Apple had its ‘One More Thing’ event yesterday as the company had said earlier, where it unveiled its new series of Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, and the Mac Mini. Interestingly, Apple has made a big move this time by shifting from Intel processors to an in-house ARM-based Apple M1 processor. The newly developed Apple M1 chipset is based on the architecture used on iPhones, iPads, etc. and has been a great success for Apple. In the event, Apple launched three new products – new Macbook Air, Macbook Pro 13, and the Mac mini, where all the devices are powered by the same Apple M1 processor.
Apple’s M1 Processor
The new Apple M1 chipset is an octa-core processor based on ARM architecture and fabricated on a 5nm process. It is capable of 13 trillion operations per second (TOPS) with its own neural engine for Machine Learning, offering 15x faster performance. The GPU present here is an octa-core unit with 24,576 threads with an ability of 2.6 teraflops of performance. Apple claims a smooth playback of 4K videos with this new processor with gaming capabilities as well, all this at just a quarter of power consumption as compared to other laptop processors.
New MacBook Air
The new Macbook Air is a refreshed version of Apple’s existing Macbook Air, both being very similar. The new Macbook Air comes with the Apple M1 chipset instead of Intel. The display is a 720p panel with a resolution of 1440×900. Apple claims a 3.5x faster CPU performance along with 5x better graphics on this new Macbook Air as compared to its predecessors. This includes a newer ISP (Image Signal Processor) for the webcam with support for P3 wide color.
The new Macbook Air comes with a fanless design this time. It can provide a battery life of up to 15 hours for web browsing and over 18 hours of video playback. It is priced at Rs. 92,900/- for the 8GB+256GB variant and Rs. 1,17,900/- for the 8GB+512GB model and will be available in three colors – Silver, Space Grey, and Gold. Users can upgrade the RAM to 16GB by paying Rs. 20,000/- on the Apple website. The new Macbook Air will be sold on Apple’s Online Store, Amazon, Flipkart, along with several offline retail stores. The Apple Online Store is accepting pre-orders with shipping dates starting from 25th November.
MacBook Pro 13
The new Macbook Pro 13 also runs on the same Apple M1 processor as mentioned. The company claims 3.5x faster CPU performance, 5x faster graphics, and 9x better machine learning as compared to the previous-gen Macbook Pro. It also features a fanless design and comes with active cooling for prolonged performance. The battery life is rated for 17 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video playback. Apple has introduced new studio-quality mics on the Macbook Pro for better audio during recording and has included USB 4 compatible Thunderbolt ports that can drive the Apple Pro Display XDR at 6K resolution.
The new Macbook Pro 13-inch is priced at Rs. 1,22,900/- for 256GB model, Rs. 1,42,900/- for the 512GB variant and will be available in Silver and Space Grey colors. It will be sold across several online platforms like Amazon and Flipkart and Apple’s Online Store is now accepting pre-orders with the earliest shipping dates of 25th November.
New Mac Mini
The Mac mini retains the same form factor of the previous-gen Mac mini and comes with the Apple M1 processor. It is said to 6x times better in terms of graphics and 15x improved machine learning abilities. It also retains standard I/O ports like 4 Thunderbolt USB 4 ports along with a display port and VGA-out.
Prices for the Mac mini start at Rs. 64,900/- for the 256GB model with the 512GB variant priced at Rs. 84,900/- available in only Silver color. It will be sold across several online platforms and the Apple Online Store.
