Apple’s new MacBook and Mac Mini could change PCs as we know them

As the insides of computers become more like iPhones, we can expect better battery life, thinner designs and even, maybe, a lower price tag.
On Tuesday, Apple announced its first personal computers powered using chips that are more like those in an iPhone than those in a typical PC. The machines are the $999 13-inch MacBook Air, the $699 Mac Mini and the $1,299 MacBook Pro. That alone is exciting to tech fans, but it’s also a sign of what’s possibly to come, whether you buy a Mac or not. Apple has said it’s going to change the brains of its computers over the next couple of years. Starting with the just-unveiled machines, Apple is going to throw its weight behind its self-made chips.
Most people may not care about a change to a small chip in their Mac computers, but it could mean big changes for Apple and the tech industry, too. For the past 14 years, Apple has relied on Intel-made chips to power its laptop and desktop computers. Apple has spent more than a decade on research and development, and at least $1 billion buying more than half a dozen companies, to create the M1, a chip similar to those in iPhones and iPads and that takes on Intel. Now Apple’s first computers powered by the M1 have been made available for preorder and will start shipping next week.