Following the illustrious line of calendar-spanning company occasions like Lobsterfest and Shark Week, Apple tried one thing new this 12 months with a celebration unofficially often known as Mac Week. (Happily for Apple, it simply so occurs to coincide with its earnings name on Thursday!) The corporate’s three-day product rollout for desktop {hardware} centered across the M4 chip, constructed for Apple Intelligence. We recount every thing Apple spit out this week, together with a brand new iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Professional and different goodies like Apple Intelligence’s official arrival on iOS, iPadOS and macOS.
iMac (M4)
The M4-powered iMac has the identical design (aside from some new colours) however with extra horsepower inside. Apple says the all-in-one desktop is 1.7 occasions sooner for day by day productiveness and a pair of.1 occasions sooner for extra demanding duties like gaming or photograph enhancing. Like all new Macs introduced this week, it loses the measly 8GB of RAM beforehand seen within the least expensive Macs, leaping to 16GB because the baseline. (Woo!)
The brand new iMac nonetheless has a 24-inch 4.5K Retina show encased in an aluminum unibody design. Nevertheless, it provides a brand new nano-texture glass display screen possibility for diminished glare and a 12MP Heart Stage digicam that helps Apple’s Desk View.
You possibly can pre-order the M4 iMac now, beginning at $1,299. Deliveries and in-store gross sales start on November 8.
Mac mini (M4, M4 Professional)
Apple’s little Mac that might lives as much as its “mini” branding greater than ever. The 2024 Mac mini is a mere five-inch by five-inch field, two inches tall. (That’s solely barely greater than the Apple TV 4K!)
The brand new Mac mini is on the market in M4 and M4 Professional configurations. Apple says the M4 variant is as much as 1.8 occasions sooner than the M1 mannequin from 4 years in the past. Its graphics are as much as 2.2 occasions sooner. It also needs to be significantly better for Apple Intelligence: It helps 38 TOPS (tera operations per second) of AI processing energy. That dwarfs the 18 TOPS from the (solely one-year-old) M3 chip. It, too, begins with 16GB of RAM.
For the primary time, the machine ditches legacy USB ports. It has two USB-C ports on the entrance and three Thunderbolt USB-C ports on the again (together with HDMI and Ethernet).
The M4 Mac mini is on the market to pre-order. It begins at $599, whereas the souped-up M4 Professional variant begins at $1,399. It arrives on November 9.
MacBook Professional (M4, M4 Professional, M4 Max)
Most of Apple’s Mac gross sales are within the MacBook lineup, which is smart. Not solely can you employ them on the go, however you can even seize a Thunderbolt cable and hook them as much as the monitor of your option to double as a desktop. So, the climax of Mac Week was the brand new M4-powered MacBook Professional.
The one new Mac with three chip tiers, the MacBook Professional is available in M4, M4 Professional and M4 Max choices. Apple says the M4 Professional is as much as thrice sooner than the M1 Professional, and the M4 Max is as much as 3.5 occasions sooner than the M1 Max. The M4 variant is as much as 1.8 occasions sooner than the M1-powered 13-inch MacBook Professional for photograph enhancing. That jumps to three.4 occasions sooner for demanding work like rendering scenes in Blender.
Its Neural Engine for Apple Intelligence (and different AI) is over thrice as highly effective because the M1. Serving to out on the AI entrance (and for all-around efficiency) is identical 16GB of RAM as a baseline.
The laptop computer gives the identical nano-texture show possibility because the iMac and as much as 1,000 nits of brightness for SDR content material. It additionally adopts the 12MP Heart Stage digicam for significantly better built-in video name capabilities. The machine has three Thunderbolt 4 ports and an estimated 24 hours of battery life — as Apple places it, that’s the longest ever in a Mac.
The brand new MacBook Professional is on the market in acquainted 14-inch and 16-inch fashions. The smaller mannequin with the M4 chip begins at $1,599, the M4 Professional variant begins at $1,999, and the ultra-high-end M4 Max will set you again not less than $3,199. The 16-inch MacBook Professional begins at $2,499 with the M4 Professional chip, whereas an M4 Max taste is $3,499 and up.
Apple Intelligence cometh
Apple’s first wave of on-device AI options is now in shoppers’ fingers, with no beta software program required. This spherical consists of writing instruments like proofreading, rewiring and summaries, dwell name transcriptions and notification summaries.
The beginnings of a extra clever Siri additionally arrived with this batch, together with typed queries and an improved skill to acknowledge stutters or self-interruptions. You additionally get a neat new glowing border that says to the world, “This ain’t the shitty Siri you’re used to!” However you’ll have to attend for the following wave of Siri upgrades for a extra vital overhaul, like a greater understanding of non-public context.
Now, the unhealthy information. Apple Intelligence is barely obtainable on a handful of current units in every of Apple’s main product classes. For the iPhone, that’s the iPhone 15 Professional / Professional Max and the brand new iPhone 16 lineup (together with non-Professional fashions). You’ll want a mannequin with an M-series chip on the iPad, though the brand new iPad mini (with an A17 Professional chip) is an exception. As for Macs, you’ll additionally want a mannequin with M-series Apple silicon, which stretches again to the final 4 years of fashions.
Apple Intelligence (spherical one) requires iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 or macOS Sequoia 15.1. The X.2 variants of every OS will convey the following wave of AI options, like ChatGPT integration and Picture Playground.
AirPods Professional 2 listening to options
To not be missed among the many higher-profile bulletins is a brand new collection of listening to well being instruments for AirPods Professional 2 homeowners.
Introduced at Apple’s September iPhone launch, the listening to options embody a “clinically validated” listening to check, listening to safety (like for live shows) and the flexibility to make use of the machine as a listening to assist if it detects gentle to reasonable impairment. (If extreme, it should nudge you in the direction of an expert.)
Engadget’s audio guru, Billy Steele, is the individual to observe for extra on these options. He’s extensively trialed them, together with taking listening to exams with an Apple rep and test-driving AirPods-powered listening to safety at live shows.
