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Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro joins the new MacBook Air laptop and Mac Mini desktop as the first Macs to make the move from Intel processors to the company’s own M1 system-on-a-chip. The M1 will give the new 13.3-inch Pro nearly three times the CPU performance than the latest Intel version, Apple said. Its integrated graphics will be five times faster as well. It’s also so efficient that it will run for up to 17 hours of wireless web use and up to 20 hours of video playback — the longest battery life of any Mac ever, according to the company. 

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Apple M1 chip will be available next week starting at $1,299 with 256GB of storage or $1,499 with 512GB. Maxing out the configuration with 16GB of memory and a 2TB solid-state drive brings the price up to $2,299. They’re expected to start shipping next week. In the UK, the starting price will be £1,299 and in Australia it will be AU$1,999.

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Apple already uses its own processors in its iPhone, iPad and Watch. The new Apple M1 processor is its first designed for Macs. The M1 features an eight-core CPU, an eight-core GPU and a 16-core neural engine. The architecture is fully optimized for MacOS Big Sur to help deliver its promised performance gains.  

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The new MacBook Pro has a Touch Bar; the new Air doesn’t. 


Apple/Screenshot by Sarah Tew/CNET

The configurations seem identical between this MacBook Pro and the new 13-inch MacBook Air with the M1, also announced Tuesday. Along with the M1 chip, the Pro will be available with up to 16GB of memory, up to a 2TB solid-state drive, Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. It uses a 13.3-inch Retina display with a P3 wide color gamut. It also shares Touch ID (not Face ID) and a backlit Magic Keyboard. 


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The Air, however, has a fanless design, while the MacBook Pro has an active cooling system that allows for sustained high performance for tasks like video encoding, Apple said. The Pro also comes with a larger battery and a 61-watt power supply compared to the Air’s 30-watt supply.

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The Pro’s active cooling allows for sustained high performance. 


Apple/Screenshot by Sarah Tew/CNET

There are also smaller, but still important differences. These include a 500-nit display (100 nits brighter than the Air’s), studio-quality mics and stereo speakers with high dynamic range and the keyboard’s top row is replaced by Apple’s Touch Bar. 

Despite the M1’s performance promises, Apple is leaving Intel versions of the 13-inch MacBook Pro in the lineup. The 16-inch MacBook Pro will also remain Intel-only. 

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The Xperia Z4 Tablet Ultra rumors read like a fanboy fantasy.
PadNews

Sony could introduce a 13-inch, 4K Android tablet as early as January, if the latest details prove true.

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According to information obtained by Chinese website PadNews, a slate known as the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet Ultra is looming on the horizon.

Not only is it rumored to be big, the tablet could potentially also pack some downright crazy hardware, like a 12.97-inch display with a 3,840×2,400-pixel resolution. Indeed, this means we could be in for a 4K Ultra HD screen with a 16:10 ratio.

Keeping with outlandishly top-shelf features, the Xperia Z4 Tablet Ultra is also listed as having 6GB of RAM, twice the 3GB threshold we see in today’s top devices. Let’s just say we’re skeptical.

Other specs may include a 2.86GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 64GB of internal storage and a 12,100mAh battery.

While it’s entirely possible that Sony will soon introduce some sort of tablet, these details read more like a fanboy wishlist than like a feasible product for early 2015. Sony has a CES press conference slated for January 5, which would be a good time to introduce a new tablet, especially one as high-end as this rumor claims it will be.

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Apple’s testing a wide variety of new screen sizes for its mobile products, including a 13-inch iPad, according to anonymous manufacturing sources speaking to the Wall Street Journal.

No specific sizes were mentioned for the iPhone, but recent leaks have hinted at a 4.3-inch display, which might cause it to be later than planned. A slo-mo video mode has also been rumoured.

The Californian company has never been prolific with its choice of screen sizes — the iPhone had the same 3.5-inch face for years, until the 4-inch iPhone 5. The multi-coloured iPhone Light (hopefully not ‘Lite’, ugh) is set for a 4-inch display too.

The respectable Wall Street Journal is widely suspected to be Apple’s destination of choice for planned ‘leaks’, so if this tidbit is direct from the horse’s mouth, it could be intended to keep us all writing these blog posts guessing about what it has planned.

Apple boss Tim Cook played down the idea of an even bigger iPhone — one to match huge ‘phablets’ such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 — in an interview back in May.

“A large screen today comes with a lot of tradeoffs,” Cook said. “Customers clearly are looking at size, but they’re also looking at do the photos show the proper colour, the white balance, reflectivity, battery life, brightness, the longevity of the display — so there’s a whole bunch of things that are very important to the display.

“What our customers want is for us to weigh those and come out with a decision. We haven’t so far [made a larger phone, but] that doesn’t shut off the future.”

If Apple sticks to its yearly release schedule, we should be seeing a new iPhone — or iPhones — in mid-September, and an iPad — or iPads! — in early November, with announcements shortly beforehand.

Would you like Apple to make a wider range of phones and tablets, or does keeping it simple help developers? Make a sizeable contribution in the comments, or on our gigantic Facebook page.

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