Air to have up to 15 hours of battery life while browsing the web and up to 17 hours of movie playback. The M1 processor’s efficiency allows the new MacBook Air to have a fan-less design meaning it is completely silent when in use.
The MacBook Air offers up to 16GB of memory and up to 2TB of 2x faster SSD storage. For the price of $1,599AUD, Apple’s new MacBook Air offers improved performance, battery life and keyboard keys than its 2018 predecessor.
MacBook Pro
Apple announces new MacBook Pro with an all new powerful processor.
Apple has announced their first pro Mac that will be shipped with an ARM based processor.
The new MacBook Pro features the new ‘Magic Keyboard’ from the 16’ MacBook Pro, replacing the unreliable ‘Butterfly Keyboard’. The new keyboard promises a more reliable key mechanism with 1mm of travel and inverted-T arrow keys.
The new Pro sports the brand new ARM based M1 processor (also found in the new MacBook Air and 2020 Mac Mini). The new processor boasts a 5-nanometer architecture with 16 billion transistors, offering 3.9x faster video processing and 7.1x faster image processing.
The new 8-core CPU offers 3.5x performance, complemented by an 8-core GPU boasting 5x performance. The new 5-nanometre architecture of the apple M1 processor offers 3x CPU performance per watt. These efficiency improvements allow the MacBook Pro to feature up to 17 hours of battery life while browsing and up to 20 hours of movie playback.
The MacBook Pro offers up to 16GB of memory and up to 2TB of 2x faster SSD storage. For the price of $1,999AUD, Apple’s new MacBook Pro offers improved performance, battery life and keyboard keys than its 2018 predecessor.
Mac Mini
Apple announces new Mac Mini with M1 processor.
Apple’s new M1 processor is heading to the Mac Mini. This Mac is similar to the developer kit Apple sent to developers earlier this year. Apple claims the new Mac Mini performs three times faster than the previous generation.
Unfortunately, the new Mac Mini has only two USB4 ports instead of the 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports of its predecessor.
The USB4 ports allow the Mini to connect to the Pro Display XDR with 6K resolution. It will start at 1,099AUD and can be upgraded with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 2TB of internal storage.
More RAM would have been ideal, however, the M1 chip is that powerful and efficient that it will hopefully mean more RAM won’t be needed.
The Mac Mini is now available to order.
