M1 MacBook Air Gets No Price Drop, 8-Core GPU No Longer an Option

[lowkey]

Don't thank me, thank Kuo. He called it perfectly. Apple should have seen this and accepted reality: The real M2 is delayed.
Now Apple gets to muddle through an (assumed but obvious) "Osborne Effect" period while customers wait for the M3.
Apple not only bet the farm on China, they built the farm IN China. The chickens have come home to roost, and marketing can't spin it away.

Most peeps for the last year were saying M2 would be a minor boost and the M3 update would be a more significant one.

Those expecting something different seem to be suffering major butt hurt and letting it off on forums such as this one ;-)

 

[fbadini]

I agree

I would have liked to see the old 2020 M1s stay around at a lower base price of $849 or $899 and slot the latest M2 MBA 8/256 still at $999

...instead of the 20% price hike they did for the M2 base models

That would have mean destroying value for Tim

Air M1 at 849 would have been a strong strong Best Buy. Nobody would have bought Air M2 except for nerds sticking around * in M* chip name

The reason why Tim priced 999 today a pc 18 months old is…they made a positioning mistake 18 months ago

Nobody realized Air M1 was SO GOOD

Now, apart inflation but considering improvements in manufacturing process, 999 is still good…

You definitely underpriced 18 months ago

 

[vagabnd]

Don't thank me, thank Kuo. He called it perfectly. Apple should have seen this and accepted reality: The real M2 is delayed.
Now Apple gets to muddle through an (assumed but obvious) "Osborne Effect" period while customers wait for the M3.
Apple not only bet the farm on China, they built the farm IN China. The chickens have come home to roost, and marketing can't spin it away.

The market that buys these things are not waiting for an M3 anymore than they were waiting for an M2 or a Xth gen Core processor before the switch.

 

[developer13245]

Most peeps for the last year were saying M2 would be a minor boost and the M3 update would be a more significant one.

Those expecting something different seem to be suffering major butt hurt and letting it off on forums such as this one ;-)

The market that buys these things are not waiting for an M3 anymore than they were waiting for an M2 or a Xth gen Core processor before the switch.

Everyone was expecting an Apple Silicon Mac Pro at this WWDC.
So ok, the M3 is delayed along with the Apple Silicon Mac Pro. My $$$$ stays in the bank.
Apple missed their 2 year transition goal. Period.

 

[KPOM]

You just keep digging deeper. 54.5% faster "Efficiency" cores would negate the need for performance cores. Do you listen to yourself when you talk?
18% weighted evenly across 8 cores would be 18/8 = 2.25% per core, but this is nonsense. Again, you don't comprehend the difference between single and multi-core performance. This "M2" chip memory controller runs at HALF the bandwidth of the M1 Pro. ALL of the other M1 chips have faster unified memory performance than this M2.

My original post isn't about what Apple "Missed", but what they "hit". Kuo nailed the new MacBook Air, but it was supposed to be called an M1. Apple MISSED everything else about the M2, Mac Pro, etc.. and failed to complete their 2 year Apple Silicon transition as Cook outlined at the 2020 WWDC. Epic Fail.

The M1 MacBook Air was released in November 2020. It’s only June 2022. Apple still can release a Mac Pro within 2 years of the first Apple Silicon Mac.

 

[KPOM]

Everyone was expecting an Apple Silicon Mac Pro at this WWDC.
So ok, the M3 is delayed along with the Apple Silicon Mac Pro. My $$$$ stays in the bank.
Apple missed their 2 year transition goal. Period.

No they didn’t. The Market was expecting one more Intel Pro. The Mac Studio is faster than the Intel Pro in most respects and wasn’t even on the radar.

 

[KPOM]

For the M1, I agree. For the M2, the price hike was expected.

It’s a 4 year old design. But I agree a price drop would have been nice. Even $100.

 

[HunPro]

I would have pulled the trigger if a 12" option was available.

Now my 7+ year old MBP still has more ram (16GB), the same SSD size (256 GB) and higher resolution (2880x1800), has fresh batteries, the keyboard is still as great as ever. An amazing machine I'll be keeping a while longer.

No rush.

 

[Pugly]

Makes me wonder how long the M1 Air will stay in the lineup. Apple usually ups the price on new designs anyways. Having a $999 laptop is a good price anchor... I bet the M1 Air is still going to sell like crazy. $200 is a lot at this price point... And the M1 crossed a performance threshold from a "good for email and browsing" computer to "good for anything you'd want a computer for." There's still uses for more of course, but that's a pretty slim window outside of bragging rights.

It's a pretty outstanding performance floor, and having an all day battery and fanless design is still unique to Apple at any price. At least it isn't the 2015 MBA sticking around forever, or a new design with a price increase and relatively weak cpu like the first retina.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Ummm... your "average consumer" will see lower performance tier MacBooks (Air and 13" PRO) with a higher M chip number. That never goes well. In fact that amounts to what is known as a "rookie mistake". Apple will pay a high price for this screw up.

...think.... think... whir... whir...

"OH S**T"!!!

2020 iPad Air: A14
2020 iPad Pro: A12Z
Released within six months of each other and customers, get this, didn’t care.
Same situation here.
M2 MacBook Air Will quickly become Apple‘s best selling computer, and the M1pro/max/ultra Will continue to serve their market just perfectly.

 

[xyz01]

Epic Fail!
The so called M2 is NOT the M2 chip Apple wanted to ship. It's really just an M1.5, or worse.

Some proof: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/03/10/m2-macs-with-tsmc-4nm-process/

Excerpt:
"oft-accurate analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Tuesday tweeted that a 2022 version of the MacBook Air will still use the M1 chip, although he suggested it could be a modified version of the chip without elaborating further"

Nailed it: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/03/08/kuo-macbook-air-2022-m1/

Explains everything because Apple did indeed just update the MacBook Air just as Kuo predicted (8-core CPU and 10-core GPU). The new M chip should be called the "M1 SE"

This is nothing short of an epic Failure for Apple.

That makes no sense. The chip is new, as it contains a newer generation of the cores (plus some other updates, like memory interface - if that was the only thing, calling it M1.5 would make more sense).

My question now is "when will the other systems get this updated chip?".

I was considering getting a Mac Studio, and the chip just got a bit less attractive - now I'd want the M2 Max there.

 

[Menneisyys2]

There's quite a big jump to the $2,000 14" Macbook Pro.

Not if you also factor in the 16GB/512GB updates - the ones that made the M1 13" also a bad value for coders (who do require 16GB/512GB) compared to the 14".

 

[ian87w]

It seems like the biggest miss here is why won’t Apple include BTO options or at least stock a higher spec pre-configured system in your country.

Because Apple doesn't see us, 4th largest country in the world, as a good enough market to focus on in SE Asia. We don’t even have official Apple presence. Other OEMs like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Samsung have assembling factories locally already, but not Apple. Meanwhile, Apple prices here are at least 30% higher than the US MSRP.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Not if you also factor in the 16GB/512GB updates - the ones that made the M1 13" also a bad value for coders (who do require 16GB/512GB) compared to the 14".

Ohhh you're right! I was just looking at the base starting price.

Yeah those upgrades definitely add up. Good catch.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Imagine Tim Cook standing on stage in front of a "Single core performance" comparison graphic that shows ZERO percent improvement. Think about that for a while and maybe you'll all begin to understand.
Marketing can call it whatever they want, but in reality it's an M1 chip with more GPUs and memory.

Why do you think it will have zero percent single core improvement? Until we start to see Geekbench results, I'll reserve judgement, and so should you.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Imagine being able to read and comprehend. The 18% improvement is for multi core. So no, each core is NOT 18% faster.
There was ZERO presented regarding single core performance for the new chip.

I don't think they need to present anything - it is simple arithmetic. Both M1 and M2 have the same number and type of CPU cores, so if the total is 18% greater then each core will also be greater. We don't know the exact distribution of this increase across the performance and efficiency cores, but both of these contribute to Geekbench scores, so inevitably the single thread score will be somewhat higher. We'll start to see some GB5 scores over the next few weeks and all will be revealed.

 

[Fomalhaut]

You clearly do NOT comprehend the difference between single core and multi core performance. You mistakenly believe and stated EACH core is 18% faster when Apple made no such claim. Where does Apple list single core performance for this "M2" chip? They don't, anywhere. This is clearly marketing spin.

But the multicore score is based on the combination of single-core scores and is approximately the sum of the single cores (performance and efficiency) minus the scheduling overhead and/or effects of variable core frequencies when all cores are active.

You seem to think single core and multi-core are somehow independent metrics - they are not. If the multicore score increases, and you have the same number and type of cores, then so too must the single core scores increase. I can't see any way they can not.

 

[Fomalhaut]

The "authority" is obvious. If the number was impressive, Apple would have presented it. We have to wait for these M2 machines to appear in the wild. Then we will see near zero single core performance improvement.

I have never seen Apple present Geekbench scores. Let's wait and see what testing reveals. You sound very sure of yourself, but have failed to present any justification or derivation for your conclusions. I'm happy to hear your reasoning, but can't see how you arrive at your answer. Show your workings like any Math problem.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Everyone was expecting an Apple Silicon Mac Pro at this WWDC.
So ok, the M3 is delayed along with the Apple Silicon Mac Pro. My $$$$ stays in the bank.
Apple missed their 2 year transition goal. Period.

Let's see if Apple shareholders feel the same way. The evidence will be in the stock price.

 

[George Dawes]

Is it really worth spending 300 quid more on the m2 version for 2 more graphic cores ?

 

[sevoneone]

The M1 Air and 13” Pro are still around because the parts and tooling to build them are cheap and likely stockpiled meaning higher margins. Apple will be able to offer these machines to businesses and schools in quantity at a competitive discount. It’s for customers that need x number of computers at firm y price or they’re going to have to go to Dell or HP for what they need. If the economy is going to turn downward, they need a way to compete. Attracting more consumer sales because these will be the models that Best Buy and Microcenter put on sale for $200 off all the time is a bonus.

 

[apfelmann]

In Europe the M1 Air price increased by 70 Euros

And the M2 Air is really expensive here

 

[joecomo]

The so called M2 is NOT the M2 chip Apple wanted to ship. It's really just an M1.5, or worse.

Some proof: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/03/10/m2-macs-with-tsmc-4nm-process/

Excerpt:
"oft-accurate analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on Tuesday tweeted that a 2022 version of the MacBook Air will still use the M1 chip, although he suggested it could be a modified version of the chip without elaborating further"

Nailed it: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/03/08/kuo-macbook-air-2022-m1/

Explains everything because Apple did indeed just update the MacBook Air just as Kuo predicted (8-core CPU and 10-core GPU). The new M chip should be called the "M1 SE"

This is nothing short of an epic Failure for Apple.

Even if they had more ambitious plans - that Apple pulled this update off in this overall difficult market situation is already quite a feat.

These machines will sell like hot cakes.

 

[joecomo]

The M1 Air and 13” Pro are still around because the parts and tooling to build them are cheap and likely stockpiled meaning higher margins. Apple will be able to offer these machines to businesses and schools in quantity at a competitive discount. It’s for customers that need x number of computers at firm y price or they’re going to have to go to Dell or HP for what they need. If the economy is going to turn downward, they need a way to compete. Attracting more consumer sales because these will be the models that Best Buy and Microcenter put on sale for $200 off all the time is a bonus.

Yes - this is exactly what will be happening.

 

[boak]

You just keep digging deeper. 54.5% faster "Efficiency" cores would negate the need for performance cores. Do you listen to yourself when you talk?
18% weighted evenly across 8 cores would be 18/8 = 2.25% per core, but this is nonsense. Again, you don't comprehend the difference between single and multi-core performance. This "M2" chip memory controller runs at HALF the bandwidth of the M1 Pro. ALL of the other M1 chips have faster unified memory performance than this M2.

My original post isn't about what Apple "Missed", but what they "hit". Kuo nailed the new MacBook Air, but it was supposed to be called an M1. Apple MISSED everything else about the M2, Mac Pro, etc.. and failed to complete their 2 year Apple Silicon transition as Cook outlined at the 2020 WWDC. Epic Fail.

Dude keeps yapping about "epic fail" but doesn't even understand such a simple thing as a weighted average.

EPIC. FAIL.