The Imminent M1

It took me a few hours to figure out what new MacBook I actually wanted and my initial ship date wasn’t until next week. Now it’s jumped up tomorrow and I’m tickled. It’s been a long time since I was so eager to get my hands on some new Apple hardware. I expect if units are shipping to folks tomorrow, we may also get the review drop, which should give us a lot more data about the differences between the various M1 Macs and further details. This week should be fun.

Mac Power Users 562: The First Apple Silicon Macs

Stephen and I are joined by Kurt Knight, Senior Director, Platform Product Marketing at Apple to talk about the M1 chip and macOS Big Sur on this week’s episode of Mac Power Users. After that, we talk about this first wave of new Macs.

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Some Thoughts on Big Sur

This week Apple launched the latest Mac operating system, macOS Big Sur, representing the most significant visual change to macOS arguably since the inception of Mac OS X. I’ve been using the beta for months and have a few thoughts, tips, compliments, and complaints:

Space is nice.
There is a lot of controversy among the nerd class about the additional whit space in menu bar and menu bar items. It’s a significant difference. I wasn’t sure what I thought about it until I found myself going back to Catalina for some production work. Everything on Catalina now looks scrunched together to me. I like the extra space.
Space does not equal touch screens, yet.
I’d hoped that all this space meant we were also imminently going to get touch screen Macs. I didn’t expect them to make drastic changes to macOS but instead treat the touch interface as something in addition to the standard mouse/trackpad interface, just as pencil support on iPad is in addition to touch support. No luck so far. Craig Federighi poured cold water on the idea this week, but I haven’t given up hope yet. The Apple Silicon transition is still early.
Rounded corners, everywhere.
I’m ambivalent to all the Big Sur rounded corners. They definitely make sense with the new look, but I can’t get excited about them.
Square Icons.
I don’t care for them. I think I understand what Apple was going for but I prefer the anarchy of the prior system.
Notification / Widget Slide Over
I like the new notification system a lot better than the prior one. Notifications are grouped better. Both notifications and widgets are on the same screen. Widgets also feel more intentional with the new iOS influenced widget system. This has been a win, and I’m using Notification Center now more than ever.
Control Center
Here’s another win. I set up a menu bar to control my Mac exactly how I wanted before, but for a non-power user, the prior system was too complicated. This puts everything under one click. Moreover, it gives users a very similar interface across iPhone / iPad / and Mac.
Proxy Icon Madness
My biggest gripe with Big Sur is the way it renders proxy icons in the Finder. Those are those icons at the top of a Finder window that lets you save, rename, and copy a file right from the icon. The proxy icon is not displayed unless you park the mouse in exactly the right spot (to the left of the file name). Most people will think the feature just went away. For those of us that realize it is still there, we must look at our Macs and wait a few seconds every time we want the proxy icon to appear. This regression frustrates me daily.

Overall, I generally like the new look, and I’m already used to it. It doesn’t just look different to me but also looks modern. It seems to be working fine with my apps, but I’d not recommend installing it until you can confirm from other users that your critical apps are working. If you’d like to learn a lot more about Big Sur, Jason Snell and John Voorhees wrote in-depth reviews.

Initial M1 Benchmarks Impress

While the initial reviews haven’t dropped yet, there are some benchmarks in the wild that show the fanless MacBook Air outperforming the high end 16” MacBook Pro and in the territory of the entry-level Mac Pro. Can you imagine how fast Apple Silicon will be for more dedicated high-performance machines?

M1 MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro

Yesterday I purchased a new M1 MacBook. I want to have something running Apple Silicon to experiment with and cover here and on the podcasts. The question was, which one?

Both the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro feature the same M1 chip. But are they? Apple said nothing in the keynote to differentiate the chips themselves. There was no explanation of clock speeds or chip yields. Does the MacBook Pro only get the very best of the crop of new M1 chips so they can run them faster than those that make it in the MacBook Air? We don’t know. The only thing covered in the keynote was the inclusion of a fan in the MacBook Pro vs. the MacBook Air’s fanless design. With an active cooling system, I’m sure Apple will feel more comfortable pushing the M1 in the MacBook Pro harder. I expect that once we do get benchmarks, they’ll show that the MacBook Pro can do longer operations faster, like encoding video.

I wish Apple had done a better job of differentiating the two computers, but I suspect that when the benchmarks arrive, we’ll find that there isn’t that much difference between them. It is, after all, the same chip driving both machines.

Apple explained it would take two years to complete the transition to Apple Silicon Macs and what we got yesterday was only the first step. Even though it looks like the M1 will be a beast compared to other chips on the market, it will also be the lowest power M-series chip ever released. I can’t help but think that sometime next year, we’ll get a different Apple Silicon chip that will be even more powerful than the M1 for use in the 16 and 14(?) inch MacBooks Pro. Put simply, Apple is just getting started. I expect if you are looking for a pro workflow machine, the Apple Silicon Mac you are really going to want isn’t out yet.

So getting back to my decision as to which MacBook to buy, I was considering the pluses and minuses when my daughter came into the room to show me a video she made for a class using Final Cut on her very-much-not-top-of-the-line Intel MacBook Air. It was five minutes long and moved boxes of video contributed from seven different UCLA drama school students. There were visual and audio effects, and the non-M1 MacBook Air was doing it all without breaking a sweat. That was the moment where I realized all I need is a MacBook Air.

I have such fond memories of the first wedge-shaped MacBook Air from ten years ago. I used one for three years before giving it to my daughter, who used it for an additional five years. I do all of my production heavy lifting on an iMac Pro. The idea of a thin, light, fanless laptop that is wicked fast and can run iPad and iPhone apps sounds perfect. So I ordered a MacBook Air. (I did upgrade the RAM and storage. I am MacSparky after all.) I’ll have it in a week or two and report back once I receive it.

One additional point is Apple’s buyback program. I’m selling my existing laptop back to Apple as part of the purchase. I made some price comparisons with other reputable vendors, and Apple had the best price. I know I could make more selling the machine through eBay, but every time I try that, the buyer turns out to be a bozo. Selling it back to Apple is painless.

Focused 112: Productivity & Creativity

Mike and I consider the relationship of productivity and creativity and how it shapes the work that we do. On this episode of Focused, we’re diving into our personal knowledge management stacks and the tools we currently use, share some tips for tagging, and discuss where to draw the lines between tools for managing tasks and ideas.

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Thoughts on the One More Thing Event

So today, Apple announced its first Apple Silicon Macs. I have a few thoughts:

Wow! I had high expectations, but overall, Apple delivered with the new M1.
The M1 performance looks like a crazy leap forward. Generally, we’ll get 3X performance increases and 5X graphics improvements. That is completely nuts.
On all of these devices, Apple suddenly had all of this additional low watt/hour power. In each case, they chose to use it by giving the devices both more power and more battery. That isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise, to me at least, is how much power and additional battery life they were able to get.
Battery improvements are nuts. They gave many numbers, but it sounds like at least 6 hours of additional battery on both laptops.
There are two chip options available: 7 core and 8 core. I suspect that is simply a result of chip binning. When they didn’t get a full yield on a chip, they make that one of the less expensive ones.
My initial impression is that the scales just got tipped even more toward the MacBook Air in the Air vs. Pro question. The MacBook Air is so much more powerful and now fanless. You’ll need to justify going up to the Pro.
The M1 Mac mini was not in any of the rumors I read but makes sense. The Mac mini is now a mighty little computer.
There were no demos of running iPhone and iPad apps on the M1 Macs. Didn’t that seem weird?
Speaking of iOS, we didn’t get several of the iOS features I’d liked to have seen, like FaceID, cellular radios, and Touchscreen. But it is still early. I expect that may change with future hardware.
Did anybody else catch the bit with Ken Case playing the harp at 20:59?
You can order the new Macs today. Big Sur ships in two days. Buckle up, gang.

Overall, this change just gave the Mac a jolt of electricity. I fully expect the Mac hardware to also evolve in unexpected directions. I cannot wait to see how this all plays out over the next few years.

iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini-Reviews

The reviews dropped today for the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Mini. There aren’t many surprises.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is taking better pictures than any other iPhone, which makes sense given that it has better camera components (bigger sensor, on-sensor stabilization). Matthew Panzarino discovered the telephoto lens on the iPhone 12 Pro Max also has stabilization, which produces noticeably better images. That said, having read multiple reviews, my take is the 12 Pro Max is only incrementally better than the iPhone 12 Pro. You’ll get better pictures indoors or in the dark. Your daylight outdoor photos will look mostly the same.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is also, not surprisingly, getting better battery life but is awkward to carry. One bit of insight from nearly all reviewers is that the squared-off sizes make holding the larger iPhone more difficult. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ve been a big phone club member for years because I like the bigger screen. (Mine arrives Friday.)

Notable reviews on the iPhone 12 Pro Max are those from Matt Panzarino, Nilay Patel, Marques Brownlee,

iPhone 12 Mini

I feel like this phone has a self-selecting audience, just the exact opposite of the Max phone crowd. I’m pleased that Apple is intentionally making a small iPhone with the latest and greatest components. You will take a hit to battery life with a smaller phone. While the 12 Pro Max requires you to carry a big phone, the 12 Mini may require you to carry a battery on busy days.

Notable Reviews on the iPhone 12 Mini are those from Matt Panzarino, Dieter Bohn, Marques Brownlee

The Dawning of Idea Management

Kourosh Dini at BeingProductive.org is a friend and fellow traveler. He makes things for the Internet, but he also keeps and manages a medical practice. Kourosh and I like to get on the phone once in a while and discuss the nerdy things that are getting us most excited. Recently we recorded one of those calls, and Kourosh has released it at his blog. In it, Kourosh and I talk at some length about our experiences with this growing set of idea tools like Obsidian, Roam Research and, of course, DEVONthink.

When we recorded that call, I was finishing my deep dive of research on these tools for MPU 559. If you enjoyed that episode, consider this a director’s commentary on it.

Mac Power Users 561: iPad Check-In with Federico Viticci

On this episode of Mac Power Users, MacStories founder Federico Viticci talks about the iPad and its ecosystem of apps for power users. As the iPad itself becomes more capable, what users can do with it continues to expand, but as we discuss, there are still pain points.

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