October 2021 – Apple Event

Picture of Apple invite

On Monday, Apple held their annual October hardware event. This year the event mostly focused on Mac. But they also announced updates to the AirPods and HomePod.

Music

Apple started off the event by talking about music. The first thing they announced was an additional Apple Music tier called Voice. The Voice plan includes the entire Apple Music library but can only be accessed via Siri for $4.99. They also announced that HomePod will be available in three new colors.

AirPods

The final and biggest announcement that Apple made in the music category was category was AirPods 3. AirPods 3. AirPods 3 will have all the features that the AirPods Pro do except Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode and, pressure equalization. They also gain a new design that’s more similar to the design of the Pros except they don’t have the rubber eartips. Additionally cases for the entire AirPods earbud lineup now can charge through MagSafe. .

Mac

As with any Apple event where new Macs recently, Apple showed off the newest, most innovative and likely best (at least consumer) processors yet. They also showed off new MacBook Pros.

M1 Pro & M1 Max

First off in the Mac section of the presentation they went in depth about the new pro tier processors. This year they announced multiple (Mac) processors at the same event for the first time: calling them M1 Pro and M1 Max. Here are the specs of each:

spec M1 Pro M1 Max
CPU 8 performance cores / 2 efficiency cores same as M1 Pro
GPU upto 16-core GPU upto 32-core GPU
“Unified Memory” up to 32GB up to 64GB
Neural Engine 16-core 16-core
memory bandwidth 200GB/s 400GB/s
Media engine – Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW <br> – Video decode engine <br> – video encode engine <br> – ProRes encode and decode engine – Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW <br> – Video decode engine <br> – Two video encode engines <br> – Two ProRes encode and decode engines

MacBook Pro

2 Macbook Pros back to back each open about half way with the kids of each forming a V.

Now for the feature product of the event, Apple announced new MacBook Pros. They will come in two size options – 14-inch & 16-inch<sup> 1 </sup>. I/O wise the new MacBook Pro gets back most of what the MacBook Pro lost in 2016 including MagSafe (which now supports fast charging). I forgot to mention that the display will support Apple’s ProMotion (VRR).

Availability

  • AirPods 3 are available to preorder now and release on October 26 for $179
  • The new MacBook Pro models with M1 Pro and M1 Max are available to order today on apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app. They will begin arriving to customers and will be in select Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers starting Tuesday, October 26. The new 14-inch MacBook Pro model starts at $1,999 (US), and $1,849 (US) for education; the 16-inch MacBook Pro model starts at $2,499 (US), and $2,299 (US) for education. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options, and accessories are available at apple.com/mac.
  • macOS Monterey will be available as a free software update on Monday, October 25.
  • HomePod mini will be available in yellow, orange, and blue, in addition to white and space gray, for $99 (US) from apple.com/store, in the Apple Store app, and at Apple Store locations. HomePod mini will also be available through Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers (prices may vary).

1 both 254 ppi calculate the resolution yourself.


If you want more from The Tech News Source follow the site on Twitter at @technewssoure and also follow Me on Twitter at @SamGreenwoodTNS. If yu want to support The Tech News Source on a monthly basis go to patreon.com/thetechnewssource or by making a one-time donation at paypal.me/thetechnewssource. You can also go to my website to see more that I do including my photography and the occasional movie review at samgreenwood.ca.


This week is going to be busy on this site as there was also a Google Pixel event today (Tuesday) and will be a Samsung event tomorrow. I aslo plan to resume This Week In Tech articles this week, I’ve been really busy with school work and I go on break next week so I’ll have some time to focus on the site and redevelop my routine for working on more posts.