Mac

With the third installment in a series of fall announcements, Apple has finally delivered on Tim Cook's promise of Apple Silicon Macs, made during the June 2020 WWDC keynote. We saw the release of two updated MacBooks: a new 13-inch MacBook Air and a new 13-inch MacBook Pro. They, along with their desktop cousin, the Mac mini, are the first three Macs ever to utilize an Apple-made processing chip as opposed to the Intel chips the computers have used for many years. The M1 chip may be a game-changer. As expected, the the industry leader in personal technology has made eyebrow-raising claims of huge increases in speed, efficiency, security, and convenience. We'll review prices, availability, and tech specs for these new Mac models, and we'll compare them to their predecessors so that you can make an informed decision if you're considering making your first MacBook purchase, or upgrading your existing Mac laptop.

During a brief, 45-minute virtual event presided over by Tim Cook, Apple introduced the first Macs to use its own M1 silicon chip and announced it would release Big Sur later this week. The new 13-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini represent the first step in Apple's transition from using Intel chips to using its new propietary chip in its computers. Here's everything you need to know about the new Macs, including what you should keep in mind about the M1 chip if you're considering upgrading.

Apple is making the iPad Pro look like a regular computer more and more every day. But if you are still using a computer and wish you could share your computer's accessories with your iPad Pro, you might need an accessory like the Access Pro ($199.95) from IOGear, I tried a review unit and it does what it promises. It acts as a KVM (keyboard, video, monitor) Switch, letting you share a keyboard, mouse and 4K UHD 3840x2160 at 30 Hz monitor among two devices. The Access Pro supports Windows, Mac or iPad Pro with USB-C.

Opinion

During the WWDC 2020 keynote event, Apple announced that it will be transitioning to its own ARM-based silicon processors in future builds of Mac computers. If you aren’t a developer, this announcement might not have had much gravity. The thirty minutes Apple dedicated to this part of the announcement did little to explain why users should care about the transition, but this historic shift will change the way Mac software will work for the foreseeable future. While the shift will be gradual, Apple said it will release its first silicon-powered Macs by the end of the year. So why should we, as Mac users, care about this change? What will it mean for us moving forward? 

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