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Early M1 battery tests were so good Apple thought they were a glitch

Beyond its power, impressive battery life is one of the best things about the M1 chip

MacBook

Though my early time with Apple’s M1 MacBook Pro was frustrating due to several minor compatibility issues, the last few months have brought several improvements.

Right from the start, however, one of the first things I noticed about the M1 MacBook Pro Apple sent me to review is that it features the best battery life I’ve encountered in years in a laptop. It’s lasted more than a full work day and still managed to have a little bit of battery life left.

According to a recent interview with Tom’s Guide, at least some people at Apple were also surprised by the M1’s excellent battery life.

“When we saw that first system and then you sat there and played with it for a few hours and the battery didn’t move, we thought ‘Oh man, that’s a bug, the battery indicator is broken,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice-president of worldwide product marketing in an interview with the publication.

“And then Tim [Milet]’s laughing in the background, ‘Nope, that’s the way it’s supposed to be,'” he said, “and it was pretty phenomenal.”

Tim Milet is Apple’s vice president of platform architecture. During that same interview, Milet goes on to explain why a vast improvement in battery life was a goal for the M1 chip.

“If somebody else could build a chip that was actually going to deliver better performance inside that enclosure, what’s the point? Why would we switch? And so for my chip architects, that was the target,” said Milet.

During the interview, Milet also details how important Rosetta 2 emulation is to the transition away from Intel chips. Finally, Milet also hints that Apple has a discrete GPU in the works.

“Hey, wouldn’t it be great if it hits a broader set of those really intense gamers. It’s a natural place for us to be looking, to be working closely with our Metal team and our Developer team. We love the challenge,” said Milet. While there’s obviously truth to this statement, Apple’s Mac ecosystem isn’t exactly known for its gaming prowess.

The full interview is on Tom’s Guide.

Rumours indicate that Apple is working on an entirely redesigned MacBook Pro that features an HDMI port, MagSafe and a new, more powerful M1x chip. There are also reports that the tech giant is preparing to release a redesigned MacBook Air that includes an upgraded chip.

Source: Tom’s Guide

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