The new MacBook Pros will begin arriving next week, but thankfully, we don’t have to wait that long to get an answer. Linda Dong, an Apple designer, has confirmed on Twitter that the macOS pointer travels behind the notch, allowing users to essentially hide the mouse pointer from view.
That’s an interesting way to do it. It was either that or the mouse would go around the notch. I’m sure there will be complaints either way.
Apple began its “Unleashed” event with a music video featuring A.G. Cook, and a host of famous sounds from Apple’s history. Here’s what was used – and which shot in the video was reversed.
First off is “Start Up”, a song made by A. G. Cook from 45 years of Mac startup sounds. It played at the open of yesterday’s Apple Event, and really set the stage for what was coming later in the show.
Here are the sounds used in the video:
iMac G3 Startup, MacBook Pro Startup, AirPods Case Closing, iOS Alert, HomePod Minimum Volume, iPod Click Wheel, Note Alert, Email Whoosh, MagSafe Charger, Night Owl Ringtone, HomePod Nope, HomePod PingPong, Mac 2020 Alert, Empty Trash, Message Sent, Message Received, HomePod Device Identify, iPhone Keyboard, Airdrop Invite, Mac Sosumi, Apple Pay
Next up is “Pro Apps. Pushed to the Max”. I love the complexity of the elements throughout this video. I’ve watched it a few times, just to home in on specific scenes and the powerful special effects I assume are all done on one of the new MacBook Pros. Pay special attention from. about 1:19 to 1:50. Look at all those elements and transitions. Amazing stuff.
Next up is the HomePod mini intro, with those vibrant new colors, the new AirPods video, and the real star of the show, the video showcasing the brand new MacBook Pros. And last up is the event itself, if you did not get a chance to watch it, or want to watch it again.
Apple today unveiled the completely reimagined MacBook Pro powered by the all-new M1 Pro and M1 Max — the first pro chips designed for the Mac.
And:
The new MacBook Pro also features a stunning Liquid Retina XDR display, a wide range of ports for advanced connectivity, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, and the best audio system in a notebook.
And:
Its all-new aluminum enclosure optimizes internal space for more performance and features. The enclosure is precisely machined around an advanced thermal system that can move 50 percent more air than the previous generation, even at lower fan speeds. The thermal design enables MacBook Pro to deliver phenomenal sustained performance while staying cool and quiet. And because of the efficiency of Apple silicon, the fans never even have to turn on for most tasks users perform every day.
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The new MacBook Pro also comes with a Magic Keyboard that is set in a double-anodized black well, which elegantly highlights the backlit glyphs on the keys, and features a full-height function row. Physical function keys — including a wider escape key — replace the Touch Bar, bringing back the familiar, tactile feel of mechanical keys that pro users love.
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For the first time, MacBook Pro offers a stunning Liquid Retina XDR display. Featuring the mini-LED technology used in iPad Pro, the Liquid Retina XDR display delivers up to 1,000 nits of sustained, full-screen brightness, an incredible 1,600 nits of peak brightness, and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
And, perhaps most importantly:
Both models feature three Thunderbolt 4 ports to connect high-speed peripherals, an SDXC card slot for fast access to media, an HDMI port for conveniently connecting to displays and TVs, and an improved headphone jack that supports high-impedance headphones. MagSafe returns to MacBook Pro with MagSafe 3, featuring an updated design and supporting more power into the system than ever before. MagSafe 3 makes connecting a charge cable quick and easy while protecting MacBook Pro. Additionally, fast charge comes to the Mac for the first time, charging up to 50 percent in just 30 minutes. With M1 Pro, users can now connect up to two Pro Display XDRs, and with M1 Max, users can connect up to three Pro Display XDRs and a 4K TV, all at the same time. For wireless connectivity, MacBook Pro also features Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.
To be clear, all the Thunderbolt ports support charging (so you can use your existing chargers in a pinch), but the new 140W MagSafe power brick is what brings the fast charging.
Also worth a look: Apple official new MacBook Pro marketing page, which is full of well presented details.
Interested in buying a fully loaded 16″ MacBook Pro? A model with M1 Max, 64GB unified memory, and 8TB SSD storage will set you back $6,099 and won’t get to you before mid-December (as of this writing).
The 14” MacBook Pro starts at $1999. The 16” MacBook Pro starts at $2499.
The low end 14″ and the mid-priced 16″ are still available for delivery next week. All other models are pushed out to November at the earliest.
The CPU in M1 Pro and M1 Max delivers up to 70 percent faster CPU performance than M1, so tasks like compiling projects in Xcode are faster than ever. The GPU in M1 Pro is up to 2x faster than M1, while M1 Max is up to an astonishing 4x faster than M1, allowing pro users to fly through the most demanding graphics workflows.
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M1 Pro and M1 Max include an Apple-designed media engine that accelerates video processing while maximizing battery life. M1 Pro also includes dedicated acceleration for the ProRes professional video codec, allowing playback of multiple streams of high-quality 4K and 8K ProRes video while using very little power. M1 Max goes even further, delivering up to 2x faster video encoding than M1 Pro, and features two ProRes accelerators. With M1 Max, the new MacBook Pro can transcode ProRes video in Compressor up to a remarkable 10x faster compared with the previous-generation 16-inch MacBook Pro.
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M1 Max features the same powerful 10-core CPU as M1 Pro and adds a massive 32-core GPU for up to 4x faster graphics performance than M1. With 57 billion transistors — 70 percent more than M1 Pro and 3.5x more than M1 — M1 Max is the largest chip Apple has ever built. In addition, the GPU delivers performance comparable to a high-end GPU in a compact pro PC laptop while consuming up to 40 percent less power, and performance similar to that of the highest-end GPU in the largest PC laptops while using up to 100 watts less power.
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Both M1 Pro and M1 Max are loaded with advanced custom technologies that help push pro workflows to the next level:
A 16-core Neural Engine for on-device machine learning acceleration and improved camera performance.
A new display engine drives multiple external displays.
Additional integrated Thunderbolt 4 controllers provide even more I/O bandwidth.
Apple’s custom image signal processor, along with the Neural Engine, uses computational video to enhance image quality for sharper video and more natural-looking skin tones on the built-in camera.
Best-in-class security, including Apple’s latest Secure Enclave, hardware-verified secure boot, and runtime anti-exploitation technologies.
There’s a lot to process here. The claims are bold. Looking forward to seeing the real-world results, benchmarks, video reviews. Most interesting to me will be the GPU tests. Can a new MacBook Pro with M1 Max compete with a desktop PC with a high-end discrete GPU? Or does that remain an unfair comparison?
