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When to Expect New M4 MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro Models

MacRumors said:
Apple has said the ultra-thin M4 iPad Pro serves as a model for its upcoming design philosophy, with the company planning to offer "the thinnest and lightest products" in each category across the tech industry.
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Thinking of saving up for a laptop since currently only have an iPad so M4 sounds exciting, but not a fan of this part.
Personally i want desktop devices to have built in power supplies, and mobile devices to have good battery life, those things should come before making things as thin as possible. (Durability must be considered too)
 
chucker23n1 said:
We don't know this. We've merely inferred it from recent behavior, which has only lasted a few years.

My point is that the post goes from the certain (the pre-release builds lists Mac17 models) to guesswork (those probably refer to MacBook Airs, and those are probably M5-based, given the "17" infix).

Is it likely that "17" refers to M5? Yes. Is it likely that the Air is far enough out that the M5 would be ready in time? Yes. But it absolutely is not "hard evidence".

Them including it so early in a macOS build is probably a mistake, but ultimately, it doesn't give us that much more info than "there will be new Macs coming". That said, Apple would even deny that there will be new iPhones coming in September.
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Sure, but again, my point was that it’s not a “rumor” — the list is evidence.

We are arguing about what it is evidence of, not whether or not it is evidence. I’m arguing it is evidence that Apple will maintain the “Mac” M-silicon family identifier system going forward (while it began with the M1 Studio, it was used consistently for all of M2, all of M3, and now, evidently, all of M4) and that is useful — the fact it is not earth-shattering news that Apple will release two unspecified M5 Macs at some point in the next year only reinforces its authenticity.
 
Chuckeee said:
I’m confused.

First you state:

Then later you state:


Exactly what M3 Max do you use that isn’t a laptop?
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I have 6 computers in my workflow. Obviously for the ones working 24/7 they are desktops not laptops. Laptops aren’t good uses to be constantly working under heavy load 24/7.

I would prefer to use a studio for everything but that just shows I’d rather fire up my laptop for a few hours in blender.
 
tenthousandthings said:
It is reasonable to ask Apple to build an M3 Max Mac Studio and sell it alongside the M2 Ultra Mac Studio/Pro.

It is not reasonable, however, to expect Apple to do that. Nonetheless, a reality-based case can be made for it. There is a strong argument. But it runs up against the costs involved. You are a case in point. There are not enough customers who wouldn’t also just buy a MacBook Pro to get the M3 Max, like you did (apparently, assuming you’re not a troll who likes to shout and can’t keep their story straight), even though you weren’t happy about it.

It is completely unrealistic to ask/expect Apple to launch the Ultra first. If you think that can happen, you’re going to always be disappointed.

M4 versus M3, in terms of the GPU, does not appear to be a remarkable step forward like M3 versus M2. So your M3 Max MacBook Pro will still work while you wait a few months for M4 Ultra. And maybe, just maybe (I can dream), Apple could see the light and launch the M4 Max Mac Studio alongside the MacBook Pro. After all, they will be building it, there’s no real reason to wait for the Ultra.
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This is unprecedented behavior where a laptop chip is a better value than the best of the best desktop. Apple will need to change this otherwise it’s yet another death sentence for Mac desktops.

Apple wonders why their desktops don’t sell well? This is why among about a dozen other reasons. All fixable by Apple.
 
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Ethosik said:
Apple wonders why their desktops don’t sell well? This is why among about a dozen other reasons. All fixable by Apple.
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The point I was trying to make was: Apple isn't wondering that.

Apple would be fine with all of their desktop users converting to laptops. I don't think Apple has any real interest in fixing this.

Apple just realizes that some users and some use cases probably still benefit from desktops, so they're willing to make a few models from time to time.
 
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DavidSchaub said:
The point I was trying to make was: Apple isn't wondering that.

Apple would be fine with all of their desktop users converting to laptops. I don't think Apple has any real interest in fixing this.

Apple just realizes that some users and some use cases probably still benefit from desktops, so they're willing to make a few models from time to time.
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Clearly not as Apple had to publicly apologize about the 2013 Mac Pro. As much as the PR department allowed them to say, they admitted they messed up and pissed off the pro market. It’s why we got a GREAT 2019 Mac Pro.
 
Ethosik said:
This is unprecedented behavior where a laptop chip is a better value than the best of the best desktop. Apple will need to change this otherwise it’s yet another death sentence for Mac desktops.

Apple wonders why their desktops don’t sell well? This is why among about a dozen other reasons. All fixable by Apple.
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Yes, it happened. But your workload is not the only workload, there are others for whom the M2 Ultra is still ahead of the M3 Max. Surely you can acknowledge that?

We don’t know why Apple didn’t build the M3 Ultra. I hesitate to even mention it, because a lot of people think they know, when they really don’t, including me. My guess would be that TSMC couldn’t do it on first-generation N3, so it was never even an option.

But we’re past that now. We don’t know if Apple plans to skip generations again in the future. As far as we know, TSMC looks like it will be able to handle Apple’s singular advanced-packaging needs going forward. But it’s hard to say.
 
DavidSchaub said:
I don't think a marketing ploy Apple did 7 years ago really says much about Apple today.
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It wasn’t a marketing ploy. They were bleeding and losing pros like droves. That shows they MUST still want to keep their pro market happy. Or they would have performed a marketing ploy to say look our laptops are so much better than that 2013 Mac Pro so get a laptop instead. After all, you said Apple would prefer they move to laptops.
 
I think in order to help me make sense of the phrase "As early as this year," Apple must introduce the Macbook Pro with M4 at a special event in October. Isn't this the pattern? Obviously the M4 itself is ready!!🍸😹 The main question then would be, 'what about the max/ultra' and 'what about the special 2-layer display that the M4 would enable?' Obviously the 2-layer display is ready, because it shipped in the iPad Pro.

On the other topic, I wouldn't see Apple 'branding' a super-duper-ooper M4 as an M5. That just don't seem right. They would use adjectives instead!🍸🐈
 
chucker23n1 said:
FWIW, we know desktops were ~20% by 2017. I imagine they're even less now.
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Nice find. Further confirms the down trend as a percentage of revenue. Even if you are being generous and say 20% still today then we are talking about 7 billion revenue for Desktops VS 30 billion for iPads. Might even be less now.

So krell100 when you asked why M4s are going into iPads before desktops there's your answer. Apple has a fiduciary duty to the shareholders requiring to make decisions in the best interest of shareholders not to MacRumors posters or people waiting for a new Mac Studio. iPads make them a lot more money and they were due for a refresh so they went M4 as a selling point.
 
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eldho said:
????
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Not sure what is difficult to understand. I have 4 displays, have external Thunderbolt SSDs, DAS, multiple 25Gb networking all connected to my thunderbolt ports. I cannot use all my setup with a laptop, it will not be possible without having something throttle. So I would prefer to use a desktop system. But I also need the power that the M3 Max provides over my M2 Ultra.
 
brofkand said:
Is the Mac mini going to still have an integrated PSU?
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I was thinking they may move to a power model that uses USB-C via any TB port. But if they want toe TB ports to power external devices too, maybe that would be too much? But it wouldn't be any worse of a situation than the laptops.
 
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arkmannj said:
I was thinking they may move to a power model that uses USB-C via any TB port. But if they want toe TB ports to power external devices too, maybe that would be too much? But it wouldn't be any worse of a situation than the laptops.
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While it's an interesting thought to be able to power a Mac mini with a PD battery pack, I'd prefer if the Mac mini retained the internal PSU. Maybe it'll support both? Internal PSU for A/C power, and can take PD power.
 
arkmannj said:
I was thinking they may move to a power model that uses USB-C via any TB port. But if they want toe TB ports to power external devices too, maybe that would be too much? But it wouldn't be any worse of a situation than the laptops.
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I agree that this feels like a very Apple move.

Always bet on Apple trying to use fewer cables.

Though I would prefer Apple make a new Mac nano, rather than replacing the Mac mini with this smaller form factor.

Having USB-PD and an internal power supply would up the cost, so I don't think that would happen.

I'm just sure Apple likes the idea of a Mac you could just plug into an Apple Studio Display and use, with zero other cables.
 
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DavidSchaub said:
I'm just sure Apple likes the idea of a Mac you could just plug into an Apple Studio Display and use, with zero other cables.
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Ha! Can you imagine that to use a Mac mini or Mac Studio, you'd have to buy an Apple display, because none of their computers would work without it, since they would get the power out of the display's USB port? Essentially an USB4/Thunderbolt connection, but with proprietary solution. And no other alternative powersource would work.

That would bring them a ton of money, since you would be forced to buy an Apple Display.
 
opeter said:
Ha! Can you imagine that to use a Mac mini or Mac Studio, you'd have to buy an Apple display, because none of their computers would work without it, since they would get the power out of the display's USB port? Essentially an USB4/Thunderbolt connection, but with proprietary solution. And no other alternative powersource would work.

That would bring them a ton of money, since you would be forced to buy an Apple Display.
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It doesn't need to be Thunderbolt, just USB-C / USB-PD.

So it isn't proprietary, and isn't only Apple.

I'm sure there are... about 20 monitors out there that could do it :)
 
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jdb8167 said:
By my measurements with geekbench 6, the M3 gets a single-core improvement of 18% and a multi-core improvement of 21% over the M2. Not going to blow you out of the water but not nothing either.
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It's commendable iterative progress for Apple, but the corollary to Moore's law states you won't really notice a bump in specs (whether GPU, CPU, RAM, storage, etc.) until it doubles. An upgrade from M1 to M4 roughly fits that--if you already own an M2 or M3 most people can't even perceive the speed difference (of course certain other things may change like I believe the gimped SSD speed for the base Macbooks is gone with the M4).

This, of course, is why most specs are available in increments of 2 (ie 8GB or 16GB RAM, 0.5TB or 1TB storage)
 
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