Apple Silicon

Apple Silicon changed the conversation entirely. Starting with the M1 in November 2020, Apple's own custom chips — built on the same architecture powering the iPhone — delivered dramatic gains in performance per watt, silent fanless operation in machines like the MacBook Air, and all-day battery life that Intel-era Macs never came close to matching.

The Mac Studio arrived in 2022 to fill a gap between the Mac mini and Mac Pro, and by the time the M4 generation shipped in 2024 and 2025, Apple Silicon had propagated through the entire lineup, from the cheapest Mac mini to the most expensive Mac Pro. It's widely regarded as the most successful architectural transition in the Mac's four-decade history.