This week Apple revealed their picks for best apps of the year 2020. This is what Apple calls their "App Store Best of 2020" and, unlike Google's very similar list, they've siphoned down the list to "15 of the amazing apps and games that inspired the world in 2020." Apple's list requires that apps and games are notable for their "positive cultural impact, helpfulness, and importance."
The new M1 Macs have taken over the Web with news about their astounding performance, an admirable feat for Apple's first stab at an ARM-based desktop chip. The Apple Silicon ran circles around their Intel counterparts and even bested NVIDIA's and AMD's older desktop GPUs. Despite that, the MacBooks could probably still do even better if paired with an external graphics card or eGPU. Sadly, that was officially not the case but it might actually only be a matter of time before eGPU support for macOS Big Sur on M1 Macs returns.
All the news about the astounding performance of Apple's first M1 Silicon may have gotten people excitedly grabbing the new Macs and MacBooks left and right. As with any new product, even Apple's, there might be unforeseen teething problems that only appear after some time. Some might be easily fixed with a software update while others might, unfortunately, require waiting for the next-gen iteration. Some might even lead to odd bugs that render the Macs practically useless when you try to reinstall its operating system anew.
Last week, Apple had a bit of an issue on its hands among the flood of people attempting to update to macOS Big Sur. As Apple's servers were overwhelmed, a number of Mac users discovered that they couldn't launch apps. This turned out to be an issue with Apple Gatekeeper, which verifies that developer certificates are still valid before you run an app on your Mac, in an attempt to make sure that you're about to run a legitimate application.
While Big Sur's biggest claim to fame is its support for Apple's new ARM-based computers, a major macOS update is still a major macOS update. Finally released to the public just last week, it's no surprise to learn that many Mac owners are jumping on board early. It's also not surprising to hear those early adopters running into some issues. Most of those, however, can usually be fixed by resetting various components but one case, in particular, seems to be turning old MacBook Pros into unusable bricks according to a handful of owners.
MacOS Big Sur may be out today, but it's probably worth your while holding off on downloading Apple's big update - that is, unless you have serious levels of patience. The new software brings a fresh version of Safari, notable privacy and Messages improvements, and a revamped UI, not to mention support behind the scenes for the newest Apple Silicon Macs. Problem is, all that makes for a big download.
Apple has released macOS Big Sur, the latest iteration of its software for Mac and once which paves the way to a new breed of Apple Silicon models. Announced earlier this year, Big Sur includes support for the first of Apple's homegrown Mac chipsets, the M1 which will begin shipping in the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13, and Mac mini next week.
Much of the focus of today's Apple event was centered around Apple's new M1 chip and the Macs it will power - a new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini - but we also learned a bit more about Big Sur, the operating system all of these Macs will be running when they release later this month. While it's true that most of Apple's Big Sur information centered around how the M1 chip will help the operating system run better, we did get one key detail about Big Sur separate from the M1 reveal: its release date.
The first MacBook Pro with Apple silicon inside is the MacBook Pro (late 2020) 13-inch. This device is one of three in the first run of M1 devices from Apple. These devices are able to run MacOS app and iOS (and iPadOS) apps and has significantly more processing power than previous-model MacBook Pro machines.
The new MacBook Air (late 2020) was revealed today with an Apple M1 chip and a 13-inch display. This newest MacBook works with two USB-C ports on its left side and no fan inside. This device is the first with Apple's new M1 chip, SSD (with far faster speeds than previous models), and up to 2x more battery time than the previous model.
The announcement of Apple's own ARM-based Silicon heralded the next major step in something that Apple's customers both looked forward to but also dreaded. It represented the next phase in unifying Apple's platforms while still keeping macOS and iOS distinct, at least for now. On a technical level, it will be possible to run iOS apps on the next-gen Macs more easily than before. It seems, however, not everyone is on board just yet.
Apple's macOS Big Sur beta code revealed three new Mac devices that'll likely be released soon. This may be the first in-code confirmation from Apple of the first Apple Silicon Mac devices. The code appeared in the macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 beta 1 that appeared for developers this week.