Apple Silicon M1 Mac Buying Guide: MacBook Air 2020 vs. MacBook Pro vs. Mac mini

Apple announced the first set of Macs that will work with the company’s new ARM.
M1

system on chip (SoC) on your
‘One more thing’ event

. The MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and M1
Mac mini

They are available to pre-order from the Apple Store today and will be available next week. At TechRepublic, we will purchase the new Macs to test against their Intel-based Mac counterparts and similar Windows PCs. But should you buy one … for yourself or your business? And which one should you choose?

As with any commercial technology purchase, the answer to these questions depends on what the machine will be used for. So I’m going to break down each machine by the job categories that I think it is best suited for. If I was still working in SMB and enterprise IT, where I started my technology career, this is how I would implement the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini M1. Please note that I assume that my company already has the necessary infrastructure to support Apple hardware and that the purchase follows our
hardware and software acquisition policy

i.e. end users are queuing for a new machine as part of our computer upgrade cycle or we are buying new machines for new hires in the short term.

TechRepublic Hardware Resources:

Apple MacBook Air (M1 2020)

The MacBook Air M1 can be configured with a 7-core GPU or an 8-core GPU variant of the M1 chip, 8GB or 16GB of RAM, 256GB (only available on the 7-core M1 version), 512GB, 1TB or 2TB of SSD storage. Unlike previous generations, the new Air does not have a cooling fan. The laptop has 2 Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, 3.5mm headphone jack and 13.3-inch screen. It supports Wi-Fi with 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, and Bluetooth 5.0. Pricing starts at $ 999 for a 7-core GPU model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. This is the same starting price as the previous generation. A maximized MacBook Air M1 with an 8-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage will cost you $ 2,049.

The M1 MackBook Air is a good choice for:

• Existing MacBook Air users who need an update
• Laptop users who are not constantly maxing out their CPU or GPU (executives, sales people, knowledge workers, non-engineer students, etc.)
• Creative professionals, photographers, video producers, graphic artists, etc., who need a highly portable laptop.

TechRepublic and our sister site ZDNet will test one of the MacBook Air M1s as a video production machine in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for our test results and the full review.

Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch M1 2020)

The 13-inch MacBook Pro M1 can be configured with 8GB or 16GB of RAM, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB of SSD storage, 2 Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, 3.5mm headphone jack, and 13.3 inch screen. Unlike the new Air, it has a cooling fan and Apple’s Touch Bar. It supports Wi-Fi with 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, and Bluetooth 5.0. Pricing starts at $ 1,299 for Pro with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. A MacBook Pro M1 with 16GB of RAM and 2TB of storage will cost you $ 2,299.

The 13-inch MackBook Pro M1 is a good choice for:

• Existing MacBook Pro users who need to upgrade
• Creative professionals who need sustained performance from their CPU and GPU
• Developers, engineers, CAD users, etc. (or students in these fields) who normally work on a laptop

I will be testing a 13-inch MacBook Pro M1 with my current machine, a late-2016 15-inch MacBook Pro. I’m especially interested in seeing how the M1’s integrated GPU and 16GB combined memory compare to the discrete GPU and 4GB of graphics RAM from older machine.

Apple Mac mini (M1 2020)

The M1 Mac Mini can be configured with 8GB or 16GB of RAM, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB of SSD storage, 2 Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, HDMI 2.0 port, Gigabit Ethernet port, 2 USB- ports. A, 3.5mm headphone jack, and built-in speaker. It supports Wi-Fi with 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, and Bluetooth 5.0. Pricing starts at $ 699 for a model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. This is $ 100 less than the previous generation. However, a fully equipped Mac mini with 16GB of RAM and 2TB of storage is still pricey at $ 1,699.

Like the lower priced Mac M1, the Mac mini is a good choice for:

• Existing Mac mini owners who need to upgrade
• Creative professionals and desktop users who don’t need the power of a Mac Pro or iMac or iMac Pro’s built-in display, but need sustained performance
• Developers who want to start creating applications for Apple Silicon
• IT staff who need to test the new M1 machines

Apple M1 SoC and compatible software … TL; DR

The recommendations above also assume you’ve done your homework on how Apple’s switch from Intel-based processors to ARM chips will affect software compatibility. But if you haven’t been following the story, here is the TL version; DR.

Apple has been planning the
transition away from Intel silicon on Mac

for some time and officially announced its plans at its 2020 World Developers Conference (WWDC). The company has been using its own chips in the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch for years, and using Apple chips in Mac has many benefits:

1. By not relying on Intel, Apple can better control the costs of its components (better profit margins) and the supply chain (Intel’s lag in its 7nm process).
2. Developers can more easily create an application that runs on all Apple hardware.
3. Users will get a “smoother workflow” on iOS, iPadOS and macOS devices.
4. The M1 will help Apple stand out in a crowded market. As Larry Dignan wrote in his evaluation of the M1 on ZDNet, “Apple Silicon is likely to be a differentiator. Apple can market its processors well and is likely to be accepted by Apple fans.”

There is a potential issue that IT departments and buyers will need to understand. Software written for Intel x86_64 processors using complex instruction set computing (CISC) cannot run natively on arm64 processors using reduced instruction set computing (RISC). For most Mac M1 buyers, this shouldn’t be a problem.

All applications that come with the latest version of macOS,
Big South

(macOS 11.0), or manufactured by Apple, have been optimized to work with the M1 chip. Safari, iWork apps like Pages, Numbers and Keynote, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, GarageBand, etc. they will work fine.

The iPhone and iPad apps will also run natively on Mac M1. How well the iPadOS and iOS apps can use the larger screen on a Mac remains to be determined, though.

Then there are what Apple calls “universal applications” that include a native binary version for Apple Silicon and another for Intel chips. When you download one of these applications, it will work on a Mac M1 or Intel. During the launch event, Apple noted that Adobe would make the universal version of its applications available, starting with Lightroom in December and Photoshop early next year.

Big Sur can also run software written exclusively for Intel chips thanks to a new version of Rosetta. Originally introduced in 2006 when Apple was transitioning from PowerPC to Intel processors, Rosetta is a binary translator that, according to the company, “allows users to run applications containing x86_64 instructions on Apple’s silicon.”

However, Rosetta is a stopgap measure. Apple wants developers to eventually convert their existing Intel applications into Apple Silicon applications. And frankly, the speed of Apple Silicon’s transition will depend on how quickly software developers jump in.

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