M-Series Quick Start
This book both teaches you about how the M-series chips work and the differences they have from Intel processors, and offers insight into areas like battery life, backups, security, and recovery. You can read most of the book in any order.
Start with background:
It’s useful to understand how the M-series chips work and how Apple baked security right into the chip; see How Apple Silicon Works and How Security Is Baked In
Learn about the extended battery life with M-series Macs and how to measure and manage it; see Work with Extended Battery Life
Prepare for and recover from problems:
Understand how backups work in Big Sur with an M-series chip; see Back Up Your M-Series Mac
Get to know recoveryOS, the new special boot option for reinstalling macOS, controlling security, and more; see Understand recoveryOS
Dig into Security:
Figure out whether FileVault’s extra protections work for you; see Protect a Drive with FileVault
Learn about Big Sur’s extra protections for system files; see Protect a Drive with FileVault
Modify system security for specific purposes; see Protect a Drive with FileVault
Run Something Different:
Most iOS and iPadOS apps can be installed and run on an M-series Mac; see Launch iOS and iPadOS Apps on Your Mac
You can run a pre-release version of Windows that works on M-series processors today; see Install and Use Windows