My overall impression of this Apple event from a production standpoint is that it was very heavy on unnecessary use of intro videos for every little thing… Like do you really need a 15 second multi-media, graphic intensive high tech announcement for a new colour iPhone 13?
I found the intros the most annoying part of the presentation taking up unnecessary time and placing undue emphasis on seemingly small announcements. The first 25 minutes of the presentation were yawn and ho hum until you got into the meat of it… the announcement of the new M1 Ultra chip which is basically 2 M1 Max chips fused together. It has me thinking… how many more terms can they use to define a chip’s performance.. first we have the M1, then the M1 Pro, the M1 Max… and just when you thought nothing could be bigger than a Max, there’s the Ultra… Next, we’ll se the M1 Stupendous or the M1 Super or the M1 Galaxy… I’m being facetious of course but maybe the Marketing department needs to turn it down a notch.
Now that you have a chip, you need something to put it in… Along with this new SOC announcement, apple also announced a computer that will house such a beast. The Mac Studio computer, which is expandable to 8TB of storage, a whopping 128GB of unified memory 64 graphic cores, 20 CPU High Performance cores, 4 high efficiency cores and much more in a package that looks like a fat Mac Mini. Before I get ahead of myself, here’s a summary of what was announced and a selection of first impressions by Youtubers who I think give honest reviews of technology in general including Apple technology.
- Apple TV+ is going to be investing in more original content. This means we can expect more quality movies, comedies, and dramas to be unveiled in the coming months.
- Also on this front, they have signed a deal with Major League Baseball to broadcast (stream) games through Apple TV+ connected devices, iPhones, iPads, Macs, TVs, browsers, etc.
- iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro are getting new green variants available now.
- iPad Air is going to be equipped with the same chip as M1-based Macs making it as powerful in the iPad format and sporting the same chip as the M1-based iPad Pro at the same $599 price point.
- iPhone SE has been updated (internally), now equipped with the same chip (the A15) as the iPhone 13 making it much more powerful and allowing it to stay current at a budget price of $429.
- Apple just released a new M1 Chip, the M1 Ultra (which is 2 M1 Max chips stuck together), leading to unprecedented performance in a relatively small power envelope.
- A new 27” Apple Studio 5k display that has a built-in A13 chip, a 12 mega pixel camera that supports Center Stage detecting subjects and expanding the image as needed, 3 microphones and a Dolby Atmos speaker system, 2 different stands and a wall mount that must be selected on checkout.
- Along with this new chip announcement, they introduced the new Mac Studio computer which comes in 2 flavours: M1 Max or M1 Ultra. The M1 Max version starts at $1,999 and the M1 Ultra version starts at $3,999. The new unit comes with lots of connected expansion including 10GB Ethernet, 4x Thunderbolt ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, and 2x USB-A ports. The front of the unit comes with 2x USB type C ports which run as USB-C on the M1 Max version and Thunderbolt 4 on the M1 Ultra version.
The first six things are mostly housekeeping and moderate updates to existing products. The new studio monitor is a bit of a yawn in that LG has had nearly the same specs for less money for over 5 years. The big news is the new Mac Studio computer. Below is a summary of some of the reactions of industry experts.
First up, I’ll start with Snazzy Labs. Here’s what he had to say:
Rene Ritchie, another honest tech commentator also has a take on Apple’s new hardware:
Here’s his take on the new M1 Ultra chip
Marques Brownlee has also been prominent in reviewing the latest Apple tech had this to say:
Finally, Linustech says that Apple makes their brain hurt, finding some of their claims dubious. Check out his impressions:
