With the new M1 chip, Apple is introducing an unusually early update for the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which was last improved in May. It offers an all-new silicon architecture that has been overhauled as radically as the new look and feel of the recently released macOS 11 Big Sur.
Apple Silicon M1 13-inch MacBook Pro is so fast and surprisingly energy efficient that it looks like it’s from the future.
The new architecture stems from the custom work that Apple has done over the past 12 years to develop fast, ultra-efficient chips for mobile devices. The experience of setting up and using the Mac M1 is very similar to the new iPad. From the moment you lift the lid, as soon as the machine instantly wakes up, everything seems intuitively fast and responsive.
Until now, Apple Silicon has been limited to strict temperature limits for the iPhone and iPad. With the ability to actively cool with a larger battery and fan, the efficient architecture of the M1 allows you to expand processing power without sacrificing efficiency due to design considerations.
Overview
Even if Apple’s new Mac M1 passes the test and survives 14 hours of transatlantic flight to watch a movie, it won’t be widely popular unless users can run the software they need and need operation.
From Linux netbooks to Microsoft’s Surface RT and Google’s Chromebook concept, previous attempts to compete with Intel’s traditional PC laptops have previously made cheaper or more mobile-efficient chips to shrink Intel’s brain, which used to be one of the most expensive PC components.
Tried to use. However, while it was actually much cheaper, the biggest drawback is that it almost always prevents users from running enough apps they need. Most buyers weren’t tempted.
Apple immediately did a tremendous job of translating existing Mac applications written for Intel to the Mac M1 in real time. The most obvious component is Rosetta 2, Big Sur’s software feature that configures your app to run on the M1.
M1 is ready for macOS
Usually, users don’t need to think much about this as Rosetta 2 runs in the background. The Mac App Store also doesn’t mention if the apps run natively on Apple Silicon. The Get Info pane in Finder indicates whether the app is Intel, Apple Silicon (usually accessible directly from iOS), or Universal (with binaries for both).
Users can force a universal app to “open with Rosetta” by checking the box, but in general they don’t even need to think about it. The only obvious sign that Rosetta is working is that the Intel application takes another 10-20 seconds to start on first launch. When this issue occurs, the Intel application starts immediately.
Apple originally released a review model with some of its own apps waiting in the App Store to add full universal Apple Silicon support, so it was possible to compare some of Intel’s apps before and after Rosetta’s M1 update.
Intel related Apple apps, including Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iMovie, and GarageBand, worked well prior to the update, save for a few additional dock failures on first boot. I tried to transcode the same 12 minute test video into iMovie before and after upgrading to a newer version of iMovie optimized for Apple Silicon, but there was no significant performance difference.
This is because Rosetta 2 uses Metal and other modern platforms that already have modern applications ready for portability. Modern Mac apps use Metal 2 for graphics processing, so macOS M1 will be able to assign Metal tasks to its own Apple GPU, not Intel GPU for processing on a traditional entry-level Mac or an external AMD GPU or eGPU you might have. can. Installed on advanced Intel Mac computers.
Super efficient
Even more impressive was that this new MacBook Pro M1 was able to handle these tasks much faster than my first year-old Intel 16-inch MacBook Pro with a 2.9GHz 6-core Intel i9 processor and 32GB of RAM. That’s double the size of the M1. vein. However, the M1 finished 4:22 am, compared to 6:22 am on the Intel Mac.
What’s even more impressive is that the MacBook Pro M1 didn’t get hot enough to start the fan, and it remained completely silent throughout the entire process. The Intel Mac started the fan a few minutes later and continued to run for a few more minutes after it was done.
Infrared thermometers were used to monitor the surface temperature of both machines. The MacBook Pro M1 reached a maximum surface temperature of 97F (36C), while the i9 MacBook Pro was idle at 104F (40C) and climbed to 114F (46C) after 5 minutes of operation.
This indicates that the new MacBook Pro M1 is no more conservative in fan usage than previous Intel Macs. Instead, you really don’t need that much. Apple is giving the new MacBook Air the same fanless chip.
The result is not only a quieter computing environment, but also a cooler backside. The Intel MacBook can quickly reach the point where it becomes unpleasant to heat up in the lap. In most of our tests, the MacBook was almost cool to the touch.
Of course, less power is spent turning on the fan to generate heat and dissipate heat, so the new MacBook Pro M1 can last much longer on a single charge. Apple takes up to 20 hours to watch videos. That’s double the already impressive battery life of the old MacBook Pro.
This new dramatic increase in battery life opens up the possibility of using the machine, making it much more convenient to use on the road and in situations such as remote work places, commuting or inaccessible meetings to dominate.
However, when operating on battery power, the system automatically takes steps to conserve battery power. In some cases, this decreases performance and darkens the display.
Apple’s first Silicon Mac M1 impresses with its speed, battery life and how well the MacOS Big Sur fits. Ideal if you don’t need extra RAM or storage capabilities and don’t need to run virtual apps for your Windows PC.
Running existing benchmarks like Geekbench 5, the new Affinity Photo graphics benchmark, and the recently updated Cinebench R23 for Apple Silicon didn’t excite MacBook Pro fans.
Apple’s 13-inch Late 2020 MacBook Pro with the new M1 chip is now on sale and you can only save on an exclusive promo code on AppleInsider. Coupon information and discounts are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in our 13-inch AI MacBook Pro pricing guide, with prices and deals updated throughout the day.
We encourage you to read our price comparison guide before purchasing. That’s because many of the exclusive deals, along with the AppleCare bonus discount, can save a lot on your Mac purchase.
AUTHOR BIO
On my daily job, I am a software engineer, programmer & computer technician. My passion is assembling PC hardware, studying Operating System and all things related to computers technology. I also love to make short films for YouTube as a producer. More at about me…
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