New Air devices land in SA

Apple is bringing its latest innovations to South Africa this month with the launch of the new MacBook Air, iPad Air, and Mac Studio. Packed with the latest M4 and M3 chips, the devices feature new AI capabilities and the company’s version of AI, Apple Intelligence.

iStore’s launch of the new lineup this week follows the recent debut of the iPhone 16e, Apple’s “most affordable” iPhone.

MacBook Air

The new MacBook Air combines powerful AI capabilities with the M4 chip, delivering up to twice the performance of its M1 predecessor. The upgrade enhances speed and efficiency while maintaining the Air’s signature thin and light design.

_{The new MacBook Air. Photo courtesy Apple.}

The MacBook Air is available in a Sky Blue colour for the first time. Apple says the MacBook Air M4 offers up to 18 hours of battery life, and the laptop is thinner and lighter than before.

MacBook Air pricing and availability

The 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models have starting recommended retail prices of R22,499 and R26,999, respectively. Both are available on the iStore website here.

iPad Air

The new iPad Air features an M3 chip. Apple says the model is designed to deliver exceptional performance and functionality, catering to a wide range of users from professionals to creatives.

_{The new iPad Air. Photo courtesy Apple.}

The M3 chip delivers nearly twice the performance of its M1 predecessor. Apple says with a powerful CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine, the iPad Air has smooth multitasking, advanced graphics, and efficient power usage for all-day battery life.

The tablet has AI-driven tools that enhance the user experience, and is built for Apple Intelligence. Features like Image Wand and Image Playground simplify image editing, while writing tools assist with finding better words.

The iPad Air is available in 11-inch and 13-inch Liquid Retina displays, offering vibrant visuals and responsive touch for work, creativity, and entertainment. Storage options range from 128GB to 1TB.

Productivity is enhanced with the Magic Keyboard, featuring an extra row of function keys and a larger trackpad for precise control. The device supports the Apple Pencil for drawing and note-taking.

An all-screen design and a 12MP Wide back camera deliver sharp images and videos, while the 12MP Centre Stage front camera keeps users in frame during video calls. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi and 5G.

iPad Air pricing and availability

The 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models have starting recommended retail prices of R13,599 and R17,999, respectively. Both are available on the iStore website here.

iStore offers customers a trade-in program where one can trade in an old iPad to receive a new one at a more lowered price. The trade-in value can be used as credit toward the new iPad Air. Up to five devices can be traded in.

Mac Studio

The new Mac Studio features M4 Max and new M3 Ultra, Apple’s latest chips. The desktop is a powerhouse for AI, capable of running large language models with over 600-billion parameters entirely in memory, via its advanced GPU and up to 512GB of unified memory with M3 Ultra.

_{The new Mac Studio. Photo courtesy Apple.}

The device is designed for demanding workloads. It features a powerful CPU, advanced graphics architecture, expanded unified memory capacity, fast SSD storage, and an improved Neural Engine.

The latest model delivers a significant performance boost over the previous generation, with major gains for users upgrading from older Macs.

“The new Mac Studio is the most powerful Mac we’ve ever made,” said John Ternus, Apple’s SVP of hardware engineering.

“A complete game-changer for pros around the world – powering both home and pro studios – Mac Studio sits in a class of its own, offering a staggering amount of performance in a compact, quiet design that fits beautifully on your desk.

“With this new Mac Studio, we’re delivering even more extreme performance with M4 Max and M3 Ultra, support for half a terabyte of unified memory, up to 16TB of superfast storage, and Thunderbolt 5 connectivity. Mac Studio truly is the ultimate pro desktop.”

Mac Studio with M4 Max

The Mac Studio with M4 Max is designed for professionals handling intensive workloads, including video editing, colour grading, software development, engineering, and photography. It features an up to 16-core CPU, a 40-core GPU, and over half a terabyte per second of unified memory bandwidth, delivering fast single-threaded and multithreaded performance.

With a Neural Engine over three times faster than M1 Max, the M4 Max chip allows for high-speed on-device AI processing. It offers up to 3.5 times the performance of the previous Mac Studio with M1 Max and is up to 6.1 times faster than the most powerful Intel-based 27-inch iMac.

The GPU features Apple’s latest graphics architecture, including dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading, and second-generation ray tracing, improving content creation and gaming performance.

Starting at 36GB of unified memory, expandable to 128GB, it supports demanding tasks such as handling thousands of images, complex music compositions, and multi-layered video projects.

The Media Engine in M4 Max includes two ProRes accelerators, enabling smooth playback and editing of multiple 4K ProRes streams, making it well-suited for videographers and creative professionals.

Mac Studio with M4 Max enables:

• Up to 1.6x faster image processing in Adobe Photoshop when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Max, and up to 2.9x faster when compared to the 27-inch iMac with Core i9.
• Up to 2.1x faster build performance when compiling code in Xcode when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Max, and up to 3.1x faster when compared to the 27-inch iMac with Core i9.
• Up to 1.2x faster ProRes transcode performance in Compressor when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Max, and up to 2.8x faster when compared to the 27-inch iMac with Core i9.
• Up to 1.6x faster video processing performance in Topaz Video AI when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Max, and up to 5x faster when compared to the 27-inch iMac with Core i9.

Mac Studio with M3 Ultra

The Mac Studio with M3 Ultra is built for demanding workloads, offering nearly twice the performance of M4 Max in tasks that uses high CPU and GPU core counts and large amounts of unified memory. The device is up to 2.6 times faster than Mac Studio with M1 Ultra and up to 6.4 times faster than the 16-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro.

Equipped with a 32-core CPU, including 24 performance cores, it has 50% more CPU cores than any previous Ultra chip. The 80-core GPU, the most in any Apple silicon chip, enhances graphics performance, while the 32-core Neural Engine enables fast on-device AI and machine learning tasks. Its high-bandwidth memory architecture delivers over 800GB/s of unified memory bandwidth.

Mac Studio with M3 Ultra starts with 96GB of unified memory, expandable up to 512GB, the highest in any personal computer. Storage options go up to 16TB of SSD, providing enough space for over 12 hours of 8K ProRes video.

The advanced graphics architecture, featuring Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading, and ray tracing, makes GPU-based renderers up to 2.6 times faster than M1 Ultra, improving performance for graphics-intensive workflows.

Mac Studio with M3 Ultra enables:

• Up to 16.9x faster token generation using an LLM with hundreds of billions of parameters in LM Studio when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra.
• Up to 2.6x faster scene rendering performance in Maxon Redshift when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and up to 6.4x faster when compared to the 16-core Intel-based Mac Pro with Radeon Pro W5700X.
• Up to 1.1x faster basecalling for DNA sequencing in Oxford Nanopore MinKNOW when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and up to 21.1x faster when compared to the 16-core Intel-based Mac Pro with Radeon Pro W5700X.
• Up to 1.4x faster 8K video rendering performance in Final Cut Pro when compared to Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, and up to 4x faster when compared to the 16-core Intel-based Mac Pro with Radeon Pro W5700X.

Thunderbolt 5

The new Mac Studio features Thunderbolt 5 ports that deliver transfer speeds up to 120 Gb/s, up to three times faster than the prior generation, enabling faster external storage, expansion chassis, and powerful hub solutions.

For those who rely on PCIe expansion cards for their workflows, Thunderbolt 5 allows users to connect an external expansion chassis with higher bandwidth and lower latency. With the M3 Ultra, Mac Studio now drives up to eight Pro Display XDRs at the full 6K resolution.

Mac Studio offers a wide array of connectivity, including a 10Gb Ethernet port, an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot on the front to conveniently import photos and video, along with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Apple Intelligence

With Apple Intelligence elevates, writing is dynamic using Writing Tools, which can help users rewrite, proofread, or summarise, when responding to emails or using summarisation to draft an abstract in apps like Scrivener.

Pros can minimise unnecessary distractions with Priority Notifications and use live transcription in Notes to record and recap important meetings. With new Siri improvements, users can move between spoken and typed requests to accelerate tasks throughout their day, and Siri can answer questions about Mac features and settings, with step-by-step instructions like how to combine PDF files in Preview.

With access to ChatGPT integrated into Writing Tools and Siri, users can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise. Users can choose to enable ChatGPT integration, and are in full control of when to use it and what information is shared with ChatGPT.

Users can explore creative new ways to express themselves visually with Image Playground, and drop their original image right into their paper, mood board, or Keynote presentation.

Designed to protect users’ privacy, Apple Intelligence uses on-device processing, meaning that many of the models that power it run entirely on device. For requests that require access to larger models, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Mac into the cloud. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple.

Mac operating system: Sequoia

The Mac Studio runs on macOS Sequoia, with new features for connectivity and productivity. iPhone Mirroring allows users to transfer files, photos, and videos between their iPhone and Mac through drag-and-drop. Window tiling has been improved, enabling more structured workspace organisation. The new Passwords app provides a centralised location for managing passwords, passkeys, and credentials.

The Safari browser includes Highlights, which surfaces relevant site information, a redesigned Reader for article summaries, and a Video Viewer that keeps videos in focus. Game Mode has been updated, and Personalised Spatial Audio is now available for an enhanced gaming experience. New games are supported, including Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Starting with macOS Sequoia 15.4, users can set up a new Mac Studio by bringing an iPhone close to the Mac, enabling automatic sign-in to their Apple Account and access to files, messages, and passwords.

Display and accessories

The Mac Studio is compatible with Studio Display, a 27-inch 5K Retina display featuring a 12MP Centre Stage camera, studio-quality microphones, and a six-speaker system with Spatial Audio.

For HDR workflows, Pro Display XDR offers a 32-inch 6K Retina display with 1,600 nits of peak brightness. Users can add Magic accessories, including the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse.

Sustainability

The Mac Studio follows Apple’s sustainability initiatives, as the company moves towards carbon neutrality by 2030. Apple is transitioning to renewable electricity in manufacturing and investing in wind and solar energy to reduce its environmental impact.

The device is made with over 30% recycled materials, including 100% recycled aluminium in the enclosure and recycled rare earth elements in all magnets. It is free from mercury, brominated flame retardants, and PVC. The fibre-based packaging supports Apple’s goal to eliminate plastic from all packaging by 2025.

Mac Studio pricing and availability

The new Mac Studio is available for pre-order at a starting recommended retail price of R45,499 on the iStore website here.