Sketchy Rumor Claims Apple Plans to Announce High-End Gaming MacBook or iMac at WWDC 2020

[Falhófnir]

I mean, neither of those makes sense? If Apple were to do something like this then surely it would be modular in nature? Although even then, Apple and gaming aren't really a thing these days? It would take the meaning of a "niche product" to a whole new level.

Unless this is one of those rumours where its nearly right - could this be a revised iMac Pro or something?

Use of the word "sketchy" when it comes to a rumour is also setting expectations in itself

That seems the most likely explanation so far. Apple would have all the work to do to get the Mac ecosystem to a barely competitive place for serious gaming (i.e. the sort of audience who would be spending several thousand on their computer), and even then unless its a drastic departure from their current way of thinking with Macs it's never going to be a popular hardware choice for gaming.

 

[Misuteri]

I admire the universal humor of MacRumors users in not believing this rumor.

eSports players are not athletes, but they are skilled. However honing a skill 18 hours a day playing video games is a waste of youth. I mean if you’re going to spend 18 hours a day at that age doing something? Drink.

 

[SecuritySteve]

I admire the universal humor of MacRumors users in not believing this rumor.

eSports players are not athletes, but they are skilled. However honing a skill 18 hours a day playing video games is a waste of youth. I mean if you’re going to spend 18 hours a day at that age doing something? Drink.

Says the person with a WoW character as their icon ...

 

[nt5672]

Hardly. Cook’s process starts with understanding Apples market and developing products and services that people will find appealing.

Apple Watch, AirPods, AirPods Pro, HomePod, Apple Music, etc are great examples. And why Apple is doing incredibly well under Cooks leadership.

I agree as long as you add "....great examples for teenagers and college students." And sure this is a big market, full of non-discerning, fashion oriented people that Apple has made tons of money in. Apple makes toys, sure they are really popular toys and Apple has figured out how to extract the most money possible for them. That just makes Apple greedy and opportunistic, not a tech company like they once were.

But for the rest of us, that need the real thing, then no-so-much. Apple's products are riddled with bugs, lack of functionality, software failures, confusing overlapping models, lack of clear vision, poor choices, etc. The future of Apple is Hollywood, and that is not something I want to be part of.

 

[smulji]

It was Jobs, not Cook, who thought the iPad would replace laptops/desktops. Remember his car/truck analogy? That most people don’t really need a truck; a tablet computer can be as good or better for many. But that some will always need the power of the desktop/laptop truck.

And wasn’t Jobs right? Laptop sales declined (somewhat), while iPad now outsells Mac better than 2:1.

What’s interesting to me as how little Mac sales have eroded. But Apple’s fine with whatever customers want to buy. They’ll gladly sell you a $1,500 iPad Pro laptop replacement, a $329 iPad, an $800 mini, a $1,100 MBA, $1,300 13” MBP, an $1,800 iMac, a $2,400-6,000 16” MBP, a $14,000 iMac Pro or $52,000 Mac Pro. With a $6,000 display.

Anyone who’s afraid Cook is pushing $500 ASP iPads over much more expensive Macs is not paying attention. His preference is to sell you both

You're probably right but I"m not convinced that's the right strategy. To me the right strategy is to focus the Mac to high-end professionals and iPad Pro to mobile professionals. In this scenario, the iPad Pro would cannibalize the low end (ie: MBA) of the Mac segment. If Apple expects the iPad Pro to replace the laptop, adding Pencil capability to MacOS and then porting that to iPad Pro is the way to do it. It's very similar to what MS is doing with the Surface Pro X. This is a great tablet

Surface Pro X review: A perfect PC but only in the right hands

The Surface Pro X is a complicated device to understand and that's a problem for consumers. But is it bad laptop? Not if you're the right person who needs what it does.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[IG88]

I think the rumor was "up to $5000" instead of starting at $5K. A maxed out iMac is around $5K. This rumor may be total bs, but it doesn't seem totally unreasonable.

 

[PickUrPoison]

You're probably right but I"m not convinced that's the right strategy. To me the right strategy is to focus the Mac to high-end professionals and iPad Pro to mobile professionals. In this scenario, the iPad Pro would cannibalize the low end (ie: MBA) of the Mac segment. If Apple expects the iPad Pro to replace the laptop, adding Pencil capability to MacOS and then porting that to iPad Pro is the way to do it. It's very similar to what MS is doing with the Surface Pro X. This is a great tablet

Surface Pro X review: A perfect PC but only in the right hands

The Surface Pro X is a complicated device to understand and that's a problem for consumers. But is it bad laptop? Not if you're the right person who needs what it does.

www.windowscentral.com

I don’t think Apple intends for iPad Pro to replace the laptop, but it can replace it for a certain percentage of users. As iPad Pro and iPadOS get more powerful, that percentage will increase. But due to thermal constraints, a tablet computer will never be as powerful as a laptop, just as a laptop will never be as powerful as a desktop.

 

[smulji]

But due to thermal constraints, a tablet computer will never be as powerful as a laptop, just as a laptop will never be as powerful as a desktop.

It will never be as powerful a MBP, or that class of laptop, I agree but it is already as powerful (if not more) as a rMBA. If it plays its cards right, it could do the following:

iPad Pro => consumers / mobile professionals
MBP => high-end professionals

The reason for a MBA ceases to exist.

 

[Joe The Dragon]

$5000, yeah right, way too expensive for most gamers.

*Actually it says up to $5000 but even then, don't think Apple cares for gamers.

even more so when an $2500K pc will be faster then it.

 

[citysnaps]

I agree as long as you add "....great examples for teenagers and college students." And sure this is a big market, full of non-discerning, fashion oriented people that Apple has made tons of money in. Apple makes toys, sure they are really popular toys and Apple has figured out how to extract the most money possible for them. That just makes Apple greedy and opportunistic, not a tech company like they once were.

But for the rest of us, that need the real thing, then no-so-much. Apple's products are riddled with bugs, lack of functionality, software failures, confusing overlapping models, lack of clear vision, poor choices, etc. The future of Apple is Hollywood, and that is not something I want to be part of.

.
Well, being decades away from that age group, that sure doesn't include me.


"But for the rest of us, that need the real thing, then no-so-much."

The real thing? That's funny. I will say the Apple computers I use for various lines of work (hardware and systems engineering, photography, woodworking, and even homebuilding) have done extremely well for me. My 2017 MBP is a superb laptop, as is my 5K iMac desktop. Ditto my iPhones, iPads, HomePod, iPods, and Watches.


"That just makes Apple greedy and opportunistic, not a tech company like they once were."

Apple's 37% GPM and 21% NPM would say otherwise.

The good news is, with many (hundreds of) millions of satisfied repeat Apple customers who are willing to open their wallet to purchase Apple products year after year after year, and with market cap of $1.299 trillion, Apple is doing just fine.

"The future of Apple is Hollywood, and that is not something I want to be part of."

Sounds like it's time to muster some courage and reward other tech manufacturers with your currency.

 

[ipponrg]

It will never be as powerful a MBP, or that class of laptop, I agree but it is already as powerful (if not more) as a rMBA. If it plays its cards right, it could do the following:

iPad Pro => consumers / mobile professionals
MBP => high-end professionals

The reason for a MBA ceases to exist.

MBA really is just a tablet formfactor with MacOS.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Although I have my own opinion of what a sport is, many of the e-sports players are able to get VISAS that are typically granted to traditional immigrant sport players.
[automerge]1577759225[/automerge]


Yeah arthritis, carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, wrist pain, and high blood pressure arent real injuries from the grueling trainings that they go thru. It’s why the lifespan of an e-sports player is very short

It doesn't matter that they're able to get VISAS. That doesn't all of a sudden make video games "sports."

They're not sports. They're gamers. Professional gamers.

 

[ignatius345]

All I personally want is a very small and reasonably snappy MacBook with the new “magic keyboard” and more than one port.

 

[smulji]

MBA really is just a tablet formfactor with MacOS.

Disagree. The MBA is nothing more than a thin & light laptop. If the device doesn't have Pencil / stylus capability, it is not a tablet in my books. That's a key feature of a tablet.

 

[Digital Skunk]

All I basically play anymore nowadays are Blizzard titles. They're all cross-platform. Once my PC rig is long in the tooth, I intend to build a rig around a MBP or a Mini and an eGPU.

So there, there's your $5000 use case.

Agreed, with both points. I'm strongly in the MBP + eGPU camp when it comes to work. If I ever needed a desktop I might go down the Mac Mini route instead of the iMac.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Agreed, with both points. I'm strongly in the MBP + eGPU camp when it comes to work. If I ever needed a desktop I might go down the Mac Mini route instead of the iMac.

As much as I want to just disconnect a single TB3 cable and take the laptop with me, it will honestly come down to CPU and RAM, I think. I don't necessarily need an i9 with eleventy million cores, I need like 4 with a high base clock.

 

[sublunar]

Most are still gaming on 1080p. And more so eSports, they care for frames not eyecandy. So at least that can be expected from Apple if they want to do something like that -> Be aware of the market and their needs!
And also portability for their rigs.
So Macmini would be perfect for that aspect.
But with the Intel iGPU you cant do even the most basic stuff like Overwatch or even Dota.

Tod

Don't the current Sony/Microsoft consoles upscale to 4k as well? It is frame rate that they are after though.

The current Sony/Microsoft consoles are getting a serious GPU update next year, and I wonder if there will be an A13X CPU that could wow WWDC.

 

[sublunar]

I don't see Apple making a high-end MBP or iMac tailored for gaming. Not going to happen.

I do see Apple leveraging their huge push and investment into AR/VR and developing a smallish device/box with loads of computational horsepower that works with an existing MBP or iMac via TB3 and tailored for whatever glasses/visual interface Apple is currently working on, also via TB3. The box and glasses would also be powered by the host MBP/iMac via TB3.

That would be slick.

VR might be a bit early yet, but iOS gaming would be perfectly feasible, especially if Apple bought a game studio - it's time they flexed the ARM architecture.

 

[Glockworkorange]

Give it up, man!

Give it up, man!

You typing in between handfuls of chips or what?

 

[Falhófnir]

VR might be a bit early yet, but iOS gaming would be perfectly feasible, especially if Apple bought a game studio - it's time they flexed the ARM architecture.

Considering what titles are available on Switch (also Arm), how well they perform and how much further ahead in chip design Apple is I think they could probably do some pretty impressive things!

 

[PickUrPoison]

It will never be as powerful a MBP, or that class of laptop, I agree but it is already as powerful (if not more) as a rMBA. If it plays its cards right, it could do the following:

iPad Pro => consumers / mobile professionals
MBP => high-end professionals

The reason for a MBA ceases to exist.

Yeah I see where you’re coming from. With MBP at $1,299, there’s barely a reason for the MBA right now, except that it’s $200 cheaper and may be the platform for an ARM MacOS machine. I doubt a Surface type device is in the cards, but you never know.

 

[sublunar]

Yeah I see where you’re coming from. With MBP at $1,299, there’s barely a reason for the MBA right now, except that it’s $200 cheaper and may be the platform for an ARM MacOS machine. I doubt a Surface type device is in the cards, but you never know.

The Air's advantage is the weight. The 12.9" iPad Pro weighs less than half that of the MacBook Pro 13", the 11" is almost a third of the weight. Even if you add a keyboard with battery to stabilise it in a traditional 'laptop' configuration the iPad advantage then becomes battery life.

Look at the pricing of the higher capacity iPad pros as well. If one of those came with a permanent hardware scissor switch keyboard but running iOS and with the option of cellular data, inherent touch screen, and a 20 hour battery life that would be a machine for road warriors.

And if the A13X can trade blows with current generation Xbox One X or PS4 Pro then perhaps Apple have spotted a niche they can use for the 'eSports gamer' who wants portability.

 

[PickUrPoison]

The Air's advantage is the weight. The 12.9" iPad Pro weighs less than half that of the MacBook Pro 13", the 11" is almost a third of the weight. Even if you add a keyboard with battery to stabilise it in a traditional 'laptop' configuration the iPad advantage then becomes battery life.

Look at the pricing of the higher capacity iPad pros as well. If one of those came with a permanent hardware scissor switch keyboard but running iOS and with the option of cellular data, inherent touch screen, and a 20 hour battery life that would be a machine for road warriors.

And if the A13X can trade blows with current generation Xbox One X or PS4 Pro then perhaps Apple have spotted a niche they can use for the 'eSports gamer' who wants portability.

The Air is almost the same weight as the $1,299 MBP I was comparing it to.

Why would Apple make a permanent keyboard version of the iPad Pro? Those who want a keyboard already have options.

CPU isn’t the issue for esports gamers, but the 500+ Watts of GPU they need is. And the fact few of the games they want are available for MacOS.

 

[sublunar]

The Air is almost the same weight as the $1,299 MBP I was comparing it to.

Why would Apple make a permanent keyboard version of the iPad Pro? Those who want a keyboard already have options.

CPU isn’t the issue for esports gamers, but the 500+ Watts of GPU they need is. And the fact few of the games they want are available for MacOS.

Good point with the Air vs Pro. Looks like your extra $200 gets you 2 extra cores plus the Touch Bar and Iris Plus graphics. The Air is there to make the Pro look good value after the upsell though.

There's already Ice Lake 15w parts for an Air refresh where you can choose Iris Graphics (quad 1.0GHz) or standard Intel HD graphics (quad 1.6GHz) but all SKUs come with 4 cores and 8 threads.

No sign of 28w parts that would go into a 14" MacBook Pro (not a typo, we're all expecting it )

For light eSports usage Apple may be able to get away with the Iris Graphics. You're thinking of AAA gaming titles which are obviously non starters for Macs.

I actually think the GPU in the A12X and eventually the A13X would make for a more potent gaming combination.

Clearly there's a variety of keyboard cases for the iPad Pros, but none are backlit and very few include a trackpad (although iPadOS has only rudimentary support for trackpads), nor do they have the amount of adjustability and ease of use that a permanent keyboard might offer to people on the move.

In addition, moving the CPU and SoC away from the screen and possibly giving it a (MacBook class) cooling system could also help with performance over an iPad Pro.

It would also make for a nice proof of concept for a future ARM Mac...

 

[smulji]

Good point with the Air vs Pro. Looks like your extra $200 gets you 2 extra cores plus the Touch Bar and Iris Plus graphics. The Air is there to make the Pro look good value after the upsell though.

There's already Ice Lake 15w parts for an Air refresh where you can choose Iris Graphics (quad 1.0GHz) or standard Intel HD graphics (quad 1.6GHz) but all SKUs come with 4 cores and 8 threads.

No sign of 28w parts that would go into a 14" MacBook Pro (not a typo, we're all expecting it )

For light eSports usage Apple may be able to get away with the Iris Graphics. You're thinking of AAA gaming titles which are obviously non starters for Macs.

I actually think the GPU in the A12X and eventually the A13X would make for a more potent gaming combination.

Clearly there's a variety of keyboard cases for the iPad Pros, but none are backlit and very few include a trackpad (although iPadOS has only rudimentary support for trackpads), nor do they have the amount of adjustability and ease of use that a permanent keyboard might offer to people on the move.

In addition, moving the CPU and SoC away from the screen and possibly giving it a (MacBook class) cooling system could also help with performance over an iPad Pro.

It would also make for a nice proof of concept for a future ARM Mac...

If Apple is making an ARM-based Mac laptop, I think it'll be something along the lines of this

Apple is Focusing on a Game Changing Notebook Design

Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals their ongoing work and refinement of the reconfigurable MacBook that basically eliminates the physical keyboard and rigidly set trackpad. While some PC OEM's think that innovation is simply about...

www.patentlyapple.com

or this

Finally! Apple Reveals their Hybrid Notebook Tablet Details

Patently Apple has been the only one that has been pounding the table for a notebook tablet hybrid going all the way back to 2008 and prior to any talk of this from the Intel camp who is now preparing their Ultrabook Convertible for release this summer. In February we posted another report that...

www.patentlyapple.com