The State of Mac! – Feb 23

When I wrote the article Return of the Mac! in Oct 21 there was an overwhelming feeling that the Mac was making a comeback with the new processors and the possibility of a step change in the workflow of a lot of industries. Though still considered a really high-end product for most of the industries of the world, for those in the creative industries i.e. music, movie, arts, marketing, advertising, communication, photography & graphic design – this is the device of choice. And most importantly, these are such intuitive and fun-to-use devices with most claiming this makes them so much more productive and efficient compared to any other PC.

In the last year, the company has released the 2nd Generation of their homegrown processors – the M2, M2 Pro & M2 Max and they have now clearly taken an unprecedented lead in the home computing device race due to one key factor that not many have given the importance to – battery life. Yes, the M2 series of processors are quite amazing in their computing capability and can compare to a similar beefed-up PC with a higher-than-average graphics processor but more importantly it can help you be more portable than ever before. In in this world slowly drifting towards remote now more than ever – this is one key feature that can really make all the difference. After all, you don’t buy a MacBook for gaming – but because it’s sleek, light-weight, and still powerful for 90% of the tasks required. And if you are in one of the creative fields then even more. And now with the longer battery life it lets you be more mobile without having the need to rush to a charging spot in a coffee shop or anywhere else and still be productive – and yes, even more creative.

Battery Life – the big differentiator (Courtesy Apple.com)

Having managed to buy myself top-of-the-line MacBook Pro just before the M Series processor revolution, I end up looking up the specs and stats of the newer Mac’s quite often – to see what gives me the incentive to actually spend a whole lot of money to upgrade. And now with a more budget conscious eye – look for what is actually a great deal. Keep in mind here that I am looking at the small size MacBook Air’s & Pro’s as I prefer portability for travel.

To be more specific, the sleek look, the portable size, the amazing performance, and now the incredible battery life is the ultimate combination for a laptop user on the go i.e. the M2 MacBook Air or the Pro depending on the kind of workload you expect to put your device through.

MacBook Air M2 compared to Intel (Courtesy Apple.com)
MacBook Pro M2 compared to Intel (Courtesy Apple.com)

The new MacBook Air M2 is 15 times more powerful in dealing with video editing compared to the last generation with Intel Processors. And the the New MacBook Pro M2 is almost 16 times more powerful than my top of the line intel machine from 3 years ago. And all of this while providing me a much better battery life than my device provided during the days it was new.

The best deal if you are budget concious and do not put your laptop through tough workloads is most probably the M1 MacBook Air right now and if you are not in a hurry to upgrade like me then might as well wait for the M2 MacBook Air when the M3 gets announced. If you are however looking for a powerhouse of computing for your tasks then the budget is the only limit – but do ensure to get the Pro, as that fan in the pro is the only limiting factor for Air’s to reach that level of performance.

Hope you enjoyed the read as much as I like spending time on Apple.com! Do let me know on the comments which MacBook you decided to get or if you have any questions that I can help with.

Cheers!

Return Of the Mac! – Apple Event – Oct 21

Techtober is in full swing as of mid October as we had long awaited product reveals from Apple and Google, all of this in one week too. First up, we look at the long awaited MacBook Pro event where Apple announced their new lineup of M1 MacBook Pro’s and the new generation of AirPods (3rd Gen).

What did they announce?

  • MacBook Pro 14″ & 16″ with the M1 Pro & Max Chips
  • AirPods 3rd Generation

Though the event was for the MacBook Pro’s the real stars were the new M1 Chips designed for the Pro’s – the M1 Pro and the M1 Max – WHY? Because these chips beat the already industry leading M1 MacBook Air’s which in turn leave almost all laptops in the same price range in the dust. And not to mention Mac’s last you twice or thrice as long as Windows Laptop’s on average.

Oh and yes, they brought the ports back .. the new Pro’s come with HDMI and SD Card Ports – apart from Thunderbolt and MagSafe Ports. Yup, MagSafe charging for Laptop’s is back too now.

Overall, these laptop’s are amazing value for money if you are someone who already have an older MacBook Pro and do a lot of video editing or programming that needs performance. The only thing missing now is gaming and games compatibility for AAA Titles for these laptops.

They also announced new AirPods – and try not to confuse this one. If you remember the original AirPods then these are the next (3rd Gen) of those. Yes, they look like the AirPods Pro and you could also call them cheaper Pro versions too, sure.

The main thing about these is the improvement in battery life as well as the introduction of Spatial Audio – which is awesome I tell ya. The only thing missing is the Transparency and Noise Cancelling modes which are still a Pro feature.

Hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed writing it. 📝

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Cheers! 🙂