Apple Silicon

Podcast

Big Sur, Apple Outages, and Thunderbolt 4 Explained — Mac Geek Gab 844

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · Add Comment

There’s been a lot of confusion this week, beginning with what “Thunderbolt 4” really means for us Mac users. Thankfully OWC’s Larry O’Connor was able to join John and Dave this week to explain. That’s not all you get, though. Your two favorite geeks carry on with advice about Big Sur, more M1 thoughts, and simply answers to all your questions about everything Mac, Apple, and technological. Press play and enjoy learning at least five new things!

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Why The New Mac mini and M1 Chip is a Big Deal For Hollywood

Charlotte Henry · · 2 Comments

Apple put creativity front and center when unveiling its new products on Tuesday. The Hollywood Reporter found that many in the film and creative industries are excited about the possibilities of the Mac mini with it’s new M1 chip.

Veteran editor Harry B. Miller III says the new Mac minis in particular “could be huge” for the editing community. “Most of the editing industry is either on old cheese-grater or trashcan Macs. It seems to me the Mac mini with this new chip could easily and fairly cheaply replace all those old units,” he says. “Fox Studios, for example, had been refurbishing cheese-graters to keep them up to date with CPU’s and memory for more complex workflows. It would now be cheaper to replace them with the new Mini.” Miller says he plans to buy one. “I’ve used a Mini for the past 18 months for Avid [Media Composer] and [Adobe] Premiere Pro work on all my projects,” he notes. “Because of the pandemic, I know there have been a lot of equipment investments into iMacs for remote work. I could see the Mini’s replacing them as well.”

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Apple Silicon Could Lead to Lower-Cost Macs, Predicts Top Analyst

Charlotte Henry · · 1 Comment

Apple will host its ‘One More Thing’ event on Tuesday, at which the first Apple silicon macs are expected to be unveiled. In a new note to investors, JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee became the latest to predict that the shift may result in lower-cost Macs.

“With the move to in-house capabilities, Apple is looking to regain control over the pace of the technology roadmap on the processor chips, and create a common architecture across all Apple products, making it easier for developers to write and optimize applications for the product ecosystem,” the analyst writes. For consumers, Chatterjee believes that a lower bill of materials cost with a new Apple Silicon chip could lead to Mac devices with a lower price point targeting a wider market. More specifically, the analyst contends that Apple could release an SKU with a price point between that of the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air. The analyst estimates a standalone market opportunity of 10 to 15 million unit volume for the new Mac device, with a starting average selling price (ASP) of $1,000. That implies about a $15 billion opportunity for Apple, “which will assure multi-year growth in a lackluster PC market.”