MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini run on Apple’s self-designed M1 silicone

This story is part of Apple event, our comprehensive coverage of the latest news from Apple HQ.

Apple’s long break with Intel is official. The tech giant on Tuesday unveiled its first Mac computers that use Apple’s silicon – the MacBook Air, Mac Mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The devices all have improved battery life and cost the same or less as their older Intel-powered siblings.

The design of the computers is essentially the same but has something very different inside: Apple’s new M1 processor. The MacBook Air will start at $ 999 for the general public – the same price as the old version – or $ 899 for educators. The Mac Mini will cost $ 699, which is $ 100 less than the previous generation. And the MacBook Pro will start at $ 1,299 or $ 1,199 for educators, the same level as before. Pre-orders begin Tuesday, and computers arrive on November 17th.

“The Mac is having its best year,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the event. “More customers than ever are choosing the Mac.”

the computers use Apple’s new M1 processor. It is based on 5 nanometer technology, the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology. The M1 has an eight-core processor – four performance cores and four efficiency cores – and an eight-core GPU, making it both powerful and battery efficient, said Johny Srouji, senior vice president of hardware technologies at Apple. It’s twice as powerful as a competing laptop chip (likely Intel’s) while consuming a quarter of the battery life, he said.

The MacBook Air has a battery life of 15 hours for wireless web browsing and 18 hours for watching movies, while the 13-inch MacBook Pro can surf the Internet for 17 hours on a single charge or play a video for 20 hours – 10 hours more than its predecessor.

And Apple has customized Mac OS Big Sur “to take full advantage of all the capabilities and power of M1,” said Craig Federighi, head of software at Apple. The software is available for Mac users on Thursday.

Apple made the announcement at its third event in the past three months. The slogan for the latest launch was “One More Thing”. It followed the introduction in September of the iPad Air redesigned and Apple Watch Series 6 and the unveiling in October of the IPhone 12 range.

Apple Silicon for Mac is the company’s latest effort to control all hardware and software in its products. It designs its own app processors that act as the brains of its iPhones and iPads, a Bluetooth chip that quickly connects its AirPods to its iPhones, and security chips that protect personal data and biometrics from hacking attempts. By designing its own chips, Apple is able to gain more control over the features it releases, as well as better manage the timeline of the introduction of new devices.

“With the shift to in-house capabilities, Apple is looking to regain control over the pace of the processor chip technology roadmap and create a common architecture for all Apple products, which will allow developers to write and more easily optimize applications for the product ecosystem, ”noted Samik Chatterjee, analyst at JPMorgan.

Apple’s break with Intel

Apple has been using Intel chips in its computers for over a decade, when it moved away from its previous partner, IBM. This move changed the PC industry and helped Intel become the world’s leading manufacturer of computer chips. But Intel has stumbled in recent years. It struggled to switch to the highest-end processor technology, and he abandoned his efforts in mobile chips and sold its 5G phone modem business to Apple Last year. At the same time, Apple has been working for several years on processors to replace Intel chips in Mac computers.

Losing Apple as a customer will be a blow to Intel but give Apple more control over the features and release date of its computers. While Macs make up only a small percentage of the total PC market – 8.5% in the third quarter, according to IDC – Apple remains one of the biggest and most powerful tech companies. Macs tend to cost more than Windows PCs, and while many PC companies have seen their market share fall, Apple’s has increased.

The new silicon-based Apple computers should have a big advantage over Intel machines when it comes to battery life. They will also face new Windows machines that have been designed to look more like mobile devices. Qualcomm has teamed up with Microsoft and PC makers like Asus to create what it calls always-on PCs, but the devices haven’t sold in huge numbers. They may have great battery life and consistent connectivity, but they haven’t been able to match the performance of processors from Intel and AMD.

Apple’s latest Macs are coming as millions of people around the world upgrade their computers to work or learn from home. Laptops sell well across the board as people search for devices to work with and take lessons from home. In the third quarter, global shipments of laptops and mobile workstations climbed 28% from a year ago, helping to push global PC shipments up 13% to 79.2 million units , according to Canalys. Deliveries have reached levels not seen since 2011, the firm said.

While Apple has updated three of its computers, its high-end Macs stick to Intel chips, at least for now.

The new range of Macs

The new MacBook Air is three times faster than the best-selling Windows laptop on the market and is faster than 98% of all PC laptops sold last year, said Laura Metz, head of product line. Mac products. It sports a 13.3-inch Retina display and doesn’t need a fan to cool the machine.

“With M1 and Big Sur, we took the air from the MacBook and turned it into something far beyond any other laptop,” she says.

The Air contains a 49.9 watt hour lithium polymer battery and comes with a 30 watt USB-C power adapter. There are two versions of the computer, with the high-end product retailing for $ 1,249. And it’s available in three colors: gold, silver, and space gray.

The Pro and the Air are alike. Both have two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. They come with 8GB of RAM and can be upgraded to 16GB, and SSDs start at 256GB and can be configured up to 2TB. Both machines also come with 720p FaceTime HD cameras and sensors. TouchID to unlock them.

The Pro has a slightly better screen, better speakers, a larger battery (58.2 watt-hour lithium polymer battery) that increases battery life by two hours over the air, and comes with 61-watt USB-C power adapter. It is slightly heavier than the Air, weighing 3 pounds versus 2.8 pounds of the Air.

It’s available in silver or space gray options, and the premium version retails for $ 1,499. Intel versions of the MacBook Pro cost $ 1,799 and $ 1,999.

The Mac Mini, meanwhile, is also available in two versions, for $ 699 and $ 899. It contains 8 GB of RAM configurable up to 16 GB, and the SSD starts at 256 GB and goes up to 2 TB. The Mini has a built-in speaker, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, two USB-A ports, one HDMI 2.0 port, and one gigabit Ethernet port. The Intel version costs $ 1,099.

Alfred Ng of CNET contributed to this report.