The Future is Now. M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max Drive Fleet Upgrades
Carbon has been encouraging customers to hold off on new purchases through most of 2020 and 2021. While this was partially due to the lingering impacts and uncertainty of the pandemic, it was also because Apple gave us a glimpse of the future when they released the M1 MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13” MacBook Pro at the end of 2020. It was only a matter of time before Apple released the next batch of machines to addressed the needs of professionals.
Well, that time has come!
To start, there is the performance gains. Apple has already proven their custom silicon is superior to Intel and AMD. Apple is now taking a run at Nvidia for graphics performance. The original M1 CPU in the MacBook Air runs circled around most of the more expensive Intel MacBook Pros. The M1 Pro and M1 Max push performance to even greater heights. The new MacBook Pros will make the Intel Macs feel like ancient relics.
Next, there is the triumphant return of MagSafe! Why was this ever removed? How many Macs were saved by MagSafe’s pull away cord? In some cases, the desire to simplify doesn’t result in the expected benefits. Carbon supports a number of educational institutions and the loss of MagSafe has meant the accidental destruction of a lot of Macs. Welcome back MagSafe! You never should have been removed.
Every so often, a wiz bang new product or features comes out and everyone gets excited. Laser Disk and Zip 250 are a couple I can think of. But the TouchBar is on the top of the heap of features that received much fanfare yet none of us will miss. When Apple introduced it, I figured it was the precursor to an all glass keyboard. But no one wants to pound onto glass for hours at a time. Traditional keyboards have give and absorb the impact of your fingers. Good keyboards can be used all day without frustration. The TouchBar just introduced unecessary complication with the Intel MacBook Pros. How many of Carbon’s customers have struggled with the dreaded BridgeOS crashes. Good bye. Farewell. I will not miss you in the least.
The next key to enterprise and professional adoption is the support for multiple external displays. These new MacBook Pros have resolved this with emphasis. The M1 Pro and M1 Max based MacBook Pros paired with a quality monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse is now a powerhouse portable workstation. The M1 Max based units can support three Apple 6k displays! That is a lot of pixels.
If, like everyone else, you are still impacted by the lingering effects of the pandemic and working remotely, the time to upgrade your Mac is now. The bitter irony is that now that Apple has a truly worthy MacBook Pro to purchase, supply chain issues will cause long delays. Order early.
The only possible concern is being forced into macOS 12 Monterey. Some applications stacks cannot yet support Monterey. However, for customers with modern application stacks, Monterey will address many of the growing pains of Big Sur. While Carbon usually cautions early adoption, I sense that Monterey will be rolled out aggressively.
Here is to a new era for Mac computing. The present is bright and the future is blinding with potential.