Cupertino-based Apple today announced a refresh of its lowest-end MacBook models, one that will be remembered as the launch that brought us the commercial debut of the seminal M1 CPU.
The said chip is Apple’s first modern notebook processor in… well, ever, but promises to take all of the lessons the company learned from its many years of designing its own smartphone and tablet, i.e. iPad silicon, and applying them where it matters the most. As traditional notebooks still aren’t anywhere close to getting replaced by versatile tablets such as the iPad, in spite of the latter’s success and Apple’s continuous claims to the contrary.
In any case, the new devices introduced today include a 2020 edition of the MacBook Air, a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, and even an M1-powered Mac Mini – all optimized for the newly introduced macOS Big Sur. Faster browsing, rendering, compiling, playback, loading times – you name it, the M1 has it.
All the while promising to literally last you days on a single charge, in spite of what you ask it to do. It sounds impossible, but initial reviews seem to suggest Apple’s claims aren’t baseless and we’re looking at the longest-lasting battery-powered computer ever made.