Now that the M3’s are in the refurbished store at significant savings, I think I’m finally ready to upgrade my 16” intel i9 64GB 2TB. Probs have to drop to 1TB but hey ho.
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Apple's M4 MacBook Pro Lineup: What to Expect
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Oh that adds insult to people that own M2/M2 Pro Mac minis and M2 Max Mac Studios that haven't see M3 updates at all. The M3 MBPs and M3 24" iMacs (refurbished) are there as you say.
I'm not really dissing the M3 Pro - it's a better midpoint between the regular and Max and its #1 job is powering the flagship MacBook Pro where the battery life is important so more focus on economy cores makes sense.
...but when it comes to the Mac Mini (which is what my post was about), battery life isn't a factor (although cooler/quieter is still good) so that's not such good news.
Um ... why? If I understand you, I'm just the opposite.
Many people use their laptops as their main/only computers. Storage is relatively cheap (except by Apple for some fleecing reason).
I know I'm not alone, but I don't mind stating this again and again: I think the company should never release machines with storage media any < 512GB and allow the machines' ram and storage to be customer upgradable.
Did you see any rumours about that? All the M4 rumours that I saw so far are about the M4 arriving first to laptops, definitely not Ultra models...
I agree and what you say makes perfect sense. BUT many people are all wound up about Max Tech click bait videos anyhow
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
M4 ultra first rumors gathered in this video…
Click bait or not: core premise is that Ultra Macs are most profitable Macs. Based on relative pricing, that seems to make sense- there is plenty of default price markup in that ultra chip. If ultra Macs are indeed most profitable Macs, would modern Apple Inc. dare pursue maximum profit per unit sold? 💰💰💰
When I think about the money, I buy the speculation. And if M3 MAX has jettisoned the end to link to another to make an Ultra, then the new Ultra is likely to be its own chip... which would not be tied to some concept that it must either accompany or follow the release of a MAX version. If it can disconnect from that dependency, then it can launch at ANY time after- or before- MAX launches.
Since a crowd just burns to own "latest & greatest" and since a crowd seems to feel much angst if the painted number of a chip they'll probably never actually see isn't the highest number available in their Mac, why NOT flip the order to then launch the allegedly most profitable Mac release first and those Macs can be king of the Mac "power" hill for a full year or so until only unseated by the next ultra... vs. the "as is" approach where they can be mostly unseated only a few months later by the release of the next MAX? Right now, when Ultra hits, the next thing to release will be the next generation chip... and then MAX which will probably be comparable to prior generation Ultra. If one "smells" that new MAX coming, why buy Ultra? Just wait for for the cheaper (and presumably less profitable) MAX.
Apply this same concept now. Since M3 MAX has been out, why buy M2 Ultra Macs (since last October if not a month or two earlier than that when the rumor of them was growing)? As is, ULTRAs time in the sun is only a couple of months at most before the strong smell of the new MAX release hits our noses. This concept would make ULTRA the year-round king of the hill (and year round appealing and most profitable Macs).
The opposite end of the speculation would assume the M-base chip Macs are the LEAST profitable Macs... yet they get to run for a much longer time as the "good enough" Macs in the new generation. Someone buys Mx base, and the number painted on their chip is the latest number until at least about a year later. Ultra owner has as little as weeks to maybe a month or three at most before the number advances... and maybe 6 months at most before the new MAX arrives.
Yes, it's all built atop rumor speculation... but sometimes one can apply some money-making logic to rumors to see a bit more plausibility than other rumors... vs. some kind of apparent pattern we THINK we see in the reality of only 2.5 generations of chip launches.
Click bait or not: core premise is that Ultra Macs are most profitable Macs. Based on relative pricing, that seems to make sense- there is plenty of default price markup in that ultra chip. If ultra Macs are indeed most profitable Macs, would modern Apple Inc. dare pursue maximum profit per unit sold? 💰💰💰
When I think about the money, I buy the speculation. And if M3 MAX has jettisoned the end to link to another to make an Ultra, then the new Ultra is likely to be its own chip... which would not be tied to some concept that it must either accompany or follow the release of a MAX version. If it can disconnect from that dependency, then it can launch at ANY time after- or before- MAX launches.
Since a crowd just burns to own "latest & greatest" and since a crowd seems to feel much angst if the painted number of a chip they'll probably never actually see isn't the highest number available in their Mac, why NOT flip the order to then launch the allegedly most profitable Mac release first and those Macs can be king of the Mac "power" hill for a full year or so until only unseated by the next ultra... vs. the "as is" approach where they can be mostly unseated only a few months later by the release of the next MAX? Right now, when Ultra hits, the next thing to release will be the next generation chip... and then MAX which will probably be comparable to prior generation Ultra. If one "smells" that new MAX coming, why buy Ultra? Just wait for for the cheaper (and presumably less profitable) MAX.
Apply this same concept now. Since M3 MAX has been out, why buy M2 Ultra Macs (since last October if not a month or two earlier than that when the rumor of them was growing)? As is, ULTRAs time in the sun is only a couple of months at most before the strong smell of the new MAX release hits our noses. This concept would make ULTRA the year-round king of the hill (and year round appealing and most profitable Macs).
The opposite end of the speculation would assume the M-base chip Macs are the LEAST profitable Macs... yet they get to run for a much longer time as the "good enough" Macs in the new generation. Someone buys Mx base, and the number painted on their chip is the latest number until at least about a year later. Ultra owner has as little as weeks to maybe a month or three at most before the number advances... and maybe 6 months at most before the new MAX arrives.
Yes, it's all built atop rumor speculation... but sometimes one can apply some money-making logic to rumors to see a bit more plausibility than other rumors... vs. some kind of apparent pattern we THINK we see in the reality of only 2.5 generations of chip launches.
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The "most profitable Macs" will be those with very high numbers sold. For very complex items such as chips the logical process is to go from getting the least complicated right and moving from there to the more complicated. This is similar to the process of going from M1 to M2 to M3 etc rather than trying to jump straight to M5 for the high end and then filling in M4 for lower end computers.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
That's not the rumor. It is only flipping the order of release from:
It's also choosing to have a short window of time where the power hungry choose ULTRA because next MAX has generally been towards as powerful and it hits less than half a year later at most so far. The new MAX-equipped Mac is about HALF the price of the old ULTRA-equipped Mac, yet spun as just about as powerful. This rumor would have Apple Inc "fixing" that "maximize our profit" problem by altering the order of releases... further supported by tangible evidence that the next ULTRA is NOT two M3 MAXes joined together.
- M-base to M-pro & max to M-ultra TO
- M-ultra to M-pro & max to M-base
It's also choosing to have a short window of time where the power hungry choose ULTRA because next MAX has generally been towards as powerful and it hits less than half a year later at most so far. The new MAX-equipped Mac is about HALF the price of the old ULTRA-equipped Mac, yet spun as just about as powerful. This rumor would have Apple Inc "fixing" that "maximize our profit" problem by altering the order of releases... further supported by tangible evidence that the next ULTRA is NOT two M3 MAXes joined together.
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I’m with you! I Literally sold my 2017 MacBook retina 16gb/500gb yesterday.
I never really used it anymore, but just picking it up I really appreciated the size and weight.
The smallness was never really a factor it was just the lacking performance that let it down. AS would have / can change this.
There are AI features that Apple has already built in that are not like a ChatGPT chatbot.
- typing suggestions that learn from your typing.
- facial recognition in Photos
- searching in Photos for people, animals, and other things like bicycles, snow, food, etc.
- selecting the main subject of a photo to copy or blur the background.
- identifying and allowing copying text from photos.
- localizing the audio from the microphones on a MacBook to allow blocking out surrounding sounds.
- processing of the video signal from the webcam in a MacBook to improve the image quality.
I feel like people have started to think that AI = chatbot functionality.
I'd love an AI that is able to quickly summarize what's gone down in a group chat since I last checked, or helps coordinate dinner plans with friends by checking restaurant hours and travel times.
I'm hoping Apple's AI helps us bounce between apps less. Not holding my breath though.
Apple has a system called App Intents that was designed for the Shortcuts automation to work with various apps. Apps can publish a list of functions and how to call them to get information or to take actions. Shortcuts scripts can use those now. Apple could build an AI to could use those App Intents to interact with those apps using voice, text, or automation to get what you want done.
That is the idea behind the Large Action Model in the upcoming Rabbit R1 AI device. It listens to your request, determines what you mean and then finds apps and APIs to satisfy the request. I could imagine Apple rebuilding Siri to be such a Large Action Model AI to be the hub for a whole system of AI powered modules and apps. Some of which could be a ChatGPT-style answerbot.
It’s 50% heavier. The 12” was in another league despite having a screen that’s only slightly smaller.
Indeed.
Would love to see an analysis of where the weight goes. How much of it is simply the aluminum? Could they make a plastic+magnesium (like the white iBook) case that would be a lot lighter?
(You can see in 2001 when the PowerBook was briefly titanium that that was a bit lighter; when they switched to aluminum, it went a little heavier again.)
How much is the display, and (presumably) especially its backlight? Can't think of much else that would be heavy.
Just give my my Mac Studio M4 Ultra (or the Pro M4 Ultra if enough reason for the upgrade). Last Mac Pro I had was the 2013 trashcan model, and it reigned supreme for almost 10 years until tech caught up to it. Ready for a game changing Mac Pro again.
I really hope it goes beyond just another way to use apps. This is an opportunity to be an actually intelligent devices, something that gets ahead of the user to present information and take action.
Apple knows where I am via my phone, watch. I imagine getting home, and my Mac whirs awake automatically. As I get to my desk, it wakes the screen and unlocks with my watch. Instead of notifications waiting for me, there's activity summaries. "In Mail, you received 53 emails, 24 appear to be marketing. Important messages include; Honda Financial Services received your payment,..." and similar for Messages, even 3rd party apps like Discord, or Instagram if they choose to integrate. These summaries could even be added as a direct upgrade to Scheduled Summaries.
I can clear these summaries, or click in to act on whatever was summarized. I open up Maps and Siri presents pins for locations that were mentioned in a Messages group chat, restaurants and bars for boy's night. Siri keeps one step ahead of me at all times, predicting what I might want to do and unobtrusively making it easy for me. This is all transparent, and easily ignored if I don't want the machine's help.
What you describe is very close to the Knowledge Navigator that Apple envisioned in 1987. I think that is the idea behind where this is all headed.
Knowledge Navigator - Wikipedia
Hopefully there will be also a way to turn all of this completely off, as well as all the other AI nonsense.