First Arm-Based Macs to Be 13-Inch MacBook Pro and Redesigned iMac, Launches Coming in Late 2020 or Early 2021

[boss.king]

Pros can't Count On on the Arm-based computer to get their work done.

Why not? Between now and late 2021, there's more than enough time for companies to include ARM support in their software (especially if Apple gives them reasonable access to good dev tools). And failing that, they'd likely still be selling Intel Mac's for a while, so other developers can have a chance to catch up.

 

[cmaier]

Discontinuing the Intel 13" MBP so soon after a fairly major refresh seems a bit drastic. A 12" model with one USB-C port would have been a bit more predictable - I'd be interested to see they replace 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports - never mind the 2 in the 15w version.

The same goes for a '24" ARM iMac' - connectivity wise that's a lot of ports to replicate.

As already mentioned though, going Pro from the start is very much a big statement to make.

The rumor is talking end of the year or early next, so it’s not that soon.
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I hope they keep it the same thickness... I want to see them significantly boost performance and battery life now and not try to put a thermal cap on these new Arm chips

We were talking bout iMac, so battery life isn‘t an issue.

 

[travod]

Yo, I do not pay attention nor do any research (aka Googling)

I've "heard" (don't know where from) that transition away from Intel will make already poor gaming selection even worse. Is that true? Aware of the transition to newest Mac OS broke old 32 bit games. Is it on that scale? Or fake news?

 

[dogslobber]

Tim: Good morning. It's great to not be here. We've got a packed show today so on with the news. I am stepping down as CEO and Scott Forstall is returning in my place. Scott!

Scott: Thanks, Tim. Apple needs a hard reset to its core competencies. We will be focusing on the Macs as our primary revenue generator from this point forward. Next, we will jettison parts of the business that we don't need by selling the Apple Watch business to Google. We will also be reintroducing the 4" iPhone as the next generation model. Customers love the 4" version. We plan to do a hard reset of Mac OS X. Yes, macOS is no more. We will be going back to the 10.6.8 code base and restarting development from there with everything in the years after deprecated. Finally, we will be EOL'ing the language SWIFT and moving back to Objective C.

Scott: Enough of that so let's focus on Mac transitions. 15 years ago...

 

[Falhófnir]

This is getting a bit all over the place again, I wonder if Apple is deliberately leaking several versions of what's happening to try and catch leakers out?

 

[pcdtech]

I find it interesting that they’d put an ARM chip in the 13.3” MBP without, at least, increasing the screen size. I’m in the market for a new MBP, and while I’m excited to see the benefits of ARM, I would not pull the trigger on the current model design. I’m holding out for reduced bezels and mini LED.

 

[cmaier]

Kuo says performance will be 50% to 100% higher than the Intel equivalent.

Would be nice if I finally no longer had to explain to everyone on here over and over again that Arm (and RISC) have inherent advantages over x86 (and CISC) - it takes up half my day

 

[UltimateSyn]

Huh? 13.3” as in they’re going to update it again and transition it to ARM and still won’t make the display 14”??

It would also be very messy / confusing if one size of the MBP ran ARM and another ran Intel. They need to transition them at the same time IMO.

 

[Yaboze]

Not excited, because, you know, the whole first generation of new Apple technology thing.

 

[cmaier]

I find it interesting that they’d put an ARM chip in the 13.3” MBP without, at least, increasing the screen size. I’m in the market for a new MBP, and while I’m excited to see the benefits of ARM, I would not pull the trigger on the current model design. I’m holding out for reduced bezels and mini LED.

Yeah, the screen size thing is fishy to me too. Why would they keep the dated bezel design?
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Not excited, because, you know, the whole first generation of new Apple technology thing.

First gen iPhone was pretty great. Airpods too. And iPad.

 

[Pman17]

I don't understand why they would release another Intel iMac if they plan to completely switch over to Arm. Why draw out the transition longer?

They did this going from PowerPC to Intel.

 

[mannyvel]

I was hoping the Mini would be the first to go ARM. A small, unobtrusive appliance-like device would be a great way to exercise the ecosystem. Heck, if they had xcode on it it would become an easy developer entrypoint. Maybe that just makes too much sense.

 

[macsplusmacs]

I was hoping the Mini would be the first to go ARM. A small, unobtrusive appliance-like device would be a great way to exercise the ecosystem. Heck, if they had xcode on it it would become an easy developer entrypoint. Maybe that just makes too much sense.

and getting the price down for $499 would be awesome

 

[smulji]

I’m reading on other sites that what Kuo said is that the iMac will be imminently updated (design) with Intel, and then early next year make the switch to Arm.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1274738262884655104

 

[Heelpir8]

I was hoping the Mini would be the first to go ARM. A small, unobtrusive appliance-like device would be a great way to exercise the ecosystem. Heck, if they had xcode on it it would become an easy developer entrypoint. Maybe that just makes too much sense.

Sounds too consumer friendly. Tim would never allow it.

 

[Dhock_Holiday]

Not sure about this leak, I don't see them starting the ARM transition with the 13 inch MacBook Pro, if anything they should start with the 12 inch MacBook and then the MacBook Air.

 

[UBS28]

This is the reason why I bought the 2020 13" MacBook Pro. It is last 13" MacBook Pro that is good.

There will be so much software drama on the ARM MacBook Pro. Even the switch to 64-bit only has not been great. I run Windows to use software that was working under OS X before in 32-bit.

 

[jetjaguar]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1274738262884655104

yikes .. this sucks if it's true

 

[Shirasaki]

All I know is I’m going to rely on second hand market to buy Intel Mac from now on. I don’t really “need” VM support but 32 bit is huge (locked behind High Sierra), and some Windows action would be nice too.

As for ARM Mac, I still believe Apple will phase out Mac lineup entirely once iPad Pro manages to catch up with professional use of some more occupations. I just don’t see the point of maintaining a Mac lineup that’s based on A-series chip when iPad Pro also has A-series chip (albeit less powerful) and equally powerful in practical use.

Edit: when I say iPad will replace Mac, I should’ve also mentioned that iPad need no Active cooling solution at all. Imagine a MacBook Pro with no active cooling and with tons of horsepower. That would be a very tempting machine for a lot of people, because it’s absolutely quiet, and can still handle some heavy tasks (definitely not running Cinebench all day long lol).

 

[cmaier]

I was hoping the Mini would be the first to go ARM. A small, unobtrusive appliance-like device would be a great way to exercise the ecosystem. Heck, if they had xcode on it it would become an easy developer entrypoint. Maybe that just makes too much sense.

given that the primary advantages of this transition is blazing speed (50%-100% higher than intel) and low power consumption, a MBP makes perfect sense.

 

[nordique]

Jern is my go to guy now. Sorry Kuo.

kuo isn’t a leaker though

kuo is an analyst. He’s pretty much Always on the money minus things that can get lost in translation.

also What JP said about possible no hardware Tom does not conflict with this, as other sites have other translation interpretations and this is more of a roadmap indication

 

[smulji]

yikes .. this sucks if it's true

Usually that means Apple has a lot of other important stuff that they need to talk about. By all accounts WWDC this year is expected to be a big one, even without hardware.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I’m on board for an ARM MBP, but I’ll be disappointed if it’s not a 14” with smaller bezels.

 

[smulji]

He’s pretty much Always on the money

No, he's not. He's wrong a lot.

 

[cmaier]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1274738262884655104

Not sure the relevance of this - even if they don’t announce specific hardware, they will announce Arm. And these rumors are talking about machines being released Q4 or Q1 next year, so no reason to “announce” them now.

All I expected them to talk about tomorrow is how to develop for Arm - (i.e. what to use as a development machine)