By: Nick Gambino
Apple’s third, and presumably final, event of the year was held on Tuesday and we finally got our eyes on the company’s long-touted Mac processor chip, the M1.
The Mac has traditionally been powered by Intel chips, so this is pretty big news. It’s not that surprising, considering the fact that Apple tries to keep as much in their closed loop as possible.
The “One More Thing” event saw the unveiling of the new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac Mini. Each of these new computers is powered by the M1 processor chip. As would be expected at an event where the biggest news is the unveiling of their proprietary Mac chip, much of it was spent touting the amount of power generated by the little guy.
Apple was so excited about it, they even tapped the actor that stood alongside Justin Long in the “I’m a PC and I’m a Mac” commercials that were popular in the 2000s. The guy who played the PC is back with his signature snark and derision of improvements made by Apple. This time, he’s thumbing his nose at longer lasting batteries and fast performance.
These last two derisions are telling of what you might expect if you pick up one of these new Macs. In terms of design, they look essentially the same as their predecessors. In fact, you probably won’t be able to tell the difference. The thing meant to set these new guys apart is their performance and battery life.
While this might not be “sexy,” it’s all that we really should expect from a new computer model. Robust performance clocking in at lightning-fast speeds is the essence of a great computer and without it, we might as well chuck said computer straight out the window. We’ve almost lost our way with the number of events and ads Apple has beaten us over the head with, showing off “beveled this” and “sleek that.” Just give us a computer that works well and I promise you, we’ll be happy.
The M1 CPU is apparently faster and more powerful than any chip ever made, including the latest PC laptop chip. It features an octa-core processor and eight-core integrated graphics processing unit.
I can’t wait to get my hands on one and see how that baby handles. I don’t need my computer to look pretty as long as it corners like it’s on rails.
