Trying to decide whether to stick it out with my mid-2012 rMBP (limping along) until the new batch comes out, or get a 13" pro with 16 gigs of RAM now. Now that we're into April, when do you think the new MacBook Pros will be available?
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M1X 14&16" MacBook Pro release month
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Sometime in the second half of 2021 seems to be the consistent rumor. Given that a redesign seems likely and that every first rev of a new design of Apple laptop since the original MacBook Pro has had issues, I'd honestly just get an M1 13" MacBook Pro and call it a day. It's not like it becomes a worse computer when the 14" or 16" MacBook Pros with Apple Silicon eventually arrive.
It's painful not to have an Mx Powered 15-16" MacBook Pro. I will buy one the first minute it comes out. Even if it has the same processor is the M1 MacMini, I'd buy it. My M1 Mac Mini rocks. The speed is great and I don't see 16gb ram as a downfall. It runs circles around my older macs.
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I’ve voted July. Not because I think it will be July but because Apple need to do this as quickly as possible. Who is actually buying a 15-16” MacBook (or anything Intel based), at the moment, unless they are absolutely forced to do so? Apple is effectively a low end* laptop company until the next phase of Apple Silicon state too roll out.
* Albeit a pretty spectacular low end.
* Albeit a pretty spectacular low end.
I haven’t heard that before. Funny how the reviews of the new M1 machines are either “it’s amazing!” or “it’s entry level so wait for the next gen, which will be amazing!”
I know there’s always something newer and better coming but in this case, it feels like a big leap is happening and not just an incremental annual upgrade.
I like to buy good things that last a long time. Not interested in upgrading again in two years.
I think the 16” MBP and the new iMacs will use the same processors, and so will arrive at the same time. I’d like to think there would be a WWDC announcement, but supply shortages may push it to the autumn.
WWDC is a developer event and does not always have system announcements. They tend to speak in terms of Apple's directions and how that will impact developers.
I get a feeling the smaller or non-pro iMacs will be announced at WWDC, with the MBP and maybe "pro" iMac and Mac Mini in the Autumn.
Maybe they'll tease the MBPs as coming in Q3 at WWDC. Don't know, its really hard to predict with everything that's gone on this last year or so and how well the first couple of M1 laptops have been received - maybe they feel like they don't need to rush out the new MBPs.
Maybe they'll tease the MBPs as coming in Q3 at WWDC. Don't know, its really hard to predict with everything that's gone on this last year or so and how well the first couple of M1 laptops have been received - maybe they feel like they don't need to rush out the new MBPs.
Most people on here are quick to forget that many Apple products have flaws unless its a forum post specifically dedicated to said flaws. They call it "Rev A sickness" and it's definitely real across all of Apple's product lines (with the iPad, iPod, and Apple TV lines being the least applicable to this historically). New body designs tend to equal trouble. M1 is a massive change over 8th Gen ULV U-series Intel Core (on the previous Intel 2-port 13" MacBook Pro), 10th Gen Y-series Intel Core (on the last Intel MacBook Air), and the 8th Gen Quad-Core Core i3 used in the 2018 mini. But, in most cases (Mac mini aside in this case), the design of the logic board as well as its various connectors remained the same, limiting most issues to the M1 or any supporting chipset rather than an issue with a particular flex cable, fan assembly, keyboard, or any other chassis/design flaw.
The rumored redesign will be drastic enough that all of those things will be new, and therefore untested in the wild.
It's entry level AND it's amazing. Unless you really push the limits of your computer and/or need more than 16GB of RAM and/or need more than 2TB of SSD and/or need a more powerful GPU, I don't see why it makes sense to wait; especially since the Rev after a new redesign is almost always more stable.
The big leap just happened. M1X won't be the jump over M1 that M1 was over the Intel chips it replaced. Nor will M2 be that kind of a jump. Apple Silicon will have a much better year-over-year performance growth on Macs than Intel had, at least for the first few years. But, again, unless you really need all the power, it's not like the M1 Macs aren't plenty powerful. I'd be more concerned with multi-monitor support, the lack of RAM and storage options as well as being limited to two Thunderbolt ports compared to the four on all other non-iMac Intel Macs that are still being sold. Otherwise, the "big leap" is not going to be as monumental as the one that got us to Apple Silicon in the first place.
The Macs that could run macOS Catalina, but can't run Big Sur had eight years of being able to run the latest version of macOS (and will be able to patch Catalina for two years thereafter for a total of ten years of supported life). The only reason why you HAVE to upgrade sooner than that is because your needs demand more performance and/or your current computer has broken and Apple either can't repair it because it's past the seven year mark or can't repair it without the cost of it being not at all worth doing. There's no reason to assume that any of the M1 Macs will be an exception to this.
I’ve bought first gen Apple products many times and never had a single issue.
First PPC Mac, first Intel laptop, first Apple watch, first iPad etc.
M1 uses TSMC N5 process.
M1X could be a big jump primarily because it’s expected to increase the performance cores drastically (from 4 to 8 or 12 so double or triple the multi-core perfromance).
M2 I expect will be a decent iterative performance jump due to using N5P with increased power efficiency (10%) and performance (5%) - but maybe there will not be an M1X and the next new Macs will be M2 based in conjunction with more cores.
In addition, M2 might be using Armv9 which will give a further large boost - given the N5P improvements are more muted I think this likely.
TSMC are scheduled to deliver N3 in volume in the second half of 2022, with 25% power decrease and 15% performance increase - (in addition to the ArmV9 evolution) so that might be the basis of the M3 in the Mac Pro in Fall 2022.
Basically I see a series of large performance jumps ahead in the coming years. I don’t foresee yearly Mac updates across the line, I expect each Mac to have a shelf life of 2 years before being upgraded internally, perhaps with more turbulence over the first couple of years due to introduction of new form factors. For example I don’t see the M1 Mac Mini being replaced with an M1X Mini but there might be an M1X option in the Mini format. We might get a redesigned MBA/MBP later this year that subsequently doesn’t get revised for 2 years afterwards.
First PPC Mac, first Intel laptop, first Apple watch, first iPad etc.
M1 uses TSMC N5 process.
M1X could be a big jump primarily because it’s expected to increase the performance cores drastically (from 4 to 8 or 12 so double or triple the multi-core perfromance).
M2 I expect will be a decent iterative performance jump due to using N5P with increased power efficiency (10%) and performance (5%) - but maybe there will not be an M1X and the next new Macs will be M2 based in conjunction with more cores.
In addition, M2 might be using Armv9 which will give a further large boost - given the N5P improvements are more muted I think this likely.
TSMC are scheduled to deliver N3 in volume in the second half of 2022, with 25% power decrease and 15% performance increase - (in addition to the ArmV9 evolution) so that might be the basis of the M3 in the Mac Pro in Fall 2022.
Basically I see a series of large performance jumps ahead in the coming years. I don’t foresee yearly Mac updates across the line, I expect each Mac to have a shelf life of 2 years before being upgraded internally, perhaps with more turbulence over the first couple of years due to introduction of new form factors. For example I don’t see the M1 Mac Mini being replaced with an M1X Mini but there might be an M1X option in the Mini format. We might get a redesigned MBA/MBP later this year that subsequently doesn’t get revised for 2 years afterwards.
I've seen this mentioned over and over again, but I am still confused — what in ARMv9 is supposed to bring a large boost? It's a security focused release, and SVE/SVE2 alone won't bring dramatic improvements without the hardware vector unit redesign.
I am sure corporate customers (e.g. Google, Facebook, IBM) are still buying Intel MBPs for their employees. It takes a while for corporate customers to migrate. Many enterprises are still migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 10.
I might be guilty of simply repeating what I (like you) have read. I guess it might be a case of ARMv9 catching up to what Apple has already been doing in some ways - especially ML. Time will tell, but I can’t see the performance standing still. Even a 10% boost in performance would be welcome in conjunction with the TSMC improvements.
My guess is an announcement at WWDC with a launch in either late June or early July. Very low quantities available at launch.
As someone else has said, Apple is in a position where they really need to get these machines out. It’s been over a year since the 16” launched. The new MacBook Air and 13” base pro model can now beat the highest level 16” in most CPU task. WWDC gives Apple a great developer focused event where “Pro” users will be watching. Makes perfect sense to launch a pro level device at such an event.
As for what to expect: I’d say the M1-X will probably give only slight bumps to single core performance but multi-core is where the M1-X will pull ahead of the M1. Graphics will also be an area where the M1-X will be a great performer. I’d even go as far as guessing we may see some light real time ray tracing abilities as least on the 16” version.
As someone else has said, Apple is in a position where they really need to get these machines out. It’s been over a year since the 16” launched. The new MacBook Air and 13” base pro model can now beat the highest level 16” in most CPU task. WWDC gives Apple a great developer focused event where “Pro” users will be watching. Makes perfect sense to launch a pro level device at such an event.
As for what to expect: I’d say the M1-X will probably give only slight bumps to single core performance but multi-core is where the M1-X will pull ahead of the M1. Graphics will also be an area where the M1-X will be a great performer. I’d even go as far as guessing we may see some light real time ray tracing abilities as least on the 16” version.
Again, iPads and iPods don't suffer from Rev A sickness as much as iPhones and Macs tend to. First Gen Apple Watch had all sorts of issues. First gen Intel MacBook Pros had all sorts of issues too; primarily with the fact that the ATI Radeon Mobility X1600 was never meant to go into a laptop as thin as the MacBook Pros that had it were. First gen Intel MacBooks were mostly fine, though many of them still had thermal issues. Certainly I had one that did and knew of many others that did too. I'm not saying that EVERYONE had issues, but the fact that you didn't have them doesn't negate the fact that many others did.
The adding of performance cores IS going to make a noticeable difference, but it will not be the kind of jump in performance that going from 10th Gen Intel Y-series or 8th Gen Intel ULV U-series processors to M1 was. Not at all.
ARMv9 is catching up to Apple Silicon, not the other way around. I'm not saying that ARMv9 isn't insignificant nor that it won't offer performance gains, but Apple is leading the curve on ARM architecture innovation as was evidenced by how ahead of the game they were with 64-bit support on the A7 back in 2013.
Annual Revs are absolutely going to continue to be a thing so long as global chip shortages, pandemics, and trade wars with China are not in play. That's a big reason why Apple ditched Intel (and why Intel based notebooks industry wide have been having shipping delays since 2018). I agree that, as far as the Mac mini is concerned, the M1 Mac mini won't be replaced by the M1X Mac mini, but that's because the M1 Mac mini clearly was only intended to replace the entry level 2018 Mac mini model and not the higher end models. At some point, the direct replacements to all 2018 Mac mini models will, themselves, be replaced by another Rev of Mac mini. Apple doesn't update their desktops every year and I suspect that trend will likely continue post-Intel. But they do typically update their notebooks every year and there's no reason to assume that they won't be doing so post-Intel.
It will come when it comes. I'm not sure even Apple has decided yet. The parts shortages across the PC industry have to be having some effect.