Apple released the new MacBook Air overnight. The updated version has moved away feom intel and has a system on a chip (SOC) M1 Apple silicon.
This is 10% off retail price, which is generally as good as it gets for apple products.
The stats look good and with the 10% off edu pricing for this delivered (for anyone with access to an edu email address) is a good deal for new tech.
Just ordered space grey!
Edit
From Me1stt:
$1,410.20 & $1,753.40 if you have unidays
@earth worm jim: I mean, Apple has been leading the SOC race since the A11 (2017). It's rather obvious that you're either misinformed or trolling to claim that a midrange SOC from 2017 is faster than a 2020 flagship from the market leader.
At least try to make it slighly believable.
@earth worm jim: Admittedly Apple do make niche products for higher income earners. They’re not for everyone so comments like yours remind us that not everyone can afford them and may resent others that can.
In an alternate reality maybe, the A12X in the iPad Pro (1120 single-core/4700 multi-core) is already well ahead of my Snapdragon 865+ Tab S7 (950 single-core / 3000 multi-core) in Geekbench 5. I doubt the M1 is worse than the A12X.
@expatOz: This is exactly why I said it was trash. Just look at those specs. What is this … 2016 ? performing worse than intel 8 gen processors. The only thing it performs relatively well is single core bench mark which is overrated to start with. If apple is all about single core performance maybe they should go back to 2006 and evaluate again why the world moved to multicore.
From the specs looks like itll be slower than a snapdragon android phone
performing worse than intel 8 gen processors
single core bench mark which is overrated to start with
Keep moving those goalposts mate.
@earth worm jim: That's the interngrated GPU perfomance.
According the specs on that site, it out performed the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X in single core, and performs around a AMD Ryen 2700X in multicore.
Who know's if that's true though, and how directely you can compare these ARM chips to X86.
But Apple's A14 ARM chips are currently by far the fastest, faster than any Qualcomm Snapdragon chips. And apparently this M1 chip is faster.
Why so salty? You're just posting in this thread as though a new laptop has somehow hurt you in some form or another. Kind odd.
i don't know what you're reading mate.
I also used edu store to buy ipad for cheaper than retail. That's more of a bargain since you rarely get discount with ipads.
Will there be any additional offer during Thanksgiving / Boxing day? (example $$ gift card with purchase etc).
Also IIRC SB/CR do not pay any cashback for edu pricing most of the time. Historically has there been CB on edu pricing during holiday period?
A$1,381.60 & A$1,717.10 if you have access to private company stores.
This varies depending on individual EPP rates. I've found some instances where our EPP rates are better than education, but in this case, our EPP rates are actually less by quite a bit.
Its a smart move to rename the A14X Bionic Chips M1 so people don't realise its a souped up iPhone/Ipad processor.
Sure, until you realise its a 10% faster iPhone chip with better headroom for multicore. The benchmarks were leaked by a Apple Insider with access to the chip on Geekbench 5. The results were not very impressive. They will struggle to sell these outside of the Macbook Air users.
CPU/Platform
Geekbench 5 single/Geekbench 5 multi
A12Z iPhone
1,118
4,657
A14/iPhone
1,583
4,198
A14X/Mac
1,634
7,220
Intel Core-i9/Mac(These throttle due to thermal issues in the Mac)
1,096
6,869
faster single and multi core than a core i9… struggling to see how this is bad? apple mobile CPUS are faster than most laptops and even desktops already lmao
Linustechtips pointed out that it would be under optimal test conditions in a watercooled and air conditioned environment, whilst the i9 did not even outperform the i7 benchmarks due to improper cooling on the Macbook.
I mean, even a i9-9900K in a 27" iMac can only get a single core score of 1234, so if the M1 could even get 1300 single core in a MacBook Air that would be very impressive.
The i9 16" MacBook Pro also did significantly outperform the i7 variant (i7-9750H), which has a sc of 1016 and a mc score of 5334
Prefer to wait for 3rd party tests thanks. Considering it's a first generation device and from experience with PowerPc,I don't expect the transition to go smoothly.
The results were not very impressive
Results: >50% faster single-core and ~10% faster multi-core than an Intel i9
????????????????
Don't forget Cashback @ Cashrewards (only 1.5% at the moment)
No cash back on newly launched products.
has always been the case
CR is not yet updated (was last updated 14/10) but one would assume new macbooks would be excluded as they usually are
Tightarse can prob confirm or deny
Not true. I received cashback on my newly launched 16" MBP. Wasn't on the exclusion list.
12" is where this would shine.. still waiting
I wouldn't jump to buy it just yet. Wait for third party reviews to see if the ARM chips will run legacy software decently in compatibility mode. That being said, I can't imagine that the Air will slower than the intel version given as it won't be horrendously throttled.
$1,410.20 & $1,753.40 if you have unidays.
Thanks. Added to post 😊
I'd be super wary of any 1st gen Apple product. They have history of not resolving widespread issues that miraculously are fixed in the new version (cracking cases, flaking paint…)
I'd be more worried about driver support on their first iteration
Driver support for their own hardware? You are funny mate.
I have Apple hardware that doesn't work anymore because Apple dropped drivers in later OS versions
@amanvell: Which apple hardware do you have? Also not sure why would it not work as you will have the last version which was supported? Are you confusing OS updates with driver updates?
driver support for external hardware is what Levity is probably referring to.
I'm thinking about my audio interface
Not really the same thing though. The air and macbook pro with the new cpu are still housed in the familiar case and hardware. They've always had plenty of logic board issues, that hasn't changed over the last 10 years so it's a gamble any year.
Yeah but surely this isn't 1st gen..? It's the same body, different chipset.
New SoC with new CPU architecture, new GPU architecture and NN architecture. Entirely new.
Also completely new motherboard (no longer Intel chipset), which means entirely new chips and drivers required.
Then there's the software which has had to be entirely recompiled to ARM and a new emulator, Rosetta 2, introduced.
But yeah it's the same body.
Ah damn, interesting - shows how little I know. May hold off on the purchase then.. at least until some reviews I guess?
I'm highly sceptical over the compatibility with third party programs. I think people are crazy to be buying it without more information
Unless you live in a completely Apple software ecosystem eg FinalCut, Pages, Slideshow, Numbers or Cloud based G Suite then I'd certainly wait till all of Adobe's Creative Suite & Office 365 are ported over. I'm very interested to see how Premiere performs on these laptops vs a Intel CPU as Adobe software is very optimised for Intel CPU's.
At least for Office 365, it may not be such a long wait but the question is whether this stopgap measure will deliver either the performance or efficiency benefits of Apple Silicon: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/12/microsoft-office-for-ma…
I'm not surprised MS has a beta of Office already. MS have Windows X running on ARM so they are already supporting that architecture with some of their code. Office is where they make a lot of their money and can't have users turning to Pages, Slideshow or Numbers and finding that they don't need to pay for Office any more. That said Office probably runs fine under Rosetta 2 anyway. But Photoshop & Premiere are a different story as they'll run under Rosetta 2 but will really you'd want a native build to run at their best.
While it is pretty exciting that Apple finally moved away from Intel
and create their own chip based on ARM
I would strongly NOT suggest to buy the new Macbook at the moment
Many apps will still not being supported on launch day
Even Microsoft hasn't officially release their Microsoft Office on Mac and Visual Studio on Mac (ARM64) as yet
And more importantly, for any users that wants to run Windows on the new Mac
from my understanding, bootcamp will no longer work with the M1 chip
and all the virtual VMs (eg. Parallel / VMware) won't work either (as Microsoft only release the ARM Windows10 to OEM machine, not as a standalone software)
So my suggestion is wait and see for at least 6 to 12 months
and wait till more major software companies release compatible software to M1 chip
This is wrong and misleading. There may not be ARM designed apps on day 1 but all your old apps will still work.
Parallel is working on ARM now.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/24/21302213/apple-silicon-ma…
Microsoft only licenses Windows 10 on ARM to OEMs,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. We asked Microsoft if it plans to change this policy to allow Windows 10 on ARM-based Macs, and the company says “we have nothing further to share at this time.
Unless things have changed
So you are saying they will work 100% without any issues because of Parallels?
Apple is using Rosetta 2 translation technology to translate application from x86_64 to ARM
However, Virtual Machine app is not supported
Virtual Machine apps that virtualize x86_64 computer platforms
Apple official document: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/apple_silicon/abou…
How would the performance compare to a late 2012 MBP? Keen to upgrade but also not sure if worth it.
I think wait for 3rd party reviews. You also need make sure that you existing apps will be compatible, especially 3rd party ones, considering it's transition to a new architecture.
Probably even a A14 chip (shipped with iPhone12) is more powerful than 2012 MBP Intel CPU
So from processing power, storage and memory performance it definitely worth the upgrade
In any native ARM app, it should blow away a 2012 mbp (basically all of Apple's own apps). The big unknown is the performance when its emulating the non native apps.
I'd definitely wait for reviews to come out before buying it. Also make a list of apps you use on a daily basis and check if they're native/working on porting over to ARM.
Yea, I believe there will be more ARM based app to come once the M1 chip macbook users grows
But this will takes time
So really worth waiting for 6-12 months IMO
The only users that would take full advantage of the new macbook from day 1
would probably be iOS or Mac App developers
as building and compiling app will be way more faster
and I believe it doesnt even need a simulator to test on app (as it can run natively now)
Ive got a Macbook Air 2011 13" 4gb ram and 2018 13" 8gb ram..and now a 2020 M1 13" 8Gb ..the M1 kills them both
The comments section for this post is basically a toilet wall lol
It is better to wait for third party reviews than jump on ship right now.
Personally I am using MBP 2015, so unlikely to upgrade now.
Maybe wait for M2 or M3?
Same. MBP 2015 is a beast even in 2020
Apple has a 14 days return policy. You can buy and use it and return for a full refund if you end up not liking it. They can organise for a courier to pickup as well. Looks like there is even an extended return period due to the holidays allowing you until 8 January 2021 to return the product.
Good time to buy an x64 Macbook Air, then?
Maybe if you see one really cheap, the previous Air has pretty measly performance . Especially the dual core.
Waiting for M16 deal. I heard that one will be a killer.
Anyone have a Unidays coupon they could shoot through to me, please and thank you :)
I suppose Apple will one day simply buy AMD for the next generational leap.
That was the rumour years ago when AMD was losing money, before Dr Lisa SU took over, and the share price was worth $2 USD. Now AMD is the hottest tech stock and their share price is $77 USD today.
$270 for an extra 256GB storage is mental. Apple are absolutely taking the piss.
Hmmm… how does this compare to the 2020 Macbook Pro 2.0 Ghz 512GB? Still deciding and waiting it out before pulling the trigger on a new MBP.
Any insights?
Nobody knows, all we have is Apple's marketing rubbish.
If third party programs still run well with updates it could be much better, especially if that 20 hour battery life comes true
Thanks for the kind response. Guess I'll also have to wait and see.. Once the reviews start unfolding.
reviews just came out, the M1 MACBOOK air blows the macbook pro intel i9 out of the water, huge game changer
Amazing hey
I'll still wait for actual reviews of the actual applications I use. All I see from the reviews so far are mainly synthetic Geekbench numbers, which are irrelevant to real world applications. Can someone point me to a website that shows actual charts, not Geekbench, and is not a whole bunch of text.
Anyone else find the lack of support for 2 external displays a bit hard to accept?
Anyone get theirs today through the education store and not have to prove the student part?
Yep, mine had an attempted delivery. Ordered through UNiDAYS.
Unidays without being a student?
Sorry, I used a friends UNiDAYS account to click through but ordered under my name. No problem.
@Modesty: has been flawless. Beautiful machine and very fast. The only thing you notice is that apps that are not native ARM ( of which at this stage most are not yet ported over) you see a brief message saying that Rosetta2 is translating the software upon first run..usually about 5-10 seconds. After that you dont see the message anymore and the apps launch straightway… this thing flies!
So it has been more than a week. Is there any good reviews on real world usage of this yet?
Also, does this discount expired soon?
I think it's almost unanimously praised from the dozen or so Youtube reviews I've watched. The common theme is the marvel at the power and efficiency of the M1 chip over the Intel ones, like not better, significantly better. Double the battery life, more power and same price
Only downside is the package which is still 2020 MacBook meaning thick screen bezels, 720p camera and I believe 2 less thunderbolt ports. It's kinda bad for 2020 but if you were going to get a 2020 MacBook anyway, this is like a massive freebie
Loving mine
Not a student. Waiting for these to arrive in Costco or perhaps buying from JB Hi-Fi using 5% off GCs is the way to go?
For those not as eagle eyed and missing the little 7 vs 8 core GPU on the specs, and thiking it is only the HDD that changes from 256 GB to 512GB… Worth noting that the 8th core GPU seems to make a difference under loads - a reddit thread talks about 5-10% and one guy did some tests at 30% less dropp off in the air when throttled in a benchmark when it got hot after 90 minutes.
It seems that if you are getting a 512 GB drive anyway (apple site has the 7core GPU with upgraded 512 GB HDD at $1709 vs $1754) —- so the difference for the 1 core is 45 AUD with the 10% discount.
7 core GPU M1 chips are simply "binned" chips that did didn't meet the spec. Instead of throwing them away, Apple decided to use these for the entry level MBA. It's possible that the "dead" core can be activated but will have to wait and see.
@earth worm jim: You're getting negged because either you're serious and wrong, or joking and just not funny.