Apple releases a new-age MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro & Mac mini with Apple’s M1 chip

Apple has unveiled a very different MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini.

Apple has released three Mac devices that for the first time use a processor developed by the company for the Mac range, ending a 15-year partnership with Intel. Picture: Via AFP.

Apple has released a powerful MacBook Air that edits multiple 4K streams simultaneously, a cheaper and powerful Mac mini compact desktop computer, and a new 13-inch MacBook Pro with 20 hours of video playback time.

These are radically different devices to previous Apple desktops and laptops because they are powered by Apple’s first home-designed processor for desktops and laptops also unveiled today.

Apple has used its own processors in iPhones and iPads for a decade, but until now, it used a similar line of Intel chips in Macs.

That’s now changed with what Apple calls its M1 processor which represents a fork in the road between the capabilities of Windows PCs and laptops, and the direction Apple wants to take them.

A demonstration by Apple senior vice president Craig Federighi showed a MacBook instantly waking up from sleep, apps launching almost instantaneously, easier rendering of 3D animation and video, and the capabilities of power optimisation on the device.

Apples’ new M1 processor.

Intel also has published standards for fast wake-up on notebooks along with other requisites for Windows devices running its latest chips, however Apple is seeking to top this with the performance of its own chips, and take the capability of MacBooks, iMacs and the Mac mini in new directions.

The M1 packs a lot of features into one chip - an 8 core processor with 4 high performance cores, fast integrated 8-core graphics, a 16-core neural engine that can perform 11 trillion operations per second which includes image processing capability, and Apple’s “secure enclave” for device data security. It says the M1 achieves this using about a third of the power consumption of the previous generation chips.

That Apple can plug this chip into MacBook Pros mightn’t seem so surprising, however to have the thin and lightweight MacBook Air capable of editing multiple 4K streams and the same for what is now the reduced price Mac mini - a desktop in a tiny square form factor - adds power to the lower-end of Apple’s Mac range.

The change in hardware means Apple can aggressively ramp up its marketing of Macs, which remain the third largest source of revenue for Apple behind the iPhone and Apple services.

Apple senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, at the Apple event. Picture: Via AFP

In the past quarter, Apple raked in $US9bn of revenue from selling Macs in overall revenue of $US65bn so the line remains highly important to Apple’s business.

Despite the increased innovation, these devices are no more expensive than previous Macs. In Australia the MacBook Air will sell for $1599 and $1949 for Airs with 256GB and 512GB of SSD storage.

The Mac mini with the same storage options will cost $1099 and $1399. Apple provides only the little square box for the Mac mini so you add your own monitor to complete the system.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is $1999 and $2299 again with the same storage options. You can add more storage if needed.

All go on sale in Australia from Tuesday November 17 with pre-orders starting now.

Apple says the new 13-inch MacBook Air is faster than 98 percent of PC laptops sold in the past year, and with its power savings, offers 15 hours of web surfing and 18 hours of video playback on one charge.

Apple's 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro is one of three computers to use its M1 chip first. Picture: Apple

It says the Mac mini delivers 3 times faster CPU performance and 6 times better graphics performance than its predecessor. You get 2 Thunderbolt/USB-4 ports, two USB-A, ports, HDMI2.0, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a 3.5-mm headphone port, and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports and a headphone port.

Apple claims 17 hours for wireless web browsing, 20 hours for video playback, and audio with an improved signal to noise ratio.

The change to ARM-based M1 chips brings with it software changes. Many old Intel-based Apple programs downloaded from third-party websites will no longer work.

On the other hand, you can run iPhone and iPad apps natively on these Mac devices, which means an increase in applications available to millions, including games.

Apple released this system to developers in June, so they have had significant time to create native versions of apps for M1-chip-based Macs.

Apple launched a program in June called QuickStart which gave developers software tools to convert their Intel apps to Apple Silicon apps which many have been doing. Apple says all its standard Mac apps including program suites such as Pages, Numbers and Keynote are converted.

The 2020 MacBook Air with the M1 chip. Picture: Apple

Adobe Lightroom will be available for these Macs late this year and Photoshop early next year.

When Apple first announced Apple Silicon in June, it said Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro already were up and running as native programs and Microsoft had been converting its Office Suite as well.

Many apps will be available as “universal apps” with Intel and Apple conversions combined, and will run on old and new Macs.

Additionally, Apple has released a tool called “Rosetta 2” which will run Intel applications on Apple Silicon.

The company has put effort into making this software transition relatively painless, but you may have to fork out more money for new versions of software – that will depend on these third-party developers.

The announcements will prompt consumers to consider whether they buy an existing-chip Mac that will run third-party Intel programs as is, or dip their toes in the new era of Apple Silicon. Some Intel-based Macs are still available for sale on Apple’s website.

Apple is also releasing the next generation of its Mac operations system called MacOS Big Sur and there are versions of it available for Intel-based and Apple Silicon Macs.

It includes new designs for Finder, the dock, Apple Mail, and a translucent menu bar. The iPhone control centre will come to the Mac. Users can drag items from the control centre to the top menu.

There’s a new version of Maps for the Mac. Safari will offer faster page loads and it will monitor that your password hasn’t been compromised. New Safari extensions will be offered in the Mac App Store.

The new era Macs will also support virtualisation technology, making it easier for them to run other operating system apps such as Linux apps.

Apple has promised to keep supporting Intel chip-based Macs. The announcements were made at a keynote presentation held online by Apple at 5am AEDT today (November 11).