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AS Macbook Pro major pricing differences between Intel and ARM - CARES act
- Thread starter 4sallypat
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Agree that the most likely answer is "BS".
However, just to play along, it is quite plausible that the entry-level price of the MacBook Pro 13" could see a huge jump - but only because the current $1300 entry-level (2 port) MBP 13" doesn't make any sense if the ASi MacBook Air replacement turns in MBP15-level performance - so a new MacBook Pro 13" would probably start at, at least, the $1800 price bracket of the current higher-end MBP.
...potentially, with ASi power/thermals, an ASi 13"/14" MBP could support the same CPU/GPU spec as the ASi 16" MBP (maybe with a new higher-binned "ASi Pro" processor) and end up in the $2000+ price bracket. We're talking Apple here - if the new Macs have significantly better performance, they're gonna charge for it!
However, just to play along, it is quite plausible that the entry-level price of the MacBook Pro 13" could see a huge jump - but only because the current $1300 entry-level (2 port) MBP 13" doesn't make any sense if the ASi MacBook Air replacement turns in MBP15-level performance - so a new MacBook Pro 13" would probably start at, at least, the $1800 price bracket of the current higher-end MBP.
...potentially, with ASi power/thermals, an ASi 13"/14" MBP could support the same CPU/GPU spec as the ASi 16" MBP (maybe with a new higher-binned "ASi Pro" processor) and end up in the $2000+ price bracket. We're talking Apple here - if the new Macs have significantly better performance, they're gonna charge for it!
Exactly. That’s why I feel OP maybe heard this through a Coworker and got some of the facts messed up. Sales executives would never quote a product they know nothing about unless maybe it was for a Fortune 500 company that has special ties within Apple and there were heavy NDA’s involved. But even then it doesn’t seem very likely.
My guess is this story is partially correct with some misinformation.
I don't know anything about the U.S. market. but over here in europe, I know that Apple does sell hardware direct to corporates. and I also have heard about offers of unreleased hardware being made (although without any detailed specs mentioned). what indeed doesn't make sense to me is the price range of the ASi MacBook offered. also, keep in mind that we're only a few weeks away from the official announcement of the ASi Macs.
Doesn’t seem very likely. AS Macs should be less expensive. They are just iPad parts in A different configuration.
Apple stores do have a business section. It is a $500 annual fee in Canada to become a business program member.
I don't think that Apple, a $US2T company would price out AS Macs ahead of the announcement of thier availability for the sake of a 300 unit laptop sale. It is that simple. The 300 laptops are far less than rounding error in any of Apple's accounting spreadsheets, and far less than seach cushion money.
Let's ask the obvious question: If you were Apple, would you have made such a price quote prior to the announcement of the AS Macs? I really doubt it, not unless is was for someting on the order of 100K units.
I don't think that Apple, a $US2T company would price out AS Macs ahead of the announcement of thier availability for the sake of a 300 unit laptop sale. It is that simple. The 300 laptops are far less than rounding error in any of Apple's accounting spreadsheets, and far less than seach cushion money.
Let's ask the obvious question: If you were Apple, would you have made such a price quote prior to the announcement of the AS Macs? I really doubt it, not unless is was for someting on the order of 100K units.
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Ummm...a base model 12.9” iPad Pro costs $1000 with only 6Gb RAM and 128Gb of storage. Oh, and the Magic Keyboard is another $350.
A MacBook with equivalent 12-13” screen, processor, storage and backlit keyboard with “just iPad parts” isn’t likely to cost less than the current Intel offerings. Apple doesn’t do cheap.
In my experience, not even Apple sales executives assigned to Fortune 500 companies with special ties within Apple know anything about unreleased products. They watch the live streams, same as everyone else.
You’re making the mistake of believing that the pricing is based on the costs of the parts. It isn’t. Apple will position AS Macs as providing more value - better performance and better battery life presumably - and therefore price them higher than the current models they are replacing, and bank the higher average selling price and of course the higher margin.
Why spend anything on Intel (unless the impatience or thrift simply kicks in) with a transition so close? 300 Apple TV’s? ?
On the flip side, most first generation Apple hardware seems to be the red headed stepchild. I always try to avoid and get the second generation of what have you, an example? The first MacBooks with the 32 bit core duo. Or the first iPad Pros that weren’t so much as a game changer when the ProMotion display was introduced.
So if I were buying now, I would have an argument for likely the best Intel MBP, or a possible “road apple” (borrowed with pride from lowendmac.com) AS powered Notebook.
Anyway, this blurb of a OP does tag my BS meter a bit anyway. Now, I will let this early morning incoherent non-coffee post sink to oblivion but thanks for reading if you did.
On the flip side, most first generation Apple hardware seems to be the red headed stepchild. I always try to avoid and get the second generation of what have you, an example? The first MacBooks with the 32 bit core duo. Or the first iPad Pros that weren’t so much as a game changer when the ProMotion display was introduced.
So if I were buying now, I would have an argument for likely the best Intel MBP, or a possible “road apple” (borrowed with pride from lowendmac.com) AS powered Notebook.
Anyway, this blurb of a OP does tag my BS meter a bit anyway. Now, I will let this early morning incoherent non-coffee post sink to oblivion but thanks for reading if you did.
No they’re not. The DTK is a machine that will never be released. The new Macs will get a family of Mac chips.
AS Mac chips will be extremely close to iPad A chips. Also the DTK is a Mac Mini...I was referring only to the chip.
I would guess Apple has an A14 for iPhone, A14S for iPad Pro, and A14X for entry level Macs. Maybe for MBP and Mac Pro it's a different naming scheme and an expanded chip size.
The next iPad Pros will be on the A14X SoC and I could see the first ASi Macs also using the A14X since they will be "entry-level" portables and an A14X will be more than fast enough.
Not sure what the more powerful ASi-specific SoCs will be called. Might be "A14M" or depending on the architecture difference to the A14 in terms of number and type of core, Apple might very well give them their own dedicated naming schema and the first one could be, say, "M1".
Not sure what the more powerful ASi-specific SoCs will be called. Might be "A14M" or depending on the architecture difference to the A14 in terms of number and type of core, Apple might very well give them their own dedicated naming schema and the first one could be, say, "M1".
The problem with the M<X> scheme is that it's already been used over half a dozen times for their motion coprocessors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_motion_coprocessors
I was just thinking about pricing. If I spec out an iPad Air with 256GB of storage, it's $750. If you add in the cost the smart folio keyboard, you're close the $999 for the MacBook Air & you're getting a 2.4" smaller display with the iPad Air. I betcha prices aren't going any lower for the Apple silicon MacBook Air than the current Intel MacBook Air. I'm assuming the MacBook Air will debut with the plain old A14.
When you move your way up to the 13" MacBook Pro, the pricing is going to depend on whether they're planning to keep the 2-port version. I don't see how it would make sense to keep the 2 different versions of the 13" MacBook Pro moving forward with Apple silicon, especially if it's a pro model & pro models demand the A14X. In any event, I would expect the 13" MacBook Pro to have 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, the A14X, 16GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD, and cost at least $1,699.
I don't believe anybody gets advanced pricing on unreleased Apple products. I've worked in K12 education & for years dealt with inside sales reps for large purchases. I've pressed them many times about product plans that could impact our purchases because in education we want to buy for potential longevity. They've told me they've occasionally received a heads-up & pricing on an unannounced new product *a few hours* in advance of its release —or— they read tea leaves when Apple starts cutting the pricing of existing products to clear inventory that something may be coming, especially if the existing product has been out for awhile.
When you move your way up to the 13" MacBook Pro, the pricing is going to depend on whether they're planning to keep the 2-port version. I don't see how it would make sense to keep the 2 different versions of the 13" MacBook Pro moving forward with Apple silicon, especially if it's a pro model & pro models demand the A14X. In any event, I would expect the 13" MacBook Pro to have 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, the A14X, 16GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD, and cost at least $1,699.
I don't believe anybody gets advanced pricing on unreleased Apple products. I've worked in K12 education & for years dealt with inside sales reps for large purchases. I've pressed them many times about product plans that could impact our purchases because in education we want to buy for potential longevity. They've told me they've occasionally received a heads-up & pricing on an unannounced new product *a few hours* in advance of its release —or— they read tea leaves when Apple starts cutting the pricing of existing products to clear inventory that something may be coming, especially if the existing product has been out for awhile.
Why would the iPad get a new chip lines and Mac get a14x? "X" series chips are for iPads, always have been. Apple TV gets them as scraps. The Mac will get its own family of chips just like Apple said at the event. I predict they won't be called "A" series chips at all, but that's just marketing.
If they call them "A" series then they will quickly run into problems. What will they name all the different versions? Just throw random letters on the end? a14S, a14T, a14U? None of those letters mean anything and it will be confusing trying to figure out which letters are more powerful than others. The line is simple now because there are only two variants. Regular A chips for iPhones and X chips for iPads. I think the Z was a one-off name and will be reserved for binned X chips if they ever do that again in the future.
I wouldn't be surprised if they do a more typical desktop naming scheme like AMD, for example M1430, M1450, M1470, M1490. Something like that. First two letters are the generation of chip architecture and second two numbers are the power levels. Higher is better. They could do this naming scheme indefinitely without running into issues of running out of numbers. Next years a15 chips will just be called M1530, M1550, M1570, M1590, etc.
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Its true but they reuse names all the time. They just recycled MagSafe.
I don't think anyone would be confused, I can't even remember the last time they marketed the motion coprocessor. Its been built into the SoC since like the a10. If they want to use that name I don't see this holding them back.
It would make a lot of sense for entry level Mac laptops to use the same CPU as the iPad Pro. First, it makes sense from economic perspective: less different chips to design and manufacture, many design components between the Mac and the iPad can be reused etc. This becomes even more important given the fact that low-end Mac laptops are the most-sold models. Second, the performance will be more than adequate. A MacBook or a MacBook Air with an A14X will be faster than more expensive Dell XPS 13" or comparable laptops, while even outpacing the i9 MBP 16" for some CPU-oriented tasks. Trying to make the low-end Macs faster than that is going to be much more expensive and wouldn't make much sense. Higher-performance chips should be reserved for higher-tier Macs. .
The post said the iPad Pro would get a new line of chips called the a14S. I was mainly pushing back against the notion the iPad Pro wouldn't get the X chip.
We still don't know much about what Apple Silicon chips will be like though. They might have stuff on them that wouldn't work with iOS chips, and on the other hand there would be wasted space for things like the motion comprocessor that the Mac doesn't need. Either way the lowest end notebook would be the highest volume Mac anyways so Im not sure its really that big of a deal if they make a new Mac chip that isn't the same as what goes in the iPad. Obviously they won't make a chip just for the Mac Mini but the the MacBook or Air? They could easily do it.
This is a very fair point!
I think the recent 'A14T' rumor is interesting, and makes some sense. To start a whole new line for the Macs with the T{X} nomenclature would make even more sense, though. Then you can have T1 for regular consumer Macs (Mac mini, MacBook Air) T1X for mid-level machines (~23" iMac, 13" MBP) and T1Z for 'Pro' machines (16" MBP, 27" iMac).I'm wondering, if the A14T rumor is true, how they will differentiate from that for the more powerful machines.
Purchasing person from OP's organisation: Hello, we need 300 Macs before the end of the year
Third Party Reseller Person: Ah right no worries. Let me get you a quote
Purchasing person from OP's organisation: I heard about these Apple Silicon things coming out? Do you think we should wait for the announcements or purchase today?
Third Party Reseller Person thinking about his targets and bonuses: Nah. They are going to be like double in price! You should totally buy today. Hell, I'll throw in some Apple TVs too
Purchasing person from OP's organisation: Great. Sounds good!
There is no way that AS Macs will be substantially cheaper. Just look at the price of a top iPhone or iPadPro. They may be slightly cheaper, or they will be at the same price points, but NOW 2X FASTER with more magic. The marketing practically writes itself.
Third Party Reseller Person: Ah right no worries. Let me get you a quote
Purchasing person from OP's organisation: I heard about these Apple Silicon things coming out? Do you think we should wait for the announcements or purchase today?
Third Party Reseller Person thinking about his targets and bonuses: Nah. They are going to be like double in price! You should totally buy today. Hell, I'll throw in some Apple TVs too
Purchasing person from OP's organisation: Great. Sounds good!
There is no way that AS Macs will be substantially cheaper. Just look at the price of a top iPhone or iPadPro. They may be slightly cheaper, or they will be at the same price points, but NOW 2X FASTER with more magic. The marketing practically writes itself.
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The good news guys is that we're less than 3 weeks away from Macs with Apple silicon if the rumor of the November 17th date is accurate. And I bet they begin shipping in December.