What They Say
Apple has launched three new Macs that use its own chips, rather than those of Intel, which it has used since 2006. The architecture will be based on Arm technology. Arm, of course, is in the process of (probably) being acquired by Nvidia. The chips are reported to be fabricated by TSMC.
The 8 core M1 chip has 16 billion transistors and the 13.3″ MacBook Air is fanless and has a claimed 18 hours of battery life. The MacBook Pro gets to 20 hours and the Mac Mini is claimed to have 3X performance. The MacBook Pro (13.3″) has a 2560 x 1600 IPS LCD with 500 cd/m²/P3 and can support an external 6K/60Hz display. It also supports Wi-Fi 6 and USB 4.0 with Thunderbolt. There is a higher priced option to choose Intel processors for the 13″ Pro version launched in May. The 16″continues to use Intel processors and has a 3072×1920 IPS display.
What We Think
Apple, in its early days, used Motorola chips rather than Intel’s X86 architecture. Clearly, having its own chips means that the firm can push its technology in the directions it wants, as long as it is confident that it can stay at least up to the mark with Intel’s performance and steady progress. The x86 architecture, from Intel and AMD has used its volume and technology to now control the console market as well as PCs. It will be a challenge for Apple to get all the applications that it wants to work on an Arm architecture. It’s own key developers will, of course, make sure that they have native versions of software that can exploit the Apple chips. However, if they have to use an emulation layer, apps may lose performance. (BR)
