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Two Apple marketing executives highlighted the company's M1 system-on-chip design in an interview Thursday, noting that the silicon now powers a range of mobile and desktop devices.
Ahead of the May 21 release of the redesigned 24-inch iMac with M1 processor, Apple’s product marketing manager Stephen Tonna and Mac product marketing manager Laura Metz spoke with CNN about the benefits of using a single processor across multiple platforms. Apple's M1 debuted with the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini last year and recently found its way into desktop and tablet devices with the 24-inch iMac and iPad Pro. Metz said it's "great to have a range of devices that meet your needs, whether you know you're going to have to move around and want that portable device, or you need something in a small compact size, or you have that wonderful all-in-one experience with the large display."
M1 chip: efficient and powerful
While the M1 has been praised as a highly efficient yet powerful mobile chip, it remains unclear how the silicon will fare as a desktop powerhouse. Early benchmarks recorded by Geekbench this week show the actively cooled M1 variant in the iMac achieving a single-core score that's about 56% higher than the Intel chip in the 2019 21.5-inch iMac. Multi-core scores are about 24% faster. Compared to the multi-core scores of a 10th-generation Intel Core i7 processor available in the 27-inch iMac, the M1 can't quite keep up, although it comes out ahead in single-core performance. Metz and Tonna also commented on the iMac's colorful new design, as well as general platform features like Continuity, iCloud services, and software updates. Tonna explained:
You just have the freedom to use devices however you want. You don't have to think about what is where, you just know it's going to be updated. And I think that's a really big value proposition for our users.
Pre-orders for the 24-inch iMac went online on April 30 and are expected to ship on May 21. (Image: Apple)
