Working Tools 73. M1 Pro/Max

Regular readers know I'm an Apple fan-boi. I've got all the kit. My desktop has the M1 chip, in the form of the Mac-mini. My laptop is the M1 MacBook Air and I have an iPad so powerful, that Apple themselves haven't yet designed any software powerful enough to challenge it. My new phone (and a tiny iPad) are on order. Inevitably then, I was tuned in to Apple's latest event, the launch of the next iteration of the M1 chip.

The "unleashed" chip does look impressive. In a whole lot of ways that I barely understand. The tech people I follow are all suitably impressed with this great leap forward. I want to be too.

I don't know what's happened, but I have regressed to the young Danish child in the Emperors New Clothes. While many commentators tell me that Apple's hardware is much improved and in great shape, it looks crap to me.

Stick with me here.

I'm a remote worker. My home office is my kingdom. I want a big screen, massive bandwidth, powerful speakers and smooth automation. Along with the rest of the planet, I've recently discovered that I need a swish webcam too.

OK - so these new laptops must come with an incredible webcam. Ummm, no. Apple's weird. The cameras on the phones are incredible, while the ones on the Macs are awful. Yesterday, they upgraded the webcams from "embarrassing" to "OK". Oh.

The screens on these laptops are pretty damn good though, aren't they? Yes. They are. But, if you're old, and going to spend the working day, in your office, looking at a screen, believe me, you want a big one. "No problem - I'm sure Apple have an external screen."

Umm...yes. They do. It's incredible. Oh, and costs $5,000. That's if you want to lean the screen against some books. If you want it on a stand, that's an additional $1,000. Still, $6,000 for the perfect ergonomic setup? Got to be worth it. You would have thought so, wouldn't you. This $6,000 monitor is not adjustable, and has no webcam. Honestly.

Apple have released an all-in-one, but it's a smaller one, the larger screen is expected next year. It will almost certainly come with a billion, zillion transistors and go faster stripes. Will they go beyond the OK camera? I hope so, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Laptops far outsell desktops, and it's easy to see why. They offer such flexibility. Still - I see a laptop as an ancillary device, so these pro machines are not aimed at me. Still - why should I let that bother me?

Grump that I am, I looked critically at the claims that Apple was making about its new pro line. These are the flagship machines of the biggest computing firm in the world, releasing now. They are a huge leap forward from the ones they replace. They're pretty much in the same ballpark as the top of the range competition. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the biggest computer firm in the world has released new laptops that are kind of as good as the competition. Woohoo! And they have almost as many ports as they used to have five years ago. Huzzah!

Don't get me wrong, I'm still an Apple fan-boi. MacOS and the new hardware combined will, I believe, be the best computing experience out there, but the hardware, on its own, is not quite as good as some would have us believe.