The world’s first general-purpose computer, the ENIAC, was born on February 14, 1946. There is no denying that the ENIAC was a huge thing. It covered an area of 170 square meters and weighed 30 tons. It uses 18,000 electronic tubes as components and can perform 5,000 calculations per second.
The reason why its body is so huge is that the size of the tubes themselves is not small. Not only does it consume a lot of power, it also tends to heat up and can’t work for long periods of time.
The latest generation of iMac, on the other hand, was unveiled on April 21, 2021.
With a thickness of 11.5mm and a weight of less than 5kg, it uses the M1 chip, which can perform 11 trillion operations per second.
After 75 years, it is the same “computer”, but the difference in form is dramatically different. Undoubtedly, this is a testimony to the level of industrial manufacturing leap forward. We cannot ignore the credit of the rapid evolution of processors.
M1 chip, reshaping the Mac form
On November 15, 1971, Hoff, an Intel engineer, invented the world’s first commercial microprocessor “4004”. Although it ran at a speed of only 108KHz, it was not as fast as the “ENIAC” of 25 years ago. But its integration is much higher than the latter, integrated 2300 transistors, weighing less than 30 grams.
This day, as a milestone date in the IT industry in the history books. Since then, PCs have become progressively more desktop, smaller, and more mobile.
In 1998, the first generation iMac G3 was introduced. Although it was not the first “all-in-one” computer, it was the first to integrate a CRT monitor, computer mainframe, and audio into a single device, while keeping the size small at the time.
And with each subsequent generation of iMacs, the thickness and size have been reduced until the slimmest iMac ever was introduced. This is a result of the efforts of Apple’s design team and the highly evolved processors.
At Apple’s spring event on April 21, John Turnbull, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, opened the new iMac by saying
Thanks to the SoC architecture, the M1 has allowed us to push the Mac forward and leave the past far behind. Today we’re excited to introduce a Mac that’s been built from the ground up on M1.
That’s the 2021 iMac.
Apple credits the arrival of the M1 chip for the remarkable changes in this generation of iMacs.
Each generation of iMac is an advancement designed to achieve the vision we’ve always had: to make the whole computer invisible. Previous generations of iMacs have changed little in appearance because the technology wasn’t yet mature enough to allow them to make the leap.
Until now, the M1 has brought us closer to that vision than ever before.
How did the M1 change the shape of the iMac? Apple unveiled this mystery by comparing the internals of the previous generation of iMacs.
As you can see from the fact sheet, the previous generation iMac’s back case hid a massive motherboard and a stout cooling system. Its common goal is to meet the high power consumption requirements of the processor.
Moreover, various components such as CPU and GPU were scattered all over the system, making it difficult to slim down the motherboard.
Now with the M1’s SoC architecture, those previously fragmented components are integrated into this compact motherboard, greatly reducing the amount of space it takes up.
And because of the M1’s groundbreaking energy efficiency, the previous large cooling system has been replaced by two small, lightweight fans that are integrated into the motherboard at both ends and placed in the “chin” below the screen.
So, the back of the iMac no longer needs to be curved to wrap the massive motherboard and cooling system. The integration of these components has reduced the total size of the new iMac by as much as 50 percent compared to its predecessor.
This compact design allows the new iMac to be just 11.5 mm thick and fit easily into a wider variety of spaces.
So it seems reasonable for Apple to attribute the design changes in the iMac to advances in the M1 chip. The highly integrated architecture and high energy efficiency ratio all give M1 the ability to change the shape of the terminal.
With the arrival of the new iMac, the M1 chip has covered the vast majority of the Mac camp. Probably to address material inventory, the M1 versions of MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini have not been significantly changed in appearance.
But from the internal construction, the difference between the new MacBook Air and its predecessor is still very obvious. The elimination of the fan design has freed up a significant amount of space in the upper left side, providing more possibilities for subsequent variations of MacBook Air.
The disassembly diagram of the Mac mini also shows that the motherboard with the M1 chip is almost twice the size of the iPhone 12 mini, taking up less space than its predecessor.
If Apple wants to eliminate this remaining space and redesign the mold, it’s entirely possible that we’ll see a new Mac mini that’s 30-40 percent smaller than the current product size.
How will the shape of Mac products change in the future? The direction is clear: increasingly compact, thin and light, and even invisible.
And the new iPad Pro is the “ideal product” at the forefront.
iPad Pro, a step closer to the ideal form
Cook’s spy scene has become the “famous scene” of the spring conference. He stole the M1 chip from the Mac and put it in the iPad Pro as a flying agent.
This action made the new iPad Pro’s performance “take off in place” directly, with CPU performance soaring up to 50% compared to the previous generation iPad Pro.
In the launch screen, we can see that the new iPad Pro can easily handle running the Affinity Designer app, using various vector and raster tools, rendering detailed designs with Sharp3D, or adding complex effects to 4K video in LumaFusion.
All of this, thanks to the M1’s powerful graphics: an 8-core GPU that gives it about 40 percent more graphics performance. In theory, it could perform better than a lower-rated iMac with one GPU core locked down.
In apps, project complex AR models into the real world, or play popular console-level games at ultra-high fps, or even work with the Thunderbolt interface to connect an external monitor to use Da Vinci Resolve for color grading and editing …… It’s safe to say that the new iPad Pro leaves a lot to the imagination.
What’s more, the M1’s energy efficiency ratio gives the iPad Pro a huge performance boost while ensuring a balance of thinness and longevity.
Placing the iPad Pro on a wonderfully controlled keyboard, its form seems to have a wonderful connection to the iMac. In terms of terminal form, it may be more advanced than the Mac series and closer to Apple’s ideal computer.
With the addition of 5G and LIDAR, there is still a lot to explore in terms of playability of the iPad Pro. In the promotional video, using iPad Pro to key actors from the green screen and preview the composite effect with one click; dragging the design prototype of the building to the real space with one click; pulling out iPad Pro to talk and work anytime and anywhere, all represent the possibilities that Apple wants users to explore and use iPad Pro.
Since the iPad Pro is already more advanced than the existing Mac in terms of terminal form, will Apple merge the two in the future?
John Turnus recently told The independent that there are no plans to merge the two product lines, iPad and Mac. Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Reg Joswick, said Apple only wants to be the best in two different categories of products.
So in the short term, Apple is not going to simplify the “computer” format, but rather, it’s going to go full blast, and the Mac line will remain classic.
What is the next form of computer?
Eleven years ago, there was an article on the future of notebook computers in the Microcomputer World newspaper. The article’s view that “tomorrow’s laptops may be able to roll up, equipped with multiple screens, or can be shaped like Transformers as varied.
This vision has become a reality today. For example, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold, and the Asus Aura X dual-screen computer.
The concept of PC has long evolved from a simple “personal computer” to a broad terminal device and platform for mutual communication and access to information. The concept of PC has long evolved from a mere “personal computer” to a broad range of terminal devices and platforms for communicating with each other and obtaining information.
And these terminals and platforms have shown a blossoming trend. Behind this status quo is the pursuit and desire for technological innovation.
From work to entertainment, from luxury to mass consumption, the continuous evolution of terminal functions and forms reflects the wisdom of creators everywhere.
We hardly thought that “computing” could be integrated with “communication” until the Founder placed an antenna on the S2000 laptop and added a SIM card slot. When the Palm fell and people thought the PAD form was lost, the iPad came along and changed that perception.
And when people began to doubt Moore’s Law and Bell’s Law, the arrival of the M1 chip was the dawn of change in the IT industry.
In this context, Apple’s supreme vision of “making computers invisible” will be presented in what form in the future, no one can guess. It may be a brain-computer interface, or it may be a technology we have never heard of.
But in the pursuit of this goal, we have already seen the impact of new computing platforms and chips on the form of the terminal. This is true for computers, cell phones, watches, and even headphones.
Similarly, the future AR glasses, smart cars and other end products, whether the form will be beyond our current knowledge? This question is left to your imagination.
Recent Comments