Apple October event: 5 things you might have missed at Unleashed

Date:
Tue, 19 Oct 2021 00:16:08 +0000

Description:
The Apple October event brought new MacBooks, AirPods, and more: heres 5 things you might have missed at Unleashed.

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Apples October event was all about computing with a decent amount of audio thrown in for good measure. While the reveals of the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros took the spotlight, there was plenty of news if you werent
paying close attention.

There were revelations about the successor to Apples M1 chipset, its first in-house computer silicon. Or rather, successors both the M1 Pro and the surprise M1 Max, which Apple claims are leaps and bounds more powerful than the M1, though well have to do a lot of testing to find out exactly how much.

Even beyond the chipset, its clear that both the new MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch have improved on their predecessors simply thanks to backtracking on some design innovations of the last few years, like adding back in HDMI and MagSafe ports as well as a headphone jack. The oft-maligned Touch Bar is gone, replaced with basic function keys.

At long last, we got new AirPods, which incorporate some of the best features of the AirPods Pro (but not noise-cancelling, sadly). And the HomePod mini
now comes in more colors, great for those tired of the uniform black and gray hues of every other smart speaker on the market.

Those were all the highlights that you probably got just from the headlines bouncing around after the event, but heres five things you might have missed at Apple Unleashed. (Image credit: Apple) MacBook Pro has multiple configurations that push the price ... way up

While nothing tops the Mac Pro M1 in terms of options that can extravagantly escalate the list price, the new MacBook Pro models have more selections at checkout than their predecessors that can rapidly raise the price. These include options for more RAM and storage, for instance, but also something new: the option to pick between up to five chipset configurations for the 14-inch and three for the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

You wont just be picking between the M1 Pro and the ultimate M1 Max, either. The 14-inch model starts at an Apple M1 Pro with an 8-core CPU and 14-core GPU, which can be boosted to a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU for a little extra cost. The two higher upgrade tiers switch to an M1 Max chipset, which tops
out at a 10-core CPU and 32-core GPU. The 16-inch model just has the top-tier M1 Pro model (10-core CPU and 16-core GPU) along with both M1 Max configurations.

While we still dont know much about the differences between the two chipsets, we know they have a difference in capability due to their memory controllers: the M1 Pro supports up to 32GB of unified memory for up to 200GB/s of memory bandwidth, while the M1 Max supports up to 64GB of unified memory and up to 400GB/s memory bandwidth. As another TechRadar colleague pointed out , the M1 Max means you wont need a gaming laptop for video editing anymore.

Load up all the options for the most expensive MacBook Pro 16-inch and youre looking at a price tag of $6,100 / 5,899 / AU$ 9,149. Wow. (Image credit: Apple) The MacBook Pro battery life may last up to 21 hours... but probably more like 14

Yes, Apple boasted about the new MacBook Pro models battery life, claiming that the 14-inch got up to 17 hours of video playback, while the 16-inch was capable of up to 21 hours. Presumably, thats while watching video media without engaging in any more strenuous activity; if you instead do some wireless web browsing, as Apple seems to call casual to moderate activity, expect your battery to last more like 11 hours in the 14-inch and 14 hours in the 16-inch, per its website .

Those are still impressive numbers in our own testing, we found the MacBook Pro 16-inch (2019) , the new laptops predecessor, to get around 11 hours. At the lowest end, thats 27% better battery life! While credit will likely be
due to better efficiencies all around as well as using the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chipsets, thats not the only good news on the battery front: fast
charging (via the 96W USB-C charger included in the higher-tier configurations) can juice up the new MacBook Pros by 50% in 30 minutes, Apple claimed. (Image credit: Apple) With AirPods 3 launch, the AirPods 2 sees a price drop

The AirPods 3 were revealed at Apples event with a host of new features but one thing we didnt expect was for the earbuds it was succeeding, the AirPods
2 , to be kept in the product lineup and get a price drop from $179 / 139 / AU$228 to just $129 / 129, AU$219.

Thats a bigger price drop in some regions than others (or Apple simply hasnt updated its pricing in all of its sites), but for US buyers, its a serious discount. Well have to see if it gets better during Black Friday. (Image credit: Apple) Apple Music Voice seems limited to voice controls

Apple introduced a new tier for its Apple Music subscription service: Apple Voice. The new lowest-priced level of the service at $5 / 5 / AU$6 per month, Voice seems like a great deal, though the fine print explains what you give
up by opting for the tier that costs just as much as a Student subscription and half that of an Individual plan. So what do you give up with Voice?

Apple pitched the Voice tier as a Siri-focused version of the service, but
its unclear how much of Apple Music youll be able to access through the smartphone app. For instance, will you be able to search for songs visually, or is it only accessible via a vocalized search through Apples voice assistant? Subscribers will get a customized in-app experience with suggestions based on the listeners music preferences, according to a blog
post introducing the Voice tier suggesting theyll get a more limited version of the normal Apple Music app.

It does seem like Apple is pitching this tier as a streamlined option for folks who lean on the automation side of Apple Music the company is adding hundreds of new mood and activity playlists that are fully optimized just for voice, per the blog post. You can still search for individual songs or
artists you just may have to do it via Siri, not manually browsing on your phone.

Voice tier subscribers also cant use Apple Music on non-Apple devices, dont get spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, wont have access to lossless audio, cant see lyrics, and arent able to download songs to their library, according to the Apple Music tier descriptions . Those are all present in Student/Individual tiers and above; were unsure if you can pick songs in the Voice tier without Siri because that perk in the tier descriptions was just added compare the current one with last weeks descriptions archived in The Wayback Machine . (Image credit: Apple) AirPods 3 can use the iPhone 13s MagSafe chargers

Are you an Apple AirPower truther, holding out dogged hope that Apple will
one day release its cancelled charging mat that was intended to recharge
three devices at once? Not only are we pretty sure its dead, the newest feature of the AirPods 3 reinforces its lingering demise: the case for the
new true wireless earbuds charges via MagSafe.

Not the MagSafe 3 that charges the new MacBook Pro models, of course the drink coaster-shaped magnetic chargers that clamp on to the backs of iPhone
12 and iPhone 13 devices. While AirPods 2 and AirPods Pro have been able to use wireless charging, the AirPods 3 can now benefit from the magnetic attachment charging that debuted in 2020s iPhones, suggesting Apple may stick with this hardware perk for a while. And who knows if itll come to any other device iPad, anyone? MacBook Pro 16-inch (2019) vs MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021)



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/apple-october-event-5-things-you-might-have-mis sed-at-unleashed/


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