Lineup transition or full transition?

[R3k]

I just had the thought regarding Apple stating that the transition of their entire product line to Apple Silicone will take 2 years or so. Are we interpreting this as every Mac will convert to AS in that time or that each of their product lines will have AS options by that time?

It seems more reasonable that we’ll see AS versions of the MBP16, iMac, and Mac Pro (compact) so each product category has an AS model with Intel machines still covering the higher performance builds. Less reasonable is that absolutely everyone one of their computers will be AS based in 24 months... can they really field a native option that could match a 28core Xeon MP with 96gb-1Tb RAM and all that PCI-e flexibility In this time frame?

Maybe they can? But supposedly they still have Intel machines in the pipeline...

 

[Erehy Dobon]

Apple has a long history of early abandonment of legacy hardware.

My belief is that Apple will mostly introduce new ASi hardware in step with a new major version of the macOS. Now that they no longer need to twiddle their thumbs waiting for Intel to deliver (or not), Apple has a roadmap that they can control.

I figure that existing Intel Mac hardware may get speed bumps over the next two years, Apple will never feature these Intel devices in a media event again. They will be silently announced by a press release via PRNewswire and just show up in the Apple Store after store changes are made.

Customers who are reliant on Intel-based software will continue to purchase these systems. Pro audio and pro video folks using existing hardware with legacy drivers would be the expected audience.

Business executives who are mostly using e-mail, a web browser and general office/productivity suites will be quick to migrate to ASi.

While we will never know for sure, my guess is that 85-90% of Apple corporate employees will be running ASi Macs as their primary work-issued systems by WWDC 2021. It is noteworthy that the 11" MacBook Air was reputedly the most popular Mac for Apple employees amongst those who had the choice to select their own systems.

 

[cmaier]

I just had the thought regarding Apple stating that the transition of their entire product line to Apple Silicone will take 2 years or so. Are we interpreting this as every Mac will convert to AS in that time or that each of their product lines will have AS options by that time?

It seems more reasonable that we’ll see AS versions of the MBP16, iMac, and Mac Pro (compact) so each product category has an AS model with Intel machines still covering the higher performance builds. Less reasonable is that absolutely everyone one of their computers will be AS based in 24 months... can they really field a native option that could match a 28core Xeon MP with 96gb-1Tb RAM and all that PCI-e flexibility In this time frame?

Maybe they can? But supposedly they still have Intel machines in the pipeline...

They were quite clear. In about 2 years, all the Macs they sell will be based on Apple silicon.

 

[JMacHack]

with Intel machines still covering the higher performance builds.

Unless the benchmarks are garbo, I wouldn't count on it.

 

[leman]

It seems more reasonable that we’ll see AS versions of the MBP16, iMac, and Mac Pro (compact) so each product category has an AS model with Intel machines still covering the higher performance builds. Less reasonable is that absolutely everyone one of their computers will be AS based in 24 months... can they really field a native option that could match a 28core Xeon MP with 96gb-1Tb RAM and all that PCI-e flexibility In this time frame?

Mac Pro is going to be tricky, the rest - probably not so much. Mac Pro will likely require separate specialized chips, but I see no technical reason why Apple won’t be able to match a Xeon. Frankly, a 16-core A14 will probably be very close to a 28-core Xeon, if not faster.

 

[thingstoponder]

I bet everything not named Mac Pro or iMac Pro will be AS within a year from now. They won’t keep Intel models alongside M1 models for long. They just don’t have a higher end chip ready and have to start somewhere.

 

[thingstoponder]

They were quite clear. In about 2 years, all the Macs they sell will be based on Apple silicon.

I don’t know why some people misinterpret this so much. I’ve seen a lot of people say that two years is when they will release their last Intel model and then it could take another two years for all those Intel models to be replaced.

Just... no. They will have a full lineup in two years, and probably the vast majority within one.