Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Four New MacBooks on Schedule for Launch in 2024

I am delighted that M3 Pro/Max are on schedule for Spring, but surely the M3 needs to come first?

Assuming we don't get a November surprise, I'm betting on M3 products (Air, base MBP, iMac) to be refreshed in the first half of the Spring keynote (March) and then the Vision Pro to have a lot of time, similar to the 2015 spring keynote which was a Mac/Watch keynote.

M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro and the M3 Mini then to follow as the hardware section of WWDC.

Hope I'm wrong! Desperately waiting for a new 16 inch MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 5 :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: harold.ji and Mr. Dee
Onimusha370 said:
I am delighted that M3 Pro/Max are on schedule for Spring, but surely the M3 needs to come first?

Assuming we don't get a November surprise, I'm betting on M3 products (Air, base MBP, iMac) to be refreshed in the first half of the Spring keynote (March) and then the Vision Pro to have a lot of time, similar to the 2015 spring keynote which was a Mac/Watch keynote.

M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro and the M3 Mini then to follow as the hardware section of WWDC.

Hope I'm wrong! Desperately waiting for a new 16 inch MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 5 :)
Click to expand...

April/June for M3, September/November for Pro/Max, and somewhere in between for iPad, that's how it'll go
 
gpat said:
April/June for M3, September/November for Pro/Max, and somewhere in between for iPad, that's how it'll go
Click to expand...
Good point, forgot about the iPad Pro! Given the redesign I think that will deffo be at a keynote rather than a press release, so maybe that gets some love in the Spring Vision Pro keynote. I'm still a bit sad we've not seen an M3 this side of Christmas, I was really hoping the back end of 2023 would be similar to the launches in late 2020 with the M1.
 
Onimusha370 said:
Good point, forgot about the iPad Pro! Given the redesign I think that will deffo be at a keynote rather than a press release, so maybe that gets some love in the Spring Vision Pro keynote. I'm still a bit sad we've not seen an M3 this side of Christmas, I was really hoping the back end of 2023 would be similar to the launches in late 2020 with the M1.
Click to expand...

If I could bet on something, it would probably be iPad Pro new form factor for WWDC 2024
 
PsykX said:
I thought M3 was going to be groundbreaking, but the latest iPhone chip is 3nm and only like 10% faster 🫣
Click to expand...
3nm was currently disappointing, but you gotta remember that the current 3nm chip is a first gen 3nm chip while the latest 4nm chip was the most optimized 5nm chip. i'd assume that by late 2024 or early 2025, tsmc 3nm will actually be good, or nvidia 50 series GPUs will sell very poorly
 
Rychiar said:
In a perfect world…. That would make so much more sense than putting out the low end first and making it confusing for pros… like how many people bought a Mac mini M2 while waiting for the Mac Studio m2 as some of the specs were so close or better than the m1max
Click to expand...

I’m no expert but my understanding is it just can’t work that way. You must design the simpler one first before you can go adding more transistors and cranking up the power, etc.

This is Intel’s tick/tock strategy that they used to great success for many years. Design a processor one year, shrink it the next. Improve the design year after that, then shrink that the next. And so forth.

Similar here. Design M1, crank it up as high as that design will go. Redesign for M2, then crank that up. And so forth.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chuckeee
Leon Ze Professional said:
"design validation testing (DVT), meaning that the devices are nearing mass production." --> "to launch between early 2024 and the spring"

"engineering verification testing (EVT), an earlier production testing phase on prototype devices." --> "for launch between the spring and summer of next year at the earliest"

I would have thought that engineering verification testing would be a step further along the development pipeline that design verification testing?

Am I wrong?

So why is the release schedule sooner?
Click to expand...
The "engineering" and "designing" are used in different context in manufacturing, in that a typical product would have its underlying (hardware) engineering set in stone first, then comes the industrial / software / visual design validated in the next stage. It is not like no "designing" was taking place throughout or before engineering, these are names coined to the validation stages.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vanc
I urgently need a new laptop and I don’t need faster speeds compared to the m1 or m2. However I would guess the m3 macbooks will be +/- 10% cheaper (at least in Europe) following the cheaper apple tv, iphones and apple watches of this year.
 
sehns said:
My dream is a a Macbook Mini which is the 12" Macbook returneth with an M chip and a sim card slot and a gorgeous screen
Click to expand...
  1. I think it’s pretty likely Apple isn’t going to release cellular MacBooks until they’re #finally making the modems. IIRC, Qualcomm’s standard contract means the price of the modem increases with the retail price of the final product, so the upcharge to go from a Wi-fi only to a cellular MacBook would end up being staggering even by Apple’s standards. Of course, Apple just extended their agreement with Qualcomm so it looks like it could be a few more years before there are Apple cell modems in anything :(
  2. Once they do make a cellular MacBook, would they bother with a SIM card slot? They’re moving away from it on the iPhones, and presumably eSIM will come to more and more countries in the next few years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ryanflanders256
saintmac said:
So the M3Pro/Max would be launched before the M3 ?
Highly unlikely.
Click to expand...
I actually find it more likely since "pro" users want more power, for the average person the difference between M1 and M2 to M3 is not going to be very big. It would also be cheaper for Apple to bin M3 Pros and M3 Max to sell them as M3s later
 
tomstone74 said:
Looking forward how this evolves, but currently a happy camper with my 14" M1 Pro 10/16/32GB/2TB at least as long as I'm covered with AppleCare lasting somewhere into 2026. Let's see where we are then.
Click to expand...

Yep - I feel the same. Two years in and the 14” M1 Pro is still far more computer than I am capable of using. It’s lightning fast, so I’m not sure what M3 could offer that might tempt an upgrade.

sehns said:
My dream is a a Macbook Mini which is the 12" Macbook returneth with an M chip and a sim card slot and a gorgeous screen
Click to expand...

My wife wants this too. She’s holding on to her 12” MacBook because none of the nt form factors appeal. Alas, I don’t see it coming back any time soon.

Hyloba said:
I urgently need a new laptop and I don’t need faster speeds compared to the m1 or m2. However I would guess the m3 macbooks will be +/- 10% cheaper (at least in Europe) following the cheaper apple tv, iphones and apple watches of this year.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you might consider a refurbished Mac? They’re awesome if you get them from Apple and with reasonable cost savings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chuckeee and Scepticalscribe
saintmac said:
So the M3Pro/Max would be launched before the M3 ?
Highly unlikely.
Click to expand...
This confirms the rumor that I've heard here long, long time ago, which states that iPad Pro will be the first Apple machine to receive 3nm chip (besides the iPhone).
 
It will be interesting if this is the final end to the Frankenstein's monster MacBook Pro 13".

The end of the flawed TouchBar roll out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ThomasJL
F-B-Z said:
How many years do we need to wait until they abandon the 15'' Air (which is a contradiction in itself) and reintroduce a smaller form factor, such as a 12'' Macbook with an M1/2/3 processor (and macOS)?
Click to expand...
Exactly. Does it take an act of God for Apple to do this? I've been waiting SIX YEARS for my MB12 to get an upgrade; I do love Apple and MacBooks and MacOS, but these unpredictable product cycles are getting to be a joke. Why does Lenovo succeed? Because they don't make customers wait for SIX YEARS!!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ThomasJL
gpat said:
13" Air
15" Air
14" Pro
16" Pro

Pretty much the best notebook lineup ever by Apple.
Click to expand...
That's not the complete (current) line up though as you left out the 13" Pro (you know, the one with the Touch Bar) and the other (slightly smaller) 13" Air.
 
uffenman said:
Does it take an act of God for Apple to do this?
Click to expand...
Perhaps.

Or, Apple could just enable the iPad Pro to use a MacOS front end instead of an iOS front end. That way an iPad Pro + flippy little keyboard = the ultimate portable Mac.
 
gpat said:
13" Air
15" Air
14" Pro
16" Pro

Pretty much the best notebook lineup ever by Apple.
Click to expand...

sw1tcher said:
That's not the complete (current) line up though as you left out the 13" Pro (you know, the one with the Touch Bar) and the other (slightly smaller) 13" Air.
Click to expand...

I'd hope that Apple would clean it up by eliminating the 13" Pro and the M1 MBA the next round, then introduce a MacBook SE in the former MBA M1 form factor with an M2 (or a more binned M3) and keep the price at < $999 (maybe even $899).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yonizzle
azentropy said:
I'd hope that Apple would clean it up by eliminating the 13" Pro and the M1 MBA the next round, then introduce a MacBook SE in the former MBA M1 form factor with an M2 (or a more binned M3) and keep the price at < $999 (maybe even $899).
Click to expand...
If Apple wants the 13" Pro, they should move it to the M3 Pro SoC.

I still worry that the M1 will stick around as the "low cost" older laptop.

I would still prefer Apple to come out with a new lower cost laptop:
- A17 Pro,
- 8GB RAM / 256G storage,
- 12" "below retina" screen,
- 10Gbps USB4 port,
- headphone port,
- MagSafe3 port
- $750 for everyone, $600 for education.
 
This makes me think we will see an M3 iMac in the near future. I can’t see Apple showing off the M3 Pro/Max before the base M3. If the new MacBook airs are not due until spring or summer then it makes sense to debut the M3 in the iMac which is in desperate need of an upgrade.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chuckeee
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back