So there are just a few pockets of the Mac range left with Intel chips:
- 27inch iMac
- High-end Mac Mini
- Mac Pro
Both the 27 inch iMac and Mac Mini could just drop in the Pro and Max chips (plus some cosmetic upgrades) and be a great option on the desktop. Perhaps a Spring 2022 release for these.
Next in line is probably an all-new M2-based MacBook Air in October or November 2022.
I expect this is also when Apple replaces the current Mini in favour of a cheaper M2 Mini in the new high-end shape.
I would expect it will also get rid of the MacBook Pro M1, since I can't see that old design being updated again. I am less sure whether you would see an M2 14 inch MBP, since it would tread on the toes of the M1 Pro 14 inch MBP. I would guess a higher top spec M2 Air (e.g. more RAM or perhaps binned M2 chips with a few extra GPU/CPU cores) to fill out the $1,300 to $1,700 price points.
Mac Pro remains the outlier, in that we have not yet seen an Apple Silicon chip that would fill that role and Apple Silicon has not yet been expandable in quite the same way as a Mac Pro. The M1 Max doesn't beat higher end Xeons, which will also be a bit long in the tooth once Alder Lake and Zen 4 are out. In a perfect world the Mac Pro comes out by the time M2 does, but given how slow the move away from Intel has been for the more mainstream iMac and Mac Mini, I am not confident that the Mac Pro replacement will appear in 2022.
I do rather hope that Apple's release cadence becomes a bit more aligned between the low and high-end models of the same range. It will be odd if you end up being able to get an M2, M3 or M4 etc. MacBook Air, while having to wait a further 12 to 18 months for a better chip to appear on the high-end models.
Maybe once Apple has adopted new chassis and has a year or two of less radical change in the line-up, it will simultaneously (or at least more closely) release its M3 / M3 Pro / M3 Max chips.
- 27inch iMac
- High-end Mac Mini
- Mac Pro
Both the 27 inch iMac and Mac Mini could just drop in the Pro and Max chips (plus some cosmetic upgrades) and be a great option on the desktop. Perhaps a Spring 2022 release for these.
Next in line is probably an all-new M2-based MacBook Air in October or November 2022.
I expect this is also when Apple replaces the current Mini in favour of a cheaper M2 Mini in the new high-end shape.
I would expect it will also get rid of the MacBook Pro M1, since I can't see that old design being updated again. I am less sure whether you would see an M2 14 inch MBP, since it would tread on the toes of the M1 Pro 14 inch MBP. I would guess a higher top spec M2 Air (e.g. more RAM or perhaps binned M2 chips with a few extra GPU/CPU cores) to fill out the $1,300 to $1,700 price points.
Mac Pro remains the outlier, in that we have not yet seen an Apple Silicon chip that would fill that role and Apple Silicon has not yet been expandable in quite the same way as a Mac Pro. The M1 Max doesn't beat higher end Xeons, which will also be a bit long in the tooth once Alder Lake and Zen 4 are out. In a perfect world the Mac Pro comes out by the time M2 does, but given how slow the move away from Intel has been for the more mainstream iMac and Mac Mini, I am not confident that the Mac Pro replacement will appear in 2022.
I do rather hope that Apple's release cadence becomes a bit more aligned between the low and high-end models of the same range. It will be odd if you end up being able to get an M2, M3 or M4 etc. MacBook Air, while having to wait a further 12 to 18 months for a better chip to appear on the high-end models.
Maybe once Apple has adopted new chassis and has a year or two of less radical change in the line-up, it will simultaneously (or at least more closely) release its M3 / M3 Pro / M3 Max chips.