O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: notebook

  • Apple support document offers fast charging details for 2021 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks

    Apple support document offers fast charging details for 2021 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks

    Apple has just released its specs for the fast charging feature on its 2021 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks. The feature was proudly presented by the company as offering a 50 percent charged battery after roughly 30 minutes of charging.

    Apple offered the following details via a newly-released support document:

    The 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro with Apple silicon support fast charge. When you connect the appropriate power source and cable, you can quickly charge your battery up to 50 percent in 30 minutes.

    Where the 16-inch MacBook Pro notebook is concerned, Apple stated that users can only fast charge using its 140W USB-C Power Adapter + USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable. This means that even though the 16-inch MacBook Pro supports charging via a standard USB-C to USB-C cable as well, you can only take full advantage of fast charging when using MagSafe 3 due to USB-C limitations.

    The  140W USB-C Power Adapter + USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable arrives in the box with the 16-inch MacBook Pro. If you want multiple different setups, however, you can buy a standalone 140W USB-C Power Adapter from Apple for $99 and a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable for $49.

    For the 14-inch MacBook Pro, users have several different options from which to choose, according to Apple: 

    • 140W USB-C Power Adapter + USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable 
    • 96W USB-C Power Adapter + USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable 
    • 96W USB-C Power Adapter + USB-C charge cable
    • Pro Display XDR + Thunderbolt 3 cable
    • External display with 94W power delivery + Thunderbolt 3 cable or USB-C cable

    Notably, this means that MagSafe is not required for fast charging on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, and you can use any USB-C cable provided it’s connected to at least a 96W power brick.

    If you’ve gotten your hands on the new 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro, please let us know about your experiences via the comments.

    Via 9to5Mac and support.apple.com

  • Apple’s new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks offer improved thermal system, increased air flow

    Apple’s new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks offer improved thermal system, increased air flow

    Apple’s new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks feature an entirely new chassis and design, and one key improvement to be found compared to its predecessor is an improved thermal system.

    Apple says that the new thermal system in its latest high-end MacBooks is capable of moving 50 percent more air at lower fan speeds. While the new thermal design is greatly improved, the efficiency of the new M1 Pro and ‌M1‌ Max chips mean that for most customers, the “fans never turn on” for tasks done daily, according to Apple. 

    Per Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, the new chassis was designed with an “intense focus on performance and utility.” The new MacBook Pros are “precisely machined around an advanced thermal system,” he added. This, in turn, allows the new thermal architecture to maintain high performance over more extended periods, without overheating or requiring the fans to turn on at higher speeds. 

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors

  • Apple unveils new 14.-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks feature M1 Pro or M1 Max processors, assorted new features

    Apple unveils new 14.-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks feature M1 Pro or M1 Max processors, assorted new features

    If you’ve been hankering for Apple’s new 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro, you’re going to like this.

    Apple on Tuesday announced its 14.2-inch and 16.2-inch MacBook Pro notebooks, complete with configurations that include the M1 Pro or M1 Max processor, a mini-LED display with ProMotion, an HDMI port and SD card reader, charging with MagSafe 3, a notch housing a 1080p webcam, and more.

    The new machines offer additional ports, the right side incorporating an HDMI port, a Thunderbolt 4 port, and an SD card reader. The left side of the machine offers a ‌MagSafe‌ 3 port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a headphone jack. The keyboard features now a full-height function key row in place of the Touch Bar, and the entire keyboard area is black.

    The updated notebooks offer reduced display borders, with a notch out of the top of the display for the webcam. The webcam itself offers a 1080p resolution with a wider aperture and a larger image sensor. The display itself is a mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display, which also features ProMotion for refresh rates up to 120Hz.

    Other new features include improved studio-quality mics and speakers that support Spatial Audio, with the 16-inch model containing a six-speaker system.

    Where charging is concerned, the units offer magnetic charging with MagSafe 3, which offers fast charging of up to 50 percent of battery capacity in 30 minutes. When playing back video, the 14.2-inch model offers up to 17 hours of battery life, while the 16.2-inch model can deliver up to 21 hours of video playback.

    Apple’s new M1 Pro chip functions as a scaled-up, more powerful variant of the M1 chip, and features a 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, a more capable Media Engine, more Thunderbolt controllers, support for up to 32GB of RAM, and more. The ‌M1‌ Max chip features the same 10-core CPU as the ‌M1‌ Pro, but includes a 32-core GPU with support for up to 64GB of RAM.

    The MacBook Pro is available to pre-order today with prices beginning around $1,999 and begins arriving to customers next week.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors

  • Rumor: 2021 MacBook Pro notebooks to feature significant redesign, 1080p webcam, standard 16GB of RAM

    Rumor: 2021 MacBook Pro notebooks to feature significant redesign, 1080p webcam, standard 16GB of RAM

    With Apple’s October 18th event having been officially announced, a flurry of last minute rumors as to the 2021 MacBook Pro have surfaced, the general consensus being that this year’s models will represent the first major redesign for Apple’s pro notebooks since the disastrous 2016 butterfly-keyboard generation.

    Various sources indicate that these new machines will feature a boxier chassis design, a HDMI port and SD card slot, and a ‘M1X’ Apple-designed SoC, aimed at replacing the current 16-inch Intel configs with superior performance and power efficiency. The reliable leaker @dylandkt has stated that these notebooks will also feature a higher-quality 1080p webcam.

    In his tweet, Dylan also stated that the M1X MacBook Pro units will boast 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD as standard for both the 16-inch and the new 14-inch units. This is identical to the current 16-inch Intel MacBook Pro offering.

    Apple is also thought to be removing the 16GB maximum RAM configuration that was supported with the M1-based MacBook Pros. The M1X generation notebooks are thought to have resolved this issue, with Apple offering 32GB of RAM as a build-to-order option.

    In terms of design change, Dylan says that the ‘MacBook Pro’ text in the bottom display bezel has been removed in favor of an overall slimmer bezel design. The display is mini-LED, just like the 2021 iPad Pro.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac and @dylandkt

  • Seventh macOS Monterey beta may have leaked upcoming display resolutions for Apple’s upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros

    Seventh macOS Monterey beta may have leaked upcoming display resolutions for Apple’s upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros

    The seventh beta of Apple’s upcoming macOS Monterey operating system, which was released later this week, may have just revealed the display resolutions for Apple’s upcoming “M1X” 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro notebooks.

    The resolutions, which were noted in the System Information app, and discovered by Steve Moser, listed as “3456 x 2234 Retina” and “3024 x 1964 Retina” and do not correspond to resolutions of the built-in displays on any current or previous Apple products. Based on the resolutions themselves and their relationships to each other, it seems likely that these new resolutions are for the upcoming MacBook Pro.

    The current 16-inch MacBook Pro has a native display resolution of 3072 x 1920, while the current 13-inch MacBook Pro’s native resolution is 2560 x 1600, giving both machines a pixel density of 226–227 pixels per inch.

    Such an upgrade would represent an increase in pixel density to around 250 pixels per inch, which would arguably allow for native 2x Retina as the default setting for these new machines for the sharpest possible image.

    Apple is rumored to be introducing the redesigned MacBook Pro models before the end of the year, likely at another media event in October or November.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and @SteveMoser