And small and large iMacs... oops, wait.
I think the larger iMac will return with an Mx and have the option to upgrade to an Mx Pro, but think they're waiting for the M3/M3 Pro for a more "modern" redesigned GPU.
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15-Inch MacBook Air Will Reportedly Have M2 Chip
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And small and large iMacs... oops, wait.
I think the larger iMac will return with an Mx and have the option to upgrade to an Mx Pro, but think they're waiting for the M3/M3 Pro for a more "modern" redesigned GPU.
Just really strange that they would release a stop gap with M2 then refresh again with M3. Why not just wait until M3 is ready? But I suspect Apple is just trying to making sure they can bump up revenue for the next quarter and work on users emotions where compulsive buying will get users like me to upgrade. Hopefully there are tech savvy users who already bought and M2 Air those who read this site will hold out for the M3 upgrade.
Not sure how anyone could imagine it would be any other way. M3 products are probably 1.5 years away.
Anyone needing a laptop should not be waiting for the next big thing. Current market offers performance, quality and features for virtually every need you may have.
The way technology progresses these days means there will always be a next-generation-anything coming up next year; there is no point of depriving yourself of the tool that you need in hopes for something better, unless you are into that trend of having the newest and shiniest product every year.
If it has a touch screen count me in.
Apple's rumored 15-inch MacBook Air will be equipped with the M2 chip, according to Taiwanese supply chain publication DigiTimes. The report claims the laptop will be released in the second quarter of 2023, which runs from April through June.
"Industry sources said the 15-inch MacBook Air began mass production after the Lunar New Year and is expected to be released in the second quarter," the report reads.
Apple already updated the 13-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip in July 2022. The chip is manufactured based on TSMC's second-generation 5nm process and is considered by some industry observers to be a stopgap until the 3nm-based M3 chip is ready. TSMC began mass production of 3nm chips in December.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo last year claimed that a new 15-inch MacBook with M2 and M2 Pro chip options would be released in the second quarter of 2023 or later. Kuo said this MacBook might not have Air branding.
The report's sources believe that Apple could update the MacBook Air again with the M3 chip in the second half of 2023. It would be unusual for Apple to update the MacBook Air twice in such a short timeframe, but it is certainly possible. The sources said the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models were originally expected to be equipped with 3nm chips, but the M2 Pro and M2 Max are ultimately 5nm chips still.
This information comes just one day after display industry analyst Ross Young said Apple's supply chain started production of display panels for a 15-inch MacBook Air this month. Young estimated that the new MacBook Air will launch in "early April," which would be at the beginning of the second quarter timeframe reported today.
A new 15-inch display size would be the largest ever for the MacBook Air. The laptop has been offered in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes over the years.
Article Link: 15-Inch MacBook Air Will Reportedly Have M2 Chip
Whatever chip they put in there will be fine with me
I'm more concerned about the screen quality
I'm more concerned about the screen quality
No such thing as a dumb question my friend! Although you are correct that it can’t really be answered at this time… at least not without making some assumptions.
To answer your second question first, we know the M1 Pro is faster than the M2 for multi-core and graphics. However, the M2 beats the M1 Pro in terms of single core performance and efficiency.
Now when it comes to the M3, we can’t make any assumptions based on the M1 or M2 family since the M3 will bring 3nm and we aren’t sure which direction Apple will go (3nm can allow them to boost performance at the same efficiency - maintaining performance and boost efficiency or some combination of both). CPU wise, we don’t know if apple will adjust the core count or increase the clock speed. GPU wise, there’s a lot of speculation that Apple could introduce GPU hardware raytracing and we’ve already seen them make some much needed adjustments to the GPU performance on the M2 Pro and M2 Max (the scaling is much better). In general I think it’s safe to assume the base M3 will be efficiency focused while the Pro/ Max/ Ultra/ Extreme??? will focus on raw performance.
With that in mind, I’d assume the base M3 will have enough upgrades from both another year of silicon development and the advantages of 3nm to give it an edge over the M2 Pro for CPU task. For GPU task, the M2 Pro will probably still beat the base M3 with the exception of task that make use of raytracing.
That’s my best guess for now. We will know more come fall.
Or bu
Which is the biggest benefit of switching to the M3 3nm. The M3 would not be an "Overclocked M1", so presumably it could run at a slower clock speed, eliminating thermal issues, while giving equal or better performance and/or battery life than the M2. They don't have to run MacBook Air's and Pro's at the same clock speed. They can be optimized for different use cases. They could do like other computer manufacturers do and offer different clock speeds for the same model so customers could buy what they need. Need 24 hour battery life, buy the slower clock option...
Exactly. M3 3nm gives Apple more options, but we can't know which configuration decisions they are going to make.
Right?
No clue why any of this is confusing for some folks
It's going to be a 13" MBA...
...with a 15" screen and a $200 price hike across the board
Given that one of reports mentioned Macbook Air "series" it could as well be that Apple released two sizes of regular Macbooks, not as thin and light as Air, yet not as heavy and not with as many ports as Pro.
As for cost - it shouldnt add as much cost as 16.2 Pro did to 14.2, it was miniLED afterall, while these Macbooks are all going to be with cheaper, regular LED IPS panels. That is, until Apple transitions to OLED and microLED after that.
Why do you "need the M3 chip.." ?? We literally know zero about M3, and MBA is the low end, so why would an MBA buyer need newer/stronger generation M3 when M2 already is capable of far, far above low end needs?
Note I see lots of reasons for M2 over M1, because M2 is IMO an important evolution at all levels. And M1 is now old tech.
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I think the only Mac to get the M3 this year will be the Mac Pro. That way Apple assures that the specs for it will be far and away better than the latest MacBook Pros in single and multi scores with every iteration and maintaining generational lead ahead of the rest of the Macs. Giving early adaptors of these likely expensive machines bragging rights and giving pundits something to chew on. While also giving them the time to ramp up in higher volume and yield rates for the mass market machines.
..also from a PR standpoint, it looks far better when a MacBook Air adopts powerful chips previously found only in the most powerful Macs, than a powerful Mac running a spec'ed up MacBook Air chips.
..also from a PR standpoint, it looks far better when a MacBook Air adopts powerful chips previously found only in the most powerful Macs, than a powerful Mac running a spec'ed up MacBook Air chips.
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What "stop gap?" M2 far exceeds MBA needs in every respect. There is literally nothing new the (low end of Mac laptops) MBAs should need from M3. Better to get great MBA pricing thanks to better M2 yields. M3 will take months for yields to reach where M2 is now.
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Not true. It makes far more sense to upgrade early in a cycle to live with the newer tech for the 3-6 year life of a new box.
It has nothing to do with "trend of having the newest and shiniest product every year." Obviously if an old box breaks, that requites buy now. But most folks buy every 3-6 years, and it makes total sense to wait and upgrade early in a cycle. Only exception being if sufficiently large (IMO not lust small discounts) discounting of older product presents.
This is one reason I was also happy to pick up and M2 Max MacBook Pro when they were announced in January. As cool as an M3 Pro/Max would have been, the M2 Max is a beast of a chip, still pretty efficient (especially compared to the computer it's replacing) and it didn't come with a price hike that the M3 series is expected to come with. This new MacBook Pro should last me many years.
It will be:
- Faster
- More efficient - which means longer battery life
- Support for more memory
You might say, but the target user for this form factor doesn't need this. But the fact is, it an option if at purchase you might want a little bit more horse power or memory. Case in point, the Air comes started with 8 GBs of RAM, but you upgrade to 16 or 24 GBs. Or the Mac Mini has an option for an M2 Pro.
I have a m1 and while I would like to upgrade, there is no reason for me too. What I would like is if M3 finally supported multi-monitor display without going to a pro model. Wouldn't that be a wonder thing.
Yep. Get rid of that stupid SD card slot and give another USB-C slot so I still have one on that side if I use the existing one for power...
You can also add 5 of it for 50 dollars. What's your point?
You think it's fun to carry a laptop of 5 dongles?
It depends on how you define "simple".
To me, a SD card slot without needing to carry extra dongles is called simple.