14” MBP and 16” MBP disappointing launch

[sublunar]

Sorry but what is the point of this post? We don't know what is coming or when. Everyone is speculating but nobody really knows. There will certainly be new pro devices coming by the end of year or even maybe next year. I would suggest we wait and see. Speculating doesn't help.

This is Macrumors. Speculation and conjecture is built in...

 

[petvas]

This is Macrumors. Speculation and conjecture is built in...

That might be true but to just make a post to say that the rumored launch of 14" and 16" Apple Silicon laptops will be disappointing, is based on nothing. I cannot even call it a speculation. It's just not serious..

 

[sublunar]

They used x and z beforehand because the idea of using a “phone” processor in a device like an ipad may have turned people off - phone processors don’t have the reputation of being very powerful. And in 2020 they needed to say “this is better than 2019, because…reasons.”

Power users understand the difference between 12 cores and 6 cores. They don’t need, or care, about the chip having the same name. There will be M1s and M2s but no M1x’s or M1z’s. Mark my words.

Upon reflection Apple appear to be attempting to reverse to the perception that a 'phone CPU' could drive a Mac. They're first showing that a Mac CPU could run an iPad Pro which is also fair enough.

The A series CPUs appear to be remaining for (for now) for phones and consumer tablets which is fine.

But while the understanding that A15 will pilot the technology that will be emerging in the M2 - just with more compute and GPU cores and perhaps a higher clock speed - I would still still contend that unless the M2 is going to have a fixed clock speed and number of compute cores across all products (like the M1) Apple will need to figure out some way of differentiating M2 by core.

And then how would they justify an expected $3-5k iMac Pro up against a $1299 iMac for a regular punter who is used to knowing that i3 < i5 < i7?

Especially if Apple continue to omit MHz which is a good strategy (because punters immediately compare with other x86 CPUs without any context)

And given that A series CPUs debut every year can we assume that there will be an M series CPU on a fixed annual released schedule too? It would make sense if Apple don't want to rest on their laurels and need to keep the pressure up on AMD and Intel.

 

[cmaier]

Upon reflection Apple appear to be attempting to reverse to the perception that a 'phone CPU' could drive a Mac. They're first showing that a Mac CPU could run an iPad Pro which is also fair enough.

The A series CPUs appear to be remaining for (for now) for phones and consumer tablets which is fine.

But while the understanding that A15 will pilot the technology that will be emerging in the M2 - just with more compute and GPU cores and perhaps a higher clock speed - I would still still contend that unless the M2 is going to have a fixed clock speed and number of compute cores across all products (like the M1) Apple will need to figure out some way of differentiating M2 by core.

And then how would they justify an expected $3-5k iMac Pro up against a $1299 iMac for a regular punter who is used to knowing that i3 < i5 < i7?

Especially if Apple continue to omit MHz which is a good strategy (because punters immediately compare with other x86 CPUs without any context)

And given that A series CPUs debut every year can we assume that there will be an M series CPU on a fixed annual released schedule too? It would make sense if Apple don't want to rest on their laurels and need to keep the pressure up on AMD and Intel.

People who buy iMac Pro’s are smart enough to understand “this has 12 cores and this has 8.” That provides them with much more information than “this is an x and this is a z.” And the rest of the folks don’t care.

 

[twentyonekoalas]

Oh so instead of M1, M1X, etc. we'll just select how many cores we want 'M1 with 8core 32 core, etc'. Can they please call them Apple Cores XD

 

[sublunar]

Oh so instead of M1, M1X, etc. we'll just select how many cores we want 'M1 with 8core 32 core, etc'. Can they please call them Apple Cores XD

I assume you’re here all week, we should try the veal and tip the waitress? 😂

 

[sublunar]

People who buy iMac Pro’s are smart enough to understand “this has 12 cores and this has 8.” That provides them with much more information than “this is an x and this is a z.” And the rest of the folks don’t care.

It would certainly make for an interesting product matrix. How does it apply to the upper sku Mac mini which sits directly above the M1 mini?

Do we expect it to be a Mac mini pro?

It’s easy enough to fathom for an (expected) 14” MacBook Pro and 16” pro, and a highly logical move for an iMac pro.