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Apple Testing Four New M4 Macs Ahead of Fall Launch
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I wish Apple would just bring back Front Row in MacOS and allow auto loading into it at boot.
essentially appify TvOS features. So we could have the easy benefits of TvOS and the flexibility & power of MacOS
I find this rumor to be very intriguing. That there won’t be M4pro Mac mini. That (based on the M3Pro chip) the Mpro chips are more about reduced power consumption, higher emphasis on e-core vs p-cores, and are even more dedicated for laptops. And the baseline M4 chip does seem highly capable.
I am not convinced Apple will go this route, the MPro chips Mac mini does fill a gap between mini and studio. And provides another platform to use Mpro chips. But it is an interesting speculation. I am just undecided.
M4 having the IO of M3 pro might just be a way to satisfy the folks complaining they can't attach two screens to their M3s (Air, Mini, low-end MBP, iMac), and doesn't necessarily mean they're scrapping the M4 Pro.
Right now the base M chip is more CPU power than most people will need, but they're forced to upgrade to get ports. Making more ports available on the lower-end chips may mean people don't need upgrade, but that's balanced by also enticing new price conscious customers into the Apple ecosystem. The upgrades to base RAM would help here too. It could be a sign that the higher-end chips will be becoming even higher-end (with even higher-end pricing to go with it).
Right now the base M chip is more CPU power than most people will need, but they're forced to upgrade to get ports. Making more ports available on the lower-end chips may mean people don't need upgrade, but that's balanced by also enticing new price conscious customers into the Apple ecosystem. The upgrades to base RAM would help here too. It could be a sign that the higher-end chips will be becoming even higher-end (with even higher-end pricing to go with it).
The m4 pro could be slotted in at the bottom of the Mac Studio range, assuming the io fits the ports available.
This would allow a redesigned mini to become smaller without having to manage a higher TDP or needing as powerful a PSU as per rumour.
That said, the m3 pro did pivot towards efficiency making the gap to m3 max bigger.
They’d have announced that at wwdc if it were coming back though.
If they did that, the base Studio would remain the same price, just with a cheaper to manufacture chip.
No one has hard numbers, but rumours suggest that dropping Intel, while charging customers MORE at the same time, has seen a huge profit boost for the company.
Mac mini price has bounced up and down all over the place from $800 to $500 doing a quick check. Paying an extra $100 for 16 rather than 8GB in base model would make me happy. Maybe next years version sells for less. My M1 and M2 versions with 8GB have served me well and happy I didn’t pay for more RAM, but the time for 16GB as base has come.
Same as always.
We'll get the base M4 first, likely this fall, then we'll get the Pro and Max, and then we'll get Ultra right before the base M5 is announced. You're likely looking at spring or summer '25 for your Pro or Max, and you're likely looking at around a year from now for your Ultra.
OP doesn’t always mean the original article. It can mean the original post or poster within the smaller context of a specific conversation.
I don’t know if their or your claim about upgrade pricing is true, I was just clarifying what was being said. But as far as 8GB offerings in the price range, there are at least a couple examples of competitors doing the same.
You're not going to get a console killer with a GPU that anemic.
Apple does not make any gpu that could handle a modern console game
The best gpu that macos supports is still amd 6xxx
I know we all use our Macs differently and for our own needs, but I am so happy with my maxed out M3 iMac for making my silly little YouTube videos. Even if they did come out with an M4 one I don’t know if I would upgrade. I guess I would need to see if there’s other aspects of it improved. More than just CPU.
If they are changing the base spec to begin 512/16, even on the M4 Airs, that means they'll be increasing the price the amount they would have charged anyways to upgrade from 256/8. I suspect they're doing so because they saw that all Snapdragon X Plus and Elite laptops start at 512/16.
There is absolutely ZERO chance they're doing it for "free".
There is absolutely ZERO chance they're doing it for "free".
The cynical me would say they’re making the pro, max and ultra chips Mac Pro or iMac Pro exclusives.
But cynical me is not here right now so I’m not saying that.
I don’t know, this is pure guess work.
But Apple changing from start at 16GB instead of 8GB for the entry level RAM is as much of a change as Apple can handle in one model year. I haven’t observed any indication that the baseline storage will also increase. That the new lowest entry level will be 16/256. If you want 512 of storage that’s an extra $ for the next best standard configuration, possibly with additional cores and/or ports.
Apple does not seem to be strongly motivated by configurations offering competitors.
I wouldn’t bet on it, but making the chassis smaller would be a reasonable explanation. They’d have to either make it just big enough to fit the Pro, which was a bad idea for the 2013 Mac Pro, or make a special version just for the Pro, likely a taller one, which is perhaps more cost than they’re willing to spend.
Yes, there’d be a gap, but I think they’re OK with people needing to spend a little extra to get the Studio.
The mini already does two screens. The MacBooks also do two screens, just that one of them is the internal one.
Yeah, they might do a $1,599 Studio with M4 Pro.
I wouldn’t extrapolate too much based on the M3 Pro.
The M1 Pro, which I have, went the other way: only two e-cores makes it a little energy-inefficient.
I agree a unique Mac mini case just for an M4pro chip is an idea that is DOA. But no one has seen the new Mac mini case, it might be big enough for a heat sink and fan for an M4Pro chip or it might not. It is currently unknown, which makes it an intriguing discussion topic.
Similar to how the Mac Studio case is size for a heat sink and dual fans for the MUltra chip. Making it easy to use a MMax chip in the same case.
I was aware it's happened sometimes in the US, but it's usually not the case in the UK/EU, as I stated- far from it- your link contains US examples so doesn't contradict what I wrote.
Edit: By the way, I think you got yourself muddled about what OP means. I knew I'd never seen it used the way you'd described, but a quick Google also suggests you got the wrong end of the stick. I'm not denying it's ever been used in that way, just that it's not how it's typically used in a thread.
Right. I imagine it depends on sales figures. If >=30% of Mac minis sold have a Pro, they'll make that fit one way or the other. (As @sublunar said, the other approach would be to pull a MacBook Pro and simply take the Mac Studio chassis and offer that in a lower-end M4 Pro config.)
If <30% are configured that way, I can see them ditching it.
Yeah, but in that case, 1) they need the Max option just to have anything at all in the $2k/$3k desktop segment, and 2) they need the Ultra option for those who need something higher-end.
With the Mac mini, we saw the M1 line-up, where there simply was no desktop M1 Pro at all. You got the mini with M1, or you needed to upgrade all the way to the Studio with M1 Max. So it isn't unprecedented.
This kind of upsell isn't an unusual strategy. The iPhone also often does it (for example, with configurations where you can either get 64 GB storage, or 256 GB, but not the obvious 128 GB slice in between).