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What to Expect From the 'Scary Fast' October 30 Apple Event
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While it's impossible to test every possible PC manufacturer, even the seemingly-luxurious laptop models are still kinda crappy. Either they bend too much or they wind up being metal-colored plastic. As always, the trackpads suck. I haven't ever tried Razor, but I like to pretend they would be luxurious.
My 14” M1Pro MacBookPro is still awesomely fast with great battery life and a gorgeous screen. No need for an M3 and not even an M4. I suspect I will upgrade in another 2+ years which would be around when the M5 will be coming out.
Lots of complaining over the Magic Mouse.
I still use the Magic Mouse that came with my 2011 iMac. This is the 1st gen design with batteries so no hassle with a charging cord. Since the beginning I have two pairs of rechargeable batteries that I swap back-and-forth so I’m never stuck without a charged mouse.
About a year ago I bought an extra Magic Mouse, the 2nd gen version with charging cord. It hasn’t been an inconvenience simply because I have another mouse.
I love my Magic Mice, but agree the charging port on the bottom is dumb. They should change it and/or allow for wireless charging.
I still use the Magic Mouse that came with my 2011 iMac. This is the 1st gen design with batteries so no hassle with a charging cord. Since the beginning I have two pairs of rechargeable batteries that I swap back-and-forth so I’m never stuck without a charged mouse.
About a year ago I bought an extra Magic Mouse, the 2nd gen version with charging cord. It hasn’t been an inconvenience simply because I have another mouse.
I love my Magic Mice, but agree the charging port on the bottom is dumb. They should change it and/or allow for wireless charging.
People complain if an update takes too long and complain if it happens too soon. I'd rather Apple have a 9-12 month cycle for chip upgrades than 12-15, even though I'm not in the market regularly. It's true that the M2 wasn't a massive update from the M1 but, let's be real, you're not going to see massive updates from year to year.
The M1 upgrade was massive because Intel sat on their ass for a near decade. Instead of pushing their chips forward, they found ways to recycle what they already had but made it lower power. Sure, that sounds good until you realize that the last i7 in the early 2020 MacBook Air – Quad core i7 (I7-1060NG7) – essentially matched the i7-4960HQ, the chip found in the high end MacBook Pro 15" from 2013. I guess what I'm saying is, the M1 was so good for its time, it emulated the i7 better than the i7 actually performed, at least in Benchmarks. I have both the 2020 i7 and the 2020 M1 MBAs, so I've done these comparisons myself.
If the M3 Max is released, I'm buying.
The M1 upgrade was massive because Intel sat on their ass for a near decade. Instead of pushing their chips forward, they found ways to recycle what they already had but made it lower power. Sure, that sounds good until you realize that the last i7 in the early 2020 MacBook Air – Quad core i7 (I7-1060NG7) – essentially matched the i7-4960HQ, the chip found in the high end MacBook Pro 15" from 2013. I guess what I'm saying is, the M1 was so good for its time, it emulated the i7 better than the i7 actually performed, at least in Benchmarks. I have both the 2020 i7 and the 2020 M1 MBAs, so I've done these comparisons myself.
If the M3 Max is released, I'm buying.
To be fair, the last number of Mx announcements were pre-recorded "web events." I think throwing an M2 variant into an iMac is less event-worthy, even a pre-recorded one.
You forgot Cupertino knows how many past 27" costumers switched to a MacBook Pro
When I got my last iMac in 2017, the only other options were the 2014 Mini (which wasn't very powerful when it was new let alone 3 years later) or the 2013 Trashcan pro (...which, by then, Apple had already admitted was a dead end, hadn't got a TB3 update and was still expensive...) - and when the 2018 Mini did appear it was OK for CPU but
still limited by the Intel integrated GPU. It was also quite expensive considering that Apple moved
to a cheaper (c.f. the up-to-date equivalent of the mobile chipset used in previous Minis) deskop class processor, but still cranked up the price... The 2019 Mac Pro - whatever you think of it - priced the Mac Pro range out of many people's budgets (the $6000 base model was twice the starting price of previous Mac Prosand only made sense with the several k$ worth of expansion needed to make it faster than the top end iMac) .
The M1 Mini was a step forward, mainly because the GPU - although nothing to write home about by desktop GPU standards - blew away Intel Integrated graphics in the previous Mini. However, Apple Silicon also meant that there was no performance advantage of desktops over MacBook Pros. Minis and Studios are probably cheaper to develop and keep updated than new, larger, iMacs which push the cooling envelope, and meanwhile the Studio Display will sell to MacBook Pro users, too.
I don't think the timeline fits.
Apple held their infamous "Mea Culpa" press conference about the Mac Pro in April 2017, where they admitted the trashcan was a bust and said they were working on a new "modular" Mac Pro, but gave zero details beyond it not being an all-in-one.
The iMac Pro was announced in June 2017 and available in December 2017. The mythical modular Mac Pro was only announced two years later and available at the end of 2019.
So... making a Xeon PCIe tower in a nice big box with plenty of space for cooling and power took at least two years, whereas the iMac Pro which squeezed a big, sweaty Xeon into a slimline, quiet all-in-one unit was done and dusted in 7 months? Sorry, don't buy it - the iMP was by all rights quite a nice design if you wanted your workstation-class computer permanently welded to a display and lacking in expansion. It certainly wasn't a hurriedly kludged version of the regular iMac.
The iMac Pro must have been in a fairly advanced stage of development by April 2017 while the new Mac Pro wasn't even a twinkle in their eye. My guess is that the iMac Pro was going to be the new Mac Pro, and the panicked April press conference probably happened after they shared that news with a few key developers and customers...
Try to install Maya on an iPad Pro and then come back here talking nonsense. iPad Pro is still an iPad and a lot of workflows, tasks are not possible. Your "try harder" is insulting and frankly ignorant.
Here is my Apple Bingo Card for the Event!
Maybe they want more viewership with their events when they first air? Primetime on the East coast would be the time to do it. Or are targeting a different demographic? Makes me think the rumor that gaming will be a priority might be true, maybe they want more teens being able to watch live? Could drive a lot of hype.
I think it’s smart, now that the events are prerecorded they can drop it whenever they think is optimal
a) time they admitted the trashcan to be a failure != the time the realized the trashcan was a failure
b) them taking 2 years for the MP != it takes to years to develop a MP
The iMP made little sense and mostly sold due to lack of a proper MP, whether they had bigger plans for it or if they think it could still be a big hit with AS is unknown.
They will for sure loose a big chunk of European viewers (1 AM CET) but for many in Asia it will be on Tuesday morning so you win some, you loose some.
Why would I waste time trying to install an app that isn't available for iPad Pro? If that thinking is how you attempted your transition to iPad Pro, I'm not surprised it ended in 80% disappointment. Find an alternative solution engineered for iPad Pro if Autodesk is stuck in the past.
To me, this use case is the future of the mainstream mobile computer. Not just laptop. Not just tablet.
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We will see if they can tempt me to open my wallet finally with something…
I’ve been waiting patiently before diving into a serious upgrade to my personal machines.. 2017 Air (dead battery) and base model M1 Mini (which is still more than sufficient for desktop productivity use).
Oh how I miss the 27” iMac…
My work (only) 2019 MacBook Pro gets replaced by IT in January, most likely with an 14” M2 MacBook Pro.
I’ve been waiting patiently before diving into a serious upgrade to my personal machines.. 2017 Air (dead battery) and base model M1 Mini (which is still more than sufficient for desktop productivity use).
Oh how I miss the 27” iMac…
My work (only) 2019 MacBook Pro gets replaced by IT in January, most likely with an 14” M2 MacBook Pro.
Mark Gurman Sunday article
www.bloomberg.com
But Apple has a chance to turn the page on all that come Monday evening. That’s when the company is set to announce three new Mac chips (the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max) and a shift to more advanced 3-nanometer production technology. There will be major refreshes to the high-end MacBook Pros and the first update to the iMac since spring 2021.
The M3 chip line is destined to be a considerable leap from the M2, bringing vastly improved speeds as well as better efficiency to improve battery life on notebooks.
Here’s what I am expecting from all three components:
It also shows that Apple has sped up the time to takes to develop major new chip generations. The M2 processor was announced 19 months after the first M1 debuted. Monday’s unveiling of the M3 would narrow that gap to about 16 months.
The time between computer updates is speeding up as well, in some cases at least. The previous MacBook Pro models — with M2 chips — launched in January, and now the new versions are arriving less than 10 months later. To be clear, this happened because the last generation was released later than planned. But Apple didn’t let that delay push back the arrival of the M3 version.
The other model getting updated Monday is the iMac. This machine has been a particular laggard — it currently still runs the M1 chip. But the new version should help restore its prominence in Apple’s lineup. It’s a milestone year for the iMac, which kicked off Apple’s resurgence in the late 1990s and just turned 25.
Monday’s presentation — likely to be the company’s last event of the year — won’t be as attention-grabbing as an iPhone or Apple Watch launch. It will probably be filled with deeply technical language about chip speeds and feeds. And the innovations are mostly on the inside: The computers themselves won’t have exciting new designs.
But it still should be enough to bring computer-chip bragging rights back to Cupertino.
Apple Looks to Regain Chip Bragging Rights With Trio of M3 Processors
Just ahead of Halloween, Apple is set to unveil the M3 chip line, new MacBook Pros and an updated iMac at a “Scary Fast”-themed event. Also: The company prepares a total overhaul of AirPods; prices for TV+ and other Apple services go up; and the TV app is getting a revamp later this year.
www.bloomberg.com
But Apple has a chance to turn the page on all that come Monday evening. That’s when the company is set to announce three new Mac chips (the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max) and a shift to more advanced 3-nanometer production technology. There will be major refreshes to the high-end MacBook Pros and the first update to the iMac since spring 2021.
The M3 chip line is destined to be a considerable leap from the M2, bringing vastly improved speeds as well as better efficiency to improve battery life on notebooks.
Here’s what I am expecting from all three components:
- M3: The central processing unit will boast eight cores (four for handling high-performance tasks and four efficiency cores focused on background functions) and as many as 10 cores for processing graphics. That matches the counts of the M2, but the M3 will likely support improved memory configurations and get far faster performance from each core.
- M3 Pro: This chip has been tested in multiple configurations, including one with 12 CPU cores (six for performance and six for efficiency) and 18 graphics cores. Higher-end versions of the M3 Pro are likely to get 14 CPU cores and 20 graphics cores.
- M3 Max: This chip has also been tested in different configurations, including one with 16 CPU cores (12 for performance and four for efficiency) and a whopping 40 graphics cores. There also was a less powerful version that had a still-ginormous 32 graphics cores.
It also shows that Apple has sped up the time to takes to develop major new chip generations. The M2 processor was announced 19 months after the first M1 debuted. Monday’s unveiling of the M3 would narrow that gap to about 16 months.
The time between computer updates is speeding up as well, in some cases at least. The previous MacBook Pro models — with M2 chips — launched in January, and now the new versions are arriving less than 10 months later. To be clear, this happened because the last generation was released later than planned. But Apple didn’t let that delay push back the arrival of the M3 version.
The other model getting updated Monday is the iMac. This machine has been a particular laggard — it currently still runs the M1 chip. But the new version should help restore its prominence in Apple’s lineup. It’s a milestone year for the iMac, which kicked off Apple’s resurgence in the late 1990s and just turned 25.
Monday’s presentation — likely to be the company’s last event of the year — won’t be as attention-grabbing as an iPhone or Apple Watch launch. It will probably be filled with deeply technical language about chip speeds and feeds. And the innovations are mostly on the inside: The computers themselves won’t have exciting new designs.
But it still should be enough to bring computer-chip bragging rights back to Cupertino.
That's what iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch is for. Unfortunately, Macs don't drive holiday sales anywhere near as other products do. iMac included. Hopefully this holiday is different.
The previous 27" iMac models were pretty big as an all-in-one desktop. If they could take that form factor, remove the massive black bezels and make it similar looking to a 14/16" MBP display it would be the equivalent of almost a 30" display. (29.5" edge to edge).
The author might be drunk when he posted this article.
On one side he is saying that 14 and 16 inch Macbook PROs will get updated with M3 chips though they were last updated in January 2023. But "M2" Mac Mini (again last updated in January 2023) will not get M3 chips until 2024?
Does this make any sense?
On one side he is saying that 14 and 16 inch Macbook PROs will get updated with M3 chips though they were last updated in January 2023. But "M2" Mac Mini (again last updated in January 2023) will not get M3 chips until 2024?
Does this make any sense?