Technology
Apple says the new Arm-based M1 chip promises 'the longest battery life ever on a Mac'
Apple has unveiled a new M1 chip that will power the new line of Arm-based Macs. It's a 5 nm chip, much like the A14 Bionic powered its new iPhones, but it's the first one that Apple developed exclusively for the Mac. The new chip will power Apple's new MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro, which, according to Apple, promises "the longest battery life ever on a Mac."
Apple says the new processor would concentrate on balancing power consumption and output. It has an eight-core CPU, which Apple claims provides the world's highest CPU output per watt. Apple claims that it provides the same peak output as a standard laptop CPU at a quarter of the power draw. It claims it has four fast CPU cores, combined with four high-efficiency cores that deliver similar performance to the current dual-core MacBook Air.
This pairs up to an eight-core GPU, which Apple says provides the best advanced graphics in the world. In addition, the M1 processor has a 16-core Neural Engine, a universal memory architecture, an Apple-designed Thunderbolt controller with USB 4 support, an image signal processor, media encoding and decoding engines, and a host of security features. These include hardware-verified, stable boot, encryption, and runtime security.
For an example of how effective a new chip is, Apple says the new MacBook Air, which features a chip, can play up to 18 hours of video at a single charge (up from 12 hours this year's Intel-powered MacBook Air) and deliver up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing per charge (up from 11 hours previously). There's still no need for a fan, meaning the laptop can be running nearly quietly.
Meanwhile, the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro promises up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing (up from 10 hours this year's Intel-powered MacBook Pro) and 20 hours of video playback (up from 10 hours earlier).
Apple says that the chip helps a Mac to immediately wake up from sleep mode — similar to iPhones and iPads — and deliver decent performance even when running 3D programs or editing 4 K video files.
Apple claims it's optimized macOS Big Sur as well as all of its latest processor games. Final Cut Pro is up to six times faster, Apple says, and Logic Pro can accommodate up to three times the number of audio tracks. Apps from third-party vendors including Adobe are arriving, Apple says. Lightroom will be released later this year, and Photoshop next year.
Apple is providing Rosetta 2 localization tools for programs that are not designed for modern processors, and current iOS and iPadOS apps can now run natively on new devices.
Repeating the announcement made at its developer conference, Apple said it plans all of its Macs to be migrated to its own processors within the next two years.
Developing its own processors means that Apple is getting away from using Intel processors that have powered its Macs for over a decade. Responding to today's webcast, Intel said in a statement that it is focused on providing the most innovative PC interface and a wide variety of technological options that redefine computing.
We assume that Intel-powered PCs — like those built on 11th Gen Intel Core mobile processors — provide global consumers with the best experience in the places they need most, as well as the most flexible platform for developers, both today and in the future, Intel said.
