MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M1 Chips Have Same 8-Core CPUs, No Upgrades Available
The newly announced MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models that Apple announced today are equipped with the same 8-core M1 chip that also offers an integrated GPU, with Apple offering no CPU upgrades.

There is, however, a GPU upgrade available for the MacBook Air. By default, the MacBook Air ships with an M1 chip with a 7-core GPU, while the MacBook Pro has the same M1 chip with an 8-core GPU.
If you choose the $1,249 MacBook Air model with a 512GB SSD, it upgrades to an 8-core GPU instead of the default 7-core GPU, but there is no custom configuration option to choose the lower tier model with the upgraded 8-core GPU option.
Both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro can be customized with more RAM and more storage space. The Mac mini also has the same M1 chip with 8-core GPU as the MacBook Pro with no GPU/CPU upgrade option available. The new models are available today and will start shipping out next week.
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