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Apple Already Working On iMac With 'M3' Chip, iMac Pro Also Under Development But Won't Launch Anytime Soon
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???
So we are getting a 13", 14" and 16" MBP's!???
I'm going to predict that Apple is coming with MBA's, MBP's and MB's in 11",12",13",14",15",16",17" and lets throw in an 18" for fun. All with M1,M2,M3,M4 and M5 at the same time in a notebook, so users can switch.
I've looked at the current Mac line and don't see my next Mac in it yet. That would probably be a future Mac Mini with whatever improvements Apple make to it (but definitely sorting out any Bluetooth and wi-fi issues). My computer usage doesn't require the oomph of a Mac Studio and I've used laptops for so long I think I'm ready for a desktop set-up again. I might consider a revised iMac with a bigger screen – I actually liked the classic Intel iMac design; I think it has 'bedded in' well over the years and now says 'Apple' more than any other of their range of products. In recent weeks I even looked at a 2020 Intel iMac (it had a hefty price reduction) and likewise a Mac Mini (with a good price reduction). Managed to resist though. I really don't need one right now. Next year probably.
Them settling into a 1 year cycle would make sense to me. Similar to how you have i3, i5, i7, and i9 from Intel you’ll have M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra from Apple (just upgrade the number each year) with the M2 skew being for MBA’s, Mini’s, and iMacs, the Pro and a max being for MBP’s (and hopefully iMac Pro’s) then the Max and Ultra being for the Studio. Then once the Mac Pro drops you have it representing the Ultra and whatever the hell they call the one that’s just 2 ultras stuck together.
Maybe that happens every 2 years instead of 1 depending how much they think they can sell (M2 in the first year, Pro, Max, Ultra in year 2) but I think regardless that’s the lineup we’ll be seeing. A distinct difference between “here is your consumer computer and here is your workstation computer” which is a line Apple has always struggled to find and differentiate.
IMO Apple should tread carefully with the M5.
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It's news like this that makes people second guess their purchases and attempt to wait for the 'newer model'. You end up chasing 'the best' and wait forever.
In reality, the M3 could be several years away yet, although you'll get those who put off a purchase and want to wait. By that time we'll see news on the M5 being tested! lol
I've already ordered my M1 Max and intend to keep it for many years to come - as long as it keeps doing what I need it to do!
What Apple should do is release all variants of the M2 together, including the Pro and Max. It will get 'messy' and confusing for many users when the M2 is released and people assume it is the best chip available, better then the M1 Pro and Max, for instance. That may not be the case at all.....
In reality, the M3 could be several years away yet, although you'll get those who put off a purchase and want to wait. By that time we'll see news on the M5 being tested! lol
I've already ordered my M1 Max and intend to keep it for many years to come - as long as it keeps doing what I need it to do!
What Apple should do is release all variants of the M2 together, including the Pro and Max. It will get 'messy' and confusing for many users when the M2 is released and people assume it is the best chip available, better then the M1 Pro and Max, for instance. That may not be the case at all.....
First, the lower-end Macs are probably the real money-spinners, selling in the largest quantities and more likely to benefit from "impulse buys" or customers who "must" have the latest model. Also, ultra-slim battery-powered devices are where Apple Silicon has the clearest advantage over the competition - it all gets a bit more nuanced with the higher-end Macs. I wouldn't be surprised to see "first laptop in its class with 24 hour battery life" cropping up as a headline before long.
Then, the M1 Pro/Max/Ultra variants aren't just about number of CPU cores - they support more RAM, more ports, more external displays and have hardware video codec units not present on the regular M1. I'd expect the M2 to have similar limitations to the regular M1 in that respect (even if the new LPDDR tech will support more RAM in theory, Apple don't have to offer 32GB versions of the regular M2 esp. if the highest-density RAM chips are expensive).
My guess is that the regular M2 - with faster single-core speeds and an extra GPU core as rumoured - will match or beat the 8 CPU/14GPU "binned" M1 Pro and give the 10/16 Pro a run for its money when it comes to general performance. The M1 Max should be safer as even the lowest 10/24 Max has substantially more CPU and GPU cores than the M2.
However, some people will still want the 14" MBP for the bigger/better screen, extra ports and video codecs, and Apple could always quietly "bump" the base model to the full 10/16 core M1 Pro. Could also be why the (rumoured) M1 Pro Mini (allegedly) got axed - too late in the day to release new M1 Pro machines.
OTOH, releasing a M2 Pro/Max/Ultra variant (even if they are ready to launch) in the next quarter or so would really tick off people who have just bought a brand new Mac Studio. I don't think that would have been released in March if M2 Max/Ultra were imminent.
For anyone interested in RISC SoC manufacturing… it is broken into three major parts… design, improvement, and fabrication. A Design is picked from the ARM roadmap, it is improved and specialized for the needs of the user, than fabricated to the specialized design.
Ex.
ARM—>APPLE—>TSMC
or
ARM—>nVidia—>TSMC
Apple now says they “design their own chips“, but really they have adapted the ARM roadmap internally as a company: and use past advancements they developed and aren’t available to other companies in addition to the ARM design as their new starting point(mainly their work on the neural engine).
Samsung has tried to do this with their own line of chips, but the results have only been marginally better to worse then the base ARM designs. nVidia with the X1: is probably the best non-apple success story, but it was extremely expensive to produce, and now that the ARM deal is dead; I’ve heard rumors that the expense to profit margin for nVidia on the X2 and additional chips in the near future(next 10 years), could ultimately bankrupt the company… Might end up being the story of the company who pushed their roadmap too fast, with disregard to what the overall costs of implementing it was.
Ex.
ARM—>APPLE—>TSMC
or
ARM—>nVidia—>TSMC
Apple now says they “design their own chips“, but really they have adapted the ARM roadmap internally as a company: and use past advancements they developed and aren’t available to other companies in addition to the ARM design as their new starting point(mainly their work on the neural engine).
Samsung has tried to do this with their own line of chips, but the results have only been marginally better to worse then the base ARM designs. nVidia with the X1: is probably the best non-apple success story, but it was extremely expensive to produce, and now that the ARM deal is dead; I’ve heard rumors that the expense to profit margin for nVidia on the X2 and additional chips in the near future(next 10 years), could ultimately bankrupt the company… Might end up being the story of the company who pushed their roadmap too fast, with disregard to what the overall costs of implementing it was.
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It's unlikely, but if they ship a larger iMac and/or an iMac Pro, I hope they offer a height adjustable option like on the studio display. I know it would likely add $400, but it's a much more elegant solution than a stand or a pile of books. And no one would be *required* to buy it...
Well, people could apply a bit of common sense: Apple haven't even officially announced the M2 yet, and it's hugely unlikely that they'd announce the M3 less than a year after the M2. And the only data points we have so far are that the M1 is about 18 months old, the M1 Pro/Max variants came out about 10 months after the M1, and the M1 Ultra is less than 2 months old... So, basically, forget the M3 for the moment.
For the M2, I'd guess that the "big money" machines will get them first - which means the MacBook Air for the regular M2 and the 14/16" MacBook Pro for the M2 Pro/Max. Minis and iMacs are unlikely to get M2 before the MBA.
M1 MBA, Mini, 13" MBP are all old enough for an imminent update to M2 to be plausible - but the US "back to school" season is looming and Apple probably don't want to announce the M2 MBA unless they can have it in the shops, in quantity, by then. So even that might get bumped to Q4, or even next year. Now is not the time to buy one of those if you really must have the latest processor - but if that's your priority you probably bought one in November 2020.
There was one rumour about a re-designed MacBook Air using an M1 still being in the pipeline. Which may sound silly to the folks here but, frankly, the Air is Apple's mass-market consumer laptop and for a huge swathe of that market, the M1 is more than fast enough for their needs and having "this years colours" will be more important.
I think the dilemma is really if you were waiting for a M1 Pro Mini or low-end 5k iMac and looking for something between a M1 Mini and a Studio Max. A M2 Mini or 24" iMac could plug that gap.
Best bet there would be to get a VESA mount version (it's already an option for the Studio Display) and your choice of third-party VESA stand.
According to an undisclosed source, Gurman will have more reports on Apple’s M2. The source said it is not out of the question Gurman will then speculate about the M3. The source added, Gurman will make a surprise move and also set his sites on the M4, possibly in late 2022 or early 2023.
Why does anyone need this to be reported? A company obviously has to develop a product before it can be released.
It's quality articles like these that keep ad-blockers enabled on this site. And if I ever see a product I'd be interested in, I'll google search it before clicking any links.
It's quality articles like these that keep ad-blockers enabled on this site. And if I ever see a product I'd be interested in, I'll google search it before clicking any links.
I guess that 5k@27" display panels - which only Apple uses - have just become too expensive to bundle with $1800 iMacs. I don't think "loss leader" is the right term - Apple doesn't do the "l" word - more like "reduced profit-margin-leader", but getting that display for that price was always absurd value for money by Apple standards.
If you look to the high-end iMacs and iMac Pro - by the time you added 32GB or 64GB RAM they cost as much, if not more than a Mac Studio/Studio Display combo (if you consider the Studio Max as comparable to the best iMac and Studio Ultra to the 18-core iMac Pro).
A new high-end iMac/iMac Pro probably wouldn't be viable alongside the Studio. The "hole" is where the sub-$2500 iMacs used to be - but then there is the 24" iMac which has a larger, better screen than the old 21.5" and a more capable processor, which will take up some of the former low-end 27" iMac sales.
Also, yes, the current iMac Display is 5 years old and still beats any display that has a price instead of a phone number. The Studio Display is, at best, only a minor improvement. Which is good - but, as they say, "Past performance does not guarantee future results" - especially with mini LED, micro LED, 8k and other technologies in the pipeline. Buying an iMac always carried the risk that the computer would be obsolete before the display - today, buying an iMac that didn't have some sort of next-generation display technology would also carry the risk that the display would be obsolete before the computer. Also, while 5k is the best that doesn't mean that 4k can't be very good and there is a lot more choice of screen sizes & formats with third-party displays.
...usually because Apple paid the producers to use them.
Look forward to future TV shows having Studio Displays or Pro XDR Displays on desktops that magically work without a computer connected. Just think of it as the tech equivalent of the sort of New York apartments that waitresses in 1990s sitcoms could apparently afford....
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
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That’s pretty impressive. Working way ahead of the schedule. I can't even imagine the performance it's going to bring.
I for one, will never buy another iMac (or other all-in-one). There was a time when all of the cables were different and getting everything hooked up and working was a mess. But now we have (or should have) one cable standard (USB-C) and it is not rocket science to hook things up. So unless Apple produces a modular system, I am not interested an all in one desktop computer. CPUs still go out of style long before displays. Drive capacity need to replaced more often than both CPUs and displays. Etc.
Especially since the iMac does not have any front facing inputs. How lame. I have to walk around my desk or slide the computer forward to insert a USB drive. How unfriendly.
Especially since the iMac does not have any front facing inputs. How lame. I have to walk around my desk or slide the computer forward to insert a USB drive. How unfriendly.
This me exactly. I bought the last intel MBP simply because I did not see any road to windows on Apple silicon. Maybe I am wrong, but in the business world there are too many requirements for Windows.
Now I know what you are thinking, everything is in the cloud so what difference does it make which hardware you use. It makes a big difference when you work on sensitive stuff that is not allowed in the cloud. It makes a bid difference when Safari does not work well in the cloud. So for teenagers and college students Apple silicon works great. But there is an important class of people for which Apple silicon has forced them solidly back to Windows hardware.
