The reviews are in on the first batch of Apple Macs with the new Apple-designed M1 chip, and they are overwhelmingly positive.
By far the most powerful chip Apple has ever made, M1 transforms the Mac experience. With its industry-leading performance per watt, together with macOS Big Sur, M1 delivers 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. And with M1 and Big Sur, Mac users get access to the biggest collection of apps ever.
“The new MacBook Air with Apple’s M1 chip is a triumph,” tech site The Verge declare. The site rated that version of the laptop 9.5 out of 10 and said that the computer is the most impressive laptop in years. Ars Technica described the M1 as a “seriously fast x86 competitor” referring to the instruction set that Intel and AMD chips use. TechCrunch wrote that the new processor’s performance gains will make Intel’s chips “obsolete overnight.”
Investors have had plenty of time to grapple with Apple’s decision to move its machines over to its own line of processors. The company officially made the announcement in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference, after weeks of rumors and leaks.
Apple sold $28.62 billion worth of Mac computers in fiscal 2020, up from $25.48 billion in 2019. Sales of the Mac segment have remained flat at roughly $25 billion for the past five years, except in 2016 when they fell to $22.83 billion. Analysts project Mac sales of $30.12 billion for 2021.
Apple stock has gained 34% since its announcement about its new chips…
MacDailyNews Take: While we’ve long suspected that Apple would have their ducks in a row on this transition, they seem to be exceeding even our high expectations with Rosetta 2 performing better than even the most optimistic of use expected!