The switch to Apple Silicon rejuvenated Apple’s MacBook series, and the first MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, launched in 2020, signaled a new approach to performance and battery life while retaining a traditional notebook shape. But technology does not lean back on laurels. Eighteen months later, you should not be looking at these MacBooks.
Tim Cook and his team are planning something much better for you.
HONG KONG, CHINA – 2021/11/29: The new Macbook Pro laptops with computer chips M1 Pro and M1 Max at. … [+]
SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Much of the discussion around the Mac platform will take place at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference; with software, chips and hardware ready to shape the conversations.
First out is macOS. Apple has stuck to a relatively fixed schedule for macOS (as well as iOS and iPadOS) with revelations at WWDC, developer beta in the following months and a public release in late October / early November. In the case of the iPhone, the iOS and iPhone releases would match the older iPhone hardware that downloaded the iOS update very shortly after.
An advantage here is that iPhone hardware could be developed knowing that there would be a significant change in the software that should accompany the release … if there will be a compatibility break between hardware and software, this is the best time to do it
Under Intel, the Mac platform has never been able to offer the regularity of hardware updates that could make the most of the regularity of macOS updates. Now that Apple has taken control of the hardware schedule, the Mac can now follow the iPhone gamebook.
This means that the next MacBook update will have a level of synergy, unlike any other macOS laptop. The new version of macOS was developed specifically for Apple Silicon’s next generation update in the M2 family. The M2 itself can be designed around the specific needs of macOS and embed features in hardware for improved speed and better performance. And the sum of the two parts becomes larger.
This option was never open for M1 MacBook Air or MacBook Pro laptops.
WWDC will lay out these building blocks. The new macOS will definitely be shown. The possibilities of the M2 will – if not specified directly – be obvious when examining the code. And these will all be brought together to offer a new consumer MacBook platform that will trump the specifications of the first M1 MacBooks released back in 2020.
Apple Silicon has delivered a new experience to many users, but if you have not joined them yet, stay tuned. Tim Cook and his team will tell you what you really want next month.
Now read the latest MacBook, iPhone and iPad headlines in Forbes’ regular Apple Loop column …