In November 2020, Apple made a significant announcement. They were shifting away from Intel, with whom they had partnered for 14 years as the exclusive manufacturer of Mac CPUs, to designing their processors in-house at Apple. Thus began a journey over the next 3 years, recalling memories of the previous transition from PowerPC to Intel.
Back in 2006, Apple had already undergone a similar transition when they switched from PowerPC chips to x86-based processors made by Intel. The energy consumption and heat generated by the former resulted in processors that were too inefficient for ultra-thin notebooks. One particular notebook reshaped the landscape of slim and lightweight laptops: the MacBook Air. Intel’s chips not only outperformed PowerPC chips but also did so efficiently, crucial for high-performing compact laptops.
Moreover, they introduced a line of bulkier, high-performance laptops for power users. In the PowerPC era, these were known as PowerBooks. Now, we have the MacBook Pro.
Over the next decade, Apple and Intel continued their partnership, producing top-notch laptops and desktops that consistently vied for the top spot. The MacBook Pro saw a series of improvements, including the introduction of a Retina display, Thunderbolt ports, and an expanded range of processor options, similar to the MacBook Air.
Then, in October 2016, Apple unveiled the new MacBook Pro. Sporting a design that seemed like it came from a fever dream, this day marked the beginning of a somewhat challenging period.
Gone were the days of the iconic glowing Apple logo, replaced by a shiny, reflective emblem. Apple also made the bold move to remove all existing ports in favor of 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, serving both data transfer and charging purposes.
Opening the laptop revealed a stunning, bright, high-resolution display, alongside Apple’s most notable misstep in the past decade: the Butterfly Keyboard.
The Butterfly keyboard, infamous for sticky keys and exorbitant repair costs, easily ranks as Apple’s most disliked product of the last ten years. Apart from reliability issues, the keys lacked travel and felt more like buttons than traditional keys. Additionally, since the entire keyboard was a single unit, any malfunctioning key necessitated the replacement of the entire assembly, incurring a cost far higher than reasonable.
Directly above the problematic keyboard was a new feature: a little touchscreen OLED panel replacing the traditional function row, known as the Touch Bar. Meant to serve as a dynamic control panel for various applications, the Touch Bar ended up being an underutilized feature, much like 3D Touch. (I still miss you 🙁 )
In 2018, the MacBook Air followed suit, adopting a design similar to the 2016 Pro. It featured 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports instead of 4 and had a lighter frame, along with a lower-power processor. Otherwise, it remained largely the same.
As Apple revised these machines between 2016 and 2019, the primary change was the processor inside. The notorious butterfly keyboard persisted, albeit with half-hearted attempts to address its reliability issues.
Finally, in May 2020, Apple bid farewell to the abhorrent keyboard and reintroduced standard scissor switches in their laptops. This marked the final revision before the announcement of Apple Silicon.
Fast forward to November, when John Ternus, VP of hardware engineering, appeared on camera to announce the next Mac revolution: Apple Silicon. This came with the debut of the first two products featuring the initial iteration, the 13″ MacBook Air and Pro.
Just like that, the MacBook Air regained its throne as the notebook king.
Priced similarly to its predecessor, the new Air boasted a processor that rivaled PC equivalents while consuming a quarter of the power. This resulted in a blazing-fast machine with a battery life that seemed almost excessive.
The only skepticism around the Air concerned its fanless design. Given Apple’s history with thermal issues (cough 2013 Mac Pro cough), it wasn’t unreasonable to worry about potential thermal throttling. However, Apple delivered on its promises, creating machines that were indeed as fast as claimed, all while maintaining energy efficiency.
And thus began the two-year transition from Intel to Apple Silicon. Following the impressive improvements of the M1 MacBook Air, expectations were high for the high-performance models. These expectations were more than met.
In October 2021, Apple unveiled the next iteration of Apple Silicon: the M1 Pro and M1 Max, designed specifically for the MacBook Pro. These laptops stood among the most powerful available, easily outclassing the old Core i9 MacBook Pro while delivering extended battery life. Moreover, these machines saw the return of the HDMI Port, SDXC Port, and MagSafe!
Oh, MagSafe! How sorely you were missed. The magnetic charging cable, absent since the 2016 MacBook Pro, finally made a triumphant return!
Other noteworthy changes included a 14-inch display with a brighter notch, resembling the iPhone, and substantial speaker improvements. Additionally, the webcam was upgraded to 1080P.
In the ensuing months, Apple introduced one more addition to the M1 lineup: the M1 Ultra (combining two M1 Max chips), housed in a new machine called the Mac Studio. This high-speed desktop computer rivalled the $70k Mac Pro at a fraction of the price.
Thus, the transition was complete. Apple had successfully shifted from x86 to ARM64 architecture. The iPhone and Mac were united, and the Mac had finally realized its full potential.
However, as a current Intel user, I’ve received zero love from Apple, and my laptop is both sluggish and lasts less than an hour. Thanks, guys 🙂