M1 iMac + iPad Pro, and what it could mean for musicians

In case you missed it, today Apple released a completely redesigned iMac and iPad Pro, both with an Apple-silicon M1 chip inside. This is a big deal for the iPad, skyrocketing the processor speeds to almost 50% faster than the previous fastest iPad. The iMac marks the first desktop computer to feature the M1 chip.

While it wasn’t as historic as the 2020 release of the first M1 chip Macs, Apple has changed up the game in a big way for musicians by continuing to add to its Apple Silicon lineup. Here’s 5 quick thoughts about what the release meant:

iPads match a MacBook’s CPU

Ever since I purchased a MacBook Pro in November with the new M1 chip, it’s been mind boggling how fast it is. Logic Pro and MainStage barely register on the CPU meters for most things, and the overall speed of rendering video and other computational-heavy tasks is crazy.

Apple making the decision to add the same 8-core CPU/GPU chip to an iPad Pro caught everyone by surprise. That’s the same chip with the same RAM that’s in my MacBook Pro, and while there aren’t any speed tests available yet, theoretically when the new iPad Pro starts shipping at the end of the month it’ll be as fast as my MacBook Pro.

Because of the low power of the M1 processor and the unified chip design, Apple was able to drastically reduce the size of the iMac while expanding the screen from 21.9 inches to 24 inches wide.

Apps For Everyone

For musicians, this represents a change fundamentally in what iPads are capable of doing onstage and in the studio. Up until now, iPads have been limited by slower CPU processors and not enough RAM (usually less than 4 GB). With this upgrade, that excuse won’t be there for developers any more (including Apple, who has yet to port programs like Logic X and MainStage to the iPad).

As musicians, I would expect that in the next few years we’ll see a glut of pro-grade apps (with pro-grade prices to match) start taking the iPad a lot more seriously.

Ports

With the iPad Pro quickly becoming a contender as the hot new audio performance tool for studio and stage, connectivity is going to become even more important for musicians. My guess is we’ll see all audio interfaces and keyboards go to some form of an iOS/MacOS compatible drivers and software, and those that don’t will stop selling well.

Bumpy (But Not Too Bumpy) Upgrade Path

The transition to Apple silicon will no doubt have its bumps, and even software casualties. Most major software manufacturers haven’t had that many problems translating their apps because of Apple’s great translation software, but I have noticed a few exceptions.

Waves, Sound Toys, and a few other plugins I use haven’t been consistently performing well yet, and audio interface drivers for my Apogee have occasionally been falling out of sync.

If you absolutely need every single plugin you use to behave flawlessly, I’d wait until later in the year for some of these bugs to get worked out. Personally, the speed increase was enough to justify a few headaches.

Price Point

Because the unified chip design of Apple silicon saves space and extra components, prices on new Macs are going to continue to drop. The M1 chip iMac is marginally cheaper than its predecessor, with FAR more CPU power.

The MacBook Pro I purchased for about $1600 beats out an Intel MacBook Pro costing almost three times the money, and a lowly M1 MacBook Air is faster in most tests with audio than most $2,000 Intel-based MacBook Pros. Expect this trend to change which musicians can build what and on what budget. I’d also expect audio plugins and instruments to see a substantial bump in quality as CPU becomes less of an issue.

Conclusion

While we’re not living in a golden age for musicians, Apple’s move to more powerful and less expensive computers is a big net win for every musician trying to get what’s in their head and heart out to an audience.