Next-Gen Apple Mac with M1 chip - Australian pricing and availability

Apple has unveiled its next generation Mac built on its Apple silicon M1 chip, and available first in three devices - the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini. 

At this morning's "One More Thing" event, Apple announced that all three devices will be on sale in Australia from next Tuesday, 17 November 2020 - in time to purchase for Christmas and the 2021 academic year.

The MacBook Air will start from A$1,599, the MacBook Pro from A$1,999 and the Mac Mini from $1,099.

The Apple silicon M1 chip brings the Mac into the same software OS as the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, allowing Apple users to enjoy a seamless and integrated experience across all Apple devices.

Apple claims M1 Mac devices best in class

In announcing all three of the new Mac devices to ship with the M1 chip, Apple has gone out of its way to make a comparison with the Windows competition.

• the MacBook Air is faster than 98 percent of PC laptops¹

• the MacBook Pro is 3x faster than any Pro laptop in its class² 

• the Mac Mini is 5x faster than the best-selling Windows desktop in its range³

• Safari is now the world's fastest browser⁴
  

Key features of the M1. Source: Apple

MacBook Air - faster than 98 percent of PC laptops

Apple has brought the M1 chip to it’s most popular Mac and the world’s best-selling 13-inch notebook - the MacBook Air. In MacBook Air, M1 is "faster than the chips in 98 percent of PC laptops sold in the past year" says Apple.

Meanwhile the new MacBook Air features the longest battery life ever on MacBook Air, with up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours of video playback.

Features

• A powerful 8-core CPU performing up to 3.5x faster than the previous generation.

• An 8-core GPU, runs graphics up to 5x faster, the biggest leap ever for MacBook Air, so immersive, graphics-intensive games perform at significantly higher frame rates.

• ML workloads are up to 9x faster, so apps that use ML-based features like face recognition or object detection can do so in a fraction of the time.

• The M1 chip’s storage controller and latest flash technology deliver up to 2x faster SSD performance, so previewing massive images or importing large files is faster than ever.
  
  
• Longest battery life ever - 15 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 18 hours of video playback.

Key features of the MacBook Air.  Source: Apple

MacBook Pro - 3x faster than any Windows laptop in its class

The Apple MacBook Pro is designed for university students and creative professionals. With M1, Apple says the MacBook Pro is "up to three times faster than any pro notebook in the market."

MacBook Pro delivers up to twice the battery life of the previous generation and the longest battery life ever on a Mac. With up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 20 hours of video playback it lasts significantly longer than users will be awake in a day.

Features

• The 8-core CPU, when paired with the MacBook Pro’s active cooling system, is up to 2.8x faster than the previous generation, delivering game-changing performance when compiling code, transcoding video, editing high-resolution photos, and more.

• The 8-core GPU is up to 5x faster, allowing users to enjoy super smooth graphics performance whether they are designing a graphics-intensive game or a new product.

• With M1, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is up to 3x faster than the best-selling Windows laptop in its class.

• ML is up to 11x faster, and for on-device ML tasks that use the Neural Engine, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is now the world’s fastest compact pro notebook says Apple. 

• Twice the battery life with up to 17 hours web browsing and 20 hours of video playback.
  

Key features of the MacBook Pro  Source: Apple

Apple Mac Mini - 5x faster than best selling Windows desktop

Mac mini is Apple’s most compact and portable computer. Now with M1, it brings a range of performance improvements and is being sold at US$100 less than the previous-generation quad-core model. When compared to the best-selling Windows desktop in its price range, the Mac mini is "just one-tenth the size, yet delivers up to 5x faster performance" says Apple.

• an 8-core CPU with up to 3x faster performance than the previous generation, dramatically accelerating demanding workloads, from compiling a million lines of code to building enormous multitrack music projects.

• an 8-core GPU delivers up to a massive 6x increase in graphics performance, allowing Mac mini to tackle performance-intensive tasks like complex 3D rendering with ease.

• ML workloads with up to 15x faster performance over the previous generation.

Key features of the Mac Mini  Source: Apple

Shipping with macOS Big Sur

All new Macs come with Big Sur, the latest version of Apple's desktop operating system. The macOS is named after a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast of California frequently praised for its dramatic scenery. 

• With Big Sur and M1, Mac users can run a greater range of apps than ever before. All of Apple’s Mac software is now Universal and runs natively for M1 systems. Existing Mac apps that have not been updated to Universal will run seamlessly with Apple’s Rosetta® 2 technology. And iPhone and iPad apps can now run directly on the Mac.
   
• Just like iPhone® and iPad®, the Mac now instantly wakes from sleep.

• Browsing with Safari is now up to 1.5x faster at running JavaScript and nearly 2x more responsive making it easily the world's fastest browser.

Big Sur OS Source: Apple

Clean energy-efficient environmental sympathetic devices

As the world prioritises positive environmental impact, Apple made a point of highlighting the improvements it has made in delivering environmentally sympathetic changes to its design, manufacturing and packaging.

MobileCorp Managed Desktop and Managed Mobility service

MobileCorp is a Sydney-based MSP who delivers managed desktop and managed mobility services to enterprise and business customers. 

MobileCorp is a Jamf partner, specialising in Apple device management. 

MobileCorp's Managed Desktop Service provides an outsourced resource to deploy, manage, and secure desktops, and to support end users.  

• enrollment of new devices
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MobileCorp's Managed Mobility Service realises cost optimisation and service delivery outcomes throughout the telecom life cycle. It will

• provide visibility, transparency and management of the full mobile device lifecycle from procurement to end-of-life
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Apple Media Release Notes

¹  Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 chip and 16GB of RAM. Performance measured using select industry-standard benchmarks. PC configurations from publicly available sales data over the last 12 months. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro.

² Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 chip, as well as production Intel Core i7-based PC systems with Intel Iris Plus Graphics and the latest version of Windows 10 available at the time of testing. Best-selling system based on publicly available sales data over the last nine months. Tested with graphics-intensive workloads in commercial applications. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro.

³ Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction Mac mini systems with Apple M1 chip, as well as production Intel Core i5-based PC systems with Intel UHD Graphics 630 and the latest version of Windows 10 available at the time of testing. Best-selling system based on publicly available sales data over the last nine months. Tested with select industry-standard graphics benchmarks. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac mini.

⁴ "World’s fastest browser": Testing conducted by Apple in August and October 2020 using JetStream 2, MotionMark 1.1, and Speedometer 2.0 performance benchmarks on browsers that completed the test. Tested with prerelease Safari 14 and latest stable versions of Chrome, Firefox, and (Windows) Microsoft Edge at the time of testing, on Intel Core i5-based 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with prerelease macOS Big Sur and Windows 10 Home running in Boot Camp; 12.9-inch iPad Pro (4th generation) units with prerelease iPadOS® 14 and Intel Core i7-based Microsoft Surface Pro 7 systems with Windows 10 Pro; and iPhone 11 Pro Max with prerelease iOS 14 and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra with Android 10. Devices tested with a WPA2 Wi-Fi network connection. Performance will vary based on usage, system configuration, network connection, and other factors. "Up to 1.5x speedier at running JavaScript and nearly 2x more responsive": Testing conducted by Apple in September and October 2020 using JetStream 2 and Speedometer 2.0 performance benchmarks. Tested on preproduction MacBook Air and Mac mini systems with Apple M1 chip and 8-core GPU, as well as production 1.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-based 13-inch MacBook Air systems and 3.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i3-based Mac mini systems, all configured with 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD, and prerelease macOS Big Sur. Tested with prerelease Safari 14.0.1 and WPA2 Wi-Fi network connection. Performance will vary based on system configuration, network configuration, network connection, and other factors.

About MobileCorp

MobileCorp is a Sydney-based communications technology company. We support enterprise and business by providing managed mobility and ICT services including mobile device security, mobile device management, expense management and managed connectivity solutions.