New Apple Silicon Macs Arrive

Apple Silicon processors used in the iPad, iPhone and Watch have finally made it to the Mac. The benefits of having every Apple device use the same chipset made this transition inevitable.

All our Intel Macs will continue to perform flawlessly, but no more will be made.

Today, Apple revealed the first Macs running on the Apple Silicon M1 chip.

New Macs – What The M1 Brings To The Party

The first Macs using the M1 chip are the Macbook Pro 13″, Macbook Air and the Mac Mini.

On the outside, they don’t look that much different from the last generation, but on the inside it’s a whole different story.

The new M1 chip brings huge benefits. The technical reasons for this are fascinating… but what matters are the results.

Power – You can expect a noticable jump in both speed and responsiveness. The M1 chip gives a 3X gain in performance per watt compared to the last generation of Macs.

Integration – Expect what works on the iPad, iPhone and Watch to start showing up on the Mac. Moving information between devices will become a whole lot easier.

Battery Life – Moving to the M1 chip will lead to a giant leap in battery life for all Mac laptops. On one charge, the new Macbook Air can play back a staggering 18 hours of video.

Security – M1 and macOS Big Sur combine to provide better security than that available on any other personal computer.

Silence – These new chips run cooler and that means less fan noise. In the case of the Macbook Air… that means no fan at all 🙂

All new Macs are available today.

Amazingly, prices have not changed.

I would wait… a few weeks to see if any major problems crop up with software or hardware compatability.

This isn’t the first time Apple have dealt with this kind of transition and my guess is they’ll manage it well.

With that said, you can always expect some issues. Technology is a work in progress.

All these new Macs come with macOS Big Sur pre-installed. The rest of us will be able to download the new OS on Thursday, November 12th.

You can learn more about Big Sur here – What’s Coming Next From Apple? and on Apple’s website here – macOS Big Sur.

My advice is not to upgrade immediately. It’s best to wait until Apple rolls out the first few updates.

I recently posted a blog post that you should read if you want to upgrade to Big Sur and avoid nasty surprises.

If you read only one, read this – Top 5 Questions To Ask Before You Upgrade macOS