11/10/2020 17:49
Clarín.com
Technology
Updated 11/10/2020 5:49 PM
Apple surprised again with a revolutionary new concept:
a processor that does not need a fan to work.
The Intel era, with the x86 architecture, is over.
And the era of ARM architecture processors in Macs began, which was presented this Tuesday, along with the teams that will use this new technology that not only promises to be much faster, but also
consumes much less.
And this makes
the battery last considerably longer
, a historical claim of any user of portable equipment.
The first is a chip called M1 and it's going to put more than one in the industry in trouble.
The models that start with the new M1 are the MacBook Air, the Mac mini and the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The concept of the M1 is that of an
integrated chip
, which includes not only the central processor (
CPU
), but also the graphics (
GPU
), memory and the neural network.
The result of all this, built with the highest miniaturization achieved by the microchip industry, 5 nanometers, provides the new Apple computers with not only a blazing speed, which surpasses practically everything on the market, but also
a lower energy consumption and very little heating.
The specifications
of the M1
The architecture of the M1.
Photo EFE
The M1 has an 8-core CPU with 16 billion transistors, a 16-core neural engine capable of 11 trillion operations per second.
According to Apple, this processor has the world's fastest CPU core and the world's fastest integrated graphics -
2.6 teraflops
- in a personal computer.
The best example of this is the
MacBook Air
.
With the new M1, he says, it is faster than
98% of PCs on the market
, but heats up so little that Apple has decided to manufacture it without a fan.
It's completely silent even when performing compute-intensive tasks such
as video editing.
These do have fans, and even higher performance, both the Mac mini and the MacBook Pro.
Apple put a lot of emphasis on low processing temperatures.
Photo Bloomberg
But if the temperature is surprising, its efficiency is much more so, which
lengthens the battery in the case of the two laptops to extremes never seen before
.
A MacBook Air battery charge reaches 15 hours for web browsing and 18 hours for video playback.
In the case of the MacBook, it reaches
17 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video.
That figure means not having to be aware of a plug almost never.
All of that is combined with the new macOS Big Sur operating system, which will be available for download as a free update starting this Thursday, November 11.
Big Sur is designed for this new generation of Macs and works on x86 architecture as well.
For those who use
Apple Silicon
computers
, it contains Rosetta 2,
a kind of translator that makes an app developed only for the x86 architecture work on ARM as well.
The new Macs with M1s are available to order now and will begin shipping next week.
The MacBook Air starts at
$ 1,299
, the 13-inch MacBook Pro
starts at
$
999,
and the new Mac mini
starts at
$ 699.
And this is only the beginning.
The M1 has started on the smaller Macs.
We will have to see what the 16-inch MacBook Pro, iMac and iMac Pro, and of course, the Mac Pro in store.
Desktop Mac Mini
Mac Mini, one of Apple's presentations.
Photo Bloomberg
Apple also introduced its new M1 processor to another model of its Mac computers, the compact desktop Mac Mini, which provides up to three times the CPU performance of its Intel-chip predecessor.
On a graphical level, the Mac Mini's GPU performance is increased by up to six over previous models, and it is up to 5 times faster than the best-selling desktop PC on the market.
It is also up to 15 times faster in machine learning processing.
Apple Mini uses a thermal design, WiFi 6 wireless connectivity, physical
Thunderbolt or USB 4 ports
, support for
6K
resolution
through its HDMI
2.1
port
, 3.5mm headphone jack and Ethernet.
The Mac Mini starts at $ 699.
Photo EFE