By Tatler Thailand November 23, 2020
On November 10, Apple hosted ‘One More Thing’, a virtual event unveiling more new gadgets from the tech company on top of the recent launches of the new iPhone 12 and Home Pod mini. The biggest news from the live reveal was the announcement of the tech giant’s first homemade chip for the latest models of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini.
Below is a recap of all the new products from Apple as well as the full video recording of the event in case you want the full rerun.
Unlike Apple’s iPhones and iPads, which have been using their own chips for years, Mac computers use Intel chips—but that’s about the change. The M1 chip is introduced after years of trial and error, to be used with Macs. The new chip promises incredible performance, custom technology and revolutionary power efficiency. Combining together the processor, I/O, security and memory in one chip, the innovation can pack 16 billion transistors and is the first of its kind to be made form 5-nanometre process technology. The observable result for users is increased battery life, CPU performance and faster-integrated graphics.
From now on, you will be able to open a wider range of applications on your Macs with the support of universal apps. Thanks to Apple’s new Rosetta 2, developers can transition iOS apps to both M1 and Intel Macs. Now that M1-based devices are able to run apps designed for the Intel chips, you can access all apps on Mac seamlessly. Here’s what Apple’s developer page says about the upgrade: “Rosetta is meant to ease the transition to Apple silicon, giving you time to create a universal binary for your app. It is not a substitute for creating a native version of your app.”
First mentioned back in June, Big Sur is Apple’s macOS 11.0 update, which was released on November 12. It is the first macOS to support Apple’s new M1 chip. Users can get the new update and customise via the new Control Centre, accessing more privacy-focused features like the password monitoring tool. Additional upgrades include faster Safari, smoother translations and transparent privacy reports.
Another release is the new 8-core M1-powered MacBook Air with longer battery life that works 3.5 times faster than its predecessor. The fanless, thinner and lighter model promises up to 15 hours of battery life when browsing the web and 18 hours of video binge-watching.
With the same appearance as the previous models, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro still features the TouchID, Wifi 6 and TouchBar. What’s different is M1, which promises up to 2.8 CPU performance and five times the graphic speed. Also supporting up to 2TB SSD storage and 16GB of memory, the new model allows you to browse the internet for up to 17 hours or 20 hours of video playback.
The M1 chip will also unlock greater efficiency for the Mac mini. The CPU now works three times faster,r and the machine now supports an 8-core GPU. With two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, a headphone jack, HDMI 2.0 and gigabit ethernet, the Mac mini will support up to 2TB SSD and up to 16GB of memory.
