Apple Silicon Macs Wish List: 5 New Features Business Professionals Need

In a last minute invitation, Apple has scheduled an event for November 10, 2020. Professional users are most interested in the possibility of Apple introducing the new Mac hardware that was announced during WWDC’20; Macs are expected to be the first devices to use Apple’s custom silicon on a chip (SoC). Apple is also expected to make macOS Big Sur available to the masses.

Apple is rumored to have a new Mac mini ready for the fourth quarter of 2020, with some signs pointing to the company launching a laptop in its MacBook line as well and maybe even a new iMac; the rest of its offerings would move to new hardware over the course of its two-year roadmap.

SEE: How to migrate to a new iPad, iPhone or Mac (TechRepublic Premium)

With the success of the iPhone and iPad already using Apple’s SoC designs (and breaking the performance barrier) while keeping devices light and energy efficient, the new Macs are believed to offer an initial computing experience that rivals existing hardware powered by Intel chips but with much greater access to overall system hardware. Given its custom nature, which is controlled by Apple, this will allow for an unprecedented level of deep integration that should result in performance gains similar to those seen on iOS-based devices year after year.

These are the top five features that professionals have been crying out for Apple to include in its next Macs.

1. Greater storage capacity

While Apple’s existing storage options generally hit 2TB for most of its lineup except for the newer 16 “MacBook Pro, by including 4, 8, or 16TB of ultra-fast onboard storage, it could seriously change the game. the way Macs are used, especially since Macs are often leveraged as the last remaining salvo for macOS-based servers, the Xserve, is no longer an option. Increasing storage capacity exponentially could allow these Apple devices find their way to more storage-intensive uses such as file and database servers or configured to operate in a clustered environment for high availability. When viewed in this way, three clustered Macs could provide a fast but powerful that is easy to configure and can be provisioned anywhere with power and network connectivity.

2. Expanded network connectivity options

Most desktop Macs include a network port, but none of the portable Macs already have it. Many professionals mourn the loss of the ethernet port, and some reluctantly carry a USB to ethernet adapter wherever they go. While Apple likely won’t reverse that decision, the custom SoC could allow Apple to offer more varieties of connectivity options when it comes to networking, such as multiple ethernet ports or faster 10GB connections given the shortcut provided by the development. of its own silicon. This could be extended to other types of connections, such as Fiber Channel (FC) used to connect to Storage Area Networks (SAN) or directly to a network switch for 10-40 Gbps connectivity to the network. trunk.

3. Faster performance than existing devices

Professional users want faster computers. While Intel produces blazingly fast chips, the cooling and power requirements of high-performance parts make certain chips out of reach for everyone except the largest systems that can be made to keep them cool enough to prevent events. thermals damage hardware.

Apple has a lot of experience in this area, particularly when it comes to the increasingly slimmer profiles of its mobile device lines, including iOS-based devices. These Apple devices have consistently seen the biggest performance gains time and time again by getting the most out of every resource despite being heavily used throughout the day. While this is not such a frequent concern for desktop devices that are always plugged in, they can certainly benefit from efficiency increases to improve performance levels.

SEE: Video: Apple’s First Silicon Macs to Debut Next Week, and We Have Some Questions (ZDNet)

4. Greater efficiency in energy management

One of the biggest benefits for chipset manufacturers when reducing die sizes is getting better, more efficient performance with less space – in essence, doing more with less. Sometimes, however, it’s not so much about doing more as it is simply about doing better.

By applying that logic to power management, Apple is poised to offer a device that is as powerful as its predecessors but consumes energy rather than swallows it; This is another area in which Apple has made great strides across all of its devices. Imagine the cost savings for businesses when deploying desktops and servers that could potentially consume a little more power than an iPad Pro.

Also, the power adapters of newer devices could operate at a fraction of the wattage of current devices. Even if the new Macs run at half capacity, a significant amount of power consumption is reduced. Extrapolating that to include all devices across the enterprise, and that could represent a huge reduction in the organization’s carbon footprint.

5. Unlimited performance settings

Using the Mac mini as an example, the current base model is roughly 1.4 inches tall and includes an Intel quad or six core CPU (running at 3.0-3.6Ghz), along with an integrated GPU, 8GB of RAM, and SSD. 256GB in a 2.9-pound package. In contrast, the iPad Pro 11 “is 0.23 inches tall, packs an 8-core ARM CPU (running at 2.49Ghz), along with an 8-core GPU, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD. on a 1.04-pound one. Imagine taking the hardware from three of those iPad Pros and placing them in the space of a Mac mini. With Apple’s custom silicon and engineering prowess, this is more than just a pipe dream: it’s a very real possibility.

In other words, it is no different than what organizations have been doing for years by purchasing large, powerful blade servers to consolidate many physical servers into physically smaller areas, but still retain server functionality in virtual form. With that concept in mind, a modular tower, like the Mac Pro, could basically house dozens of redesigned and custom silicon parts that would rival the performance of dozens of machines, all from a single physical footprint. It could even be the rebirth of a today’s X server, albeit in blade architecture, to power an organization’s backend server or server farm, taking advantage of the high-density potential of Apple’s SoC.

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