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First M2 Macs Expected to Launch Later This Year Using TSMC's 4nm Chip Process
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If the M2 comes late enough in the year I could see it being based on the A16 instead of the A15.
Good point. By the time the Mac Pros with M1 Whatever arrive it'll be close to two years, as Apple originally announced. It'll be a good question whether they do go to an annual SOC refresh with a two-year refresh on major hardware changes (like iPhone design), or whether they do a two-year cycle on the SOC.M series has already exceeded annually. It’s very rare for Macs to be updated on a yearly basis. Even iPads isn’t quite that.
If it is a two-year SOC cycle, it argues that the M2 will be based on A-16 rather than A-15 (just as M1 and A14 were released at the same time).
Why any brand name? Studio is the only new nameplate added recently. Pro, Air, mini... all time-honored names. So I don't think it's labyrinthine at all. Especially when you consider the iMac Pro has been retired.
I like the Studio naming for the product line aimed towards high performance creatives. We've had far too many debates here about what "Pro" means, with the creative pros claiming Pro only applies to their form of professionalism, and ignoring what a wide range of other professionals might need (or not need). So I say, send the creatives to the Studio!
I felt Apple was pretty explicit that this was, in fact, their replacement for the iMac Pro. A much better setup, in my opinion. Monitors tend to outlast the usefulness of the computers they are attached to. The all in one form factor is really only useful for home PCs where people buy them and use them until they either fail or become unusable.
Given . . . everything, I think the Mac Pro might get previewed at WWDC but not actually introduced into the fall. Exactly this strategy has happened before. And if so, the Mac Pro can be based on a high-end variant of the M2. And then we can see the iPads Pro, Mac mini, iMac, and Macbook or Macbook Air (whatever the nomenclature is) all based on M2 introduced in the fall. Around the same time as the iPhone 14 with the A16. This would allow for use of the same architecture (Arm v9) for both, along with 4nm allowing for greater numbers of gpu cores, higher performance, and lower energy consumption.
At this point in the cycle—assuming A16 is taped out now with scale production in the summer—what is the real benefit of a M2 based on A15? If it were to be released mid year, you would have exactly one quarter before people would be clamoring for an M3 based on A16. I could have potentially seen it if such a M2 based on A15 was released late last year or at this last event a couple days ago. But that clearly didn‘t happen.
A16 performance cores are likely to just be 4nm versions of A15's performance cores, so what difference would it make?
Power usage, performance, and core counts to start. But you are not quite correct. ARM v8 vs v9 comes into play, too. That alone may be around a 30% performance difference if everything else is held steady—not to mention security enhancements.
No, ARMv9 won't increase performance 30%. That's absurd. There's hardly anything different about ARMv9.
And you missed my point. M2 is going to have 4nm version of the performance cores from A15. So is A16. Same cores, on the same node.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Exactly this.
For more than a decade, I was a HUGE fan of a few iMacs... not just for fun/personal but also for business. Having a big screen with both macOS and Windows inside was tremendously useful to me. However, with the tech guts conking, I lost all of the pieces: best macOS machine, best Windows machine and my best monitor.
So, I was very committed to the idea that my next purchase would NOT be an iMac no matter what Apple rolled out. Beyond that, I also decided I wanted a screen bigger than 27" too. With Silicon basically killing bootcamp (I doubt Windows ARM will come to Mac, I doubt Apple will make a new bootcamp for Silicon if it does, etc), I decided to "build my own bootcamp" the PowerPC Mac way with a separate PC purchase too. I didn't want 2 monitors so I shopped for the kind that can attach more than one computer to them and instantly switch back & forth... more like using Parallels than bootcamp, minus the annual subscription fee.
Besides, while iMac started out as "all in one," it evolved into "much in one" + various kind of dongles. Optical drive got jettisoned out to its own box. Given Apple prices, many probably added some external storage in its own box. So late Intel iMac 27" was already a computer with several big "dongles" attached to it.
Studio is small iMac guts to which the same big dongles can be attached. The new dongle is a screen and the choice there is not limited to only 2 offerings from Apple but ANY screen- or screens- from any source.
- Want bigger than Apple would have decided for you in an iMac? You can have bigger.
- Want an ultra-wide "iMac"? You can have one now.
- Want an iMac with a screen that can rotate for portrait mode? You can have that.
- Want one with more than just Thunderbolt/USB-C ports in it? That too
- Want one with a KVM switch so you could hook 2 or three other things to it and use it as a monitor for them too? That too.
- Want one that has an adjustable height stand, tip forward & back, rotate AND the low-cost, any third-party VESA mount option? That too. (with no extra cost of size- like $400??? nor need to decide up front the one and only choice you have to use for life of device)
However, my new screen might be my Mac (and Windows) screen for the next 2 or 3 computer upgrades. A good screen can easily last and work well for 8, 10 maybe even 12 years.
Did we lose something with no iMac 27"? Yes- a very simple, great version of a Mac. But in that was a bunch of absolute decisions a corporation was making for every buyer... along with the terrible waste at the end when one part conks, making the whole thing unusable. Now, there is a better way... customizable to whatever anyone would want in an iMac... courtesy of only one new "dongle."
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Yes, but again, no matter what, I was going screen-less Mac anyway. I did not want to have screen hard married to hardware that would ultimately not keep up with macOS upgrades or conk out. And since I must have Windows for projects too, I didn't want to go to 2 screens or an iMac plus a Windows laptop.
So I'll take the brick to kill several other birds with one stone. Maybe it can be- effectively- that stone?
Based on rumors ahead of the event, I was ready to lay out the cash for the rumored Mac Mini with M1 MAX. So I'd have the roughly 8X8 part either way.
My first Mac was PowerMac G4, a relative-sized MONSTER that would probably be about 4-5 high X 2 stacks of Studios in equivalent desk or floor space. From that perspective, this thing is TINY.
And, if I had the patience to wait a little longer, I suspect at least Mac Mini M1/2 PRO will still show up later this year, to replace the "high end" Intel Mac Mini still in the store. In my case, my best working Mac is almost dead, so I needed to buy something ASAP. Backup was MBpro 16" to almost entirely use in clamshell mode. But that would need much MORE deskspace and I already have a MBpro.
So I'll take the brick to kill several other birds with one stone. Maybe it can be- effectively- that stone?
Based on rumors ahead of the event, I was ready to lay out the cash for the rumored Mac Mini with M1 MAX. So I'd have the roughly 8X8 part either way.
My first Mac was PowerMac G4, a relative-sized MONSTER that would probably be about 4-5 high X 2 stacks of Studios in equivalent desk or floor space. From that perspective, this thing is TINY.
And, if I had the patience to wait a little longer, I suspect at least Mac Mini M1/2 PRO will still show up later this year, to replace the "high end" Intel Mac Mini still in the store. In my case, my best working Mac is almost dead, so I needed to buy something ASAP. Backup was MBpro 16" to almost entirely use in clamshell mode. But that would need much MORE deskspace and I already have a MBpro.
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If this true what a mess of line-up! I hope this is exceptional due to the migration to intel, and everything will be more stable and predictable once the migration is done. It's really confusing and difficult to buy a Mac nowadays.
If the macbook air has an M1 I'll robably just get a macbook pro on sale.
If it goes negative your mac is going through a black hole and being stretched to infinite length. At least if that happens people will quit complaining that Apple is ripping them off.
There is going to be no 27" iMac Pro. They pretty much said it in the event on Tuesday -- that the modular approach is better for pros.
However I do expect the regular 24" iMac to get an M1 Pro processor upgrade option. Probably also the iPad Pros will jump to M1 Pro to distinguish from the Air.
However I do expect the regular 24" iMac to get an M1 Pro processor upgrade option. Probably also the iPad Pros will jump to M1 Pro to distinguish from the Air.
The below are not absolute definitions, but I think it offers a generalized breakdown:
"Consumer Macs"
MacBook Air
Mac mini
iMac
"Prosumer / Professional Macs"
MacBook Pro
Mac Studio
Mac Pro
It’s all in the naming, most people think M2 is out, but all they did with Mac Studio (Mac mini), put two M1 chips next to each other and called it Ultra. I’d rather wait, I hope I can, for M2 on an iMac. I would rather have the option to add as much Ram as the Mac Studio of 128GB. It might have 4 or 6 speakers.
Apple thru the years has brainwashed us with names like mini, Max, Pro, ultra etc…
Man, if anyone’s giving away a 5k 27 inch Mac because the logic board conked out, let me know! I have ideas!
I dunno if I’d want to be in transistor debt to Apple! On the serious side, the next smaller unit is angstroms (Å).