MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M1 Chips Have Same 8-Core CPUs, No Upgrades Available

[MacRumors]

The newly announced MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models that Apple announced today are equipped with the same 8-core M1 chip that also offers an integrated GPU, with Apple offering no CPU upgrades.

There is, however, a GPU upgrade available for the MacBook Air. By default, the MacBook Air ships with an M1 chip with a 7-core GPU, while the MacBook Pro has the same M1 chip with an 8-core GPU.

If you choose the $1,249 MacBook Air model with a 512GB SSD, it upgrades to an 8-core GPU instead of the default 7-core GPU, but there is no custom configuration option to choose the lower tier model with the upgraded 8-core GPU option.

Both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro can be customized with more RAM and more storage space. The Mac mini also has the same M1 chip with 8-core GPU as the MacBook Pro with no GPU/CPU upgrade option available. The new models are available today and will start shipping out next week.

Article Link: MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M1 Chips Have Same 8-Core CPUs, No Upgrades Available

 

[ilikewhey]

for me its pretty obvious i'm getting the air, no touch bar please.

 

[maninhat]

I don't really understand why the pro is more expensive and needs a fan. Higher frequency?

 

[UltimateSyn]

Interesting way to structure the lineup. I'm honestly surprised there isn't a little bit more to differentiate the Pro from the Air (no ProMotion ) but I can see a clear direction to the structure. Likely an M2 or M1X coming next year to replace the Intel chips in the high-end 13" and 16" MBPs.

 

[kalafalas]

They don’t mention clock speeds though. I imagine since the pro is actively cooled it is clocked higher and can maintain higher clock speeds under sustained load so it will provide better performance

 

[asdavis10]

M1 Bionic in June for the real updates. These Macs were the public beta. Other than the Air, I'm pretty disappointed.

 

[Saturnine]

I may end up buying one of these two. The only difference is the lack of a Touch Bar and slightly lower battery life on the Air?

 

[cpnotebook80]

Yea the touch bar was a waste but then again..they were not going for a redesign anyways. I still dont see the difference between the air and pro or clock speeds or gpu type compared to amd 5500m etc etc..except the pro having touch bar, fan and touch id...weight almost same..

 

[JosepPont]

and they now limit the discount for education from 10% to 360€ in all the mac lineup I should have buy before this ..... event!!

 

[Apple Desktop Bus (ADB)]

Not a surprised. They talked about only 1 chip during the keynote.

 

[Btaylor_prod]

The Neural Engine is still a little ambiguous to me. How does this help the CPU and GPU? What improvements will I see in my day to day?

 

[UltimateSyn]

for me its pretty obvious i'm getting the air, no touch bar please.

I hate to give up speaker quality, but the lack of Touch Bar does push the MBA into the lead for me. I ordered both to secure them before shipping dates slip but I will likely cancel the Pro before it ships.

 

[BornAgainMac]

720p camera

 

[interessiert]

'Our' Mac Book Air: The most convincing concept!

fanless, Touch ID (without TouchBar), weight, battery time, newest standards USB 4, -ax, convenient display – the only limit: 16GB (limit of M1)

Perfect, Apple – in best tradition to the Mac Book Air early 2011 ?

But where is MagSafe?

Mac Book Pro 13" and Mac Mini need next generation M... with 32GB/64GB and more USB-C-Sockets for MBPro 13" – just then they can convince, too – work to be done

Aha: Throw this useless Touch Bar away out of Mac Book Pros (just energy consuming)

 

[leman]

I don't really understand why the pro is more expensive and needs a fan. Higher frequency?

Yep it seems that the Air will run at max 9-10W while the actively cooled Pro will be 15W version. Most of their internals are identical I suppose.

 

[mscice]

Obvious decision AIR .. no touchbar !! i hate the touchbar

I also smell a 14.1 coming next year new design but will be with touchbar

 

[aibo82]

Stick an M1 in the iPad Pro and be done with it all the MacBook air is an Apple iPad Superpro Max.

 

[macsound1]

I don't really understand why the pro is more expensive and needs a fan. Higher frequency?

$300 buys you a fan to prevent thermal throttling.

 

[BB1970]

I wanted a (non Air or Pro) 12” MacBook. Ah well.

 

[Apple Desktop Bus (ADB)]

M1 Bionic in June for the real updates. These Macs were the public beta. Other than the Air, I'm pretty disappointed.

They have performance far beyond the machines they're replacing and you haven't even seen real-world benchmarks. But you're disappointed. Wow.

 

[pukifloyd]

Looks like both MBA and MBP have same display, SOC (except the GPU), RAM, USB/TB ports, and storage. MBP has better battery life and the touch bar, but IMO that's not worth an extra $300. Disappointed in the MBP upgrade, especially the max 16gb RAM, but the MBA seems like a good value for money.

 

[b13o0r12e3]

GEEKBENCH WHERE ARE YOU?!

 

[sajlonix]

THIS IS A JOKE!!
pure, undenaible JOKE ??LOL ?

only two ports on pro?? So we just buy more eco-friendly adapters?? or is it just another "lower-end" Pro with touch bar so boomers can show off in starbucks..??

 

[AAPLGeek]

I don't really understand why the pro is more expensive and needs a fan. Higher frequency?

It's likely clocked higher and capable of handling sustained workloads without throttling.

 

[mariusignorello]

M1 is going to change how computers are sold. No more cramming in ram when you can make the ram you have work more efficiently.