A Review Of The New M1 Macbook Pro: Apple Successfully Gains Processor Independence

The new M1 Macbook Pro is here, which comes with Apple’s own M1 chipset. This is a big deal from the Silicon Valley giant as, until this latest Macbook, the company had no control over the most important part of a computer—the processor. The company depended on Intel tech and had to schedule their own product launches in line with updates from the chipmaker.

This total control trend isn't new for Apple. From the A series chipsets on the iPhones to the iPadOS, Apple has made sure that every aspect of user experience is governed by what they deem fit. With every product launch, the company shows how you benefit from this kind of micro-managing of devices. CEO Tim Cook has even said that the company has a “long-term strategy of owning and controlling the primary technologies behind the products we make.”

Apple announced its M1 System on a Chip earlier this month, its first processor to power recent versions of the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac Mini. So how does the chip perform with the new Macbook Pro?

The Macbook benefits from Apple’s super-tight engineering and integration that we expect from any product. We don't get a list of specifications such as how many gigs of RAM the device runs or what is the speed of the processor, but Apple has made big claims on three aspects: the laptop’s performance, its battery life and app compatibility with the M1 chip.

Performance

Apple claims that that the new M1 Macbook performs three times better than its counterpart laptop in Windows, and about six times better when it comes to graphics. Many reviewers have tested this out, with Geekbench scoring up to 1738 for the M1 MacBook Pro in terms of single-core performance. This makes it among the fastest Macs ever made faster than every Macbook that runs on an Intel processor.

Even if you set the benchmark scores aside, this Mac seems faster with everyday applications. The Safari browser on the new Macbook is as smooth as butter and responds quickly to commands. Even heavier browsers such as Google Chrome respond quickly on the new Mac compared to its older versions. File transfers were faster compared to older Macs and even the desktop, which is quite a major improvement. However, movie rendering on Final Cut Pro was not up to scratch and was quite a wait, which casts a shadow on whether the M1 chip is really up to performing heavy tasks.

Battery

Apple has claimed that they have doubled the battery life in terms of usage time with the new laptop, without changing the battery size. We wonder how much power you can draw out from a battery without giving it more juice. But Apple seems to have delivered on this promise. With the laptop unboxed and fully charged, it lasted for nearly 7.5 hours of on and off usage—including playing games, watching movies, and working on video editing apps — and still had over 12% of battery life remaining. This is quite an improvement from many of the flagship laptops out there.

App Compatibility

Apple has also had its Rosetta 2 translation ready from the very beginning, so that software programs that run on Intel processors can now run on the M1. This is clear as you run applications on the new Macbook. Microsoft Office, Zoom, Google Chrome and even open-source software such as Audacity do well in the new environment with almost zero lags and a seamless user experience. All these apps are ones designed for Intel that Apple has optimized to run on the M1 Macbook. This ability makes the M1 processor stand out from any other ARM architecture out there and we expect it to be improved with newer versions.

The new Macs with the M1 processing chip can work with other Apple devices such as iPhone or iPad and run their apps directly from the Mac App Store itself. The new app store on the M1 Mac has an option to view iPhone and iPad apps.

Overall, the M1 Macbook is a force to reckon with. Apple has really done well with this first attempt, and the new Macbook will not disappoint you. Check out BestBuy for deals on the M1 Macbook.