Next-Generation MacBook Pro Models With M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips Reportedly 'Delayed Once Again'

[aberdeenmeadows]

Should have stuck with Intel.

Why? Before the M1, Apple was having issues with Intel delivering on time. Right now, there are so many variations of the Intel processor, that it is a complete mess and if you remember, Apple never really put the latest Intel processors in their laptops. They had to thoroughly test the Intel processors, send Intel the bugs that they find, then Intel would work on those bugs, send another batch of processors to go through more testing.

 

[atomicparker]

Remember when Apple ‘said’ they couldn’t release yearly updated MacBook Pros because of Intel delays?

I'm old enough to remember that yes. Waaa waaa Intel is too slow. Well, here we are. 2 years now of the M1?

 

[aberdeenmeadows]

Is it me, or does the rumor mill feel like it has been on hyperdrive the last 12-18 months? I feel like I'm getting daily updates on changes in Apples plans to release different products. I need to work on ignoring these type of articles and just enjoy the Mac products that I have.

I agree 100% - I only pay attention because I do have a need to upgrade to the MacBook Pro from my MacBook Air (I want 64gb memory and 4TB SSD along with the extra ports) and reading these articles provides hope. I know that when I do get the MacBook Pro I will be dropping about $4,000 on it. Thought the MacBook Pro with M1 processor (Max) will do just fine, I would rather wait for the M2 and see how it works out in the wild.

 

[surfzen21]

FAKE NEWS

I just ordered my M2 MacBook Pro on the all new 3NM and it will arrive tomorrow at 7 AM at this address:

1234 Why Have you even read this far Lane
New York, NY 00000

🥲

 

[tstafford]

It doesn't help that sites like MacRumors have been telling people to not make purchases since at least October of certain Macs with M1 Pro processors. Thats where the issue is. I ignored this as the change from M1 to M2 wasn't a big deal, but if I had waited 4 months to make a purchase and then was told "eh maybe 2H 2023?" I'd be a bit annoyed.

This.

Not a day goes by that someone doesn't post asking if it's a mistake to buy the MBP M1P/M right now.

I waited until the M2 Air was released and bought the MBP14 base immediately. (Needed support for two external displays.). I'm glad I did. But I feel for the folks who are on the fence right now. My advice is always the same - just buy it on discount and be happy.

 

[MacProFCP]

Apple once again appears to be putting priorities on other commodities. It would appear that Apple is focusing heavily on improving the services devision as Mac and iOS hardware takes the hit.

Software is generally good now, yet the iPhone update was minor, at best, and the Macs are nearly all due for an update.

I’m not sure if my expectations are higher for Apple or if Microsoft is actually doing better at this point. However, Apple has become sluggish recently and it’s not a good thing. (Neither is loosing nearly 1/3 of shareholder value.)

 

[RobbBerr]

I suspect product launches are being pushed further down the line so they don't suffer soft sales due to inflation / jobloss / recession market factors.

 

[goodcow]

Not for the laptops, absolutely not.

But for the Mac Pro… Now that’s a different story.

They don't want to actively support two code bases for macOS, though, especially if only one niche product is going to remain on x86.

 

[A418t81]

Conversely, this is an absolutely excellent time to pick up an M1 MBP with everybody talking about the M2 units on the horizon. My 14 inch unit is the fastest Mac I have ever owned with an incredible screen to match. The fact that you can get the 10 core, 1TB model for around $2k now is a screaming deal in Apple land. I like to upgrade fairly often just for the fun of it, but these M1s are so good compared to the M2 (Have both M1 and M2 MBAs) there just isn’t any real world difference or actual reason to upgrade unless you are pushing them to the absolute max all the time.

 

[flat five]

What is everyone in such a hurry for? Are you all holding onto production and design projects you can’t get done fast enough on the current lineup? My M1 Pro still blows my mind with performance every time I use it. I swear people just like to see bigger numbers for very little reason.

My dog puked on my laptop a couple weeks ago and sorta screwed up the screen ($1500 repair so I’d rather just spend that on updating the whole thing)

Idk, I think your assumption that “everyone” is waiting for M1 —> M2 update is missing the mark.. most people are probably updating from 3+ year old computers

 

[CarAnalogy]

They don't want to actively support two code bases for macOS, though, especially if only one niche product is going to remain on x86.

Yeah that’s fair enough. It’s just that their SoC approach with no modularity is exactly the opposite of what the Mac Pro is supposed to be. We’ll see what they come up with.

 

[The Game 161]

not sure people are missing out on much from all the rumours.

 

[pshufd]

Fine with me. Enjoying my 14” and not looking forward to that day known all too well to Apple fans when it becomes not the current model anymore.

I usually keep my Macs for a decade or longer and there's nothing wrong with my M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Thank you total and complete disruption of the supply chain? Can we please have another?

 

[corinthos]

I was thinking of making a jump to 2nd generation Mac Studio, now that Metal got enough support for Cycles. These days I am only working on Photoshop & Blender, so I thought I could make a jump & it will be fine; my entire set up will be clutter free.
But with how things are going I am not sure anymore. I think I would better jump onto Zen 4 & a GTX 3090 for my new set up.

how was Blender working for you on Mac, assuming you have been running it now with sufficient Metal support for Cycles. Is it competitive with PC?

 

[SilenceBroken]

Just dump that cycle and focus on the M3.

 

[Picklefoot]

Know what else is delayed? Metal 3 games… announced over 7 months ago, only a single game using Metal 3 has been released. The other two games that were showcased with the Metal 3 announcement are still not out. One of them was officially delayed to “early 2023” which means nothing nowadays. The other one is from a company that doesn’t give a crap about communicating with their potential customers and we have no idea why the game isn’t out yet.

And there are no other Metal 3 games lined up once/if the other two Metal 3 games are released.

Apple might have the right intentions but their execution for M2 Macs and gaming is ridiculously lame. Almost as lame as MacRumors and the MacRumors readership.

 

[bradman83]

Beyond "shiny and sexy new hawtness", what's the actual feature gap here, though? I'd say this is a feature, not a bug, because you can get a pretty damn good deal on a machine that's still has an incredible amount of utility (don't tell me you bought an M1 at the prices they were released on! please!).

The deals that are out there are through third party resellers which apply primarily to stock configuration models with lower specs, otherwise you're stuck ordering directly from Apple and paying full price for 14 month old hardware. The whole "What's out right now will be a huge improvement over what you have!" logic makes no sense. Someone upgrading from a 2010 Mac mini to the 2018 8th generation Intel mini (which Apple still sells for some odd reason) will see a huge performance increase, but it's still a terrible investment given the pace technology changes.

 

[ph001bi]

Apple's next-generation 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips were slated to hit the market in "early 2023," but the laptops are now expected to be "delayed once again," according to Taiwanese publication DigiTimes.

The report does not offer a revised launch timeframe for the new MacBook Pros. In his newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release the laptops in the first half of this year and said they will have the same designs and features as the current models, but with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Gurman said those chips will offer only marginal performance improvements over the current M1 Pro and M1 Max.

In late October, Gurman said Apple planned to release the new MacBook Pros in the first quarter of 2023 and had tied the launches to an upcoming macOS 13.3 release, but it's unclear if those plans have changed since then. Based on Gurman's latest timeframe of the first half of 2023, the new MacBook Pros should finally be released by Apple's annual developers conference WWDC in June at the latest, but hopefully sooner.

Apple's chipmaking partner TSMC started mass production of 3nm chips in late December, but reports have conflicted as to whether the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips will be 3nm or remain 5nm like the M1 Pro and M1 Max.

The rest of the report is focused on how MacBook shipments will likely decline 40% to 50% sequentially in the first quarter of 2023, citing unnamed supply chain sources. The report claims that Apple "adjusting its shipment ratios" by adding Wingtech as a MacBook assembler is the primary reason for the substantial decline.

Article Link: Next-Generation MacBook Pro Models With M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips Reportedly 'Delayed Once Again'

It's the first time I am happy to see a Digitimes'report. These probably aren't delayed.

 

[corinthos]

I am a professional music video producer and music producer. I purchased M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16-inch because I was skeptical of performance. Now I regret and am waiting to pick up M2 Max.

you regret the m1 pro 16? it wasn't performing as well as hoped?

 

[Ulfric]

how was Blender working for you on Mac, assuming you have been running it now with sufficient Metal support for Cycles. Is it competitive with PC?

I haven't, just saw some benchmarks on r/Apple, r/Blender & r/Hardware. From what I have gathered, M1 Ultra's CPU rendering is almost close to 12900K. But the GPU is nowhere near an RTX 3090. 3090 still is 2X fast in Optix.

Bummer is that you can select Both the CPU & GPU in the render settings ( for M1, M1 Ultra, M1 Max), but it doesn't make any difference. Still miles improvement from the initial release.

Now I am expecting some improvement with the next gen considering Apple will release another studio with either M2 Ultra or M3. What I saw from M2, The GPU upgrade isn't really there. So, considering M3 will be a moderate jump in GPU, I think you will be fine.

Now I mostly work on Stylised characters with hand painted textures. I barely model anything high poly with PBR textures or anything. So that's not a problem. Especially when I am working on Assets. I mean regardless of the polycount it should not be a problem.


My concern is Animation/Simulation rendering. Now Blender simulation whether it is Mantaflow or anything else, is not that much resource intensive. It is not Vellum or PyroFX or anything close to Houdini has to offer, but still in some cases where you are using a lot of particles in your scene, it can be a resource hog.

 

[now i see it]

If a new product has never been officially acknowledged by apl, then how can it be delayed?

What’s happened is that the guessed release date of a new guessed product was wrong.
This is what constitutes as Mac news today - or I guess mac rumors

 

[StuBeck]

Is it me, or does the rumor mill feel like it has been on hyperdrive the last 12-18 months? I feel like I'm getting daily updates on changes in Apples plans to release different products. I need to work on ignoring these type of articles and just enjoy the Mac products that I have.

The problem is that Apple is seemingly getting better at keeping secrets. I just ignore what is rumored if its more than a quarter out. Too many reports of "iPhone 13 Pro Max will have...." turned into "iPhone 16 Pro Max will have..." lately for me to hope for anything.

When a new product gets out I still get hyped and wonder if I need to make a purchase...then realize that my old device is still working just fine.

 

[umbilical]

Long periods are good, but damn! in my case I'm struggling with a late 2013 MBP (great machine but I need a replace), so I was waiting for then new models before march 2023.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

Sad fact:
I am the one guy in the world that actually likes the touchbar.

Nah, you’re not alone.
I like it. I find it stylish, and in Affinity Photo it’s quite useful. To me it also just feels nice to use.