what benefits will 3nm process bring to macbook pros?

[kzly]

Hey everyone,

I am thinking the smaller manufacturing process will bring chips that consume less power, provide better battery life, cause less heat, and what else? (other than obvious performance boost compared to predecessors). I am wondering if it will have any effect on the weight of the macbook pros...

Let me know your thoughts/presumptions! Thanks

 

[Dulcimer]

I mean you captured it there. Efficiency and performance gains are typical and should be larger than the minimal process enhancements + arch changes going from M1 -> M2.

Not sure how weight or anything else would change unless power is reduced so dramatically that they can redesign their cooling system, but that’s not likely.

Only other change is that these nodes are getting more expensive per transistor and not less like previous node jumps, so Apple will have to maintain their ASP/margins somehow.

 

[leman]

Higher performance, new features. Another possibility is lower power consumption at the same performance, but I kind of doubt they will go that route since their technology already allows fast passively cooled laptops and tablets.

 

[dmccloud]

The SoC accounts for such a small percentage of the overall weight of the system that even a significant reduction in size of the SoC itself wouldn't result in a noticeable change in the weight of the Mac itself. Most of the weight of a MacBook comes from the aluminum chassis and the display, neither of which would be significantly affected by a switch from M2 to M3. This does not exclude the possibility of a redesign of the laptops overall leading to weight reductions, but that wouldn't be tied to the M3 itself.

 

[kzly]

The SoC accounts for such a small percentage of the overall weight of the system that even a significant reduction in size of the SoC itself wouldn't result in a noticeable change in the weight of the Mac itself. Most of the weight of a MacBook comes from the aluminum chassis and the display, neither of which would be significantly affected by a switch from M2 to M3. This does not exclude the possibility of a redesign of the laptops overall leading to weight reductions, but that wouldn't be tied to the M3 itself.

Hmm.. will OLED display help reduce the weight of the macs significantly?

 

[leman]

Hmm.. will OLED display help reduce the weight of the macs significantly?

Probably not, although I am not familiar with details of these technologies and do not know whether one or the other needs fewer components. But it doesn’t seem like existing OLED displays are thinner or lighter than LCDs.

What would reduce the weight is moving from aluminum to some lighter material (like magnesium alloys) or using smaller batteries (battery cells are heavy!).

 

[mi7chy]

Depends if Apple goes with N3 or N3E. Personally, I'd take 25-35% power efficiency over 10-20% performance improvement since battery drains fast under load.

 

[senttoschool]