Apple unveils MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini with M1 chip

At the "One More Thing" event on Tuesday, Apple unveiled M1, the company's first chip designed specifically for the Mac and also the most powerful chip it has ever created alongside the new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, all powered by the M1 SoC.

M1 SoC: Features

Built using cutting-edge 5-nanometer process technology, M1 features the world's fastest CPU core in low-power silicon, the world's best CPU performance per watt, the world's fastest integrated graphics in a personal compute, thereby, delivering up to 3.5x faster CPU performance and up to 6x faster GPU performance.

In addition, the Neural Engine in M1 features Apple's most advanced 16-core architecture capable of 11 trillion operations per second, delivering up to 15x faster machine learning performance.

The M1 chip also packs innovative technologies like Apple's latest image signal processor (ISP) for higher quality video, Secure Enclave for best-in-class security and Apple-designed Thunderbolt controller with support for USB 4 and transfer speeds up to 40Gbps, among others.

MacBook Air

In the new M1-powered MacBook Air, the octa-core CPU performs up to 3.5x faster, graphics are up to 5x faster and ML workloads are up to 9x faster than the previous generation. The chip's storage controller and latest flash technology are claimed to deliver up to 2x faster SSD performance.

The new MacBook Air offers up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing, up to 18 hours of video playback and video calls for up to twice as long on a single charge, the longest battery life ever on a MacBook Air. Apple claims that the new M1-powered MacBook Air is faster than 98 percent of PC laptops sold in the past year.

MacBook Pro 13-inch

The 13-inch MacBook Pro is claimed to be up to 3x faster than the best-selling Windows laptop in its class. With the M1 chip, it is up to 2.8x faster and with up to 5x faster GPU and up to 11x faster ML, the MacBook Pro is now the world's fastest compact pro notebook.

It offers up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing and up to a staggering 20 hours of video playback, delivering twice the battery life of the previous generation.

Key features include Retina display with 500 nits brightness, Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch Bar, 720p FaceTime HD camera, WiFi 6, Dolby Atmos and two Thunderbolt ports with USB 4 support.

Mac Mini

The M1-powered Mac Mini is claimed to deliver up to 3x faster performance, up to 15x faster machine learning and up to a massive 6x increase in graphics performance than the previous generation.

The Mac Mini is just one-tenth of the size of the best-selling Windows desktop in its price range, yet delivers up to 5x faster performance.

Prices

The new M1-powered MacBook Air with 256GB SSD storage is priced at Rs 92,900, and Rs 83,610 in the education store while the 512GB model is priced at Rs 1,17,900. It has three color options- Silver, Space Grey, and Gold.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro 256GB model is priced at Rs 1,22,900 and the higher 512GB storage variant is priced at Rs 1,42,900. It is available in Silver and Space Grey color options and for education customers, it starts at Rs 1,10,610.

The new Mac Mini is available in two models- the 256GB model costs Rs 64,900 while the 512GB model is priced at Rs 84,900. It comes in a single Silver color option.