What's Still Coming in 2021 at Apple's Second Fall Event

[Lemon Olive]

A joke? Seriously?

Hasn't even been a year yet since the M1 MBA was shipped.

Does Tim Cook now need to be fired?

Tim Cook definitely needs to be dropped ASAP but that's besides the point.

It is 15 months into a promised 2 year transition, and they aren't even halfway through the product line.

When the MBA shipped is not relevant. If anything, that shipped later than expected too. They announced 2 year transition June 2020. If they meant "2 years from whenever we ship the first one which won't be for 4 more months"...sorry, no.

It will be 16-18 months in, before anything new ships.

Compared to the switch to Intel, this is pathetic.

 

[Lemon Olive]

eeh, after all you're on MR here, so of course they will disappoint most of the folks here ...

It would be very easy for that not to happen.

 

[Lemon Olive]

Confirmed specs so far...

1. Magsafe
2. HDMI port
3. SD Card slot
4. No Touch Bar.
5. New design.

The top 3 really suck.

 

[jz0309]

Apple MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 details revealed in leaked schematics

Leaked schematics have seemingly confirmed details about Apple's upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. The pair will mark the return of MagSafe for MacBooks, along with the HDMI port and a full-sized SD card slot. The Touch Bar has made way as part of a revised keyboard layout, though.

www.notebookcheck.net

Confirmed specs so far...

1. Magsafe
2. HDMI port
3. SD Card slot
4. No Touch Bar.
5. New design.

confirmed by who? Prosser? LOL

 

[jz0309]

The top 3 really suck.

it would indeed be really bad if Apple would bring legacy ports back ...
Though there have been plenty rumors about that (need I say AW7?), IF those should come true, I am for one glad that my M1 MBA has USB-C only ...

 

[jz0309]

Tim Cook definitely needs to be dropped ASAP but that's besides the point.

It is 15 months into a promised 2 year transition, and they aren't even halfway through the product line.

When the MBA shipped is not relevant. If anything, that shipped later than expected too. They announced 2 year transition June 2020. If they meant "2 years from whenever we ship the first one which won't be for 4 more months"...sorry, no.

It will be 16-18 months in, before anything new ships.

Compared to the switch to Intel, this is pathetic.

well, believe it or not, but the pandemic has an impact on Apple too ... Tim Cook made a comment in their last earnings call that Apple anticipates an impact from the semiconductor shortage in H2 2021 ...

 

[subi257]

This person was referring to the second image in the article, not the first image. It did indeed have a USB-A port. I swapped it out for the correct image that does not have a USB-A port as that is not expected.

That's okay, but when I looked at the picture at the time it was an HDMI

 

[subi257]

At work

I have a 2016 MacBook with a single USB-C port that's seen almost daily usage for over 5 years and that USB-C port is fine. This is a non-issue.

Magsafe has disadvantages, it means I can only charge from one side, I have to bring a separate charging cable for my device. I don't think Apple needs to bring back MagSafe for its laptops. Same for HDMI, between docks and Airplay I really don't have any use for it.

An SD card slot is definitely useful though.

we all have them an are constantly plugging and unplugging...go to meeting, come back to desk...repeat may times a day. The socket eventually gets loose, or the contacts inside break off.

 

[JereV]

Pro Apple Silicon is so overdue now that it has become a joke. These products better not disappoint.

Apple needs 3 types of chips:
Low end (for MBA, 24” iMac, low end Mac mini and MacBook Pro), workstation (for Mac Pro and potentially iMac Pro), and a midrange chip for the rest.

Apple promised 2 year transition. So, how could Apple deliver those 3 chips in 2 years? Starting from the simple consumer one and adding more power and more complexity on the way up to the business critical stuff?

Nov 2020: low end, based on A14
Nov 2021: mid range, based on A15
Nov 2022: workstation, based on A16

 

[JereV]

I have the M1 MacBook Air. I hope we don't have to wait until the Fall of 2022 for an updated camera. A better camera in an M1X MacBook Air, even with the current form factor, would be an instant buy for me.

There won’t be M1X Air. That’s a midrange chip. My guess for the next MacBook Air is Tue Nov 14 2023.

 

[Lemon Olive]

it would indeed be really bad if Apple would bring legacy ports back ...
Though there have been plenty rumors about that (need I say AW7?), IF those should come true, I am for one glad that my M1 MBA has USB-C only ...

Oh they're doing it, and it's because they have to drop Thunderbolt bolts. For whatever reason they can't or won't use more than 2 Thunderbolt ports with Apple Silicon.

 

[Lemon Olive]

Apple promised 2 year transition. So, how could Apple deliver those 3 chips in 2 years?

They can't. And won't. For them to make 2 years, they needed to release several more products already, and be on the cusp of releasing more late this year and early next year.

They are moving at a snails pace and its a disappointment.

 

[JereV]

I hope that Apple figured out how M-series chips work with external RAM and GPU.

Probably not this year. My guess is that the workstation chip for Mac Pro is the only one that will support ext memory and GPU. That’s probably out Nov 2022.

 

[jz0309]

Oh they're doing it, and it's because they have to drop Thunderbolt bolts. For whatever reason they can't or won't use more than 2 Thunderbolt ports with Apple Silicon.

What makes you say that? While M1 only seemingly supports 2, why couldn’t M2 support more?
I get that they have to pay Intel royalties, but that would be a very poor move

 

[JereV]

I have moved towards a pessimistic outlook on the upcoming Apple products after the recent event, minus the iPad Mini, which I think is a great update. I have been overly optimistic/excited the last 3-4 years (mostly towards the Pro side of the Mac lineup , only to be stuck in a waiting loop), and I have a sneaky suspicion that supply chain shortages have caught up with Apple, and they are extending the initial M1s for at least another 6-8 months of vanilla updates. I'm hoping the recent offerings have been limited in imagination because they are focusing on the Mac lineup. I have been holding out on proper Mac items to upgrade to for a very long time. No more incremental Pro updates. I want a massive drop of Pro tech from them, like the previous "Mac-focused" days when they still cared about the Macintosh line. I really want to be wrong. No hate, just hope. . . fingers crossed 🤞

My expectation for the Mac is that Apple will move to three-year cycle. One chip every year: low end, mid range, workstation. That would mean the current M1 models will be upgraded November 2023. Apple has no reason to make yearly speedbumbs, as the machines will stay more than competitive from performance point of view until then.

 

[jz0309]

They can't. And won't. For them to make 2 years, they needed to release several more products already, and be on the cusp of releasing more late this year and early next year.

They are moving at a snails pace and its a disappointment.

If we are going to believe a MR article from sometime in May, production of the new M chip started back then, so, repeating what I said in another post: Tim Cook during last earnings call stated that Apple WILL be impacted by the current chip shortage in H2 2021. There is a little bit more than Apple silicon in a Mac, and, beyond chip shortage, other materials used in electronics are seeing double to triple lead times…

 

[JereV]

They can't. And won't. For them to make 2 years, they needed to release several more products already, and be on the cusp of releasing more late this year and early next year.

They are moving at a snails pace and its a disappointment.

It was a rhetorical question. After that I explained how they will do it. The 2021 M-series chip is the mid range chip, and if they want to, they can replace ALL other Macs than Mac Pro this November. that’s not snail pace, that’s the only way that makes sense. It would have been stupid to add the stuff that midrange needs to A14 based M1 when they were already designing A15 at the same time. A15 based chip with learnings from M1 is a LOT better chip. And they’ll always start the yearly chip generation with the iPhone, that’s why you need to wait until November.

 

[JereV]

The next iPhone SE won’t be the current SE with new HW.

This is how SE works:
Take the last chassis of a previous general iPhone design line, and upgrade some HW (chip, but maybe camera too).

First SE was based on 5/5S design, second 6-8. The next SE will be based on XR/11.

And it will be released after 11 is discontinued. That’s spring 2023, not 2022.

So, the next SE should be iPhone 11 with A16, and maybe camera from 13/14, if it fits.

 

[827538]

What makes you say that? While M1 only seemingly supports 2, why couldn’t M2 support more?
I get that they have to pay Intel royalties, but that would be a very poor move

Thunderbolt become royalty free a while ago.

 

[theluggage]

I have moved towards a pessimistic outlook on the upcoming Apple products after the recent event, minus the iPad Mini, which I think is a great update.

Every year, Apple announce an event in September.
Every year, people get excited about new Macs being launched at the September event.
Every year, people are disappointed.

The September event is always the "mass market appliance" show - iPhone, Watch, Music and maybe the non-pro iPads... Macs occasionally get launched (or previewed) at WWDC, more often in Oct/Nov or March/April. I'm guessing that it's iPhones and Watches that see the really big holiday season sales and have to be on the shelves for Black Friday, with MacBook Pros rather less seasonal.

...and, to boot, iPhones have often followed a 2-year major re-vamp/incremental update cycle, although we're getting to the "what else can you do with a phone that's already more powerful than a lot of laptops" stage. I suspect everything is now waiting for the thru-screen camera/sensor tech so that they can dump the notch.

There's no guarantee that the rumours of 1-2 more events this year to launch M1X Macs are true, but they're entirely plausible... as is a new cycle next year of a M2 Air in Q2 2022 and maybe an M2X bump for the "pros" in Q4 2022.

 

[kyeblue]

It was a rhetorical question. After that I explained how they will do it. The 2021 M-series chip is the mid range chip, and if they want to, they can replace ALL other Macs than Mac Pro this November. that’s not snail pace, that’s the only way that makes sense. It would have been stupid to add the stuff that midrange needs to A14 based M1 when they were already designing A15 at the same time. A15 based chip with learnings from M1 is a LOT better chip. And they’ll always start the yearly chip generation with the iPhone, that’s why you need to wait until November.

I don't see the appeal of mid-ranges, unless they can square off against mid-range external GPUs. Even with that, the lack of upgradability will be its Achilles heel. The apple silicon is only for entry level only without external RAM and GPU.

 

[seek3r]

​

• Mac Pro - Apple is developing two versions of the Mac Pro, one of which will feature a redesigned chassis that's smaller in size. The new Mac Pro models will feature high-end Apple silicon chip options with 20 or 40 computing cores, made up of 6 high-performance or 32 high-performance cores and four or eight high-efficiency cores. We don't yet know when the new Mac Pro models are coming.

bit of a typo here I think, I suspect this should read 16 high performance cores for the possible future 20 core MP…

 

[Lemon Olive]

It was a rhetorical question. After that I explained how they will do it. The 2021 M-series chip is the mid range chip, and if they want to, they can replace ALL other Macs than Mac Pro this November. that’s not snail pace, that’s the only way that makes sense. It would have been stupid to add the stuff that midrange needs to A14 based M1 when they were already designing A15 at the same time. A15 based chip with learnings from M1 is a LOT better chip. And they’ll always start the yearly chip generation with the iPhone, that’s why you need to wait until November.

What's stupid is that it is September 2021 and the MacBookPro is still not using Apple Silicon. I don't count that entry thing with the MBA chip.

When Apple transitioned to Intel, Steve Jobs made sure the very first machine they updated was single most important machine: the MacBook Pro. Not only did they need to prove that it would work and be viable, but this is what all the developers and professionals use (the high end Apple notebook).

15 years later it is still true. The most important machine in the lineup is the MacBook Pro, and it was delayed incessantly, allegedly because of the mini-LED display. Something absolutely no one needs or cares about. So here we are 15 months after the announcement of Apple Silicon transition, without a MacBookPro. Absurd and inexcusable.

 

[Lemon Olive]

If we are going to believe a MR article from sometime in May, production of the new M chip started back then, so, repeating what I said in another post: Tim Cook during last earnings call stated that Apple WILL be impacted by the current chip shortage in H2 2021. There is a little bit more than Apple silicon in a Mac, and, beyond chip shortage, other materials used in electronics are seeing double to triple lead times…

It is the display. We've heard it a 100 times now from different sources. Apple has poorly chosen to prioritize the mini-LED display, and delays with it have forced the MacBookPro to be way, way overdue.

 

[Lemon Olive]

What makes you say that? While M1 only seemingly supports 2, why couldn’t M2 support more?
I get that they have to pay Intel royalties, but that would be a very poor move

Why couldn't it? I don't know. Only Apple knows. But the evidence certainly suggests that it won't.

The M1 Mac mini dropped 2 Thunderbolts.
Rumors have it that the MacBookPro will also drop 2 Thunderbolts.

What is going on there? You tell me.