Take Control of Your M-Series Mac (1.4)

Make a smooth transition to Apple silicon
Version 1.4, updated June 29, 2022

This book teaches you everything you need to know about hardware and related software changes in Apple’s new M1-series Apple silicon Macs to make a transition from an Intel Mac, set up security with new options, create effective backups, and work with new options in recovery mode. Glenn Fleishman takes you through the details of how an M-series Mac handles startup, battery management, and running iOS, iPadOS, and Windows apps. Covers the 2020–22 Apple M1- and M2-series Macs: the Mac mini, MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models (featuring the M1 Pro or M1 Max chip), and the Mac Studio (with the M1 Max or M1 Ultra chip).

Apple’s new Macs based on the M1- and M2-series Apple silicon system-on-a-chip offer remarkable advances in performance, battery life, and memory utilization. With those improvements comes a host of changes in hardware, from how a Mac starts up to making backups of your computer to understanding fundamental aspects of system security. Take Control of Your M-Series Mac teaches you everything you need to know about these topics and much more.

You’ll learn not just how to make a bootable clone of your Mac on an external drive, but whether it’s necessary with Monterey or Big Sur and an M1- or M2-series Mac. Find out how to make a clean transition from an Intel Mac, while taking advantage of installing and running iOS and iPadOS apps natively within macOS. You’ll also learn the early method of running Windows on an M1 or M2 Mac, with notions of what’s to come.

If you’ve already bought an M1- or M2-series Mac and want to get more out of it, or you’re considering a purchase and trying to understand what you need to know, Take Control of Your M-Series Mac will fit your needs. NOTE: This book is intended for people who are already familiar with Macs. It is not a beginner's guide, nor is it a complete user manual. Its focus is on what's different about M-series Macs compared to Intel-based Macs.

For anyone seriously considering getting an M1 Mac, and everyone who has one already (including me), this is the essential guide and reference. If you don’t buy it, you’ll regret it.
—Howard Oakley, The Eclectic Light Company

Future plans: This book will be updated as Apple releases updated features for existing M1 and M2 Macs and new Macs based on its M-series processors.

Here’s what you will learn from this book:

Get to know the M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, and M2 processors, and what’s so different about them
Understand the limits of emulation
Control how apps for Intel Macs and universal Intel/M-series apps launch on an M-series Mac
Learn the complexities of backing up an M-series Mac
Decide whether you need a bootable duplicate of your startup volume
Maximize battery life and longevity
Work with recoveryOS, a substantially different process with an M-series Mac
Walk through a new process of reviving or restoring low-level firmware on a non-responsive Mac
Manage system security when you need to work with kernel extensions
Install and run iOS and iPadOS apps
Learn the current limits of using Windows in macOS on an M1- and M2-series system