And along with these new silicone chips will be a desktop or laptop where NOTHING is upgradable, what you purchase is what your stuck with!
The first iMac powered by Apple Silicon is set to arrive in the first half of next year and will feature a desktop class "A14T" chip, according to Chinese-language newspaper The China Times.
Codenamed "Mt. Jade," Apple's first custom-made desktop processor will be twinned with its first self-developed GPU, codenamed "Lifuka," both of which are being produced using TSMC's 5-nanometer process, claims the report.
Today's story is based on the development timeline of Apple's new A14 processors, which recently debuted in the iPhone 12 series and the new fourth-generation iPad Air, and builds on a similar report that arrived in September from the same source. It also brings forward the previously claimed launch roadmap of the first Apple Silicon iMac, and reiterates previous claims that Apple's first Arm-based Mac will be a MacBook powered by an A14X processor, codenamed "Tonga," which is already in mass production and will launch by the end of 2020. That MacBook is said to revive the 12-inch form factor in a new super-lightweight design.
Apple announced at its WWDC developer conference in June that its Macs will transition from Intel x86-based CPUs to its self-designed Arm-based Apple Silicon processors over the next two years. Bloomberg has said that Apple is currently developing at least three Mac processors that are based on the 5-nanometer A14 chip.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that the first Mac models to adopt Arm-based chips will be a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and a 24-inch iMac with a redesigned form factor, with Apple planning to launch the new models in the fourth quarter of 2020 or early in 2021 at the earliest. Prior to the launch of its Arm-based iMac, Apple is expected to refresh the existing Intel iMac.
Today's report also claims that Apple has already started working on an A15 series chip using TSMC's 5nm enhanced (N5P) process. The A15 will feature in next year's "iPhone 13," and like the A14 series, modified versions identified as A15X and A15T will provide the foundation for the second generation of Apple Silicon MacBooks and iMacs, with chip production beginning in the third quarter of 2021.
Apple has said it will debut the first Arm-based Mac by the end of the year, and a November event is rumored to take place on November 17.
Article Link: Report: Apple Silicon iMac Featuring Desktop Class 'A14T' Chip Coming First Half of 2021
Yes, I think there will be more than one.
I have used my 2011 MBA for 9 years and haven’t upgraded anything, only changed battery once. 😳
I'm kinda in the same boat. My only consolation is that I'm assuming it might take a few years for all the bugs to be worn out.
Silicone isn’t a semiconductor, so my professional advise is not to buy a desktop or laptop with a silicone chip.
My assumption is that given A chips will come out on a regular annual schedule to coincide with iPhone/iPad, they will also do more regular annual updates with their laptops as well.
Probably because they're the first desktop variant, and subsequent versions will probably be substantially faster as they get better at making desktop versions. Especially for the GPU. There's a much bigger difference between the GPU in an iPad and a desktop class GPU.
Most likely screen technology will be updated in these new iMacs. We don’t know how reliable those screens will be in the long run, and that’s just one unknown. Even the current iMac has its own problems (dust getting under the display), but other than that the overall package is great and RAM is still upgradeable. That’s why I bought the 2020 iMac, although the main reason was that I wanted to have a large display and couldn’t wait another 1-2 years. Being able to run Windows is also nice (something which won’t be possible with future ASi Macs).
I know, right? they will only continue supporting the Intel Macs for like 7 years or something. so lame to buy one now
Enjoy it and have no regrets ... let the new buyers be the guinea pigs!
That was part of it, but there’s huge value in having bespoke chips for your particular machines and customer use-cases. Technology has developed to a point where that is actually economical (I mean, Apple already ship custom SoCs in most of their devices - from iPhones to Apple Watch to AirPods). And Apple has grown to such an enormous size that they can afford to have a massive in-house semiconductor team with top talent, competitive with anyone in the industry, just working on chips for their products.
Yes, it's a possibility (option B in my original post). But in that case the new 12-inch MacBook will be priced at a significant premium over the current MacBook Air.
Totally agree. I was just highlighting the no-longer-being-held-to-Intel-development-cycle as a reason why it would make sense that Apple could now release computers on a similarly predictable yearly cycle as iPhones.
