Apple Silicon Macs

The M1 Mac mini – A Short Review and Unboxing

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Mac mini M1

Edit: this post was supposed to come out last December, so yes it is very late. And I know we will likely have a new Mac mini in twenty four hours’ time.

Yes, it is true. The M1 Mac mini has been out for a full year. Why did I buy it now? Because the M1 Pro Mac mini did not materialize in 2021, and because I happened to have a good deal on the existing silver model.

I have yet to replace my main Mac with the Mac mini, and it is currently connected to my TV, but it happens to be the only desktop I have that runs Monterey, and it is a champ at that.

The Mac mini is silent, runs fast, and does all the M1 stuff I need it to do. I am just slightly regretting not getting the 512GB model now, but a TB3 drive should suffice for additional storage.

If you are thinking of buying one today in Feb 2022, I will wait until March to see if a M1 Pro Mac mini is out by then, and if that model is a better buy. A theoretical M2 successor to this Mac mini probably will not come until later this year.

Here are some unboxing photos.

Mac mini M1

Mac mini M1

Mac mini M1

Apple Silicon M1 MacBook Air (Late 2020) Unboxing

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I borrowed an M1-powered MacBook Air from my relative for this unboxing.

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If you have been paying attention to the recent MacBook Airs, this unboxing is going to look exactly the same as the ones that came before.

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The keyboard has the only obvious physical change with these few key changes.

Battery life

I have not taken out the power adapter from the box yet, but have already installed the 11.0.1 update. It took more than 20 mins, and I noticed the battery percentage did not change even after the update has been completed. After playing with the MacBook Air for more than an hour in total, the battery percentage only dropped like 2-3%. Take note that I did not push the MacBook Air hard, nor did I do any benchmarks since those are all over the internet already, but this thing is fast and snappy! And the battery life is incredible.

The state of iOS apps on Apple Silicon macOS

It appears more than just a few developers have chosen to block their iOS apps from appearing from the Mac App Store, either because they already have a macOS version and obviously they want to make money from those, or they are just bent on not giving macOS users access to their apps. Possible reasons could be because their apps are “not ready for macOS yet”, or maybe because they will lose out on a lot more tracking info if users chose to use their apps instead of their websites. Whatever it is, none of the third party apps that I use on a daily basis are available on macOS, and that sucks. Maybe Apple was wrong to give the developers that choice in the first place. Developers who are lazy and want more money but do not want to do the extra work.

However, from recent reports it seems that you may actually be able to install iOS apps not available on the Mac App Store by executing their .ipa files directly. Worth a try I guess.

Conclusion

These are definitely the best Macs to have came out of Apple in probably the last two decades. Going Intel in 2006 might have allowed a lot more people to be exposed to Macs, but it also took away the uniqueness Macs have over the rest of the computing industry, with their RISC processors. With the M1 Macs Apple has regained its uniqueness and advantage over the rest of the traditional computing industry, and do not expect them to slow down anytime soon. Very soon the pathetic PC whiners are just going to claim that their old AF x86 platform architecture is superior because they say so, just like stupid Android people who still think they have the most powerful phones just because some manufacturers have to use massive cooling solutions for their shitty designs. Well idiots will be idiots and there are so many idiots in the PC industry that it is not even funny.

Should you buy an M1 Mac now?

The usual answer applies – buy only if you need a computer now. If not there will always be faster Macs in the future. If you have been waiting, especially for a MacBook Air, I think this is a good time to purchase it. The MacBook Pro, maybe not, since there are rumors that a 14-inch one is coming next year.

Apple Silicon Macs are Not Available to Buy in Singapore Just Yet

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This is not the first time IMDA has cause a delay in the purchasing of Macs in Singapore. Every time there is a significant change in the Mac’s innards or when something surprise drops (like the AirPods Pro), they are never available to order at the same time as the other countries. And this is definitely not Apple’s fault.

Now I have no idea of the process it takes to certify wireless devices locally, but I cannot imagine that the process is much longer in Singapore than in other bigger, more advanced countries. And I hate to wait.

If you know someone working in IMDA, or if you yourself are from IMDA, and are involved in the process, can you let me know? DM me on Twitter, email, or anything. I will read your email, delete it and pretend that I have no recollection of your existence or identity.

Also, I will love to hear from anyone interested in purchasing one of the three Macs Apple updated with Apple Silicon earlier today. Is the MacBook Air the must buy? Or will a Mac Mini as a supplementary desktop to test out Apple Silicon make more sense to you? I personally will not advise anyone to go for the 13 inch MacBook Pro since rumors are that an updated display (14 inch) is on the horizon. M1 (not the shitty telco) is so exciting.

Edit: The MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro are now available to order at 10am, 12th November. For some reason the Mac mini is still not available yet.

5 hours to the “One More Thing” Event

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This is finally it.

T minus 5 hours before what is likely the last Apple event of 2020, and will likely be the most significant one for at least the next decade, Apple’s November 2020 event, titled “One More Thing”, the exact words that Steve Jobs use repeatedly to introduce the new, shiny, and most promising Apple products in his legendary keynotes.

We know that the introduction of the first Apple Silicon Macs will be highlight of the event. That Macs will now get new architecture for the first time in fifteen years has to get many people excited, enough for Cult of Mac to write a shit piece just to capitalize on the heightened interest.

The original switch to Intel

When Apple first announced the switch to Intel processors back in 2005, rumors of the switch had already been making the rounds for months, but it still came as a big surprise when Steve Jobs announced it at WWDC that year.

Apple had to make the jump then. IBM, who was making the PowerPC G5 chips for Apple, sucked big time in developing CPUs with both the clock speeds needed for Macs to keep up with the competition, as well as with the thermal requirements to put them in what will eventually become the best selling Macs, the iMac and the portable Mac laptops. Intel was the best in the industry then, and their roadmap offered a solution for Apple, so they took it and switched everyone to Intel. That the architecture change resulting in an initial boost of people buying Macs because they can run Windows on them was just a decent bonus.

Intel today = IBM of yesteryear

The Intel today is the IBM of yesteryear. Intel suck. Delays, fabrication issues and the lack of processing gains are just some of the massive problems facing Intel and the whole x86 computing industry today. The best in the industry today is Apple, and their chips are years ahead of everyone else’s. So Apple have to make the jump again, this time to Apple’s own processors.

No more Boot Camp?

With this jump Macs will likely lose the ability to run Windows via the Boot Camp utility, but it is likely not important in today’s world. Unlike a decade ago, mankind have adapted to the usage of multiple operating systems across various platforms, and the people who originally bought Macs all those years ago to run Windows on them have all now switched to using macOS, likely exclusively. People will buy Apple Silicon Macs for what they are, Macs. That the architecture change this time bringing about the ability to run apps from the best computing platform in the world, iOS, is too, just a decent bonus.

MacBook Air? MacBook Pro?

Apple has traditionally made the early release of their most popular Macs during an architectural change a priority, and in 2006 the 15-inch MacBook Pro was the first Intel Mac released to the world. Today’s Apple sell a lot more 13-inch MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs than their 16-inchers, so it is not surprising that the rumor mill believes the two 13-inchers will be the first Apple Silicon Macs (let us ignore the Mac Mini dev kit) announced tonight. Their affordability will likely ensure big sales numbers as well.

I cannot imagine anything other than great success for the Apple Silicon Macs.

The ExFAT Podcast Episode 2: November Sales and One More mini Thing

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Ryu and Dan comes back once again to talk about the multiple sales events going on in November, including the massive Apple Watch sales ongoing at Amazon. Then it shifted to Anker chargers, iPhone accessories and Ryu’s iPhone 12 mini preorder. Both give their predictions and wants for Apple’s November 2020 event, titled “One More Thing”.

If you are a new listener, the ExFAT podcast is available to listen and subscribe on the following platforms;

P.S. Changed the embedded player to Apple Podcasts the day Apple announced the embedded player feature.

Apple announces November 2020 event, titled “One More Thing”

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Apple just announced their November 2020 event, titled “One More Thing”, for November 10th (November 11th Singapore Time).

The event will be streamed live on November 10th, 2020, at 10am Pacific Time. That is November 11th, 2am in Singapore Time, one hour later than the usual event timing.

Apple has not used its “One More Thing” tagline for a very long time, so I am pretty excited for this. Apple Silicon Macs will likely be announced, and I can not wait to buy one.

Also, Jon Prosser is wrong again.

macOS 11

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So macOS 11 Big Sur was announced earlier today at WWDC.

First things first, WOW I did not see that interface change coming. 

There were no prior rumors about an interface change, so Apple really kept it tightly under wrap during the whole development. The last interface change came during Yosemite, during the Jony Ive de-Skeuomorphism era, when OS X was given a fresh coat of paint from the skeuomorphic graphical changes that started in OS X Leopard.

Apple paints this interface change as the biggest one since the one from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X, and while I won’t go so far as to say that this new interface is like the second coming of Aqua, it looks really good, even if some longtime Mac people on the internets were complaining about it. The current macOS has elements from the early days of Aqua, mixed in with more recent graphical changes that were bolted on as the “design era” changes, so a complete interface facelift is definitely welcomed, even if that means an interface that is extremely similar to that of iPadOS 14. Well, in the first place iPadOS took a lot of design elements from macOS, so the influence isn’t exactly one-way.

Under the hood though, macOS 11 definitely does not have the kind of complete overhaul like it did when it went from Mac OS 9 to the Unix-based, originally OpenStep Mac OS X. It really is macOS 10.16, like what was indicated in the Xcode and macOS betas that were released after the WWDC keynote earlier today. “macOS 11” is basically a very recent Marketing decision, one recent enough that they did not have time to make changes to the betas to reflect the difference. 

The big news, of course, was the announcement that Macs will be transitioning to “Apple Silicon” and that the first Apple Silicon Macs will be out later this year. (Apple was never going to use the term “ARM”, come on. Previously I coined the term “Apple Processors”, but “Silicon” definitely sounds cooler.)

The transition was almost exactly like the one in 2005, right down to having Rosetta 2 as a translator for legacy apps that are abandoned (or for the folks who refused to pay full price or a expensive subscription just to use the new Safari extension that comes with 1Password 7). 

And while Tim Cook mentioned that there are still Intel Macs coming down the pipeline soon, and that Apple will continue to support them for years to come, based on experience by end 2006 (one and a half years after they announced the transition) nobody gave a damn about PowerPC Macs anymore (except for the collectors).

Speaking about collectors and collecting, I know for a fact that I will really love to have a Mac Mini G4 or even a G4 Cube today, so this might be a good time to actually buy one of the last Intel Macs and keep it for years to come, either as a compatibility machine or even as a piece of Apple history. Maybe a Mac Mini is in order, for I have wanted one of those for decades already. 

And did I mention previously that I can’t wait for the 12” MacBook to come back in Apple Silicon form? 

2021 can’t come soon enough. For many many reasons. 

PS Both purchases are pipe dreams, COVID-19 has not been kind to my financial health.