New Apple Macs have been announced and are here, they are the new Arm-based chip computers based around the new Apple M1 chip. Here is everything you need to know. Of course, this information is to help those working in music and post-production to ascertain if these are the right Apple Mac computers to buy for professional audio work.
Apple M1 Silicon Macs Announced Today
Apple is developing a family of new Apple Silicon chips. Apple has announced the first chip dedicated for the Mac, it's the Apple M1. It is the first 5-nanometer chip with 16 billion transistors. It has two different types of cores with 4 high-performance cores and 4 high-efficiency cores.
It's the highest performance processor Apple has ever made. The new M1 chip has twice the performance using just a quarter of the power. Not only does the M1 have 8 cores, it has an 8 core graphics processor built into the chip. It also includes a 16-core neural engine for machine learning and has 11 trillion operations per second.
The New M1 - The First System On A Chip For The Mac
Macs and PCs have traditionally used multiple chips for the CPU, I/O, security and more. Now with M1, these technologies are combined into a single SoC, delivering a whole new level of integration for greater performance and power efficiency. M1 also features a unified memory architecture that brings together high-bandwidth, low-latency memory into a single pool within a custom package. This allows all the technologies in the SoC to access the same data without copying it between multiple pools of memory, further improving performance and efficiency.
The M1 SoC features an 8-core CPU consisting of four high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. Each of the high-performance cores has been designed to provide high performance for single-threaded tasks while running as efficiently as possible.
High Performance
Apple is claiming that they are the world’s fastest CPU cores in low-power silicon, allowing photographers to edit high-resolution photos with lightning speed and developers to build apps nearly 3x faster than before. And all four can be used together for a huge boost in multi-threaded performance.
High Efficiency
The four high-efficiency cores are designed to deliver outstanding performance at a tenth of the power. By themselves, these four cores deliver similar performance to the current-generation dual-core MacBook Air at much lower power. They are the most efficient way to run lightweight, everyday tasks like checking email or browsing the web and preserve battery life like never before. Together all eight cores are designed to provide incredible compute power for the most demanding tasks and deliver the world’s best CPU performance per watt.
Graphics Processor On the Same Chip
The new M1 chip includes Apple’s most advanced GPU. It benefits from years of analysis of Mac applications, including everyday apps and challenging pro workloads. The GPU in M1 features up to eight cores capable of running nearly 25,000 threads simultaneously. The GPU has been designed to handle extremely demanding tasks with ease, from smooth playback of multiple 4K video streams to rendering complex 3D scenes. With 2.6 teraflops of throughput, M1 has the world’s fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer.
All M1 chips feature an 8-core GPU with the exception of the M1 chip used in the entry-level MacBook Air, which has a 7-core GPU.
The 8-core GPU versions found in the MacBook Air, Mac mini and MacBook Pro are compatible with up to a 6K display, including Apple's Pro Display XDR. Whereas, the previous-generation Intel-based Mac mini and Intel-based entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro were only able to support up to a 5K display.
No Support For External Graphics Processor Units With Apple M1 Powered Computers
I assumed the M1 Macs would support eGPUs since they have Thunderbolt ports but I was wrong. Maybe a software update can bring back eGPU support to Apple Silicon Macs? https://t.co/M0ixmEkeKz
— Steve Moser (@SteveMoser) November 10, 2020
Apple's new M1-equipped MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini are not compatible with eGPUs, including the Blackmagic eGPU that Apple had promoted alongside other Macs and that is available through the online store.
People on Twitter have spotted that under the lists of accessories compatible with the new Macs, the Blackmagic eGPU is not listed on the new M1 powered computers. In the image above, you can see that the eGPU is listed as compatible with the Intel MacBook Pro models, which are still available but not listed with the M1 models.
Research has shown that the same is true for the Mac mini, which also comes in both M1 and Intel varieties.
With no eGPU options available at the current time, the new Macs will have to rely on their own M1 chips with built-in GPUs but as we have shown the new on-chip GPU in the M1 is no slow-coach. It supports 6K screens and so there is much less need to have eGPUs with the new Apple Silicon M1 powered Macs.
On-Chip MachIne Learning
Not only does the new M1 have CPU and GPU on the same chip it also adds a Neural Engine to the Mac platform, specifically to handle machine learning (ML) tasks. Featuring Apple’s most advanced 16-core architecture capable of 11 trillion operations per second, the Neural Engine in M1 enables up to 15x faster machine learning performance. In fact, the M1 system on a chip has been designed to excel at machine learning, with ML accelerators in the CPU and a powerful GPU, so tasks like video analysis, voice recognition and image processing will have a level of performance never seen before on the Mac.
And There Is More
The M1 chip also has a number of powerful custom technologies, including:
Apple’s latest image signal processor (ISP) for higher-quality video with better noise reduction, greater dynamic range and improved auto white balance.
The latest Secure Enclave for best-in-class security.
A high-performance storage controller with AES encryption hardware for faster and more secure SSD performance.
Low-power, highly efficient media encode and decode engines for great performance and extended battery life.
An Apple-designed Thunderbolt controller with support for USB 4, transfer speeds up to 40 Gbps and compatibility with more peripherals than ever.
macOS Big Sur Optimized for M1
macOS Big Sur has been designed for the M1 and so for the first time on a Mac, Apple is able to design the operating system and the silicon together as they have been doing for iPhones and iPads for some years now. They are claiming launching apps is nearly instantaneous, while Safari really ‘shines on Apple Silicon’ as well as 1.5x speedier at running JavaScript and what they claim to be ‘1.9x more responsive’.
There is a hardware-verified secure boot, automatic high-performance encryption, macOS run-time protections.
With Big Sur and M1, Mac users Apple say that users will be able to run a greater range of apps than ever before. All of Apple’s Mac software is now Universal and runs natively on M1 systems.
Apple has optimised all of their apps for the new M1 CPU. For pro-audio, Apple claims you will be able to run 3x more instruments and effect plugins in Logic Pro. For video editors, Final Cut Pro can run up to 6x faster.
Existing Mac apps that have not been updated to Universal will run seamlessly with Apple’s Rosetta 2 technology. Apple says that some apps perform better under Rosetta than running natively on Macs with old integrated graphics and for the first time iPhone and iPad apps can now run directly on Mac. Additionally, the foundations of Big Sur are optimised to unlock the power of M1, including developer technologies from Metal for graphics, and Core ML for machine learning.
3 New Apple Macs All Share the Same Apple M1 System On A Chip
All of the 3 new Apple Macs announced are equipped with the same 8-core M1 chip that also offers an integrated GPU, with Apple offering no CPU upgrades.
Although there are no CPU upgrade options with the new M1 powered MacBook Air, Mac mini and MacBook Pro machines, there is a small GPU upgrade available for the MacBook Air. The base MacBook Air ships with an M1 chip with a 7-core GPU, which can be upgraded to an 8 core GPU. If you choose the $1,249 MacBook Air model with a 512GB SSD, it upgrades to an 8-core GPU instead of the default 7-core GPU, but there is no custom configuration option to choose the lower tier model with the upgraded 8-core GPU option, whereas the MacBook Pro has an M1 chip with an 8-core GPU.
Both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro can be customised with more RAM (up to 16GB) and more storage space (up to 2TB). The Mac mini also has the same M1 chip with 8-core GPU as the MacBook Pro with no GPU/CPU upgrade option available.
New Apple Macs Released Today
New Apple MacBook Air With M1 Chip - Specifications
The new MacBook Air is the first of the new Apple Macs based on the new silicon chips. It has 4 core M1 with 4 high-performance core and 4 high-efficiency cores, with up to 8 graphics cores with up to 5 times faster graphics and they are claiming that it’s 3x faster than the best-selling Windows laptop in its class, and faster than 98% of Windows laptops sold last year. The SSD is twice as fast than the previous version of the MacBook Air.
Even better for audio users, the new Mac Book Air delivers all this performance without a fan.
Because of its low power, you can get 15 hours of wireless web browsing or 18 hours of video playback and has the longest battery life ever in a MacBook Air.
Apple M1 MacBook Air Specifications
Retina display
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colours
Supported scaled resolutions:
1680 by 1050
1440 by 900
1024 by 640
400 nits brightness
Wide colour (P3)
True Tone technology
Apple M1 chip
8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
7-core GPU
16-core Neural Engine
Battery and Power
Up to 15 hours wireless web
Up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback
Built-in 49.9‑watt‑hour lithium‑polymer battery
30W USB-C Power Adapter
Charging and Expansion
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support for:
Charging
DisplayPort
Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
Memory
8GB unified memory as standard
16GB as an option
Storage
256GB SSD as standard
512GB, 1TB, or 2TB available as options
Keyboard and Trackpad
Backlit Magic Keyboard with:
78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement
Ambient light sensor
Force Touch trackpad for precise cursor control and pressure-sensing capabilities; enables Force clicks, accelerators, pressure-sensitive drawing, and Multi-Touch gestures
Touch ID
Touch ID sensor
Wireless
Wi-Fi
802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking
IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
Camera
720p FaceTime HD camera
Video Support
Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colours
One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz
Thunderbolt 3 digital video output
Native DisplayPort output over USB-C
VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)
Audio
Stereo speakers
Wide stereo sound
Support for Dolby Atmos playback
Three-mic array with directional beamforming
3.5 mm headphone jack
Operating Requirements
Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
Storage temperature: −13° to 113° F (−25° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 0% to 90% noncondensing
Operating altitude: tested up to 10,000 feet
Maximum storage altitude: 15,000 feet
Maximum shipping altitude: 35,000 feet
Size and Weight
Height: 0.16–0.63 inch (0.41–1.61 cm)
Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm)
Depth: 8.36 inches (21.24 cm)
Weight: 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg)
Pricing
Pricing for the new MacBook Air starts at $999 and $899 for education users.
New Apple Mac mini with M1 Chip - Specifications
The new Mac mini is the second of the new Apple Macs and delivers up to 3 times the CPU performance compared to the previous 4 core model. Apple is claiming that the Mac mini is 1/10th the size of the comparable PC in its price range, and 5x faster.
The neural engine is great for machine learning applications like iZotope RX.
Apple M1 Mac mini Specifications
Apple M1 chip
8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
8-core GPU
16-core Neural Engine
Memory
8GB unified memory as standard
16GB as an option
Storage
256GB SSD as standard
512GB, 1TB, or 2TB options
Video Support
Simultaneously supports up to two displays:
One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt and one display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz connected via HDMI 2.0
Thunderbolt 3 digital video output supports
Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C
Thunderbolt 2, DVI, and VGA output supported using adapters (sold separately)
HDMI 2.0 display video output
Support for one display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz
DVI output using HDMI to DVI Adapter (sold separately)
Connections and Expansion
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support for:
DisplayPort
Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
Thunderbolt 2, HDMI, DVI, and VGA supported using adapters (sold separately)
Two USB-A ports (up to 5Gb/s)
HDMI 2.0 port
Gigabit Ethernet port
3.5 mm headphone jack
Audio
Built-in speaker
3.5 mm headphone jack
HDMI 2.0 port supports multichannel audio output
Communications
Wi-Fi
802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking
IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
Ethernet
10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
Size and Weight
Height: 1.4 inches (3.6 cm)
Width: 7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Depth: 7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Weight: 2.6 pounds (1.2 kg)
Operating Requirements
Maximum continuous power: 150W
Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
Storage temperature: –40° to 116° F (–40° to 47° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 90% noncondensing
Operating altitude: tested up to 16,400 feet (5000 meters)
Typical acoustical performance: Sound pressure level (operator position): 5 dBA at idle
Pricing
Pricing starts at just $699, which is $100 lower than the previous generation.
New Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Chip - Specifications
The new Apple MacBook Pro 13” laptop is the third of the new Apple Macs and weighs just 3lbs and with the M1 Apple Silicon, this new Macbook Pro is way more powerful with an 8-core CPU delivering up to 2.8x faster performance.
There is a studio-quality three-mic array for better quality video calls. It has 4x as much code compiling on a single charge.
Apple M1 MacBook Pro Specifications
Retina display
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colours
Supported scaled resolutions:
1680 by 1050
1440 by 900
1024 by 640
500 nits brightness
Wide colour (P3)
True Tone technology
Apple M1 chip
8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
8-core GPU
16-core Neural Engine
Battery and Power
Up to 17 hours wireless web
Up to 20 hours Apple TV app movie playback
Built-in 58.2-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
61W USB-C Power Adapter
Memory
8GB unified memory as standard
16GB as an option
Storage
256GB SSD as standard
512GB, 1TB, or 2TB options
Ports
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support for:
Charging
DisplayPort
Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
Keyboard and Trackpad
Backlit Magic Keyboard with:
65 (U.S.) or 66 (ISO) keys including 4 arrow keys in an inverted‑T arrangement
Touch Bar
Touch ID sensor
Ambient light sensor
Force Touch trackpad for precise cursor control and pressure‑sensing capabilities; enables Force clicks, accelerators, pressure‑sensitive drawing, and Multi‑Touch gestures
Wireless
Wi-Fi
802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking
IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
Camera
720p FaceTime HD camera
Video Support
Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colours
One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz
Thunderbolt 3 digital video output
Native DisplayPort output over USB-C
VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)
Audio
Stereo speakers with high dynamic range
Wide stereo sound
Support for Dolby Atmos playback
Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming
3.5 mm headphone jack
Operating Requirements
Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
Storage temperature: −13° to 113° F (−25° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 0% to 90% noncondensing
Operating altitude: tested up to 10,000 feet
Maximum storage altitude: 15,000 feet
Maximum shipping altitude: 35,000 feet
Size and Weight
Height: 0.61 inch (1.56 cm)
Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm)
Depth: 8.36 inches (21.24 cm)
Weight: 3.0 pounds (1.4 kg)
Pricing
Prices start at $1299 or $1199 for education
When Can I Order A New Apple Mac Computer With New M1 Chips?
You can order all 3 of the new Apple Macs powered by the M1 chip from today and they will be available and shipping from next week.
Apple has announced that macOS Big Sur will be available on Thursday, November 12th 2020.
Will My Software Work On The New Apple Macs?
macOS Big Sur will include Rosetta 2, which will automatically translate Intel apps to run on the new Apple Macs. It’s designed to support complex apps and their plugins, but there was no mention if that referred to DAWs like Pro Tools or Studio One. Rosetta 2 will do the translation on installation. However, when necessary Rosetta 2 will also be able to translate code on the fly when using Just In Time and JAVA code.
Back in June 2020, during the WWDC 2020 keynote, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering explained that the code could be translated to the new architecture when the programs were installed. In a publicly available document, About the Rosetta Translation Environment, Apple explains more about how Rosetta 2 will translate executables, and what Rosetta 2 can’t translate.
A pro audio software developer told us that this means modern audio application and plugins, which rely on advanced optimisations will, at best, run on a less optimised path, which is itself being translated. For pro-audio workflows, this could be a performance gotcha. At worst, they could crash or not work at all under emulation if they make assumptions about what high-performance Intel processor instructions will be available (although a simple software patch could solve some fundamental programming bugs like that, so we may see ‘Rosetta 2 compatibility’ updates before some full-fat native Apple Silicon ports arrive).
That said some developers have already posted on social media showing their software working on an Apple Silicon Developer Transition Kit under Rosetta 2 including Blue Cat Audio and Flux:: Check out their posts below…
Apple Silicon Mac, here we come! #bluecataudio #macosbigsur #appledeveloper #applesilicon pic.twitter.com/2YjICUgd6M
— Blue Cat Audio (@bluecataudio) July 1, 2020
Our plug-ins are running fine "as is" on the new Apple Silicon Macs, thanks to Rosetta2! #bluecataudio #applesilicon #rosetta2 #macosbigsur pic.twitter.com/aLuLynkeeB
— Blue Cat Audio (@bluecataudio) July 2, 2020
Exciting times... @Apple's Developer Transition Kit received and installed today! 🤩
— Flux:: (@FluxImmersive) July 7, 2020
From our #FLUXANALYZER, to our #SPATREVOLUTION and ofc the plugins too, everything seems to work just fine!#fluximmersive #gearporn #developer #apple #bigsur #mac #arm #A12z #bionicprocessor pic.twitter.com/m5XrqoWBXj
No Mix Or Match Totally Apple Silicon Native Or Totally Under Rosetta 2
Apple have already explained in their documentation that you have to decide to run your DAW under Rosetta 2 or Natively on Apple Silicon, which means that you will not be able to run Intel-based plug-ins under Rosetta 2 in a DAW that is running natively on Apple Silicon (and vice versa).
Put even more simply, a pro-audio software developer has told us that this means you will not be able to mix and match a Native Apple Silicon DAW with Intel-based plugins.
This means you are going to run everything through Rosetta 2 (DAW and Plugins) until everything you need has been ported over to run natively under Apple Silicon unless there is some kind of process bridge tool made available, as happened with the 32-64 bit transition. All in all, when it comes to the audio production world there are a lot of ifs, buts and maybes.
In terms of what will work on your new Apple Silicon computer, everything should work under Rosetta 2. However, Apple will be making all their own software available to run natively on Apple Silicon Arm-based chips. However, Logic users will have a challenge if you use 3rd party plugins that have not been recoded to run natively.
We have one of the new Apple Macs powered with the M1 chip arriving next week, then we’ll start running our tests to see how powerful the new Macs are… watch this space.