Next MacBook Air Will Feature Faster Apple Silicon Chip With Up to 10 Graphics Cores

[Tagbert]

Sounds like the next MBA won't be a huge jump as some speculated. Given that supply chain issues aren't likely to be all gone in the next 12 months, I'm glad I got my 1st gen M1 MBA. Still works beautifully for all my casual use/photo needs.

the big jump was from Intel to M-series. After this, the performance changes will likely to be more incremental. Though I do expect them to move into the new design language with all of their new models, now.

 

[NT1440]

the big jump was from Intel to M-series. After this, the performance changes will likely to be more incremental. Though I do expect them to move into the new design language with all of their new models, now.

I think this is what people are overlooking. The M1 is already astonishing in the Air. So much so that I’ve told my friend to buy one for the slight video editing he does. He’s currently on an HP Probook 450 Gen 4. He does 1080p videos for fun and occasionally for his job. That machine can’t keep up. And at $1000 an Air is arguably overkill for what he does, but my god will it be a transformational change for what he’s doing today.

 

[dgdosen]

I think this is what people are overlooking. The M1 is already astonishing in the Air. So much so that I’ve told my friend to buy one for the slight video editing he does. He’s currently on an HP Probook 450 Gen 4. He does 1080p videos for fun and occasionally for his job. That machine can’t keep up. And at $1000 an Air is arguably overkill for what he does, but my god will it be a transformational change for what he’s doing today.

I think there‘s also the point that these expected M2ish chips are still on 5nm node (N5P) at TSMC. They’ll be better, but the next big transistor density bump comes next year with 3nm.

 

[darngooddesign]

...Buying a new machine because of innovations in power cord technology is not rational.

Tell that to my dogs who have literally disconnected my 2014 MBP five times this week.

 

[Ion-X]

Maybe those colourful renders are not the Air but the regular MacBook and this high-end MacBook Air will look more similar to the current tapered Air but with slimmer bezels.

It seems highly unlikely that Apple will bring the bold colors to the MacBook Pro. Colors are typically for lower-end products that are marketed toward the average person. See the candy-colored iMac (1999-2001), the iPod mini / nano, the 2021 iMac, and presumably the 2021/2022 MacBook Air.

 

[Wackery]

I think there‘s also the point that these expected M2ish chips are still on 5nm node (N5P) at TSMC. They’ll be better, but the next big transistor density bump comes next year with 3nm.

3nm! It blows my mind how much further ahead apple is in chip design

 

[cmaier]

Tell that to my dogs who have literally disconnected my 2014 MBP five times this week.

The 2013 machine also has magsafe - so is 2021 magsafe so much better than 2013 MagSafe that it is worth updating the machine, given that everything is dandy with that 2013 machine and it meets all needs?

 

[darngooddesign]

The 2013 machine also has magsafe - so is 2021 magsafe so much better than 2013 MagSafe that it is worth updating the machine, given that everything is dandy with that 2013 machine and it meets all needs?

People also upgrade because they want to. So he wants a 2021 Mac with a feature he really values.

 

[0lf]

I was talking about this year
They will not call the mba air M2 for sure since its just a faster clock m1 with additional 2 gpu cores
But again these are just names in the end
The point i was making is that the mac SoC family in 2021 will end at number 3

Why ?
Isn’t the A14 a faster clocked A13 ?
The rumor does not say anything about the micro architecture, does not mean it is the same. With as little information it is hard to tell if it will be like A12x -> A12z improvements or like A13 -> A14.

 

[ignatius345]

I'm really hoping for an ultralight like the Retina MacBook. That thing had its issues (battery life, slowness, low-res webcam) but I think the M1 could solve all that pretty neatly. As long as they didn't bork the keyboard again, it would be a slam dunk.

 

[dogslobber]

I knew when Apple released the first M1 products that they would eventually replace them. Now they're forcing people to own less new machines than when they were new. I refuse to buy more Apple gear now.

 

[cmaier]

Why ?
Isn’t the A14 a faster clocked A13 ?
The rumor does not say anything about the micro architecture, does not mean it is the same. With as little information it is hard to tell if it will be like A12x -> A12z improvements or like A13 -> A14.

No, the a14 is not a “faster clocked a13”

 

[Jony Ive and Co.]

First it was rumored that we will be getting 16, 20+ and 32+ CPU cores (aka huge increase in the number of CPU cores) in future Macs. They were painting an unbelievably great leaps upon leaps of performance, and that Apple Silicon will continue to improve very quickly.

And now they are saying that we will get the SAME number of CPU cores, and just a very modest increase in GPU cores.

I sure hope we won't see this slowdown in Apple Silicon innovation

 

[Octopuss]

I really wonder what (who) drives all the last sensible decisions. I'll buy him\her a beer)

 

[TonyRS]

MacBook Air Pro Max S+

 

[plinden]

First it was rumored that we will be getting 16, 20+ and 32+ CPU cores (aka huge increase in the number of CPU cores) in future Macs. They were painting an unbelievably great leaps upon leaps of performance, and that Apple Silicon will continue to improve very quickly.

And now they are saying that we will get the SAME number of CPU cores, and just a very modest increase in GPU cores.

I sure hope we won't see this slowdown in Apple Silicon innovation

No, we will see big leaps once a year, like we have seen every year since the first Apple silicon SoC (the A4) in 2010.

The M1 shares the Firestorm and Icestorm cores with the A14. The next generation will have a new performance and a new efficiency core that will be shared across updated iPads, iPhones and Macs, but with different numbers of cores, RAM etc. The M1 with minor variations will likely be around for 2-3 years. This isn't from any great insight, it's just what has been happening with the A chips for the past decade.

We are only six months into what Apple said was a two year transition.

 

[plinden]

Why ?
Isn’t the A14 a faster clocked A13 ?

According to Anandtech, no. https://www.anandtech.com/show/16192/the-iphone-12-review/2

It’s particularly on the part of the floating point and vector execution units where the new Firestorm cores saw most of the design changes this year through the introduction of a 4th pipeline unit, essentially increasing the execution capabilities of this part of the design by 33%. On the integer side of the CPU, things have remained relatively the same with only minor changes, and the Firestorm cores continue on with the sale 192KB L1 I-cache and 128 L1 D-cache and 8MB of shared L2 amongst the two cores.

The Icestorm design is actually a quite major leap for Apple as it sees the introduction of a third integer ALU pipeline, and a full second FP/SIMD pipeline, vastly increasing the execution capabilities of this core. At this point it would be wrong to call it a “small” core anymore as it now essentially matches the big core designs from Arm from a few years ago, being similar in complexity as an A75.

Looking at the generational improvements of the efficiency cores we can see that Apple is indeed showcasing performance increases beyond that of just the increased 100MHz of the cores, with substantial upgrades across the workload spectrum

 

[portland-dude]

But I just bought an M1 Air, already obsolete 🤷‍♂️

macrumors people are utterly ridiculous.

 

[NT1440]

I don’t know if Apple would do this, but this potentially opens the door to price points for the existing Air M1 to price points Apple historically has stayed away from. If the updated Air stays at the current pricing model and Apple DOESN’T end production of the current one, we could conceivably see an incredibly performing machine in the $799-$850 price range.

That would potentially suck a TON of people shopping for your average $600ish PC laptop into Mac converts. Just spitballing here…

 

[blueflower]

But I just bought an M1 Air, already obsolete 🤷‍♂️

My thoughts exactly!

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don’t know if Apple would do this, but this potentially opens the door to price points for the existing Air M1 to price points Apple historically has stayed away from. If the updated Air stays at the current pricing model and Apple DOESN’T end production of the current one, we could conceivably see an incredibly performing machine in the $799-$850 price range.

That would potentially suck a TON of people shopping for your average $600ish PC laptop into Mac converts. Just spitballing here…

I agree. And it is possible that Apple would do such a thing for the so to speak "base model."

 

[Apple_Robert]

My thoughts exactly!

I hope you are kidding.

 

[blueflower]

I don’t know if Apple would do this, but this potentially opens the door to price points for the existing Air M1 to price points Apple historically has stayed away from. If the updated Air stays at the current pricing model and Apple DOESN’T end production of the current one, we could conceivably see an incredibly performing machine in the $799-$850 price range.

That would potentially suck a TON of people shopping for your average $600ish PC laptop into Mac converts. Just spitballing here…

However, Apple has used this pricing strategy on other consumer lines before i.e. mp3 players and Ipod and tablets and iPad. Apple is smart with this move people are buying laptops now more than ever before and with the M1 chip its an awesome opportunity to redirect tons of students and adults to Macs.

 

[cmaier]

First it was rumored that we will be getting 16, 20+ and 32+ CPU cores (aka huge increase in the number of CPU cores) in future Macs. They were painting an unbelievably great leaps upon leaps of performance, and that Apple Silicon will continue to improve very quickly.

And now they are saying that we will get the SAME number of CPU cores, and just a very modest increase in GPU cores.

I sure hope we won't see this slowdown in Apple Silicon innovation

This is a MacBook AIR. You expect the MacBook Air to have he same number of cores as a Mac pro? They are saying the mac pro will have dozens of cores. They are saying the MacBook Pro will have 10 cores. Why should the MacBook Air of all things have so many cores?

 

[mi7chy]

But I just bought an M1 Air, already obsolete 🤷‍♂️

We're paying beta testers. Mine still has non-working trackpad palm rejection, slow disk I/O plus other issues. Maybe Apple won't fix them to encourage buying the new model.