Shaky Rumor Claims Redesigned MacBook Pros Will Feature 'M1X' Chip and Remove the Front Logo

[CWallace]

Unless Apple is just removing 2 efficiency cores entirely, which seems incomprehensible, then this is a totally new chip architecture where the efficiency cores have an entirely new performance profile.

I suppose it is possible it could be using the efficiency cores going into the A15/M2 paired with the performance cores from the A14/M1 - call it the "M1/2".

But honestly, I am struggling to see how "only" having two M1 efficiency cores is going to be a major drawback beyond battery drain and the larger case will allow for more battery capacity to help compensate for that.



And I don't think the 2021 MBP having an "M1X" and the 2022 MBA having an "M2" is going to be all that confusing since Apple marketing should be able to show the performance differences. The 2021 iPad Air had a "newer" SoC with the A14 than the 2020 iPad Pro did with the A12Z, but Apple made it pretty clear how the iPad Pro was the more powerful product even with the "older" SoC.

Why the crap is Apple de-branding its stuff? First the iMacs and now the Macbooks? Don't they know seeing the words "Macbook Pro" especially when they show up in movies and such is great advertising?

Or Apple is hoping their new design aesthetic - which seems to be slab sides - will be iconic enough that "you'll know it's an Apple product when you see it".

 

[muddygun]

So will the be a graphics card in these machines? Or just beefed up M1X running it all?

 

[Biro]

I don't know why this piece is going down the rabbit hole of whether the new chip will be an M1X or an M2. It's all conjecture at this point. But it does seem logical that the M1X would be the chip being prepared for the high-end MacBook Air and the updated 13.3-inch MacBook Pro. It seems equally logical that the higher-spec chip being prepared for the 14- and 16-inch versions of the MacBook Pro would be the M2. But does it matter?

 

[trip1ex]

i wouldn't doubt if they remove the words from the front. It seems natural and overdue actually. Having the Macbook ... on the front feels a bit tacky.

I'm surprised they haven't already done that.

 

[dantracht]

So, looks-wise and port-wise, my 2015 13" MBP, that I am typing this comment on, will be back in style?

 

[joshwithachance]

The M2 will be the M1 with higher clock speeds and 10 core gpu...it will be the next SoC for the current M1 devices (macbook air, 24" imac etc)

So will the MBA and baseline Pro always be 6 months ahead of the iMac now...? I would hate to be the owner of a 24" iMac knowing within 6 months the fan-less MBA will have more power than my desktop.

 

[CWallace]

I presume this is wrong and the new chip will be called the M2. Richie says the M1 is the A14X. So calling something an M1X breaks the rules of Apples naming conventions.

Actually it does not since "X" has meant more CPU and GPU cores and the M1X will have more of both than the M1.

A10X had more cores than A10.
A12X had more cores than A12.

The 2021 iPad Pro arguably should have been called the A14X because it has more cores than the A14, but since the iPad Pro also adds some features that were also in the M1, they decided to just use the M1 rather than make a new SoC that had the same number of cores as the M1, but cut out some of the "Mac-only" stuff that is not used (yet?) on the iPad Pro.

 

[fompsweeva]

Maybe it's going to be a yearly identifier.

M1 Mac 2021
M1X Mac 2021 Pro Line
M2 Mac 2022
M2X Mac 2022 Pro Line

...etc, etc.

 

[Serban55]

So will the MBA and baseline Pro always be 6 months ahead of the iMac now...? I would hate to be the owner of a 24" iMac knowing within 6 months the fan-less MBA will have more power than my desktop.

neeh...the first M2 will be the macbook air probably, and that will come in November...so the 24" imac will be 6 months old by then...and i guess the M2 imac24" will come in 2022
And again, the gain will be around 20-30% increase, my guess

 

[eatrains]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they removed the wordmark on the bezel as it seemed out of place. Apple rarely puts the names of their products on the products themselves.

I use a mid-2014 Retina MacBook Pro with no wordmark on it and lots of ports on the side, so I guess things really are coming full circle!

What would be much more shocking is if they removed the brandmark from the exterior lid. That would completely change the feel of the product.

PowerBooks, iBooks, and MacBooks have always had the name under the screen. It was the 2012 MBP that was the odd one out. Power Macs had the name and model badged on them, and earlier iMacs had the name either under the screen or on the back.

 

[SidricTheViking]

Shaky is the new dubious.

Which is the newer apocryphal?

 

[Serban55]

Maybe it's going to be a yearly identifier.

M1 Mac 2021
M1X Mac 2021 Pro Line
M2 Mac 2022
M2X Mac 2022 Pro Line

...etc, etc.

M1 began in the november 2020 and the next macbook air with m2 will be in october / november
the number is just the generation figure..thats all

 

[raccoontail]

Maybe it's going to be a yearly identifier.

M1 Mac 2021
M1X Mac 2021 Pro Line
M2 Mac 2022
M2X Mac 2022 Pro Line

Or maybe the M1 will be used for everything like OS X was for 15 years... M1 X, M1 Z, M1 Pro, "M1 Sequoia" "The new M1" etc.

 

[CWallace]

So will the MBA and baseline Pro always be 6 months ahead of the iMac now...? I would hate to be the owner of a 24" iMac knowing within 6 months the fan-less MBA will have more power than my desktop.

There is the presumed "iMac Pro" coming with a larger display (27-32" depending on the rumor) that will have more CPU and GPU cores than the 24" iMac.

 

[Lemon Olive]

I suppose it is possible it could be using the efficiency cores going into the A15/M2 paired with the performance cores from the A14/M1 - call it the "M1/2".

But honestly, I am struggling to see how "only" having two M1 efficiency cores is going to be a major drawback beyond battery drain and the larger case will allow for more battery capacity to help compensate for that.



And I don't think the 2021 MBP having an "M1X" and the 2022 MBA having an "M2" is going to be all that confusing since Apple marketing should be able to show the performance differences. The 2021 iPad Air had a "newer" SoC with the A14 than the 2020 iPad Pro did with the A12Z, but Apple made it pretty clear how the iPad Pro was the more powerful product even with the "older" SoC.




Or Apple is hoping their new design aesthetic - which seems to be slab sides - will be iconic enough that "you'll know it's an Apple product when you see it".

I've been of the opinion for quite a while that the MacBook Pros will have an M1X. The 2 efficiency cores is the only thing really throwing me. I acknowledge it is possible that they just dropped some which will degrade battery life, but I'm very unsure of this.

 

[guillemn]

I presume this is wrong and the new chip will be called the M2. Richie says the M1 is the A14X. So calling something an M1X breaks the rules of Apples naming conventions.

In my undertanding they will be getting a chip at "yearly basis".

That would go this year as M1 and next year for M2. IF they will have two lines of chips updated yearly what makes sense is having two namings running in paralalet each year. For example P1 (performance vs mainstream) this year and P2 next year.

To me in terms of marketing is what has more sense.

 

[jlc1978]

Not just HDMI...but HDMI 2.1 ,your adapter cannot deliver this
HDMI® Specification 2.1 is the most recent update of the HDMI® specification and supports a range of higher video resolutions and refresh rates including 8K60 and 4K120, and resolutions up to 10K. Dynamic HDR formats are also supported, and bandwidth capability is increased up to 48Gbps.
Since Apple is with PRO displays, and HDR now...the pro devices needs the HDMI 2.1 even more than sd card..but this will have both

While it's good that Apple uses updated specs, I wonder how many people will really need it? I would guess most uses cases, such as projecting a screen or using an existing monitor will not benefit; but it is good Apple helped future proof it as well as meet the needs of a smaller group that will actually benefit.

As for 2.1 vs SD card, the advantage of an SD card is you can easily backup your Mac using CCC / TM etc. so if something happens you have a complete backup at hand. That, for me, is more valuable for many MBP users than 2.1, but YMMV.

At any rate, it's nice to have both.

 

[NMBob]

because Apple become such a monster that it is the only brand that no longer needs a logo on their devices

Pretty soon they will drop the "Inc" and just be Apple.

 

[raccoontail]

So will the MBA and baseline Pro always be 6 months ahead of the iMac now...? I would hate to be the owner of a 24" iMac knowing within 6 months the fan-less MBA will have more power than my desktop.

They really need three variants of each generation of chips. A power-saving one with limited RAM and external display support for MBA, iPad Pro, entry-level mini and iMac, a power-saving one with more graphics & RAM support for MBP and mid-level iMacs, and then a screaming beast for the iMac Pro and Mac Pro that makes Ryzen 5000s and i9's look irrelevant.

 

[jjudson]

Remove the logo??? Is MacRumors getting to a molecular level now? How about font size on the "Designed by Apple in California" text on the back?

 

[Lemon Olive]

I presume this is wrong and the new chip will be called the M2. Richie says the M1 is the A14X. So calling something an M1X breaks the rules of Apples naming conventions.

If the chip is a derivative of the M1, it will be M1X.

If it is a new chip based on the yet unreleased A15, then it will be the M2.

 

[CWallace]

So will the be a graphics card in these machines? Or just beefed up M1X running it all?

We may see an "external" GPU, but not like the AMD models in the current 16" MacBook Pro.

Apple is rumored to be developing a GPU with the codename "Lifuka". My guess is that this will be an "on-package" GPU that will be placed next to the M SoC like the DRAM. This would allow for more cores than the 8 "on-die" in the M1 without making the die size too large and it still allow the GPU to use Unified Memory and have a high-bandwidth connection to the CPU cores.

My guess if "Lifuka" will come in 16, 32, 64 and 128 core options, with the latter two likely restricted to the next Mac Pro.

 

[Lemon Olive]

MBA the first to get the M2? Giving the entry-level products the M1 first made sense because the M1 doesn't have the RAM capacity or display support needed for pro-level products, but there's no way Apple will continue to put its fastest chips in its least expensive products. I would expect MBP's and bigger iMacs with M1X's, followed by a M1X option for the mini, then new MBA's with M1X, then M2 Mac Pro (remember me?), MBP and iMacs.

I don't think you're reading it right.

The M2 will still (most likely) be an 8 core chip offered with lower RAM. It will be somewhat faster, and more efficient, than the M1, like every YoY Apple Silicon chip. The only thing it will be faster than is the M1. An M1X with more cores for CPU and many cores for GPU will be much faster than that.

 

[nikhsub1]

This would suggest we are going from people complaining about hardware updates rolling out too slowly to OMFG I JUST BOUGHT THIS LAPTOP AND NOW THEY RELEASED A BETTER ONE WITHIN 6 MONTHS.

 

[K.Haderach]

I just need to know when, when, when. Looking to upgrade from my 2015 MBP.