Exactly. And most likely using high-yield 5nm chips, leaving 3nm gains to be harvested in 2023 and thereafter.
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New MacBook Pros With M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips Now 'Well Into Development'
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You aren’t going to tape a studio to the back of a monitor like you might a mini.There's already a "mac mini pro". It is called Mac Studio.
Mac Studio
The ultimate pro desktop. Powered by M4 Max and M3 Ultra for all-out performance and extensive connectivity. Built for Apple Intelligence.www.apple.com
I almost pulled the trigger on the base 14 last night since it's so low at Best Buy. I'm holding off though because even on it's regular sales ($1800) I'm tempted to just wait for the M2 pro 14, and a mini m2 with the apple display to replace my 5K iMac in 2023. We'll see. For the first time, neither my iMac (2015) nor my laptop (2015 13 inch Pro) will get this years operating system. So we'll see.
why not just buy the m2 pro 14 and then buy a monitor and when you want to go desktop mode, just plug it in?
3nm is not slotted to go into mass production until Q4, probably closer to the November/December timeframe and there probably still some engineering validation work that needs to be done on that Gen of MBPs if they end up revving Wi-Fi and BT along with the display, HDMI and SD Card slot. The 5nm NP rev will be no major hardware differences other than the SoC and DRAM configs. It makes sense for this rev to be an “S” rev and hold back 3nm until mid to late 2023.
Getting one when they come out is almost a surefire way to buyer remorse once the 3nm chips come out.
The Best Buy deal is 1600, im so tempted to get it. It's cheaper than an Air M2 with 16/512 configuration. It's actually 100 dollars cheaper than the M2 and you get a better chip, more ports and a great screen. Ugh so tempted.
Wow! These new 14" and 16" Mb Pro rumors for 2022 keep getting hotter every day! I'll be a buyer of the 16" in the coming years when/if it get slimmed down significantly. Until then I'll be plenty well off for years to come on my new M2 Air 
What kind of improvements do you expect we will see with 3nm? Aren't we just talking about a 20% or so improvement in performance?
Well, except that I'd imagine you're noticing the insane battery life. I upgraded from the Intel i9 16" to a 16" M1 Pro MBP and the battery difference is just outrageous. I basically never think about battery/charge anymore, whereas with the i9 I just assumed I'd need my power adapter wherever I went.
If they do release an M2 MBP this year I'd seriously consider a "midnight" one... (I mean, assuming they offer that colour, obviously.) I don't love being on the absolute first iteration of the new hardware, since historically these don't tend to be the greatest machines to own long term. But we'll see... The only problem I have with my current machine (16" M1 Pro MBP) is that I get occasional audio dropouts... But I've seen others running Monterey on Intel machines mentioning this as well, so I'm not super confident that the hardware is to blame.
(In fact, it's often correlated with switching apps, or other operations that involve a significant change to the window content, which makes me think some jackass on the macOS dev team did something really stupid in a bit of drawing code that's allowing it to mess with the audio thread...)
(In fact, it's often correlated with switching apps, or other operations that involve a significant change to the window content, which makes me think some jackass on the macOS dev team did something really stupid in a bit of drawing code that's allowing it to mess with the audio thread...)
TSMC to Begin 3nm Chip Production Next Month
3nm chips from TSMC are getting closer.
Leaked TSMC Slide Shows N3E Yields Progressing Ahead of Plan
And there are rumors that TSMC may now build 3nm fabs in Arizona.
Yep, and a serious chunk of the M2 bump up was them cheating by increasing the clock speed => increasing power consumption => increasing heat => reducing battery life. We came to that clock speed road block many many years ago.
Not quite--that's a "Mac Mini Max".There's already a "mac mini pro". It is called Mac Studio.
Mac Studio
The ultimate pro desktop. Powered by M4 Max and M3 Ultra for all-out performance and extensive connectivity. Built for Apple Intelligence.www.apple.com
There is, of course, vigorous debate on MR about whether Apple could slot a Pro Mini between the Mini and the Max Studio. Some think they would need to charge so much for it that it would come too close to the price of the Studio. I think otherwise (plus Apple doesn't mind the close pricing of equally-equipped Airs and 14" MBP's; so they may not mind close pricing here either). But of course this is all speculation. We'll soon see whether or not Apple does release a Pro Mini.
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This is precisely where I'm kind of stuck right now. I've gotten to the point where I'm being held up by my Intel MBP. I will not buy an M1 Mac Studio knowing that the M2 chips are about to come out for the MBPs. On the other hand...we haven't even heard about Mini updates yet.
With the M1, we had no idea about Pro, Max and Ultra. Now with that being a little more clear, it would be nice to have a timeline of some sort.
Lastly, it seems hard to believe that Studio was just a stop-gap for semi-pro machines, but with the 3nm processors coming out, will both the Minis and Mac Studios need to exist?
This is precisely where I'm kind of stuck right now. I've gotten to the point where I'm being held up by my Intel MBP. I will not buy an M1 Mac Studio knowing that the M2 chips are about to come out for the MBPs. On the other hand...we haven't even heard about Mini updates yet.
With the M1, we had no idea about Pro, Max and Ultra. Now with that being a little more clear, it would be nice to have a timeline of some sort.
Lastly, it seems hard to believe that Studio was just a stop-gap for semi-pro machines, but with the 3nm processors coming out, will both the Minis and Mac Studios need to exist?
I hope so! I think the Mac Studio is the successor to the 2013 Mac Pro. A powerful, port rich desktop for those with a workflow involving a lot of external hardware. The mini would be the budget, consumer version, for those who want an inexpensive headless Mac. It is the cheapest way to run macOS. And then a new Mac Pro would be released for those who need internal expansion (instead of external expansion).
It seems like there is a place for three headless Macs in the Apple lineup. Although I suppose if consumers heavily favor two of the tree, Apple might cut one out. In that sense maybe the Mac Studio was just testing the waters. It is also unclear if they might release a high end iMac (although I would argue the Mac Studio is a replacement for the iMac Pro not the old 27" iMac).
I was thinking about whether the features that set the Mac Studio apart from the Mac mini may fit into the Mac mini form factor with the 3nm chips, although the fan seems to be the "big" factor (figuratively). I do really like the Mac Studio as well.
I wouldn't want OLED on a workhorse MacBook. Not only is XDR brighter than OLED, there's no risk of permanent burn in even after full day of running Office, Xcode, Adobe, etc., day in and day out.
What I really want are:
- Face ID
- Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6E, HDMI 2.1, SDUC with UHS-III
- Black-ish color replacing Space Gray
- Option for every higher memory capacity (96GB)
My guess is a 3nm Pro/Max would be able to fit into the current Mini form factory. The rumors seem to suggest Apple plans to make the Mini even smaller though, in a future redesign. If they reduce cooling capacity from the current design (which was created for hotter Intel chips after all), I am not so sure.
UHS-III is dead in the water, there still isn't a single card or device that uses it. There just doesn't seem to be a market for faster but not SDexpress faster. While I wish that weren't the case, that's unfortunately where we are.
I think there is more chance for it to be announced early next year.