What were the first things you tried out on a new M1 Mac? Benchmarks, perhaps, or tested battery endurance? Try looking at Recovery Mode – that’s more important.
Apple silicon
M1 Macs don’t use that warren of startup key combinations, but a logical structure of choices, mostly when starting up in Recovery Mode. Here are the full details.
Time has changed in M1 Macs, with the Mach clock ticking every 41.67 nanoseconds. This affects all log entries too, and works differently in Rosetta.
First update it to 11.0.1. Here are details of the problems which can arise and how to solve them, from unenrolling from betas to using Configurator to Revive an M1 Mac.
If you haven’t upgraded to Big Sur yet but intend doing so early, be reassured: it’s one of the smoothest for years. Full details and a few tips to help.
Opens a window on all the new Platform Security settings of Apple Silicon Macs, and checks their iBoot firmware version. Minor tweaks for Intel users too.
Should work fully with firmware and security updates on Macs of all species from El Capitan to Big Sur, including new M1 Macs.
Identical code using system_profiler to look up the firmware version number worked in two apps but failed in a third. The solution was obscure.
Extends support for the new feature in Big Sur to make Time Machine backups to APFS volumes.
Gives extensive information about your Mac, whether Intel or Apple Silicon.
The Eclectic Light Company 