So Apple has just finished their 18th of October event several hours ago, and here is everything you need to know including the price of their new hardware here in Malaysia, in case you have missed it, and oh my what a surprise!

AirPods

Now the first hardware announcement was the new 3rd generation AirPods.

Firstly, it has an overall design refresh, which looks very similar to the AirPods Pro but without the silicone tips. This overall AirPods Pro looking design is something that I always preferred compared to the previous 2nd generation AirPods, where the stems are shorter and contoured at a perfect angle to fit in the ears and it has the same force sensors, or shall I say the pinch gestures, on the stem of the AirPods for media controls.

It is now IPX4 sweat and water-resistant, both for the earbuds and the charging case as well.

What’s extra sweet is that Dolby Atmos, Spatial Audio, and Dynamic Head Tracking, that feature which I have been always mentioning, where the music follows towards the direction where your head’s at, is also now on this 3rd generation AirPods, joining the AirPods Pro and the AirPods Max.

Adaptive EQ is also present, where you will be listening to music the way it was meant for you to be heard from the artist, which in case you didn’t know, it is like FilmMaker Mode for your TV but from an audio perspective which as a musician, I really love and appreciated that on the AirPods Pro.

In terms of sound improvements, there is a custom driver and a high dynamic range amplifier which will produce powerful bass and crisp and clean high frequencies. Then the microphones have also improved as it is covered by an acoustic mesh to help reduce the sound of wind in order for your voice to be heard very clearly.

In terms of battery life, it offers an extra hour of battery life over the previous generation, with up to 6 hours of listening time and up to 4 hours of talk time. And with just 5 minutes of charge, it will be able to give you up to an hour of battery life as well, and with 4 hours of additional charges on the case itself, it can give you up to a massive 30 hours of total listening time.

And finally, what’s super cool is that this 3rd generation is now part of the Magsafe ecosystem for easy wireless charging to the case.

So overall, since I have never gotten my hands on the 2nd generation AirPods, I am eager to take this new 3rd generation for an audio test, especially with my regular #SawanModeTest and try out the other consistent audio features like Audio Sharing and all of the other convenient features like being part of the Find My Network and having Siri to read notifications as well, which does work extremely well on the AirPods Pro and the AirPods Max.

In terms of the price here in Malaysia, this 3rd generation AirPods will be available for RM829.

(Source: Apple)

M1 Pro

Next, Apple has decided to update their Apple silicon chip by introducing not one but TWO new chipsets, firstly is the M1 Pro.

(Source: Apple)

Using an industry-leading 5nm process, the M1 Pro has more than 2x the number of transistors than the M1, which is a total of 33.7 billion.

Then there is a new 10-core CPU, including eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores, which is up to 70 percent faster than M1.

Now, compared with the latest 8-core PC laptop chip *ahem* M1 Pro delivers up to 1.7x more CPU performance at the same power level and achieves the PC chip’s peak performance using up to 70 percent less power.

Then in terms of GPU, the M1 Pro has up to 16-core GPU that is up to 2x faster than M1 and up to 7x faster than the typical “integrated graphics” on the latest 8-core PC laptop chip.

And the M1 Pro can be configured with up to 32GB of fast unified memory, with up to 200GB/s of memory bandwidth, making heavy software tasks like 3D rendering and game developing super seamless.

M1 Max

Then just when you think that Apple has stopped over there, they said, na’ah, let’s go even more powerful with the M1 Max Chipset.

(Source: Apple)

So this M1 Max has the same powerful 10-core CPU as the M1 Pro but this time bumps up from 16 cores to 32 cores of GPU which gives up to 4x faster graphic performance than the already powerful M1, the transistors have also increased from 33.7 billion to 57 billion…. Yeap it is all about the transistors my friend!

Which makes this 3.5x more than the M1 Chipset, and the GPU delivers performance very comparable to a high-end GPU in a compact pro PC laptop but consuming up to 40 percent less power, which also means that less heat is generated, fans run quietly and less often.

And the M1 Max transforms graphics-intensive workflows, including up to 13x faster complex timeline rendering in Final Cut Pro compared to the previous-generation 13-inch MacBook Pro, which would be personally super beneficial for my workflow.

And it doubles the memory interface compared with M1 Pro up to 400GB/s, or nearly 6x the memory bandwidth of M1 and this allows the M1 Max to be configured with up to 64GB of fast unified memory.

Speaking of my workflow once again, if you shoot in ProRes like me, there is a ProRes Media Engine, which is a dedicated acceleration for the ProRes video codec, allowing playback of multiple streams of high-quality 4K and 8K ProRes video while using very little power.

And the M1 Max goes even further, giving up to 2x faster video encoding than M1 Pro, and features TWO freaking ProRes accelerators. So, with M1 Max, the new MacBook Pro can transcode ProRes video in Compressor up to a crazy 10x faster compared with the previous-generation 16-inch MacBook Pro.

So yes, even at this point in time the M1 is already putting all the other processors to bed with their performance and power efficiency and now with the M1 Pro and the M1 Max *mind exploded*

Also, something very important that Apple mentioned is also non-hardware or software updates, for apps like Logic Pro 10.7, that allows you to create songs as Dolby Atmos music files, then there are 13 plugin updates with Producer Packs as well, similar to what was announced for GarageBand recently.

Now personally I am not a user of Logic Pro as I am an Ableton user, but I know a lot of my musician friends who use Logic Pro, so this is indeed good news for them and for you if you are using Logic as your audio DAW system.

Then the best Video Editing software on planet Earth, Final Cut Pro has also been updated to version 10.6.

This allows the creation of tracked motion graphics, which I have always been using 3rd party ones in my videos so I am very interested to update mine and check these out as soon as possible.

This new update also allows editing of Cinematic Mode video recorded on the iPhone 13 series, which was super great to know to adjust the depth of field and keyframe changes, which is usually only able to be done on your phone.

And with the new M1 Pro and M1 Max Chipset, it is able to play up to a crazy seven streams of 8k ProRes files at FULL resolution and export videos up to 5x faster than before where Apple’s Motion and Compressor app has been updated as well.

MacBook Pro

Then finally, Apple has announced two MacBook Pros, the 14-inch, and the 16-inch variant.

Both have a new aluminum enclosure that optimizes internal space for more performance and features 50 percent more air than the previous generation, even at lower fan speeds where now the fans almost never turn on for most daily tasks.

The new MacBook Pro also comes with a Magic Keyboard that features a full-height function row with physical function keys, including a wider escape key, that replaces the Touch Bar, bringing back the familiar, tactile feel of mechanical keys.

So yes, no more Touch Bar on the top of the keyboard.

Another MASSIVE change is the overall IO on these new MacBook Pros, there is:

• a full-sized HDMI port
• a Thunderbolt 4 port
• and SD Card Slot
• and the return of the legend, the MagSafe 3 port

And there is also another 2 Thunderbolt 4 port as well, and because of its amazing newly introduced chipset, it can support up to two external display with up to 6k resolution at 60 Hz on the M1 Pro Chipset and up to three external displays with up to 6k resolution display with up to 4k resolution at 60 hertz on the M1 Max chipset.

Then the display also has a HUGE upgrade where other than the fact that it is 24% thinner at the sides and about 60% thinner on top for the first time ever, it has the ProMotion technology, for an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, which uses Apple’s Liquid Retina XDR Display, which is the Mini LED display technology similar to the likes of the iPad Pro, of 1000 nits of sustained brightness and 1600 nits of peak brightness.

Then there is a new camera system, 1080p (finally!) with a larger sensor for 2x better low light performance.

There are also three studio-quality microphone arrays up to 60% lower noise floor, six speaker sound system, that has two tweeters and four woofers giving 80% more bass and supports spatial audio and Dolby Atmos as well.

As for battery life, the 14-inch model gives up to 17 hours of video playback, which is seven additional hours

…while the 16-inch model gets up to a remarkable 21 hours of video playback, which is 10 additional hours — the longest battery life ever on a Mac notebook and the new MagSafe 3 for the first time ever, has fast charging, up to 50 percent in just 30 minutes.

In terms of performance, it is as I have mentioned between both of the chipsets, like the previous MacBook Pros, you can always configure it accordingly and I will leave the link of Apple’s MacBook Pro’s purchase website to see the differences in price and upgrades.

Where the 14-inch variant starts at RM8799 or RM8199 on the Education price and the 16-inch Model starts at RM10,799 or RM9999 for the Education price

Hmm, looks like it may be the right time to upgrade my 2017 MacBook Pro then…

Alright, with this do let me know which one of these two announcements was more appealing and exciting for you the most? The AirPods or the MacBook Pro? Do let me know at the comment section below and if I do get my hands on both, ask away if you would like for me to check or test on anything at all.