ARM based MacBook Pro discussion [merged]

[Unregistered 4U]

What's the likelihood of Apple having the AS Mac's purchasable right after the announcement? Haven't most Macbook hardware refreshes from Apple been available same day after announcement?

I’m going to guess they’re going to be available for pre-order on Friday to deliver the following week. Of course, I suppose it depends on if they expect to deliver huge quantities of them. They’re likely to have fewer configurations because differences will focus on storage (I’m guessing not even RAM will be configurable). So, not as much BYOB variety to consider.

 

[nquinn]

I am going to be utterly disappointed if the next MacBook Pro 16-inch is ARM. And if Apple is going to stoop so low as to compare their ARM chips to an Intel Core i9 9th generation, then everyone needs to broadcast that out to consumers and publicly shame the company. Apple is doing themselves and their customers a disservice by not producing a MBP 16-inch with an Intel Core i9 11th generation (Tiger-Lake) H-series chip, WiFi-6, and AMD Radeon Pro 5600M with 8GB of HBM2 memory - I don't care if I have to wait until early 2021 for Tiger Lake-H to come out.

No one should want an intel 16" macbook this year. While it's possible that Apple will do it to buy some time:

(a) Intel doesn't have Tiger Lake available yet in 45w (35w now), so it would just be another disappointing 10th gen release if they did it this fall. Additionally, Intel doesn't even have a hard date yet for that Tiger Lake chip, just estimates, which is terrifying. The only major upside I see for Tiger Lake is the built-in hardware AV1 decoding which Apple seems unlikely to support in this new Apple silicon, given that the new iPhones don't support it.

(b) Given that Apple is going to phase out intel over the next couple years, it probably limits the lifespan of a $2500+ 16" intel macbook to maybe... 5 years until the OS is so out of date that you can't really use it anymore?
For comparison, the 2011 macbook pro with the sandy bridge chip got it's last operating system with High Sierra, 6 years after release.

 

[ascender]

What's the likelihood of Apple having the AS Mac's purchasable right after the announcement? Haven't most Macbook hardware refreshes from Apple been available same day after announcement?

Pretty good I think - all current MacBook Pro’s are on 1-2 week delivery from Apple at the moment.

 

[powerslave12r]

Don't know if this has been discussed, but is there any indication that they will be address the ghosting issues seen in the recent Macbook Pro models (especially the 16")?

 

[darkmatter343]

I’m going to guess they’re going to be available for pre-order on Friday to deliver the following week. Of course, I suppose it depends on if they expect to deliver huge quantities of them. They’re likely to have fewer configurations because differences will focus on storage (I’m guessing not even RAM will be configurable). So, not as much BYOB variety to consider.

I can’t imagine Apple would do a pre-order, have they ever for a new Mac...? Besides the Mac Pro of course.

Pretty good I think - all current MacBook Pro’s are on 1-2 week delivery from Apple at the moment.

Yeah, fingers crossed. As far as I remember Apple has always had MacBook hardware refreshes released literally after the announcements.

Usually the online stores go offline during the presentation, plus this isn’t the new iPhone or something unique, so I can’t imagine they’d hold back release for a few weeks etc. But I guess tomorrow we’ll find out.

I don’t mind being an early adopter ?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I can’t imagine Apple would do a pre-order, have they ever for a new Mac...? Besides the Mac Pro of course.

Yeah, fingers crossed. As far as I remember Apple has always had MacBook hardware refreshes released literally after the announcements.

Usually the online stores go offline during the presentation, plus this isn’t the new iPhone or something unique, so I can’t imagine they’d hold back release for a few weeks etc. But I guess tomorrow we’ll find out.

I don’t mind being an early adopter ?

You’re right, they usually do, just don’t want to get my hopes up LOL!

 

[nquinn]

I can’t imagine Apple would do a pre-order, have they ever for a new Mac...? Besides the Mac Pro of course.


Yeah, fingers crossed. As far as I remember Apple has always had MacBook hardware refreshes released literally after the announcements.

Usually the online stores go offline during the presentation, plus this isn’t the new iPhone or something unique, so I can’t imagine they’d hold back release for a few weeks etc. But I guess tomorrow we’ll find out.

I don’t mind being an early adopter ?

Not sure on this one, but I always wait for the sales by MacMall, HHGregg, etc where you can save like 10-18% off. At these prices it makes a huge difference. For example, the 16gb/1TB 16" model last time that was $2800 could be had for $2300 on google shopping + HHGregg

 

[jjahshik32]

No one should want an intel 16" macbook this year. While it's possible that Apple will do it to buy some time:

(a) Intel doesn't have Tiger Lake available yet in 45w (35w now), so it would just be another disappointing 10th gen release if they did it this fall. Additionally, Intel doesn't even have a hard date yet for that Tiger Lake chip, just estimates, which is terrifying. The only major upside I see for Tiger Lake is the built-in hardware AV1 decoding which Apple seems unlikely to support in this new Apple silicon, given that the new iPhones don't support it.

(b) Given that Apple is going to phase out intel over the next couple years, it probably limits the lifespan of a $2500+ 16" intel macbook to maybe... 5 years until the OS is so out of date that you can't really use it anymore?
For comparison, the 2011 macbook pro with the sandy bridge chip got it's last operating system with High Sierra, 6 years after release.

I guess I'm one of those "no one", lol. Picked up a 16" 6 core MacBook Pro from Microcenter for $1499. Best deal ever! I'll upgrade to the Apple Silicon in 4 years from now when it is more mature. I never buy first gen anything, I'll let everyone else be the guinnea pigs.

As for phasing out intel Macs in 2 years is true but support for Intel Macs will be around for years. Get the best deal, the 16" I received doesn't exhibit from any of the issues like crackling/popping noises or ghosting on the screen. It's near perfect and fast!

 

[Maximara]

No one should want an intel 16" macbook this year.

To quote Yahtzee regarding a Star War game accepting the prequels: "Why would we want to do this terrible thing?"

While it's possible that Apple will do it to buy some time:

(a) Intel doesn't have Tiger Lake available yet in 45w (35w now), so it would just be another disappointing 10th gen release if they did it this fall.

One thing to remember here is the more wattage means more heat and in something as big as a Mac book heat is the enemy as it causes throttling under heavy loads causing performance to tank.

Additionally, Intel doesn't even have a hard date yet for that Tiger Lake chip, just estimates, which is terrifying.

And believing Intel could live up to their promises is how apple got burned the last time. "Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me"

The only major upside I see for Tiger Lake is the built-in hardware AV1 decoding which Apple seems unlikely to support in this new Apple silicon, given that the new iPhones don't support it.

This reminds me of people going on an on how they "need" software x when there is a reasonably powerful open source alternative. I have yet to see anything but 'that is what everyone else uses' a reason to not use LibreOffice over MS Office for instance.

(b) Given that Apple is going to phase out intel over the next couple years, it probably limits the lifespan of a $2500+ 16" intel macbook to maybe... 5 years until the OS is so out of date that you can't really use it anymore?
For comparison, the 2011 macbook pro with the sandy bridge chip got it's last operating system with High Sierra, 6 years after release.

This seems to be Apple's pattern - roughly 5 years before support for the latest OS is dropped and in the computer world that is an eternity.

 

[Graham King]

Do we have any idea how prepared major developers will be for AS Macs? I edit video in Adobe Premiere. Their software is notoriously buggy. How soon should we expect them to support AS?

 

[DanMan619]

Do we have any idea how prepared major developers will be for AS Macs? I edit video in Adobe Premiere. Their software is notoriously buggy. How soon should we expect them to support AS?

Adobe and Microsoft were named by Apple when they initially announced this transition happening, as already working on AS versions of Adobe Suite and Microsoft Office. Not sure on other developers, but Adobe and Microsoft specifically have already been working on it with Apple for months.

 

[Graham King]

I bought the new 13” right after the store came back online. I’ll be your guinea pig.

 

[thedocbwarren]

Looks nice, may wait as I have too many laptops already but MacBook Air looks cool. Not supprised they went with iGPU-based laptops and Macs first. Give it time to build up the performance of the GPU and consider how to scale it.

 

[yanksrock100]

Just ordered the a 13 inch also!

 

[krishmk]

I have 2 mac airs, 1 macbook pro for family of 4, along with 3 windows PC's. I want ARM based, but not sure what I am going to do with all the others

 

[ascender]

So, why only 2 ports and 16GB RAM on the 13”? ?

Does this mean the 16” will be positioned as more of a power-house with 4 ports, 32GB+ RAM?

 

[darkmatter343]

Just ordered the 13" Looking forward!

 

[Joseph C]

Ordered 13" entry level to replace iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard. It's for a secondary, portable machine for browsing and light web coding/photo editing mainly. Got my 5K iMac for the more "heavy weight stuff" if required which suits me great. Will probably sell it and upgrade to the next form factor and adjust specs up as required. Happy to test it at this price. Battery life figures are amazing!

Arrives next Tuesday. So stoked!!!

 

[terminator-jq]

Very interesting developments. With todays knowledge its looking like we will see a MacBook Pro lineup like this:

Base 13": M1 chip (same as MacBook Air but with more thermal headroom

Higher 13": M1X (possibly same chip as low spec iMac

16": M1XZ (w/ dedicated Apple GPU)

Now the question is what happens for those who want higher specs... Will there be variations for the 16"? After seeing what was offered today, it sounds like Apple will offer 1 chip or multiple products. The only upgrade may be storage and RAM.

 

[phl92]

So there it is, the MBP 13" with new Apple Chip. Oh boy and I just bought 3 weeks ago the MBP 13" 2020... and I am NOT happy with battery life. They claim 10,5 hours on the 2020 MBP and now the new one should have 20 hours?!? Even if they real time won't be that great, there should be a huge improvement.

Honestly, I am just shocked, actually I have tomorrow an appointment at an Apple Store because of my battery issue, but I hope I just can give it back and order the new MBP M1. And I would even safe money, since in my country I paid more than 2000€ for the MBP 13" 2020 and the new one is price about 1650€ with 512GB but only 8GB Ram.
Would you guys recommend the 16 GB upgrade? Or is this chip so efficient that it works like a older MBP on 16 GB??

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Very interesting developments. With todays knowledge its looking like we will see a MacBook Pro lineup like this:

Base 13": M1 chip (same as MacBook Air but with more thermal headroom

Higher 13": M1X (possibly same chip as low spec iMac

16": M1XZ (w/ dedicated Apple GPU)

Now the question is what happens for those who want higher specs... Will there be variations for the 16"? After seeing what was offered today, it sounds like Apple will offer 1 chip or multiple products. The only upgrade may be storage and RAM.

I don’t know, I think M1 is going to be for all the laptops across the board (especially since they call everything “M1” regardless of the number of graphic cores). Everything that’s been announced has a dedicated Apple GPU, it’s just integrated (which according to the slides from WWDC, is how everything is going to be going forward).

M1 with more than 8 graphic cores may be what goes into the iMac, too. I mean, consider that the machines that have been introduced, across the board, can do macOS things faster than the fastest Intel laptops they currently ship, they don’t even need an M1X.

 

[DanMan619]

Very interesting developments. With todays knowledge its looking like we will see a MacBook Pro lineup like this:

Base 13": M1 chip (same as MacBook Air but with more thermal headroom

Higher 13": M1X (possibly same chip as low spec iMac

16": M1XZ (w/ dedicated Apple GPU)

Now the question is what happens for those who want higher specs... Will there be variations for the 16"? After seeing what was offered today, it sounds like Apple will offer 1 chip or multiple products. The only upgrade may be storage and RAM.

Yeah i think they might do variations. In the Macbooks they showed today there is a 7 core GPU and 8 core GPU option. So i could see something along those lines being the differentiation between levels of the 16" MBP with Apple Silicon as well. That plus maybe the addition of other modules on the Silicon like some mobile version of an Afterburner chip or other chips meant for pro use cases.

I also wouldn't be surprised if there are other letter named chips. Apple did say family of chips. So i wouldn't be surprised if M1 chips are only for these "lower end" AS Macs and another chip with a different letter designation is for the more higher powered stuff like the 16" MBP or the 27" iMac and another letter designated chip for iMac Pro and Mac Pro. If it was just M1X and M1Z like how the iPhone chip and the iPad chip do where one is just a higher binned version of the other, i don't think that'd be different enough for Apple to call it a family of chips.

 

[duffman9000]

I'm tempted. I'd like a MBP that I can use on my lap without roasting my privates.

 

[Appledoesnotlisten]

I'm tempted. I'd like a MBP that I can use on my lap without roasting my privates.

You will roast them with Wi-fi and Bluetooth anyway.

 

[ascender]

Is anybody concerned that these machines are just going to be first-gen stepping stones which are going to be superseded pretty damn quickly once the transition gathers pace?