Tag: M1

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Mobile Syrup

New Apple M-series stickers are now available to show off on your MacBook

Local Toronto company, InsideSticker, has started selling unofficial Apple M1 holographic stickers. Yes, you read that correctly.

The series includes the standard “M1 Inside” design. However, you can also find M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra variants alongside M2 options as well.

Each sticker costs $7.99 and offers a colour pallet unique to each variant. InsideSticker also provides a $13.99 Sticker Pack, where you can choose any three stickers for a discounted rate.

Each sticker is 25.4 x 32.7mm and includes Apple’s logo alongside an original design, highlighting the M-series chip. According to InsideSticker, every sticker is made with a “premium vinyl material” and a glossy finish. Each sticker is also made with eco-friendly inks.

Running along the bottom is the word “Inside” written on a holographic material. This will surely help it stand out if you want to brag and boast about your pricey new M2-powered MacBook Air. It’s worth noting that the vinyl stickers are listed as not being 100 percent waterproof. Instead, “they will resist limited amounts of water.”

Naturally, these stickers are designed to be used on Mac products. With one of these flashy stickers, you can ensure everyone knows you’re no longer in the Intel era. Moreso, these stickers are reminiscent of the Intel/Nvidia/AMD stickers commonly featured on PCs and laptops.

InsideSticker states shipments in Canada are estimated at roughly two weeks.

Image credit: InsideSticker

Source: @helvetiica

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Mobile Syrup

Base level iPad Air won’t feature iPadOS 16’s Stage Manager despite M1 chip

The plot thickens.

Apple has stated that iPadOS 16’s great-looking ‘Stage Manager’ multitasking feature won’t work on iPads that don’t feature its M1 chip because the functionality requires memory swap.

Memory swap allows the iPad’s internal storage to be used as virtual RAM when the tablet’s actual RAM is in use. However, it appears that the base-level iPad Air that only offers 64GB of internal storage won’t work with memory swap, likely because its internal storage just isn’t expansive enough.

In total, Apple says that Stage Manager can eat up as much as 16GB of internal storage as RAM.

On Apple’s website, the company says that memory swapping requires a minimum of 256GB of RAM and the M1 chip.

Though there’s likely a lot of truth to Apple’s claim that Stage Manager requires the power of the M1 chip to operate, the tech giant probably could have gotten the feature up and running other more recent versions of the tablet that offer ample storage and are nearly as powerful as the M1.

Stage Manager allows users to run up to eight apps at the same time in resizable windows that can be layered.

Source: Apple, @stroughtonsmith Via: 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Several M1 Macs discounted at Apple’s refurbished store

Apple has added a new slate of M1-equipped Macs and MacBooks to its refurbished store in Canada. This is an excellent way to get a bit of a discount on an Apple product.

To start, the M1 Mac mini is available for as low as $759 for a base model. However, if you need something with more power, the more expensive models feature more significant discounts.

The base-model MacBook Air starts at $1,099, $200 less than a comparable model that’s brand new. The 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro starts at $1,439, a $260 discount. As with the Mac mini, the more expensive MacBook models offer a slightly more robust discount.

The M1 MacBook Air is a decent value at its full price, so any sort of discount adds to that value proposition. The 13-inc MacBook Pro is a bit of a harder sell right now since it doesn’t offer considerably more performance than a MacBook Air with similar hardware. However, if you’ve been waiting for a discount, these are pretty good offers.

You can check out all of the deals at Apple’s Refurbished Store.

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Mobile Syrup

Discord working on native M1 support for Mac app

Popular game-focused chat platform Discord is finally working on an update that will officially support Apple’s new M1 chips.

Some Reddit users (via 9to5Mac) spotted the change in Discord’s ‘Canary’ version. Discord Canary is available from the platform’s website and is a space for the developers to test new versions of the app before officially pushing out the updates to the stable app.

The latest Discord Canary version runs natively on M1 Macs.

As 9to5 points out, native M1 support brings benefits like improve energy efficiency and performance. However, Discord is an Electron app, which means it may not offer as noticeable gains as other native Mac apps.

Regardless, M1 support is a step in the right direction and should help make Discord a little better on Apple computers.

You can download Discord Canary from the Discord website, but you may want to wait for the stable version if you don’t want to deal with bugs and other instabilities. Unfortunately, there’s no word yet when Discord will push the official native M1 update to users.

Source: Discord Via: Reddit, 9to5Mac

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Mobile Syrup

Apple’s rumoured AR glasses to use M1-based chip, arrive at end of 2022

Apple’s long-rumoured augmented reality (AR) glasses will be as powerful as its Mac computers when they reportedly launch at the end of 2022.

The prediction comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a decent track record when it comes to predicting future Apple products and features. Kuo shared the AR glasses prediction in a note sent to investors Friday (via CNBC).

However, the prediction shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Apple’s been moving towards using its own silicon across basically all of its products. The iPhone and iPad use A-series chips designed by Apple, and more recently the company transitioned its Mac line from Intel’s x86 CPUs to Apple-designed M-series ARM chips.

Specifically, Kuo noted that Apple’s glasses would run on a processor based on the M1. Apple’s M1 chip impressed with its excellent performance and low power consumption. The latter would be a major benefit in something like AR glasses where size and weight are significant factors (more efficiency means Apple could shrink the batteries and thus get a smaller, lighter product).

At the same time, the high performance of an M1-based chip could help set Apple’s glasses apart from competitors by allowing the glasses to perform intensive tasks without needing to offload work to a connected smartphone.

That doesn’t mean the Apple AR glasses won’t need a connected phone — previous reports say that the glasses will require a connected iPhone. However, that connection will likely be something more like the Apple Watch, which uses its connection to the iPhone to share data rather than processing.

Kuo backed that up, writing that Apple would position the glasses as an accessory for the iPhone, not a replacement.

Augmented reality refers to technology used to overlay digital images and information over the real world. Tech enthusiasts have looked to smart glasses as the main avenue to deliver AR experiences, although many smartphones now have built-in AR capabilities. Should Apple’s glasses prove successful, it could push the market forward and encourage other companies to release their own versions of AR glasses.

Source: CNBC

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Mobile Syrup

Intel CEO wants to win Apple back by making a ‘better chip than they can’

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is hoping to win back Apple’s business.

In an interview with Ina Fried, Axios’ chief technology correspondent, on Axios on HBO, Gelsinger discussed his ‘plan’ for getting Apple back. You can basically sum up the plan as ‘make better chips than Apple.’

Watch the clip in the video embedded below, or check out the transcription for Gelsinger’s full answer:

“Fried: Recently Apple said they’re moving from Intel chips on the Mac to homegrown processors. Have you given up on the idea of the Mac running on Intel chips?

Gelsinger: I never give up on the idea of anything not running on Intel chips. And, you know, hey, you know, our stumbles, you know, Apple decided they could do a better chip themselves than we could. And, you know, they did a pretty good job. So what I have to do is create a better chip than they can do themselves. I would hope to win back this piece of their business, as well as many other pieces of business, over time. And in the meantime, I got to make sure that our products are better than theirs, that my ecosystem is more open and vibrant than theirs, and we create more compelling reason for developers and users to land on Intel-based products. So, I’m going to fight hard to win Tim’s business in this area.”

For some added context, Apple began to transition its computers away from Intel’s chips in June 2020. In place of Intel chips, Apple started developing and using its own processors based on ARM designs, similar to what’s used in smartphones and tablets (including Apple’s iPhone and iPad). The first such chip, dubbed the ‘M1,’ has appeared in MacBooks, iMacs, Mac minis and the iPad Pro line. Further, the company is expected to unveil new computers at an event on October 18th featuring a new version of the chip, possibly called ‘M1X’ or ‘M2.’

The thing is, making a better chip is easier said than done — and even if Intel manages to do it, I’m not sure that’ll be enough to win back Apple. Aside from the performance and battery life benefits of the switch to its own ARM-based silicon, Apple is also able to more tightly control its hardware and software stack by using its own chips. I don’t see Apple giving that up just because Intel’s chips manage to pull ahead in performance.

Plus, Intel has been pumping out some pretty terrible, desperate-feeling ads that try to dunk on Apple by touting the “benefits” of Intel chips — benefits that often have little to do with Intel’s chips.

The one upside to Gelsinger’s comment is that hopefully in Intel’s effort to win Apple back, it creates some truly excellent products for Windows users. Intel’s started to lag behind the competition and with AMD’s CPU division firing on all cylinders, Intel’s going to have to step up its game to keep its CPU crown.

Image credit: Intel

Source: Axios (YouTube) Via: MacRumors

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Will the M1 Return?

The presentation of the BWM concept M1 Hommage at the Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance in April 2008 had Beamer fans raising their eyebrows.

Now, after the German carmaker’s presentation of the Vision EfficientDynamics concept in Frankfurt, rumours are once again on the loose.

Efficiency and dynamism have been the key words for BMW lately, and the notion of a high-performance ecological supercar powered by a hybrid engine acts as an ideal starting point.

Thanks to its small diesel engine and electric motors, the M1 can crank out 350 horsepower and hit 100 km/h from 0 in less than 5 seconds.

Britain’s Auto Express reported that the car would be released in 2012 with a price tag of around $130 000 CAD.

With BMW’s absence from the niche of supercars following the Z8’s disappearance, the luxury brand and its 4-seater coupe could be making a smashing return.