Hi. Do you think we will be seeing soon MAC MINIS and/or MAC PRO (desktop) with the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips? I'm currently using a M1 MAC MINI and would like to upgrade to a DESKTOP version other than a iMac. I don't use laptops. Thanks!
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M1 Pro and M1 Max availability on MAC MINI and/or MAC PRO (desktop)
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I am hopeful Apple will make a push to get new Mac minis (with M1 Pro / M1 Max SoCs in them) out for the 2021 Christmas season...?
Spring 2022 should bring us a new larger iMac with the M1 Pro / M1 Max SoCs in them; leaving WWDC 2022 for previews of the all-new Mac Pro lineup (Mac Pro, smaller Mac Pro, possible larger iMac Pro), shipping in December of 2022...
I am hoping the smaller Mac Pro is a new Mac Cube...! ;^p
Transition to Apple silicon complete...!
Spring 2022 should bring us a new larger iMac with the M1 Pro / M1 Max SoCs in them; leaving WWDC 2022 for previews of the all-new Mac Pro lineup (Mac Pro, smaller Mac Pro, possible larger iMac Pro), shipping in December of 2022...
I am hoping the smaller Mac Pro is a new Mac Cube...! ;^p
Transition to Apple silicon complete...!
I'm sure there is a plan to update the mini and the iMac with the Pro and Max. However, Apple isn't immune to the current chip shortage. Given how popular MBPs are, it makes sense to release them first. Given the pent up demand though, I wouldn't be surprised if updated desktops were delayed for several months.
M1 is used in
- Macbook Air
- Macbook Pro 13"
- Mac mini 2-port
- iMac 24"
- iPad Pro
- Mac mini 4-port
- iMac 27"/iMac Pro
- Mac Pro
- iMac 24"
So imagine 2-4 M1 Max 64GB SoC with 128-256GB of memory at 800-1,600Gbps(?) memory bandwidth in a Pro desktop.
The Mac mini's 150W PSU could easily handle 2 SoC as the 140W charger of the MBP 16" has to also power the miniLED
2019 Mac Pro maxes out at 1.5TB of memory. That's equivalent to 24 M1 Max 64GB SoC.
Each top-end M1 Max 64GB SoC has 10 CPU cores & 32 GPU cores. Increase that by a factor of 24 you get 240 CPU cores & 768 GPU cores.
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On a mini yes. Or leave it alone, as those M1s just take out the current Intel chips and Intel Integrated Crapware graphics (and to be fair, the discrete graphics in the REALLY old ones) in any mini.
M1 can’t overtake this Xeon chips in the Mac Pro. It’s going to happen but not now.
My speculation:
Spring 2022 - Mac Mini Pro with the 10/16 M1 Pro and 32GB max memory. This will be the top of the line MM.
iMac with M1 Pro/Max chips debut.
Fall 2022 - Mac Pro Maximus will debut. This will also be the end of the i5/i7 MM - and the 21.5 i5 iMac - thus ending the Apple/Intel relationship.
Spring 2022 - Mac Mini Pro with the 10/16 M1 Pro and 32GB max memory. This will be the top of the line MM.
iMac with M1 Pro/Max chips debut.
Fall 2022 - Mac Pro Maximus will debut. This will also be the end of the i5/i7 MM - and the 21.5 i5 iMac - thus ending the Apple/Intel relationship.
I saw this review which predicted that the top-spec MacBook Pro with M1 Max would be equivalent to an AMD Ryzen 3700X and with a GPU equivalent to a last-gen AMD 5700XT.
For the same money, I could get a PC with a 5900X CPU and 3070 or even 3080 GPU (if these were available in stores), it makes me think I'll use my M1 for another year and see what the next generation of M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max can offer.
For the same money, I could get a PC with a 5900X CPU and 3070 or even 3080 GPU (if these were available in stores), it makes me think I'll use my M1 for another year and see what the next generation of M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max can offer.
Yeah, I'd love to see a new Mac Mini using the M1 Pro chip. As I've said, I am looking to replace my 2012 quad-core i7 Mac Mini with such a system as my main desktop. But I am in no rush right now; I hope to get a new headless desktop Apple Silicon Mac in late spring or early summer 2022. Besides, this past spring I bought an M1 MacBook Air that I've been happy with for over six months now, and so it gives me my fast modern Mac fix, but I do like the idea of having a desktop that would be even faster and more powerful to use at home, and still use the Air while on the go (I got the MacBook Air first, because I needed a newer Mac laptop first as at the time my "newest" one was a late 2009 polycarbonate white MacBook, and so I figured I could at least still use the 2012 Mini alongside my M1 MacBook Air.)
Would it be technically possible for Apple to make some M based upgrade for current Mac Pro owners in form of logic board upgrade or PCI card or whatever? Would it be meaningful? Not trying to start discussion if Apple would be willing to do that at all, just technical perspective.
Of course it will be possible, but they won't do it. Why sell you a board, when they could sell you a full machine? Cook loves his cash flow.
There would be too many bottlenecks on the logic board to make any Apple silicon chip into an add-in card.
Your Mac Pro would slow it down. It would hamper Apple silicon.
Not to mention the economies of scale would be a fraction of the worldwide install base of Mac Pros of say ~700 thousand that started in Dec 2019. Would it be worth their time to R&D and make these upgrades for ~140 thousand total units? If it did then it may equal the cost of a used 2019 Mac Pro.
iMac Pro & Mac Pro make up ~1% of all Macs sold. 2020 global shipments of Macs was ~22.5 million. So that's about ~225 thousand before the Apple silicon announcement at WWDC 2020. The reason why it is that few is because it's a desktop that starts at $4,999 without a display when the average selling price of a computer globally is $630 preferably a laptop.
Personally speaking Apple would have been better off just reintroducing the 2006-2012 tower in 2017 rather than the iMac Pro. If they did then by 5 years later they would have introduced a 2022 Mac Pro with Apple Silicon.
If I was a 2019 Mac Pro owner I'd feel bad that my purchase was rendered obsolete sooner than 5 years.
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There have been plenty of rumors of a "Mac mini Pro" that would offer the M1 Pro and M1 MAX to either replace or complement the Mac mini with M1.
The iMac 5K replacement is now rumored to also be getting the M1 Pro and M1 MAX by WWDC.
As for the Apple Silicon Mac Pro, that is rumored to be using two and four M1 MAX SoCs though how they will be configured (either as one monolithic SoC or as multiple SoCs interconnected) has yet to be discerned.