Procrastinating on what everyone was waiting for, the new Apple VisionPro VR/AR headset, Apple used its WWDC 2023 developer conference to showcase three new Mac devices, the 15-inch MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro, touting the upgrade of all Macs to Apple Silicon in the process.
We also got a preview of the new macOS Sonoma. But, starting with the “world’s best 15-inch laptop”.
MacBook Air 15-inch
The new MacBook Air is a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display laptop, packing an M2 chip – the same that’s in the company’s 2023 MacBook Pros. Apple reckons this gives 12-times the performance as its older, Intel-packing MacBook Airs.
It promises up to 18 hours of battery life, 500 nits of brightness, a six-speaker sound system. Apple reckons this thing delivers immersive Spatial Audio and it’s also got a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, MagSafe charging, two Thunderbolt ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It weighs in at 1.51 kilograms, which is super light, and given its the Air model, this thing is also super thin, at 11.5mm.
It comes in four colours: midnight, starlight, space grey, and silver.
- The 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 is available to order today from the Apple Store and will begin arriving to customers, and in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers, beginning Tuesday, June 13. Pricing starts at RRP $2,199 inc, $1,999 for education.
Mac Studio
The Mac Studio boasts either the M2 Max or M2 Ultra chips, with the former promising to be up to 50 per cent faster than the previous-generation Mac Studio (and 4x faster than the Intel-based 27-inch iMac). It features a 12-core CPU, up to a 38-core GPU, and up to 96GB of unified memory with 400GB/s of memory bandwidth.
Meanwhile, the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra promises to deliver twice the performance and capabilities of M2 Max, and Apple is calling it the “largest and most capable system on a chip (SoC) ever”. Backing this claim up is that the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra is up to 3x faster than the previous-generation Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and up to 6x faster than the Intel-based 27-inch iMac. It features a 24-core CPU, up to a 76-core GPU, and up to 192GB of memory with 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth.
Apple says the Mac Studio also has higher-bandwidth HDMI, enabling up to 8K resolution and 240Hz frame rates. With M2 Ultra, Mac Studio supports up to six Pro Display XDRs and features more advanced built-in wireless technologies.
- The Mac Studio is available to order today from the Apple Store and will begin arriving to customers, and in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers, beginning Tuesday, June 13. Pricing starts at RRP $3,299 (M2 Max) and $2,969 (M2 Ultra) from the Apple Store.
Mac Pro
Next up, the cheese grater. The Mac Pro is getting the M2 Ultra chip this year, phasing out Apple’s use of Intel chips completely. This slightly-refreshed unit offers eight Thunderbolt 4 ports, six PCIE gen 4 slots, and support for up to six Pro Display XDR monitors. With that, Apple has completed the transition to Apple Silicon, meaning we’re unlikely to see a chip in an Apple computer without the ‘M’ prefix anytime soon.
While the Intel-based Mac Pro started with an 8-core CPU and could be configured up from there, every Mac Pro has Apple’s most powerful 24-core CPU, an up to 76-core GPU, and starts with twice the memory and SSD storage. The new Mac Pro can also be configured with up to 192GB of memory with 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth.
- Available in both tower and rack-mounted enclosures, Mac Pro (Tower Enclosure) starts at RRP $11,999 and RRP $11,309. Technical specifications and configure-to-order options are available on the Apple Website.
macOS Sonoma
Apple previewed macOS Sonoma, the latest operating system for all Macs.
Widgets already existed on a Mac, they were just politely tucked into the right-hand side of your screen. Unfortunately, they’re now able to pollute the desktop. They might work, but I’m tainted from how bad they behave on Windows. You can drag and drop iPhone widgets onto your Mac screen, which is really leaning on the existing (and super cool) Handoff feature that allows you to work pretty seamlessly between iPad, iPhone, and Mac.
Updates to Safari also came this morning. Some additions include super private browsing (it’ll lock your private browsing sessions), you can share Passkeys, there’s also Profiles (work and personal account), as well as have trackers blocked as default.
While you’re in a video call, Presenter Overlay will show your face as a movable bubble, there’s also Large Overlay, which allows you to be pulled out and placed in front of the video call. There are also animations (ie, reactions) and doing two thumbs up in front of the camera will fill the screen with a congratulatory fireworks display. The feature is coming to FaceTime, Zoom, Teams, and Web Ex.
Game Mode brings with it new titles, and a new game porting toolkit that Apple hopes will usher developers into its ecosystem.
New Screen Savers, which includes slow-motion videos of various locations from around the globe also come with macOS Sonoma.
Enhanced Accessibility Features, including those for users with hearing disabilities. The Made for iPhone hearing devices can connect to Mac for calls and media consumption, while users who are nonspeaking can use Live Speech to type and vocalise their thoughts during calls and conversations. For users with physical and motor disabilities, phonetic suggestions appear when dictating and editing text with Voice Control on Mac. To assist users with cognitive disabilities, animated images like GIFs can be automatically paused in Messages and Safari. Additionally, users who are blind or have low vision can customise text size across Mac apps, and utilise Xcode with VoiceOver.
macOS Sonoma also brings with it enhanced PDF functionality (think quick form-filling and easy send), Inline PDFs in Notes, with Notes now displaying PDFs and document scans in full width.
Other features brought about with iOS 17 also come to macOS Sonoma, such as the Hey Siri command.
This article has been updated since it was first published.
Comments