Hmm. That makes me thin they may have an entirely different chip available only on the Mac Pro, or they may have a novel way of using the M1 Ultra. The thing people want from a pro more than anything is expandability, so maybe it won’t be a SoC. However, I can’t believe they’ll introduce M2 Ultra, or any M2 for that matter, so soon after introducing the top-of-the-line M1. It’s exciting, though, and it’s been a long time since Macs have really been exciting.
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Updated Mac Mini Still Coming With M2 and M2 Pro Chips
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The M1 family of chips all share the same basic CPU core. More cores mean that the processor is faster. The base M1 has 8 cores. The M1 Pro and M1 Max have 10 cores. The M1 Ultra has 20 cores (Max x 2). The Max and Ultra also have a greater number of GPU cores for graphics processing than the M1 or M1 Pro.
When the M2 family of chips are released, they will also all share the same basic core but it will be a little faster and more efficient than the M1 cores. That means that each M2 version will be a little faster than their M1 equivalent, but the Pro/Max/Ultra of M1 will still be faster than the M2.
Think of them like car engines.
- The M1 is a 4-cylinder engine car.
- The M1 Pro is a 6-cylinder engine car.
- The M1 Max is an 8-cylinder engine car.
- The M1 Ultra is a 16-cylinder engine car.
That would make sense. They aren’t going to be concerned about being energy efficiency and the 2 M1 Ultras will run fairly hot I imagine given the amount of space used in the Mac Studio for fans. I think they will also need some kind of internal expansion so it can be upgraded from time to time.
As an FYI Gurman didn't discover or leak any SoC connection info, that was done by died-in-the-wool developers for macOS first. After a significant thread on macrumors that's when Gurman chimed in:
proof:
'M1 Pro' and 'M1 Max' Chip Names Appear in App Log Ahead of Monday's Apple Event
A little more than 24 hours until Apple's much-awaited launch of redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, new evidence has emerged suggesting...
www.macrumors.com
From Bloomberg on this article/blog
Firstly, Developer Erik Engheim does a deep dive here: https://debugger.medium.com/why-is-apples-m1-chip-so-fast-3262b158cba2
- featured on Macrumors new article here: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/11/30/m1-chip-speed-explanation-developer/
My concern ...
how many individual TB4 controllers are in the Mac Studio?
It’s also possible that the M1 Ultra is as far as they plan to take the actual SOC bit the Mac Pro could be all about expansion. They could decide to build in support for expansion cards, off-package RAM, and even third party GPUs? That would be harder to do but would be more in keeping with the spirit of the Mac Pro. We will probably find out which direction they take in June. In the meantime, expect a steady stream of rumors reinforcing and cancelling each other. ?
Would not be a good business practice to “obsolete” the inventory on the shelves with a clear “Roadmap” of your product line. This is industry standard, from Nikon’s next Mirrorless camera, to the next version of Garmin’s Felix line of smart watches.
They can simply release a Mac Studio with less powerful chips and no monitor option to replace the Mac Mini. Why would they want to put M2 in Mac Mini when Mac Studio is still on first-gen Apple Silicon, i.e., M1?
They might even scrap Mac Mini altogether or introduce a new Mac Mini that's pretty much a watered-down Mac Studio. The trend seems to be that as Mac becomes less profitable, the more minimalist the product line.
They might even scrap Mac Mini altogether or introduce a new Mac Mini that's pretty much a watered-down Mac Studio. The trend seems to be that as Mac becomes less profitable, the more minimalist the product line.
An M2 Mini would still be significantly outperformed by an M1 Max Studio with twice the performance CPU cores. M2, like the M1, is the base processor, not the performance model.
Sure, but its psychological. As soon as Apple announces the M2 many will decide to wait until the M2 Pro and Max are released rather than buy what some will perceive as an “obsolete” M1 chip. People will hesitate to purchase an M1 Studio machine if they believe the M2 Studio is just around the corner. My wild guess is that the Mac Pro will be released at WWDC in 2022, then the M2 announcement perhaps a year later, possibly for release in the fall.
HDMI 2.1 4k 120
Usb4 & TB4 full bandwidth
Wi-Fi 6e
2.5gb+ ethernet
24/192 DAC 3.5mm jack
BT 5.2
That’s all I want to see in a M2 Mac mini
Usb4 & TB4 full bandwidth
Wi-Fi 6e
2.5gb+ ethernet
24/192 DAC 3.5mm jack
BT 5.2
That’s all I want to see in a M2 Mac mini
I assume the M2 chips will be based off the A15?
If Apple is going to start releasing the new M2 chips before they’ve transitioned the Mac Pro, I wonder what that means for whatever chip they are planning to put in there?
Is it going to be an M2 of some kind? They did say the M1 Ultra was the last M1 chip. Seems odd to announce the absolute top of the line M2 before the other variants.
Or maybe the Mac Pro will have 2 M1 Ultras in it so it isn’t technically a new chip? Though Apple seemed to throw shade at that during the announcement of the M1 Ultra.
If Apple is going to start releasing the new M2 chips before they’ve transitioned the Mac Pro, I wonder what that means for whatever chip they are planning to put in there?
Is it going to be an M2 of some kind? They did say the M1 Ultra was the last M1 chip. Seems odd to announce the absolute top of the line M2 before the other variants.
Or maybe the Mac Pro will have 2 M1 Ultras in it so it isn’t technically a new chip? Though Apple seemed to throw shade at that during the announcement of the M1 Ultra.
If Apple offered the 10C/16G M1 Pro with 16GB in the Mac Studio, the price difference to the Mac mini with 16GB and 512GB SSD would be as little as $300 and that would pretty much eat the bulk of Mac mini sales so Apple might as well kill the product.
One of the reasons Mac Studio might have started with M1 Max is to set it properly above an M2 Pro Mac mini in terms of both performance and to provide a reason for customers to consider a Mac Studio over a Mac mini (more cores, more RAM, more TB4 ports).
Yes.
Mac Pro is believed to get the M1 Ultra in single and dual configurations (so 40 CPU cores and 128 GPU cores) as well as support at least 256GB of RAM.
I wonder if this means the 24” iMac could also see an M2 Pro option in the future.
I wonder if, now that the iPad Air has the M1 If they’ll put an M2 Pro in a new iPad Pro. Maybe a stretch, maybe the thermals wouldn’t allow it but I would love it. Even if it only had enough thermal room in the larger 12.9 size. I wouldn’t buy it because I wouldn’t need it but that’d be very cool if it was possible.
Disagree, if they went that route (2 separate ultra chips) other applications like Adobe would have to be rewritten as well. You have to think about all the applications that would run on a MAC pro and not just the customized software.
if you have a Mac Pro you not going to buy another computer just for Photoshop.
We have to remember we're already past the 1 year mark, out of the 2yr promise of a full lineup transition. Apple will need to make the announcement of the Mac Pro before that 2y mark.
Very interesting, and happy, for the Mac Studio announcement as this is a NEW product category not an existing product lineup promised to get fully transitioned to Apple Silicon.
I still hypothesis a smaller Mac Pro case, and like the Mac Studio I feel the motherboard could be laid horizontally while external 3rd party video cards are placed via PCIe vertically (video cars on their size), resulting in a 'shorter' Mac Pro, but slightly wider in the base stance. As cooling will not been to be as massive as in the current cheese-grater Mac Pro (not the fans on the front as someone else challenge me in a previous thread a few days ago, but the major blower on the opposite side of the motherboard in the Mac Pro).
My guess is that they can't release Mac Pro until they have released M2, because the chip is gonna be comprised of multiple M2 Max chips. They said that M1 Ultra is the last of the M1 lineup, and I suppose they could just make a completely separate chip for the Mac Pros but I feel like they would save on production if they just connect the modular Max chips. Ergo, they will release the M2 at WWDC, possibly with a new Homepod, and then the fall event will be devoted to the M2 Pro, Max, Ultra, and the yet-to-be-announced Mac Pro chip, which will come in configurations of 4 or 8 connected Max chips. Oh and I think they're gonna release a 32" iMac Pro, maybe with M2 Max and Ultra.
I see the Mac Pro being the first with the M2.
Two thing said at the event, 1) that will be the final M1 release, and 2) there is only one product remaining to move to AS.
That seems to indicate they will come out of the gate with the highest performance M2 first, the Mac Pro. I predict it has four M2 SoCs. Down the road, other product follow, M2, M2 Pro, etc.
I might also like to see an M2 Pro iPad Pro, not so much because it would be cool, nor to buy it, but just to see the reactions of people who believe the M1 iPad Pro is already way overpowered for its software. With an M2 Pro, heads would explode. ?
But I’d lean toward thermals being an issue.
