Apple Silicon is Apple's new lineup of processors for the Mac platform. It was announced in 2020 with the first Macs appearing at Apple's "One More Thing" event in November 2020. The first was the M1, and it first appeared in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini.
Apple Silicon
TSMC’s Arizona plant has been expected to begin production in 2024, and this has now been confirmed by the company’s chairman.
There’s no official word as yet on widespread reports that the plant will be used to fabricate Apple A-series and M-series chips…
Expand Expanding Close
Apple and Samsung laptops are leading global growth in the notebook computer sector, according to a new TrendForce report.
It says that laptop sales grew by almost 26% last year, and are set for a further 15% boost this year …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple has claimed in a new interview that the M1 MacBook battery life was so good they originally thought the battery indicator was buggy, failing to respond as the remaining life fell.
The claim is made by Apple marketing VP Bob Borchers, who also suggests that future generations of Apple Silicon might be good enough to turn Macs into gaming machines …
Expand Expanding Close
Qualcomm can beat Apple’s M1 chip, says the company’s CEO, for one good reason: It has a team of chip architects who formerly worked on Apple Silicon. This includes former A-series chip lead Gerard Williams.
You may recall Apple was so upset at Williams leaving the company that it sued him, accusing him of exploiting Apple tech and poaching other key engineers…
Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s A-series chip roadmap appears to be on track, as the company works on ever smaller chip processes. The latest TSMC news suggests that all is on schedule for a revised 5nm process this year, a 4nm process(ish) in 2022, and a 3nm process in 2023.
We heard back in January about TSMC’s plans for 3nm chips, and a new report today has more information …
Expand Expanding Close
Nvidia announced last fall that it was officially starting the process of acquiring Arm Holdings from SoftBank for $40 billion. In the months since we’ve seen concerns from competitors and the deal hasn’t yet been approved or shut down by regulators. Now Qualcomm has shared that if the sale to Nvidia is blocked, it and others would invest in Arm.
Expand Expanding Close
We’ve so far had a variety of predictions about when we might expect an M1X MacBook Pro launch. Jon Prosser’s claim of WWDC was of course proven wrong, while Bloomberg was more cautious in suggesting “as soon as early this summer.” We now have another new entry, this one proposing November…
Expand Expanding Close
The one-sided Intel versus Apple battle has seen the chipmaker raging ever since Apple announced the switch from Intel Macs to Apple Silicon ones. Intel’s latest attack on Macs, however, is something of an own goal.
Attempting to show the superiority of Windows PCs over Macs, the chipmaker makes a comparison with an Intel-powered Mac …
Expand Expanding Close
I’ve been waiting impatiently for the M1X 16-inch MacBook Pro ever since we got to see just how stunning the 13-inch machine is, in terms of both performance and battery life. If the latest rumor is correct, and it is launched at WWDC, I may not have too much longer to wait.
I am, however, expecting it to be a very expensive upgrade, for three reasons…
Expand Expanding Close
We’ve now heard quite a lot about what to expect from the new 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro design, reportedly arriving as early as the summer. A new set of renders whet the appetite for those of us waiting impatiently for the new machine.
The chip powering the Apple Silicon version of the 16-inch MacBook Pro is expected to be labeled as the M1X, and to offer dramatic improvements over the M1 powering the 13-inch model …
Expand Expanding Close
A source with a decent track record has suggested that the processor in this year’s MacBook Pro models will be branded the M1X rather than the M2, backing Bloomberg suggestions that it will be the same cores, but just more of them, and with a performance-heavy configuration.
Apple is said to be reserving the M2 name for next year’s chips, and that this will likely debut in a new MacBook Air …
Expand Expanding Close
In a fresh report from Bloomberg today, we’ve got new details on what we’ll likely see as Apple Silicon expands to the rest of the Mac lineup. Apple is said to be working on an all-new Mac Pro with 40 cores, a higher-end Mac mini, and more.
Expand Expanding Close
Taiwanese tech company Micro-Star international (MSI) is best known for its gaming PCs, but its new Creator Z16 laptop is firmly aimed at the MacBook Pro market.
The new high-end laptop bears more than a passing resemblance to the MacBook Pro, with its CNC-milled aluminum body. Both the machine’s specs and MSI’s messaging also see it targeting visual professionals such as designers, artists, photographers, and videographers …
Expand Expanding Close
We’re expecting Apple to launch the 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro later this year, with Apple Silicon. It’s currently unclear whether Apple will label the chip an M1X or M2, but either way, we can expect some pretty dramatic performance improvements over the current M1-based 13-inch MacBook Pro (above).
Exceeding the performance of Intel’s high-end CPUs doesn’t look like much of a challenge, but matching or beating the high-end GPUs available in build-to-order versions of the Intel machines could take more work…
Expand Expanding Close
Following the announcement of the new M1 iPad Pro and M1 iMac on Tuesday, Apple executives John Ternus and Greg Joswiak have sat down with the Independent for an in-depth interview. The two Apple executives spoke in the interview about Apple’s plans for the iPad and Mac, the new features of the 2021 iPad Pro, and more.
Expand Expanding Close
Ahead of next Tuesday’s “Spring Loaded” Apple event, we’re still trying to get a clear picture of what Apple could announce. This weekend, the reliable Twitter source L0vetodream has cryptically hinted that Apple will announce new iMac models during the April 20 event.
Expand Expanding Close
After running a preview of the new software, Docker is officially launching its collaborative app development platform for M1 Macs today. The release means faster and quieter performance for Docker Desktop on macOS.
Expand Expanding Close
M1 Mac users now have a new way to virtualize Windows on their machines. Parallels has officially released Parallels Desktop 16.5 today with native support for Apple Silicon, enabling users to run the Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview on M1 Macs.
Expand Expanding Close
Maxon is out today with the news that its popular Redshift rendering software is launching for macOS. Along with the debut comes support for Apple Silicon Macs and Apple’s Metal API. Notably, early testers are reporting “crazy results.”
Expand Expanding Close
While we’ve seen a variety of different efforts to bring Linux support to the M1 Macs, official support could be coming sooner than expected. As reported by Phoronix, the upcoming Linux 5.13 cycle could be when preliminary support for the M1 Macs is added.
Expand Expanding Close
While the three M1 Macs released in late 2020 have been widely praised for a host of advancements, one criticism has been that the hardware is not upgradeable or repairable after purchase with the major components soldered to the board. In an interesting development, an engineer in China has reportedly discovered how to successfully upgrade both the SSD and RAM on M1 Macs – but of course, it’s a very risky and difficult move.
Expand Expanding Close
Last fall, Apple debuted its first M1 Macs with a new MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and MacBook Air. This year, the transition will continue with a new Apple Silicon-powered iMac, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates, and more.
As the Mac lineup matures throughout the Apple Silicon transition, the glaring hole is the lack of a priced external display…
Expand Expanding Close
Opera is out today with the latest update for its Mac browser. The new release brings official Apple Silicon support and the company says users can expect performance that’s two times faster on M1 Macs.
Expand Expanding Close
During its quarterly earnings call yesterday, Intel revealed new ways it hopes to win back Apple’s business, including with major investments in chip production. Now, in an interview with Yahoo! Finance, new Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has elaborated on how Intel hopes to work with Apple going forward.
Expand Expanding Close