While M1 Macs have the RAM and SSD soldered to the logic board, it's been discovered that users armed with patience may be able to upgrade the memory and storage of Apple's M1 chip.
The Opera browser for macOS is now up to two times faster on Mac computers powered by Apple silicon rather than Intel chips, thanks to newly-launched native support for M1 Macs.
Apple's contracted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to build next-generation chips for the upcoming iPhone 13 and its next Mac computers ahead of schedule.
Last year, Apple began its transition away from Intel chips in its computers, opting to go with its own Apple silicon instead. Earlier this month, Intel launched a new ad campaign against Apple, trying to get people to stop paying attention to the successful M1 processor in its newest MacBook models, and instead keep folks interested in Intel chips.
It was only recently that Intel wooed "I'm a Mac" star Justin Long to appear in ads that target M1 Macs, yet the embattled chipmaker is now looking to make future Apple silicon.
macOS Big Sur 11.3 allows gamers who run iPhone and iPad titles on their Apple silicon Macs to use a keyboard or a keyboard and mouse combination as an iOS game controller.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
Use Mac controls in touch-based iOS games. Map controller actions to keyboard keys. Map these to mouse buttons, too. No controller required at all! Emulating iOS game controllers on M1 MacsMacRumors has more on how that works:
When running an iPhone or iPad app, opening up the preferences brings up a Touch Alternatives and Game Control interface that can be used to make touch-based iPhone and iPad apps run better with Mac controls.
With Controller Emulation toggled on, common game controller buttons are mapped to keyboard keys and mouse buttons. X, for example, is mapped to Q, the direction stick is mapped to WASD, and Y is mapped to E. L1 and L2 can be accessed by pressing Tab and Shift, respectively, and the Space Bar is the A button.
This new feature in macOS Big Sur 11.3 should make playing touch-optimized iPhone and iPad games on Apple silicon Macs much easier than before without having to use a game controller at all. If an iOS/iPadOS game doesn't support game controllers, this feature won't work.
→ How to use Sony and Microsoft game controllers with Apple devices
macOS Big Sur 11.3 lets you resize iPhone and iPad windows and provides the aforementioned Touch Alternatives feature for mapping taps, swipes, drags and tilts in iOS titles to keyboard keys (Controller Emulation and Touch Alternatives cannot be used simultaneously).
The update also adds support for the latest PlayStation 5 and Xbox One X controllers.
In January of this year, Intel announced that its CEO at the time, Bob Swan, would be stepping down. The company was on shaky ground, for a variety of reasons, and a shakeup at the top was seen as a way to get things back on a right path. That probably hasn't happened quite yet, but that isn't stopping the company from leaning into some anti-Apple marketing.
Late last year, Apple welcomed the M1 processor to its family of products. The ARM-based chip is Apple's own design, and the benefits for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are impossible to ignore. That's why the transition for iMac is so highly anticipated.
Justin Long, who appeared alongside John Hodgman in a series of TV commercials for Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign back in the 2000s, is now mocking M1 Macs on behalf of Intel.
Adobe has announced the first build of Photoshop that runs natively on Apple silicon Macs, resulting in a major speed boost. Creative customers can now also run Blackmagic Design's video-editing apps DaVinci Resolve and DaVinci Fusion natively on M1 Macs.
Apple and its suppliers are reportedly planning to kick off mass production of a pair of new MacBook notebooks that would feature Apple's own silicon instead of Intel's processors.
Software maker Corel is bringing CorelDRAW, its graphics suite updated for 2021, to Apple's Mac as well as the iPad, with Apple silicon support coming in the future.