Apple Silicon, Mac M1 Processor. Pros/Cons
Apple Silicon - Mac M1 Processor. When's the right time to upgrade?
The latest (and arguably) most significant upgrade to the Apple Mac in recent years has taken place. The first Apple Macs with ARM M1 processors, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini, are being delivered this week. The rollout across the full range is estimated to take around two years.
The new M1 offers a number of attractive features:
· Longer battery life: Up to 18 hours of battery life for the new MacBook Air and 20 hours on the new MacBook Pro
· High efficiency. 8-core CPU, consisting of 4 ‘performance’ cores and four ‘efficiency’ cores. The efficiency cores consume one-tenth of the power. The four efficiency cores are to handle lighter workloads. They use a tenth of the power while still delivering outstanding performance. These e‑cores are the most efficient place to run lightweight tasks, allowing the performance cores to be used for your most demanding workflows. Performance cores peak performance using 25% of the power associated with Intel chips
· More efficient and a faster processor. M1 chip offers up to 3.5 times faster CPU performance than equivalent Intel i7 processors
· Silent performance. The new MacBook Air does not require a cooling fan, resulting in silent and power efficient operation. The fan has been replaced with an aluminium heat spreader dissipating heat the system generates, so no matter how intense the task, MacBook Air runs completely silently
· Run applications already used on iPhone and iPad devices, natively. Many iPhone and iPad apps purchased previously will be made available to Apple Silicon users through the App Store
Be aware though that the introduction of new architecture means some software is not yet compatible with M1.
Apple has developed Rosetta 2 to transition from Intel to Apple Silicon. Existing Intel applications can run without needing to be recompiled for the M1, allowing continued running of existing applications while developers work on adapting their applications to run natively and fully exploit the new technology.
However, the complexity of this process, together with experience of the original Rosetta implementation in the switch to Intel, suggests this is unlikely to run seamlessly for all applications and an upgrade without prior investigation could adversely affect your business operations.
With this in mind we would advise all out clients to speak to us before upgrading to understand the implications this would have on their business IT systems.
If an upgrade is considered to be a good opportunity for your business, then we also offer Tech as a Service and can provide sensible leasing plans to enable an affordable upgrade.
As always, talk to the Conformedia team to ensure you make a fully informed decision. We are here to help.
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