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News
Apple’s ‘One More Thing’ event
There was one more thing and three new products
The one more thing is Apple Silicon, the M1, their first desktop processor based on their A14 design
The three new products are the Apple Silicon MacBook Air, Apple Silicon 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Apple Silicon Mac mini
The M1
A 5nm system on a chip (SoC) design with 8 CPU cores and 8 GPU cores
4 performance CPU cores and 4 high efficiency cores
16 billion transistors
Unified Memory Architecture (RAM built in)
Neural Engine
image signal processor (ISP)
Secure Enclave
high-performance storage controller
Low-power, highly efficient media encode and decode engines
Apple-designed Thunderbolt controller with support for USB 4
Apple says the M1 delivers up to 3.5x faster CPU performance, up to 6x faster GPU performance, and up to 15x faster machine learning, all while enabling battery life up to 2x longer than previous-generation Macs.
New MacBook Air
M1 processor
Up to 16GB RAM
13-inch Retina display with True Tone and P3 wide color gamut support
Up to 2TB of SSD storage
18 hours of video playback
Fan-less design
Two Thunderbolt 3/USB4 ports
Magic Keyboard, Force Touch trackpad, and Touch ID
WiFi 6
Starting at $999 USD
New 13-inch MacBook Pro
M1 processor
Up to 16GB RAM
Active cooling (fan)
13-inch Retina display with True Tone and P3 wide color gamut support
Up to 2TB of SSD storage
20 hours of video playback
Two Thunderbolt 3/USB4 ports
Magic Keyboard w/ Touch Bar, Force Touch trackpad, and Touch ID
WiFi 6
Starting at $1,299 USD
New Mac mini
M1 processor
Up to 16GB RAM
Up to 2TB of SSD storage
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Two USB-A ports
HDMI 2.0 port
Gigabit Ethernet
Starting at $699
All models still have a 720p FaceTime camera
Apple claims they use the SIP on the M1 to improve the image with noise reduction, greater dynamic range, improved white balance, and ML face detection.
Base model MacBook Air has a 7-core vs 8-core GPU
Apple may be using “binned” GPUs, to save cost (this is common practice)
You can still buy the “higher-end” Intel based 13-inch MacBook Pro
No 10Gb Ethernet option on the new Mac mini
Apple removed references to eGPU support for M1 based Macs
Likely because GPU makers don’t have drivers for Apple’s new processor
A couple observations
The event was aging well paced and well produced
Loved the “stinger” at the end with John Hodgeman returning as PC
All three machines have exactly the same CPU
Only difference between “Pro” and Air is a fan and the touchbar, for $300
Well also 100nit brighter display, slightly bigger battery, better speakers and microphones
Apple’s somewhat “vague” comparisons to PCs
Apple is claiming their Silicon beats all the latest PC chips.
Apple used rather vague charts and no real benchmarks to make their claims
Based on the A14 comparisons, the M1 should perform even better
Apple releases Big Sur
Compatible machines
2015 and later MacBook
2013 and later MacBook Air
2013 and later MacBook Pro
2014 and later Mac mini
2014 and later iMac
2017 and later iMac Pro
2013 and later Mac Pro
Features
Redesigned user interface
New Notification Center w/ widget support
Updated Control Center
Safari 14 (may already have that)
New Messages app
Apple TV+ gaining momentum
Parrot Analytics is out with new data showing the relative demand for Apple TV+ shows vs the average series in the US
Apple’s newer shows seem to be doing a bit better than their launch series
In the 60 days from series premier Defending Jacob was 29.5 times more in demand than the average series in the U.S, followed by Truth Be Told and Servant
Surprisingly Ted Lasso was just 12.8 times more in demand on average, but is seeing it’s demand rising due to a lot of positive word of mouth.
I’m not too surprised that the “newer” series have been more in demand
I think it’s take a little while for Apple’s service to build up users
Business Insider noted that the Tom Hank’s film Greyhound was responsible for Apple’s biggest boost in sign-ups this year.
Apple has been heavily promoting the service and the free year (with device purchase) is bringing many more eyeballs to Apple TV+
Apple also has a strong line up of new films and series in the works.
Updated iPhone SE not until later in 2021
In a new investor note Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple will likely not update the iPhone SE in the first half of 2021
The iPhone SE was released back in April and is still selling well, plus Apple is pushing the iPhone 12 now.
Kuo does say that he thinks Apple will have AirPods 3 and a mini LED iPad in the first half of 2021
Claims AirPods 3 will have a design similar to the AirPods Pro with a shorter stem and replaceable ear tips along with improved battery life
Will not offer noise cancellation
HomePod mini reviews
The HomePod mini has had some early reviews and they are looking pretty good.
General consensus is that it has amazing sound for such a small speaker
Not surprising really considering the S5 and Apple’s audio tuning software
Also many note the 360 degree sound is a bonus.
Of course reviewers also like the design
One complaint is the included 20W USB-C wall adapter. Apple’s standard one which sticks straight out from the outlet. Not great considering the device is likely on a cabinet or nightstand with the plug behind it.
AppleCare+ for the HomePod mini is a $15 USD
The out of warranty replacement cost is $79, just $30 USD if you have AppleCare+
I ordered one, but not right away so I won’t have it until late November to early December
iOS 14.3 icon hints at AirTags and AirPods Studio
iOS 14.3 has a headphone icon that looks nothing like any of Apple’s existing products and very similar to leaked images of Apple’s rumored AirPods Studio headphones
There are also related icons showing a backpack and a set of luggage, seeming indicating an association to Apple’s rumored item tracker AirTags
There was also a leaked image this past week that purported to show an AirTags keychain.
This is a rumored leather “pouch” accessory that you could put an AirTag in to attach it to your keys, a bag, luggage, etc.
In the image the “keyring” is etched with “Designed by Apple in California” on the side
Doesn’t look stitched to me, so could be fake
Sponsor: MacPaw
CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac X is an all-in-one cleaning and optimizing software for your Mac.
With powerful functionality and lots of useful features, CleanMyMac X helps you to stay aware of all apps that are installed on your Mac and their permissions. So, you can find out which programs can access your camera and microphone.
The app’s most popular feature is the Smart Scan. It examines your system for system log files and user cache that is no longer needed. Smart Scan also does a quick malware check and run some optimization tasks to speed up your Mac. And all of these will only take a couple of seconds.
Another superpower of CleanMyMac X is its ability to handle all performance-draining processes on your Mac. Its Optimization feature is way more straightforward than the built-in Activity Monitor.
CleanMyMac X gives you more control over apps and their files – you can find out what apps and programs you have on your Mac and uninstall those you don’t need.
CleanMyMac X is compatible with Big Sur!
Redesigned icon
CleanMyMac X Widget lets you check the available space on your Mac and see the trends of changing it over time.
Had a question about UK weights in the Health app in Stones and pounds
Several suggestions for 3rd party apps
MyFitnessPal
Withings Healthmate app
Should you get/wait for Apple Silicon
Is it worth being an early adopter?
It’s pretty clear at this point that the M1 is likely going to offer a large improvement in performance
There’s a reason why Apple started with what is basically their “entry” level consumer models
With any transition there is likely going to be “hiccups” and if you’re relying on your Mac for professional production work it’s going to be harder to take bumps in the road
Specialized hardware that rely on software or drivers could have delays or issues
Some apps, like Photoshop, might not be ready yet.
Good news, both VMWare and Parallels announced they are working on versions of their apps for Apple Silicon.
Doesn’t necessarily mean they will be able to support Intel OSes
Apple has offered up some great features in macOS Big Sur
Rosetta 2 allows M1 based Mac to run Intel apps using a translation layer
Universal Apps have native binaries fro both Intel and Apple Silicon
Apple Silicon machines can natively run iOS app, though developers can “opt-out” of the feature
Google and Facebook are opting out.
Early analysis of some apps running on Apple Silicon under Rosetta 2 are showing “faster” performance.
Performance
We’re still waiting fro “real world” testing
Benchmarks are looking really good.
M1 seems to be running at 3.2 GHz
GeekBench single-core score of 1687 and a multi-core score of 7433
Single-core performance is better than any other available Mac
This is also true for Apple Silicon Macs running in Rosetta 2
Multi-core score beats out the top of the line 2.4GHz Intel Core i9 model 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro
Not the same for GPU. Macs with discreet GPUs perform better
Should you upgrade to Big Sur
Same rules generally apply… there’s bound to be some “bumps” with the release of a new OS
If you rely on your machine for day to day work you might want to wait.
Double check support for all your critical apps and hardware
Make sure you have multiple backups and verify them before upgrading
Consider installing the OS on a partition or external drive to test it prior to upgrading
The “Gatekeeper” problem
The release of Big Sur put a heavy load on Apple’s server causing slowdowns and failed downloads
At the same time users of macOS Catalina, myself included, noticed that their apps were failing to launch or unresponsive
The issue was Gatekeeper checking the validity of the apps over the Internet
This is Apple’s Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)
If you’re not connected to the Internet then it will simply bypass the check.
Claims the service sends, Date, Time, Computer, ISP, City, State, Application Hash, long with IP that could be used for crude geolocation
Also claims that OSCP requests are transmitted unencrypted
Apps like Little Snitch could block these requests, but in Big Sur the trustd daemon that makes these requests is in the ContentFilterExclusionList and can’t be blocked by any user-controlled firewall or VPN.
OCSP doesn’t send an application hash, it sends hashed application certificate information
The certificate is for the app developer, not the app
