Senior Staff Writer, MacworldDEC 8, 2021 6:10 am PST
The Apple Silicon era officially began at the ‘One More Thing’ November 2020 event, as Apple unveiled the new M1 chip. It’s the first Mac processor to be designed in-house by the company, ending a 14-year association with Intel.
The M1 powers the
2020 MacBook Air,
13in MacBook Pro and
Mac mini and since April 2024 the 24in iMac. It has received near-universal praise for the performance and battery life improvements. We described the M1 chip as ‘revolutionary’ in our
MacBook Air review.
But where can you buy one? With chip shortages and problems with shipping it’s not as easy as it was to buy some Apple Macs. In this article we will share not only who has them in stock, but also the best deals you can get right now!
How much do the M1 MacBook Pro, Air, and Mac mini usually cost?
The good news is the new Mac devices don’t get a price hike, despite the M1 upgrade. You also get 10% off with
Apple Education pricing across all the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models. Here’s the full breakdown:
MacBook Pro 13in
MacBook Pro 13in with Apple M1 Chip with 8‑Core CPU and 8‑Core GPU (256GB) – £1299/$1299/AUD$1999
MacBook Pro 13in with Apple M1 Chip with 8‑Core CPU and 8‑Core GPU (512GB) – £1499/$1499/AUD$2299
Alternatively, see if you can pick up a deal on an existing MacBook Pro:
MacBook Pro deals
Alternatively, see if you can pick up a deal on an existing MacBook Air:
MacBook Air deals
Mac mini
Mac mini with Apple M1 Chip with 8-Core CPU and 8-Core GPU 256GB Storage – £699/$699/AUD$1099
Mac mini with Apple M1 Chip with 8-Core CPU and 8-Core GPU (512GB) – £899/$899/AUD$1399
Alternatively, see if you can pick up a deal on an existing Mac mini:
Mac mini deals
What is the Apple M1 chip? Is it better?
The M1 is armed with an 8-core CPU and an 8-core GPU on a single system on a chip (SoC) – which means you can expect great leaps in speed, graphics, and machine learning performance. If you’re after quantifiable numbers, that translates to 3.5 times better CPU performance, up to 6 times faster GPU performance, and up to 15 times faster machine learning.
What does that mean in practice? The M1 will allow much faster and smoother video and photo editing, gaming, and software development on the new Macs. This works in tandem with the optimisations on
macOS Big Sur, the latest version of Apple’s desktop operating system.
The M1 chip is also much more power-efficient. Apple boasted that the M1 offers the “world’s best CPU performance per watt”. This means battery life gets a boost too, with Apple claiming the new MacBook laptops to last up to twice as long. Thankfully, the upgrades come without a leap in price.
If you’re still on the fence about M1 Macs, check out our
Mac buying guide to see which Apple computer is right for you. You may also be interested in a more general round-up of the
best Apple deals.
As the resident expert on Windows, Senior Staff Writer Anyron’s main focus is PCs and laptops. Much of the rest of his time is split between smartphones, tablets and audio, with a particular focus on Android devices.