During the third event of the season, tech giant Apple unveiled a MacBook Air, a 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini. All new 2020 Mac devices are powered by Apple’s chip for the Mac called M1 which is the first in a family of chips designed by Apple specifically for the Mac.
Apple claims that this is by far the most powerful chip coming from the house of Apple. During the event Apple added, M1 coupled with macOS Big Sur will deliver up to 3.5x faster CPU, up to 6x faster GPU, up to 15x faster machine learning (ML) capabilities, and battery life up to 2x longer than before.
“The introduction of three new Macs featuring Apple’s breakthrough M1 chip represents a bold change that was years in the making, and marks a truly historic day for the Mac and for Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
“M1 is by far the most powerful chip we’ve ever created, and combined with Big Sur, delivers mind-blowing performance, extraordinary battery life, and access to more software and apps than ever before.”
Here's everything you need to know about the new Mac devices and all the claims that Apple made during the launch event
MacBook Air: Thin and Light
MacBook Air is by far Apple’s most popular Mac and Apple is hoping to ride that wave further (and faster) with the M1 chip. Apple claims that the new MacBook Air will deliver 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours of video playback, giving it the longest battery life ever on MacBook Air line. Under the hood the device packs in a 8-core CPU which Apple claims is up to 3.5x faster than the previous generation.
This also translates to 5x faster graphics, which means graphics-intensive games run at significantly higher frame rates. The M1 chip’s storage controller and flash technology can deliver up to 2x faster SSD performance, so previewing massive images or importing large files is faster than ever. During the launch, Apple highlighted that M1 is faster than the chips in 98 percent of PC laptops sold in the past year. MacBook Air comes with a fanless design, which means no matter what you are doing, the device remains pretty silent.
This device will set you back by Rs 92,900, and Rs 83,610 for education.
13-inch MacBook Pro: More Power, More Pro
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro also packs in the 8-core CPU, and Apple promises to deliver "game-changing performance when compiling code, transcoding video, editing high-resolution photos, and more". Apple is riding on the speed with the 2020 Macs and claims that with M1, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is up to 3x faster than the best-selling Windows laptop in its class, ML is up to 11x faster, and for on-device ML tasks that use the Neural Engine, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is now the world’s fastest compact pro notebook.
Apple added that the Pro variants can deliver up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 20 hours of video playback. The starting price for the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is Rs 122900, and INR 110610 for education.
Mac Mini: Compact Design
Apple also lifted the curtains off from the Mac mini which Apple says in just one-tenth the size, when compared to the best-selling Windows desktop in its price range, yet can deliver up to 5x faster performance. The Mac mini can support up to two displays including Apple’s Pro Display XDR in full 6K resolution, and Wi-Fi 6 for faster wireless performance. Mac mini is tagged at Rs 64,900 and Rs 58410 for education.
