Gurman: 'Mac Studio' Mac Mini/Mac Pro Hybrid and New Display With A-Series Chip Are 'Ready to Go'

[Juuro]

Also if the Mac Studio gets an M1max and an M1Ultra, what on earth would a MacPro get?
M1ultraProMax?

Also an M1 Max Ultra just with more cores.

I think the processors especially made for pro end desktops like the Mac Studio and the Mac Pro will get their own letter.
X1 or P1 or something different, to differentiate them since they will most certainly be on a completely different upgrade timeline than the regular “M” series chips.

That doesn't make sense technically. The M1 and M1 Pro and M1 Max and Dual M1 Max all work with the same chip architecture. So it makes sense to give them all a name that puts them in the same family.

Sorry it makes no sense, as above what is all the space for. Its not for heat dissipation as the M1 Max is in a 14" laptop with much less space and runs fine.

I'm really not buying that this is gonna be the design. Especially when an M1 Pro/Max can fit into a MBP chassis and the current M1 Mac mini is already 60% empty space inside.

Just imagine you have two M1 Max in there. That means double the heat as in an 14" MBP and double the Ram means also more heat. Ram can also get hot. And maybe 8 TB is not enough for (Semi-)Professionals.

$2k for the monitor ....I can see it. But they sold 27" iMacs for $2k didn't they or was it a little bit more. I feel like they can do a 27" monitor for a little cheaper. But wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong

As for the display itself, I doubt it will be less than $2K and could be significantly more, depending on its specs.

The iMac 27" costs $1799€. So if they use the same or a similar LCD panel without MiniLED and without 120 Hz it will be definitely less than 1799€.

Maybe they actually kill off the entire iMac line-up, just going to headless desktops & assorted Apple displays...?

I can't imagine that. The iMac is THE Mac.

Confused about the new Mac studio. will it be faster than maxed out iMac 2020?

If the put in the Dual M1 Max, yes it will be faster.

 

[seclusion]

I like this idea, lotsa I/O, quiet, M1 Max, 32/64/128 ram and room for 3 separate storage devices onboard. 512 for Os, and 2 - 4TB.
$6k. The screen with iOS is interesting, not totally sure how that translates but I always thought an iPad as a big control surface for the Mac.
A few more hrs we'll see.

 

[theluggage]

Which implies Airplay with lag. Not brilliant.

I don't see Apple releasing a new display (even an "affordable" one for which a ~$999 price tag is still a pretty optimistic hope) which doesn't have wired thunderbolt as its primary connection. Airplay would be a bonus for use with iPads etc.

...but then if you've got a desktop Mac connected anyway, why not just Airplay to that, and avoid all the hassle of needing to have your display connected to the network? Seems to me like there are two possibilities for putting an A-series chip in a display:

- a consumer display would appeal as a large-screen docking station for MacBooks - and when the MacBook wasn't connected you could still use the display to stream from iPhones and iPads, and it might even make sense for it to be able to run full TVOS.

- a high-end pro display could support resolutions (there are 7k rumours), refresh rates and colour/contrast modes beyond what the M1 and Intel Macs still being sold today could support. So it would need to be able to handle upscaling, motion smoothing, colour/contrast optimisation etc. as well as, maybe, DisplayPort display stream compression. Then there will probably be a webcam and speakers which could benefit from signal processing. That's one reason - apart from the obvious "smart" features - why your large-screen TV most likely has an ARM-based A/V processor in it, and why wouldn't Apple use an A-series for that, rather than paying Samsung/Broadcomm/whoever?

 

[brio]

Mac Studio: please guys, keep me one of those.

 

[opeter]

The Mac Studio weight will be about 4 kilograms, that is about 8.8 ponuds. Because of the massive heatsink inside.

 

[bmac89]

Looking forward to the Mac Mini Pro Max M2.

 

[jouster]

What if the built-in A-series SoC in the new 27" 5K Apple Studio Display is also there so the display can actually serve AppleTV duties where your Mac Studio is shut down or sleeping...?

Seems like a lot of engineering/cost to reproduce something the Mac can already do with ease.

 

[tkaravou]

Genuinely curious what the use case would be for an A series chip running iOS or similar on a big screen…

Universal Control / Sidecar built-in is my guess. A monitor that can be used seamlessly as an extra screen for all Apple OSes without any wires sounds very Apple

 

[Yamcha]

I don't understand why it's running iOS unless it's got a touch-screen with a display that can lay flat. Maybe Apple is following Microsoft's Surface Studio style device.

 

[AbsurdlyJames]

The iMac 27" costs $1799€. So if they use the same or a similar LCD panel without MiniLED and without 120 Hz it will be definitely less than 1799€.

I agree with that but I think it's extraordinarily unlikely that Apple will release a simple LCD panel that's basically a nicer version of the LG 5K. There's no reason to put an A-series chip in such a thing, and if that's the product they wanted to release, it would have been out years earlier. I'm looking forward to the announcement because I think Apple is going to release a monitor that's extraordinary in ways most aren't anticipating (e.g., that it would run iPad apps independently, not that I think that's what it is, but something of that scope). Or it might just be a 120Hz miniLED monitor. Either way, I anticipate it will actually cost $3K (or more!) and be a good value at that price.

Just to be clear, I do think it would be a good idea for Apple to release a more pedestrian 5K monitor for $1500, or better yet, $1000. I just don't think they will.

 

[AbsurdlyJames]

I don't understand why it's running iOS unless it's got a touch-screen with a display that can lay flat. Maybe Apple is following Microsoft's Surface Studio style device.

While I still have the fanciful hope that it will independently run iPadOS, the more pedestrian explanation is that iOS (and the A-whatever chip) will be necessary for TrueTone, image processing from a built-in webcam, and the secure enclave for Face ID or Touch ID.

 

[Da_Hood]

I don't understand why it's running iOS unless it's got a touch-screen with a display that can lay flat. Maybe Apple is following Microsoft's Surface Studio style device.

My bet, it's to save on implementing Tru Tone, Night Shift, Pro Motion, etc. Why develop bespoke solution when its siting on the shelf already. Redundant for M1 MacBook users, but Mac Studio need to be display agnostic.

 

[radieschen]

Hard to believe, that they release a Display with A-Series chip and have Universal Control in MacOS Beta at the same time, by accident. I would guess they use some kind of a minimal iOS, so you can have a big wireless display within your Universal Control setup, without having to buy an additional full fat Mac, if you are a MacBook user for example.

 

[toke lahti]

Is this new Studio Display maybe "an apple-tv with a screen"?

If it would be bigger, I'd buy one.
27" is soooOOO 90's...
(Yes, apple's first 27" product came in 2009, should I then say "so 00's", how do you say that? English is not my mother tongue...)

 

[guzhogi]

Considering how much bigger it is than a Mac mini (especially considering the M1 Mac mini has extra space), but smaller than a Mac Pro, I have to wonder what all that extra space is for? 1-2 PCIe slots? Slots for M.2/U.2 drives?

 

[svish]

Should be a very exciting event. Looking forward to seeing the new Mac.

 

[Juuro]

I don't understand why it's running iOS unless it's got a touch-screen with a display that can lay flat. Maybe Apple is following Microsoft's Surface Studio style device.

The HomePod also runs some kind of iOS and doesn't have a screen at all.

Or it might just be a 120Hz miniLED monitor.

That might be true. But I'm extremely sure that it is not able to run iOS or iPadOS Apps. That would be ridiculous. A complete 180° turn of Apples strategy. And the display would need to be able to fold down because touching on a 27" screen vertically is extremely fatiguing after a couple of minutes.

but smaller than a Mac Pro, I have to wonder what all that extra space is for?

As mentioned before: Imagine two M1 Max SoC in there and room for more than 8 TB of SSDs. Keeping those two M1 Max cool for a longer time so they are able to provide peak performance (Ha!) for a prolonged time needs cooling. Especially if the fans should be almost not noticeable.

 

[guzhogi]

As mentioned before: Imagine two M1 Max SoC in there and room for more than 8 TB of SSDs. Keeping those two M1 Max cool for a longer time so they are able to provide peak performance (Ha!) for a prolonged time needs cooling. Especially if the fans should be almost not noticeable.

While I can understand needing to cool it, I doubt that it needs that much more space for the cooling system. If a Mac mini can cool one, why does it need more than double the space to cool two?

 

[Juuro]

If a Mac mini can cool one, why does it need more than double the space to cool two?

Currently there is no Mac mini with one M1 Max. There is only a Mac mini with an M1. I think it is possible to put an M1 Max in a Mac mini but then it would be full with fans and heatsinks. At the moment the M1 Mac mini is half empty. And following that logic if you can cool one M1 Max in the size of one Mac mini you need two Mac minis to cool two M1 Max. Now add double the Ram and more SSDs and more ports on the back and maybe a SD card slot and you are at around the size of this 4" Mac Studio.

 

[torontomax]

It would be amazing if they also come up with a monitor arm instead of that hunk of metal holder. I'm sure they'd make something decent (I don't want something amazing though. apple tend to charge 2k+ dollars for something great)

 

[MichaelDroste]

I’ve got an HPZ 27 that I really like for monitor

 

[reno]

Running iOS instead of macOS? On a desktop sized device? Doesn't make sense!!

 

[MichaelDroste]

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[AndreeOnline]

I can't believe the day is finally here. We are getting a new external display. God is real.

The display is what I'm waiting for as well.

What we want is the 32" flavour of the MacBook Pro 16", though. Apple "only" needs to fuse 4 of those panels together, sync them up with hardware like they did their 5K retina in iMacs.

And then sell us this 7K HDR beauty for $2500. Take my money already. But it seems the 7K monitor is next year? Haven't had time to deep dive into all the rumours...

I'm afraid that if they go 27" 5K-ish, we will get old tech with sub par HDR. There is no way I can get a new stand alone display that doesn't do HDR at least on the MacBook Pro level (they are great).

 

[theluggage]

27" is soooOOO 90's...

So what would be "sooo 2020s" ? A 6" phone screen?

Is this new Studio Display maybe "an apple-tv with a screen"?

Well, as you say, 27" is pretty tiny for a TV in 2022.

However, a "prosumer" screen aimed largely at MacBook users but which could still be used with iDevices when the MacBook was away might have legs.

The problem with the Apple TV (with screen) idea is that, for it to be competetive, Apple would have to make it in various sizes and cope with various international satellite and terrestrial broadcast standards. Also, as long as Blu Ray discs and games consoles are still a thing, they'd probably have to add HDMI inputs, which seems to be against Apple's religion (and lack of HDMI or DP inputs is the most likely reason why I doubt I'll be buying an Apple display, even if it isn't stupidly expensive). Maybe in a few years, if broadcast TV and Blu-ray discs continue their decline....