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prefuse07

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Jan 27, 2020
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Screenshot 2023-04-25 141025.png


🤣🤣🤣
 

Mago

macrumors 68030
Aug 16, 2011
2,789
912
Beyond the Thunderdome
M3 Ultra / M3 Extreme Mac Pro is a low-volume high-margin product, should be perfect to "clear the pipe" for further M3-family production...?

@deconstruct60 has mentioned something along these lines in the past...?
An big SOC on an new problematic node even if low volume demand its an NO-GO. unless M3 is an total new concept full on chiplets and requiring only 2 or 3 variants.
 

NC12

macrumors regular
Nov 12, 2020
110
280
If 3nm is supply-constrained, I think it's obvious that iPhone will have priority over any other application.
If the supply is as constrained as the article makes it out to be the next iPhones might stick with 5nm. There are a hell of a lot more iPhones than Mac Pros
 

enc0re

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2010
402
642
So far the M processors have stuck with previous-gen iPhone processes and cores. It seems more likely that M3 will use 5nm N4P process and the Everest cores from iPhone 14 than that a Mac will leapfrog an iPhone.
 
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Mago

macrumors 68030
Aug 16, 2011
2,789
912
Beyond the Thunderdome
TSMC is approaching an dead end with their business model, as the linearity among transistor density and complete chip yield vs yield value is literally broke, with every process shrink they increased waffers price at inverse ratio, that's ok if yield are constant and the product keeps value, but Apple (neither Nvidia etc) are in position to bill extra in proportion to the product performance improvement, it put marketing at an dead end, and with ridiculous development costs I think TSMC is doing exactly what Samsung and Intel needs, but the way apple buy production in advance means no chance to profit from that issue, and that is bad news for stock market and those expecting competitive products at reasonable price.
 

ZombiePhysicist

Suspended
May 22, 2014
2,884
2,794
TSMC is approaching an dead end with their business model, as the linearity among transistor density and complete chip yield vs yield value is literally broke, with every process shrink they increased waffers price at inverse ratio, that's ok if yield are constant and the product keeps value, but Apple (neither Nvidia etc) are in position to bill extra in proportion to the product performance improvement, it put marketing at an dead end, and with ridiculous development costs I think TSMC is doing exactly what Samsung and Intel needs, but the way apple buy production in advance means no chance to profit from that issue, and that is bad news for stock market and those expecting competitive products at reasonable price.

So I forget how many atoms wide 5nm is. Is it around 6 atoms or 12 atoms wide?

Obviously you cannot go below 1 atom wide, not to mention I don't know that you could have any yield at that level. So not sure how many nm 2 atoms wide is, but my guess, that may end up being the practical limit.
 

spaz8

macrumors 6502
Mar 3, 2007
492
91
I thought I read some where that 3nm, 5nm etc is all marketing mumbo jumbo for the process, the numbers used to correspond to the gate size like 10+ years ago but now.. its more about density. A 14nm "process" might be a 18nm gate.
 
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Mago

macrumors 68030
Aug 16, 2011
2,789
912
Beyond the Thunderdome
A 14nm "process" might be a 18nm gate.
Not even a gate, just a "feature", actually often it's the smallest conductor trace, a single PN union often often 8x bigger, notwithstanding really amazing how far have reached the industry only on silicon and UV, way ago that feature required x-ray or electron scan amid material as gallium arsenide. Now gan almost only used just at DC converters and power transistors.
 

dgdosen

macrumors 68030
Dec 13, 2003
2,817
1,463
Seattle
What if...?

Mac14,8 = M2 Ultra Extremme Modular Mac Pro
Mac14,13 = M2 Max Mac Studio
Mac14,14 = M2 Ultra Mac Studio

Just a  thought...
More conjecture to chew on, it's like I'm writing you-tuber, click-chasing, rumor scripts for them:

The EE Times article referenced in this post (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-enough-3-nanometer-chips-for-apple.2387801/) notes:
Apple will pay TSMC for known good die rather than standard wafer prices, at least for the first three to four quarters of the N3 ramp as yields climb to around 70%

Sounds like two partners taking and sharing risks. To me, that says Apple can take their 'risky' chips, experiment on N3B with TSMC experimenting on their 'risky' packaging processes (> 1 SOC). They're sharing the costs because TSMC wants to cut their teeth on new packaging tech and they're (reportedly) not making Apple pay 'per wafer' but per 'good die' - at least for now. So maybe N3B is churning out M3 Max/Ultra/Jade4C, or maybe M2x Max/Ultra/Jade4C.

This post (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...in-apples-find-my-configuration-file.2387463/) references three new 'desktop' model identifiers. I agree there's at least one desktop in there that has two chip alternatives (14,13 14,14) - not a 24" iMac, those are pretty thin and probably Mx only. Not the Mac Pro - that will probably come loaded. Therefore, it sounds like a new Ultra on it's way (Max/Ultra). And if there's a new ultra on the way, it stands to reason there's a new Mac Pro on the way (14,8).

This also appeals to the notion that if I'm shelling out 5-10K (or more?) for a Mac Pro, I don't want some $999 Macbook beating me in any benchmarks anytime soon.
 

rumz

macrumors 65816
Feb 11, 2006
1,226
635
Utah
Spring 2023 Mac Event
  • Mac14,8 = 24" M2 iMac
  • Mac14,13 = M2 Max Mac Studio
  • Mac14,14 = M2 Ultra Mac Studio

WWDC 2023
  • Mac15,1 = M3 Ultra Mac Pro
  • Mac15,2 = M3 Extreme Mac Pro
I heard a comment on a podcast that makes me question whether we’ll see any Macs at WWDC— mainly that the AR/VR headset could take up enough time that there wouldn’t really be time for debuting macs.

Actually was kind of hoping we’d see the Mac Pro in a Spring Event (though I imagine that would end up being an M2 product).
 

ZombiePhysicist

Suspended
May 22, 2014
2,884
2,794
I heard a comment on a podcast that makes me question whether we’ll see any Macs at WWDC— mainly that the AR/VR headset could take up enough time that there wouldn’t really be time for debuting macs.

Actually was kind of hoping we’d see the Mac Pro in a Spring Event (though I imagine that would end up being an M2 product).

I was thinking this independently. They need to go over iOS, iPadOS, watchOS (yawn, dead and boring OS for years now), maybe TVOS, then macOS. Then the AR/VR, which should take a big hunk of time. How much more time could you spend without killing everyone from fatigue during a Keynote?
 
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goMac

macrumors 604
Apr 15, 2004
7,663
1,694
The Mac Pro will only take up like 5 minutes (at most) in a 2 hour keynote. It’ll be fine. The MacBook Air 15” is rumored for WWDC so that’s one other Mac model already.

With everything going on at Apple I’d wonder if maybe it gets kicked past WWDC just due to everything running late.

A Spring event isn’t happening. It’s too close to WWDC. That ship has sailed. WWDC takes a whole lot of prep and practice. Apple isn’t prepping two events for the next month-ish in parallel. And I don’t think they’ve ever done a May event anyway.
 
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mattspace

macrumors 68040
Jun 5, 2013
3,344
2,975
Australia
WWDC takes a whole lot of prep and practice. Apple isn’t prepping two events for the next month-ish in parallel. And I don’t think they’ve ever done a May event anyway.

And given it hasn't been "live" since the audience laughed at them (the audio of which disappeared from the recorded version) when they announced the pricing for the XDR's stand, they've no doubt been recording WWDC presentation segments for months already.
 
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ZombiePhysicist

Suspended
May 22, 2014
2,884
2,794
Proof that Macworld has gotten more and more stupid and irrelevant over time. Full of puffed egos and empty of intellect, insight and talent. I officially cancelled them with this and block them in all my news sources moving forward. Irrelevant blather…sound and fury of coward, sold out, wannabe losers:

 

AndreeOnline

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2014
704
495
Zürich
Proof that Macworld has gotten more and more....
That whole article stems from one, single thing: "I need..... hence the world needs..."

It's a single individual who wants an update to his Mac Studio (or someone who passed on the first version, but now wants to buy 'the next one' as soon as possible) and fears that the Mac Pro stands in the way of his wishes.
He believes that the Mac Pro will either claim constrained chips outright or prevent Apple to release a fast Mac Studio due to optics.

And thus this think-piece was born.
 

spaz8

macrumors 6502
Mar 3, 2007
492
91
The paranoid cynic in me worries this is some favour article to apple to get ppl thinking a certain way, to soften the blow if the Asi MP is still another year away or canned :( Hopefully just someone that has no insight filling content needs.
 

backtopoints

macrumors newbie
Dec 9, 2022
18
40
Apple is trying to come up with a work-station class machine matching the power of Xeon class Cpus and Nvidia A class Gpus. We all know that any of Apple chips aren't near those Cpus and Gpus. Please don't tell me about those benchmarks which don't tell us anything for serious pro works. Considering that, for Apple, this is a pride issue even tough financially the market cap is super tight. If Apple cannot create a pro-machine, It is going to be quite obvious none of Apple's chips are close enough to the above mentioned Cpus and Gpus, and It would be assumed that Apple is not qualified enough to create a pro class machine. Apple knows that very well and soon it is highly possible that they would come up with a sort of weirdo solution to the weakness of their chips (for Pros). And that Compute Thing (a sort of accelerator, i assume) would be the main driving force that machine. If I am mistaken, I really really wonder what would be their solution to the obstructive closed structure of their SOC???
 
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Mago

macrumors 68030
Aug 16, 2011
2,789
912
Beyond the Thunderdome
Spring 2023 Mac Press Release Event
  • Mac14,8 = 24" M2 iMac
  • Mac14,13 = M2 Max Mac Studio
  • Mac14,14 = M2 Ultra Mac Studio
WWDC 2023
  • Mac15,1 = M3 Ultra Mac Pro
  • Mac15,2 = M3 Extreme Mac Pro
What about:
Spring 2023 Mac Press Release Event
  • Mac14,8 = 24" M2 iMac
  • Mac14,13 = M2 Max Mac Studio
  • Mac14,14 = M2 Ultra Mac Studio
WWDC 2023
  • Mac15,1 = M3 Ultra Multi-chiplet Mac Pro
  • ComputeModule15,2 M3 Multi-chiplet
  • Mac15,2 = M3 Extreme Mac Pro

All this just dreaming, as the Mac Pro likely to come with two M2-Ultra maybe as soon as the next week, optimized for video/Audio content applications, leaving behind (kicking) ml,big data, science/engineering users.
 
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elfamosisimoJON

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2019
66
57
What about:
Spring 2023 Mac Press Release Event
  • Mac14,8 = 24" M2 iMac
  • Mac14,13 = M2 Max Mac Studio
  • Mac14,14 = M2 Ultra Mac Studio
WWDC 2023
  • Mac15,1 = M3 Ultra Multi-chiplet Mac Pro
  • ComputeModule15,2 M3 Multi-chiplet
  • Mac15,2 = M3 Extreme Mac Pro

All this just dreaming, as the Mac Pro likely to come with two M2-Ultra maybe as soon as the next week, optimized for video/Audio content applications, leaving behind (kicking) ml,big data, science/engineering users.
"Maybe as soon as the next week"

🤣

aren't you tired of pretending to know something about the next Mac Pro?
 
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