Apple Says 'Mac Has Never Been Better' on Fifth Anniversary of M1 Chip Launching

[switz]

My hold over that still boots up with it’s own monitor is my G4 Cube. Not much else I can do with it now.

All our “recent” gear is M4 based except for the two iPad minis and two Apple watches. The M1 Ultra Mac Studio has compatible performance to my M4 Max laptop which is good serviceable life for the M1 device.

Single core speed is the Achilles heel for M1 gear as compared to M4 single core speeds.

All models in a given generation like M1 or M4 have nearly the same single core speed.

Thus opening a file is at the same speed on all models in a generation until the program gets into multi core operations.

 

[cjsuk]

And that’s the problem, Apple needs you to move those on and buy new computers. They will have to start dropping support for them sooner or later.

The Apple influencer crowd will need to be well trained to argue this case for Apple.

Yeah I'm not sure they'll get away with that for much longer.

There hasn't really been that much progress in the last 5 years. There is almost no reason to update an M1. In fact I just upgraded from an M1 Pro to an M4 Pro and honestly I can't tell the difference. This slightly hurts but, meh, that's life.

Much like Microsoft's windows 11 hardware obsolescence stance, I think Apple will receive a lot of bad PR they can't afford if they try and obsolete ARM machines that aren't at least 10 years old.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Apple is really the only reason they don't support OS's after a certain point. It is not the hardware. It is artificial and made to push more sales. One thing I hate about Apple among all the good stuff they do.

Well… yes and no.
Obviously, Apple has the final decision of what operating system goes on what computers.
However, when it comes to Apple‘s older Intel computers, a lot of the support timeline was based off of Intel’s own support timeline.
For example, in 2022, Intel announced they would no longer support 6th generation Skylake chips going forward, pretty much forcing Apple to cut support for all 2014, 2015 and 2016 Macs all at once with Ventura.
This is partly why in 2022 you could run the latest version of iPadOS on 8 year old machines but macOS was strictly from 2017/2018 and forward.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

"Mac has never been better". A truism that could have been said anytime since the Mac was introduced in 1984.
The issue many users have with Mac today is not the hardware but the OS.

 

[appleCakes]

I don't know why I'd need to upgrade my M1 Max MBP.

 

[raindogg]

M1 Max MacBook Pro is still running strong. Best product Apple has made in years.

 

[maxoakland]

Meanwhile the Mac Pro hasn’t been updated in how long? The software is almost as buggy as the Mac OS 8 days, and people largely hate or are indifferent to the new interface

 

[Lloigorr]

Boy I was so afraid of the transition back then because somehow it was very important for me to be able to play some ancient windows games via Bootcamp. Something I actually very rarely did.
And then I bought an M1 Pro MBP. What a machine! Still have it, still love it. There’s no looking back to the intel era for me, the reasons are obvious. And guess what: you can play ancient windows games on that machine, without fiddling with Windows (I just don’t do it)
Best computer I’ve ever bought.

 

[whatnot]

the breakthrough of not being able to keep your machine powered off while cleaning it was a long time coming - well done👌

 

[neuropsychguy]

As someone who's been using Macs for 40 years, I agree.

 

[Quicksilver867]

Don't buy a first-gen product - they said.

I never regretted it, it still runs great.

And i actually prefer the old design over the new air..

I also had reservations about ordering mine back in November 2020. It (aside from a little battery life) has not changed a bit since day one. Probably one of the best computing products I've owned, period.

 

[ZipZilla]

Joz is half right. The Mac *hardware* has never been better.

The software has never been worse. Maybe the new CEO will hold people accountable.

 

[RichardC300]

I bought my M1 MacBook Air in January 2024, a little over 3 years after it's release, and it's still a beast that does everything I need it to with great battery life!

 

[jbc25]

My M1 air and M1 are officially my longest servicing macs and are as sold as the day I got them.

Seriously. The M1 is rockin' it. I'm sure the newer chips are better, but M1 is still more than capable for most people's needs.

 

[Tagbert]

Imagine trying to translate buggy code from one architecture to another, and not fixing the bug in the process.

it’s almost as if many of the bugs are not in the kernel that talks to the hardware.

 

[Mainsail]

This is why we need a new Snow Leopard type release. No new features... AT ALL. Strip out the crappy useless ones and then fix all the bugs!

I agree with this approach. Odd years are new features and major OS changes. Even years are Snow Leopard type releases with performance improvements, better battery life, other improvements, etc.. A base MBA should have a minimum six year useful life....so, typical everyday users should still get three full cycles of updates. I think this approach would yield a better user experience and more customer satisfaction.

 

[Dhonk]

the biggest key for the M-series has been Apple being able to release computers on their timeframe instead of Intels. Intel was always like 6+ months behind, and Apple wanted to move to a refresh timeframe like they had in the iPhone.

It also helps Mac margins and heat dissipation as well.

 

[MysteriousStain]

My G5 still boots (and heats the entire house in minutes). The 2012 MBP is permanently attached to a TV with wifi disabled and the M4 mini continues to astound me that the fans have only come on twice (but it’s staying on the tree OS)

 

[bluecoast]

It’s worth remembering the state of the Mac not 5 years ago but 9 years ago.

Many Apple commentators genuinely thought that Apple was getting ready to kill the Mac, the products were so bad.

The MacBook was underpowered. The MacBook Pro redesign went down like a lead zeppelin. The Mac Pro trash can was still a product in apple’s lineup.

The mba was probably the best laptop but in a chassis that was rapidly ageing.

Probably the Mac mini along with (maybe?) the iMac, were apple’s best products at that time.

macOS just seemed to get features from iOS just so it could support the iPhone. Now it gets Liquid Glass along with iOS. Hmmm (I like Liquid Glass but it’s a work in progress).

The processor speeds and battery performance of the m class chips is truly incredible.

The Mac hardware has truly has never been better.

Now time to maybe focus on what must be thousands of known bugs in the macOS backlog!

 

[coolfactor]

Apple is really the only reason they don't support OS's after a certain point. It is not the hardware. It is artificial and made to push more sales. One thing I hate about Apple among all the good stuff they do.

As convenient as that is to believe, it's technically not true. Each generation of CPU / GPU introduces changes that must be supported by the newer software codebase. So how many generations of hardware should software support? That makes it very bloated and harder to maintain. People complain of bugs... but then want endless support of older hardware? Those are conflicting goals.

Yes, there is planned obsolescence, but it's not the malicious intent that people like to tout. Discontinuing older hardware support is for the benefit of all current and future users.

 

[ethanwa79]

One of the best things Apple has EVER done.

 

[Churchman]

Will be interesting to see whether or not the M series receives longer OS support than its predecessors. That aging army of M1 MacBook Airs could be passed along to friends and family members, possibly being their first Mac.

This post provoked a realization… Apple started selling cheap M1 MacBooks (the slim wedge) through Walmart a few years ago. Those are new production units that Apple is selling through Walmart. So, truly, Apple will legally be required to support the M1 for some additional length of time. This may be another reason why Apple is possibly making a new A-chip cheap MacBook — so they can get M1 out of inventory… out of service and warranty coverage… and create one global cheapbook with a modern chip and modern warranty protocols and expectations similar to other “in-production” chips and tech.

Maybe….

 

[tenthousandthings]

This post provoked a realization… Apple started selling cheap M1 MacBooks (the slim wedge) through Walmart a few years ago. Those are new production units that Apple is selling through Walmart. So, truly, Apple will legally be required to support the M1 for some additional length of time. This may be another reason why Apple is possibly making a new A-chip cheap MacBook — so they can get M1 out of inventory… out of service and warranty coverage… and create one global cheapbook with a modern chip and modern warranty protocols and expectations similar to other “in-production” chips and tech.

Maybe….

They are still selling them. Most likely those machines (and all M1) will be left behind by the new OS at some point (my guess is macOS 28 will be the last), but then that last OS will get five years of security updates (and things like Safari updates) after that. So the M1 generation will get something like 14 years of software support.

 

[JosephAW]

Translation: in two years M1 will be vintage.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

*apart from the Mac Pro