From Dieter Bohn’s “The MacBook Air is once again the benchmark by which other laptops will be measured” posted Friday:
Last week I wrote that Apple seemed “astonishingly confident” in its new M1-based Macs. This week we know why: they are astonishingly good. I reviewed the MacBook Air, Nilay Patel reviewed the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Chris Welch reviewed the new Mac mini.
All three are equally impressive, but it’s the Air in particular that stands out as offering incredible power at its price point. I’m also impressed with battery life. And the fact that Apple’s Rosetta 2 translation layer doesn’t cause slowdown or bugs for legacy apps.
Wins all around, then. Not very often that happens in consumer tech! The webcams are still terrible and there are lots of questions about what will happen with the truly pro Macs we will start seeing in the next couple of years. But rather than constantly look ahead to the next thing, just for a moment, enjoy: a tech company made a big promise that it could do a hard thing and then did that thing.
My take: Means a lot coming from Bohn.
I agree. Apple did a lot to earn Bohn’s acknowledgement. Hard-earned acknowledgement is the best kind.
I especially like Bohn’s suggestion “But rather than constantly look ahead to the next thing, just for a moment, enjoy: a tech company made a big promise that it could do a hard thing and then did that thing.” That’s good advice we can apply in many times and places.
In this Covid-19 year, Apple hit the ball out of the park on Macs, iPhones, HomePod, AirPod Prom and Watch. And, they hit the $50B services revenue target.
Sad The Market doesn’t currently acknowledge this (once-again) Apple-induced epiphany as many others have.
Maybe (as so many times before) it’ll dawn on it in a forehead-slap, duh delayed-reaction moment of many months (years?) in the making.
What doesn’t kill the Apple long, makes them stronger.
…or at least wiser. 😉
“The Market doesn’t currently acknowledge this…epiphany…”
“Just my guess, the market is concerned about external factors.”
I agree, Fred. And IMHO for good reason. There doesn’t appear to be any chance of a new stimulus bill this year, and there is real economic damage being done. That’s going to drag on profits for everyone even after the present fiasco is over with – assuming it ever really is.
Damned shame, but also sadly predictable.
I’m not so sure that is true.
Rosetta 2 does translate Windows apps to the Mac Arm architecture, with little to no performance degradation. I think there’s a high probability for Windows switchers, especially given that the switcher won’t have to buy all new applications and previous work product won’t be lost. Twenty hours of run time WITH performance is a helluva inducement.
If 0.50% of Windows users switched that would increase Mac shipments by 5.00%, on top of current switcher rates. That’s healthy growth.
Don’t you just know how much all Schiller knew then and more he knows now coming down from out of the Apple innovative product pipeline???
Laissez le bon temps rouler!
What does the nature of the M1 launch imply for Apple’s AR glasses? Cars and Autonmous SW? AI?
Apple – Launching V1 Products Righteously for 40 Years (or so)
What’s telling is how Apple intro’d the M1 — across a perfect starter selection of product: The basic Air – the starter Pro – The beginner Mini.
If that’s not a tip of the cards at the tech poker table, I don’t know what is.
All roads of future Apple will now begin with Apple Silicon.
Mac computers (in total) are proprietary, designed by Apple with final assembly outsourced.
Apple proprietary designs are vastly superior to industry commodity designs.
Apple wasn’t going to make another processor change just to be as good as. It bided its time in order to get the bang, and all that comes with it, that being far superior would bring.
This tells me that Apple has something spectacular on the near horizon (2 years?), that coupled with the sentiment that by far the M1 outpaces any other silicon, will appear even greater than it would with an “as good as” perception of its proprietary silicon.