The April 2021 Apple Event yesterday knocked it out of the park for me. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been excited about new Mac hardware. The 2021 iMac using Apple Silicon is the first new Mac designed around the M1 chipset that Apple is developing in house, and the new design is sleek and reminiscent of the first iMacs in terms of their personality.
I’m so glad to see Apple design brining back some personality into the products (and a lost sense of design and aesthetic that I’ve not seen since the 2000s) and embracing color in new and exciting ways that we haven’t seen since the late 90s when it was all on the line for Apple. The Mac has played it safe over the past decade and has gotten more boring and corporate looking with every new shade of gray released. These new Macs, however, breathe new life into the Mac ecosystem and make me very excited to see what the future holds for the Mac.
The M1 chip is changing the heartbeat of the Mac, making it smarter, faster, and stronger against competition. I’m waiting with eagerness (and eager money) for a 16” MacBook Pro and an iMac or other desktop computer that can support developers and the full power and ports it requires.
My current Mac setup includes a 2016 16” MacBook Pro and 2013 Mac Pro that has seen better days, and the new M1 chips smoke every computer that I currently own in performance and battery life.
Apple’s event yesterday was just plain fun, and I’m glad to see that after one of the most devastating years in recent history. There’s not a single product that Apple announced that I questioned: They’re all fantastic and the teams that designed and developed these products deserve to be applauded.
Besides the iMac, I’m certainly excited about the AirTags and the possibilities it brings for being able to track items, bags, and more. I’m already planning to order a 4-pack of these tags for my computer bag, my Nintendo Switch, keys, and more.
I’m also really excited about the iPad Pro. For those that don’t know, I use an iPad Pro daily as my main computing device when I’m not doing development work. I write the overwhelming majority of articles for TechRepublic.com on there, and I also do some Swift Playground work when I don’t want to sit down at my Mac.
The power and performance that Apple is able to pack into the iPad Pro with the M1 chip is astonishing, and I cannot help but think there’s another motive with bringing 16GB RAM to the iPad Pro and the M1 chip (Hello Xcode for iPad Pro? … hey, one can dream can’t they?).
All in all, the Apple event yesterday was a success from my point of view, and it’s hard to believe that we still have WWDC around the corner, then late summer and fall announcements as well. It’s shaping up to be a packed year for Apple and Apple fans everywhere, and I cannot wait to see what else is released in 2021.
