Three weeks after Apple launched its new MacBook Pro laptops, orders for nearly all models are still extending for weeks — because they’ve had enough to begin with. If you didn’t place your order by October 18th or managed to get it in Apple stores after October 26th, you’ll be waiting a while.
Supply chain issues are part of the problem, but the long-awaited transition from Intel chips to Apple’s custom ARM-based systems-on-a-chip also highlights the growing demand for true professional-grade hardware. And make no mistake, the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips are pretty much everything Apple users could ever want, sporting a high-performance/high-efficiency core, up to 64GB of RAM, multiple GPU core options, and benchmarks that essentially scream Apple’s fundamental message to the industry as a whole: follow along.
There’s a reason why Apple’s event is called “Releasing.”
Performance/power issues
For years, there’s been a stir that Apple executives weren’t too happy about with Intel’s processor power/performance ratio. The performance-per-watt ratio has never been good enough. Intel chips running cool enough to use in a MacBook Air, for example, have never been considered high-performance. And the company’s more powerful chips consume too much power and produce appropriate heat. (That’s a bad combination for a laptop.) Every chip from Intel forced compromises that Apple engineers had to devise, leading to Apple’s own foray into chip design.
The M1 Pro and M1 Max upgrade the already impressive M1 chip that debuted last year at 13-in. MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. (Apple still sells the smaller MacBook Pro, but now lives in the shadow of its big brothers.) The new 14-in. and 16-in. MacBook Pro is geared specifically for business and powerful users and offers more than just a multi-core SOC: there’s also a 16-core Neural Engine, a ProRes hardware accelerator (for high-end video editing), 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of unified memory, high-speed storage. up to 8 TB, a mini-led ProMotion display, and a battery that can last you all day long.
That’s just the hardware side: Because Apple wrote macOS Monterey specifically to take advantage of dedicated hardware, the MacBook Pro delivers performance with unprecedented efficiency. And while there are still technically faster computers, none can match Apple’s performance per watt. This new Mac seems to defy the old-fashioned logic and expectation that more power always means more heat and less battery life.
Intel couldn’t keep up, so it fell behind. Now, it’s up to macOS developers to make sure they don’t fall behind as well. They too must follow.
Developers also have work to do
Since Apple Silicon is a completely different hardware architecture, existing applications will need to be recompiled, at best, or at worst rewritten, to fully take advantage of what Apple has to offer. Apple offers Rosetta 2, a compatibility wrapper that allows most x86 Mac applications to run smoothly on Apple Silicon. Most end users won’t (or at least, shouldn’t) notice; their apps should work as-is (and some would actually run faster on Apple Silicon, even with the Rosetta 2 translation layer). As developers bring their software fully in line with the M1 chip, their applications will see a substantial performance boost.
There are limitations to Rosetta 2 compatibility. Not everything will work; virtual machines and applications designed around kernel extensions will not work properly, or not at all. That’s why software developers can’t rely on Rosetta 2 as anything more than a break; its not a good idea to leave your users hanging too long. Big players like Adobe and Microsoft have made the transition to Apple Silicon; many others have pledged support, and those who get lost will eventually get there — or they will be replaced by other alternatives. Given Apple’s speed of innovation on the hardware side, I wouldn’t have waited long if I were a developer.
Apple learned some lessons
The last time Apple released a new notebook, I remember being disappointed as a longtime Apple user and as a Mac admin. I wanted to want it, but I didn’t. The update that Apple offered in the previous generation MacBook pro didn’t suit my needs. I’ve never been a fan of Touch Bar technology, thought the butterfly keyboard was serviceable, didn’t like losing the MagSafe connector, and is it right don’t like that Apple removed all the port options that put the Pro on the MacBook Pro. While the MacBook Pro line sells well, the complaints persist. That’s why all changes to the new models are very welcome.
That’s why, unlike the last model, I really wanted one of those. And I keep wondering: if Apple could get this much performance out of a MacBook Pro, what would a Mac Pro desktop look like?
Busy admin
Mac admins need to keep up, too: these new laptops mean MDM solutions and business-critical apps need to be tested to make sure they work properly with macOS Monterey. And the arrival of the M1 Pro and M1 Max models means we have another piece of hardware to test for compatibility. While any Mac admin who deserves his salt should have been testing for Monterey compatibility since WWDC, the process of ensuring Apple Silicon hardware is compatible with existing deployments can no longer be neglected.
Reminder: it’s no longer possible to buy a MacBook Pro with an Intel chip.
And while Intel Macs will be supported for years to come, Apple Silicon is here, and it’s the future — ready or not.
Neither change is painless, and while Apple’s transition to a new chip architecture will cause problems in some production environments, it’s a good one to have. The hard part for chipmakers, hardware rivals, developers, and Mac admins will be to follow Apple now that it’s launched.