MacDailyNews presents live coverage of Apple’s ‘Unleashed’ special event

MacDailyNews ^ | Monday, October 18, 2021 12:03 pm | MacDailyNews Staff

[Swordmaker]

Apple CEO Tim Cook and a team of Apple executives will host the company’s Apple’s “Unleashed” special event today, Monday, October 18th, at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT.

It's official: Apple to hold special event on October 18th

The event will be webcast from the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California.

MacDailyNews will offer live notes during Apple’s event on this page. We’ll see you here just before 10am PDT/ 1pm EDT!

You can watch the event live right here:Apple Event: Unleashed!>

Live notes from Apple’s “Spring Loaded” special event in reverse chronological order:

• End of event
• Cook recaps announcements

• MacBook Pro 14 and 15 – all-new, completely redesigned
• Up to 21 hours video playback on 16-inch model (longest battery life ever) — 17 hours for 14 inch.
• Up to 4X battery life in Xcode
• Up to 2X battery life in Lightroom Classic
• SSD: 7.4GB/s read speed
• M1 Pro and M1 Max vastly outperform Intel i9 in previous 16-inch MacBook Pro

• Spatial Audio
• 80% more bass (1/2 octave deeper)
• 6-speaker sound system (in both 14- and 16-inch model)
• Studio-quality mics
• Best camera system ever in a Mac notebook
• 1080p camera upgrade

• The world’s best notebook display
• 1600 max nits
• 1000 sustained nits
• Mini-LED
• Inspired by Pro DIsplay XDR
• ProMotion, up to 130Hz refresh rates (automatically adjusts, can be locked to a refresh rate)
• New MacBook Pro gets smaller bezels, 24% thinner, NOTCH (occupies Menu Bar)

• Connectivity:
• HDMI, 3- Thunderbolt 4, SD Card slot, Headphone jack, and MagSafe 3 Charging (can also charge via Thunderbolt)

• No Touch Bar
• 16.8mm thin, 4.7 lbs for 16-inch model, 15.5mm thin and 3.5 lbs for 14-inch model
• Advanced thermals
• 14- (14.2 diagonal) and 16-inch (16.2 diagonal) models
• MacBook Pro

• M1 Pro and M1 Max are “life-changing”
• Developers explain how much faster M1 Max MacBook Pro is than Intel-hobbled laptops
• There are now over 10,000 Universal apps for Apple Silicon Macs
• New versions of Logic Pro, Compressor, and Final Cut Pro
• Rosetta 2 runs non-native apps with ease

• M1 Max
• The world’s most powerful chip for a Pro notebook
• M1 Max is very power efficient
• M1 Max up to 64 GB memory
• 32-Core GPU
• 10-core CPU, 8 high, 2 low
• 10.2 TFlop Neural Engine
• >400GB/s data transfer rate

• M1 Pro
• M1 Pro builds on the M1 architecture
• ProRes video
• Up to 2X faster graphics than M1
• 16-core GPU
• 10-core CPU, 8 high, 2 low
• 5nm
• M1 Pro up to 32GB memory
• 5.1 TFlop Neural Engine

• AirPods
• AirPods (second generation) remain on market at $129
• AirPods (third generation): $179
• Force sensor controls
• Up to 30 hours total with charging case use
• Up to 6 hours battery life
• One-touch setup – poairs to all of your Apple devices
• Adaptive EQ (as in AirPods Pro) – adjusts frequencies and sound in real time
• Sweat and water resistant
• Powerful bass and crisp, clean high frequencies
• New low distortion driver
• AirPods (third generation): No Active Noise Cancelation
• AirPods (third generation): Shorter stems, like AirPods Pro
• Spatial Audio brings music to life, creates a new way to experience music

• HomePod
• HomePod mini adds new colors, starting in November.

• Apple Music
• Apple Music’s “Voice Plan” was internally codenamed “Exercise in Frustration” 😉 – MDN ed.
• Apple Music gets new “Voice Plan” subscription plan for $4.99/month. Use Siri to access full Apple Music catalog (good luck, everyone!)
• Zane Lowe (Yellow Zissou): Apple Music adds new playlists

• Cook talks about AirPods, iPhone, HomePod mini, Apple Watch, etc.
• Tim Cook outside Apple Park
• Creation of music using Apple product sounds (software and hardware)
• Event begins with video of original iMac…

[KarlInOhio]

Apple stock up about 1% today, so no shocking good or bad news yet.

[Swordmaker]

Apple introduces fastest, by far, MacBook Pros ever made, new AirPods, and refreshed HomePods at October 18, 2021 “Unleashed!” Apple Event. MacBook Pros are up to 20 times faster at doing some processes than the previous Intel i9 MacBook Pros and faster than other manufacturer’s top of the line PC pro laptops while using far less power and sporting much longer battery life. Apple is introducing the newly designed Apple Silicon M1 Pro and M1 Max System on a Chip to achieve this performance, with 32 GB and 64 GB of fast System RAM respectively on the silicon for processing. The specs of these SoCs are amazing. —PING!

NEW APPLE MACBOOK PRO 14” & 16” PING!

If you want on or off the Apple/Mac/iOS Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Swordmaker]

Mostly the updated MacBook Pro line was expected, but not the “blow-out of the park” specs… These specs cannot be matched by any other maker.

[Da Coyote]

More software I could care less about. No new original hardware.

Meh.

[SunkenCiv]

The event itself was about 50 percent stupifyingly boring, IMHO, the first half consisted of various employees going on and on about the improvements to the Airpods and how an eavesdropping Siri and the Apple gestapo just looking out for party, er, public safety, is a good thing, and not just because it enriches Apple.

BTW, thanks to all who pump money into the iTunes ecosystem, I’m a shareholder.

I’d be surprised if there isn’t a late November or early December event to announce the spec-bumped higher-end Mac Mini and/or iMac. I’d probably be in the market for an M1 Mini or M1 Pro Mini.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/10/apple-intros-14-and-16-inch-macbook-pros-with-display-notches-m1-pro-and-m1-max/

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-18-at-1.20.47-PM.jpg

[SunkenCiv]

Wholeheartedly agree — if I had that kind of cash, I’d get this new 16” Macbook Pro with some kind of spec bump from the base model. But the base looks pretty smokin’.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

M1 Pro and M1 Max are “life-changing”

Yeah, right. Not 0.1% as life changing as FJB and his politburo.

[Red Badger]

I don’t want nits in my computer......................

[Swordmaker]

For reference, the Apple Silicon involved…

[Swordmaker]

More software I could care less about. No new original hardware.

Uh, yeah, there is… completely new processors. Very little new software to speak of. It runs the software that already exists VERY much faster. You’re done before you started.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

--> I’m a shareholder. #metoo

[proust]

64 GB of Ram. 😯

[dayglored]

Hey Swordmaker, thanks for the ping.

What's the status of VMware (Fusion I guess?) on these M-series computers? Specifically, will they run Intel VMs?

I'd love to get a faster Mac laptop, but I have to run those x86_64 Linux and Windows VMs for my job.

[dsrtsage]

They coming out with a phone with internet access and a camera?

[texas booster]

Timmy stated that Rosetta2 was available for Intel based programs.

[Vermont Lt]

Wasn’t the Mac book stuff based on a new chip? That’s significant.

[smokingfrog]

Lots of interesting improvements.
But my life is so boring, I kind of doubt the “life changing” part.

[dayglored]

> Timmy stated that Rosetta2 was available for Intel based programs.

Right, but that's not the same as running a Virtual Machine of a different operating system on a hypervisor. Rosetta2 lets me run a normal user-level Intel x86_64 program, but a VM hypervisor is something else, much more complex, and almost certainly has to be compiled for the M-series CPU.

I suppose I could ask VMware directly...

[dayglored]

Nevermind, got my answer: "NOT YET"

https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2021/09/fusion-for-m1-public-tech-preview-now-available.html