By Joanna Stern
I know exactly what drove you to buy your latest laptop. It was
the processor's high-performance cores. Oh, wait, it was the neural
engine. Or the nanometer processes per second. Or the
industry-leading performance per watt. Yes, it was definitely
that.
Fine, I don't know what most of that means, either. Yet at a
virtual event out of Cupertino, Calif., on Tuesday, Apple
executives made a very good case for why we should spend a little
time thinking about our laptop's chipset -- at least once a decade
or so.
Starting next week, the $999 MacBook Air and $1,299 MacBook Pro
will begin shipping with Apple's new M1 chip. That chip -- which
Apple spent a lot of time waxing on about -- promises hours and
hours of battery-life gains, much faster performance and the
ability to run iPhone and iPad apps right on your Mac's screen. The
$699 Mac Mini desktop is getting the M1 update, too.
Apple's latest MacOS Big Sur, which includes a makeover to make
the operating system look more like iOS and iPadOS, will be
available on Thursday for older Macs, and will ship on these
systems, too.
While Apple has been making its own chips for iPhones, iPads and
Apple Watches for over a decade, based on design from Arm Holdings,
this is the first one it's putting into a publicly available Mac.
The company said in June it would transition its entire Mac lineup
from Intel's chips to its own in-house silicon over the next two
years.
It certainly seemed like a great move for Apple and its own Mac
business, which has experienced a surge in sales since
work-from-home life took hold, but Tuesday we got a glimpse of why
it could be great for Mac users -- especially those of us who can
never get enough battery life.
Yet, like previous silicon and tech transitions, I expect some
turbulence on this flight. Not only is it unclear how much software
will be optimized for the new systems at launch, but Apple seems to
be holding back on a true hardware upgrade. Where's the touch
screen?
Battery Life
Here's the biggest thing you should know about these complicated
chips: They are more power-efficient. That means better battery
life.
Apple says the new MacBook Air will get six more hours than the
current Intel version -- and as much as 18 hours of video playback.
The MacBook Pro can go even longer, Apple says, promising it to be
the longest-running Mac ever, with as much as 20 hours of video
playback. Sure, these days we rarely stray too far from our
multigadget chargers, but I can't wait to test those claims in my
coming review of the two laptops.
Old Apps, New Apps
Because these machines now have the same underlying architecture
as your iPhone and iPad, you will be able to run those apps. Well,
sorta. Apple says hundreds of thousands of iOS and iPadOS apps will
be available in its Mac App Store. While many apps work fine
without any changes, Apple will label apps as not verified until a
developer confirms that its apps work with the M1 chip. Because
there are no touch screens on the new Macs, this might include
better handling with mouse and keyboard.
Some developers may also opt out of having their apps in the Mac
App Store. For instance, if you make a flashlight app for the
iPhone, why bother? Or if you already make a great Mac app, why
bring over your iOS one?
Worrying about your beloved Intel-compatible apps working on
these? Apple says not to. Its Rosetta 2 technology allows Intel
apps to work out of the box. In fact, Craig Federighi, Apple's
senior vice president of software engineering, said in the taped
presentation that some of the more graphically demanding apps might
perform better on an M1 system.
This area of app compatibility is where I do have some worries.
While Apple has had answers to many tough questions, you don't know
how all this will really work until you start getting in there with
your apps and settings.
Performance
Apple spent a lot of time on how the M1's cores and processes
and other thingamajimmys make it better and faster. In fact, the
new Air is even faster than 98% of PC laptops sold in the past
year, the company claimed. How much faster? What models? That
wasn't said.
With the new MacBook Air model, it promises as much as 3.5x
faster CPU performance than the previous Intel version and 5x
faster graphics. All that, and no more fan inside, since these
chips run cooler. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro promises 2.8x faster
performance than the previous Intel-based MacBook Pro. (The Intel
based MacBook Air is no longer available through Apple's store.
Higher-end versions of the Intel-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro,
starting at $1,799, remain available, along with the Intel-powered
16-inch MacBook Pro.)
The most interesting thing? Now that the performance gap between
the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro has shrunk, your decision seems
to come down to paying $200 more for slightly longer battery life,
a slightly brighter screen, improved speakers and mics -- and a
Touch Bar. And nobody really cares about the Touch Bar.
Hardware Design
What you don't get is an improved design. No thinner body, no
flipping or rotating screen, no touch screen. It's true that these
are the latest 2020 MacBook designs, with the new nonbutterfly
keyboard, but a new chip deserves its own expression of
hardware.
And perhaps even more important this year, there is no
improvement in 720p resolution of the cameras, although the company
says it has improved noise reduction, dynamic range and white
balance. That will require some testing.
Indeed, testing. That's exactly why you should wait for my
review before buying one of these new machines. They may change
performance and battery in unimaginable ways, but they might also
require us to change some of our usual habits and what apps we
use.
Write to Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 10, 2020 18:30 ET (23:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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