name "silicon" is so stupid

[Kostask]

SoC stands for System on a Chip.

And SoCs don't have to be made of Silicon; you could make them out of Gallium Arsenide (GaAS), Gallium Arsenide Phophide (GaASP) or Gallium Nitride (GaN). I suppose you could even make them out of Germanium (Ge), but you probably wouldn't want to.

 

[bastifantasti]

Oh, back to costs - I really don't see apple all of a sudden making far cheaper laptops. Long gone are the days of the £700 iBook (which is what I paid in around 2004...which I think back then was actually expensive?)

 

[thenewperson]

Oh, back to costs - I really don't see apple all of a sudden making far cheaper laptops. Long gone are the days of the £700 iBook (which is what I paid in around 2004...which I think back then was actually expensive?)

I can see them releasing a laptop that matches the price point of an iPad Pro, but not further down.

 

[JMacHack]

get ready for goofy product line up names similar to cars. Apple Mac GTX or Turbo S. I think they'll start moving away from 'MacBook Pro', 'MacBook Air', and even 'iMac'.

God I hope not, whose decisions were to use names like that on the iPhones anyway?
Also I don't think "Pro" is going anywhere is current Apple naming conventions is anything to go by.

 

[Kostask]

I can see the price dropping some. I can see the entry level MacBook/MacBook Air dropping by $50-$100, but nothing like $200. The AS SoC will bring lower costs to the actual component cost, as well as more cost reductions in the PCB and assembly costs, which will contribute to the retail price reduction.

 

[bastifantasti]

Maxing out my iMac with 2gb RAM and an SSD today...that surely beats apples new SoC?

 

[Kostask]

No it doesn't, but nothing has the cool factor of that iMac Generation, not even the Toaster.

 

[cmaier]

SoC stands for System on a Chip.

And SoCs don't have to be made of Silicon; you could make them out of Gallium Arsenide (GaAS), Gallium Arsenide Phophide (GaASP) or Gallium Nitride (GaN). I suppose you could even make them out of Germanium (Ge), but you probably wouldn't want to.

Would be quite a trick to make a SoC on any of those other materials, given the low integration that can be achieved with them.

I designed a GaAs/AlGaAs CPU years ago. We needed a ton of separate die because we couldn’t even fight an entire CPU on a single chip.

 

[Kostask]

Things have gotten better with GaAS and especially with GaN. While I don't know if you could build a monolithic GaAs SoC, it is probably possible to build a chiplet based GaAs SoC.

We had most of a RF transceiver built in GaAs in the mid 2000s while I was at Nortel, including much of the control logic and the RF section.s and mixers. I am assuming that it has only gotten better today.

 

[Polly Mercocet]

Oh, back to costs - I really don't see apple all of a sudden making far cheaper laptops. Long gone are the days of the £700 iBook (which is what I paid in around 2004...which I think back then was actually expensive?)

I can see them releasing a laptop that matches the price point of an iPad Pro, but not further down.

The entry level 2020 iPad Pro is £749 so if that prediction turns out to be correct you would see a return to those prices.

I do remember the days of paying £700 for a plastic white MacBook and I remember having to get the higher end model if you wanted a black one.

No, Apple laptops won't be "super cheap" but I can see the base model MacBooks going for around the £700 mark like the iPad Pro. Odds are they'd share most of the same internals.

 

[the8thark]

SoC stands for System on a Chip.

And SoCs don't have to be made of Silicon; you could make them out of Gallium Arsenide (GaAS), Gallium Arsenide Phophide (GaASP) or Gallium Nitride (GaN). I suppose you could even make them out of Germanium (Ge), but you probably wouldn't want to.

You can make them out of industrial grade diamond too.

Diamond can replace silicon for computer chips for faster, lighter and simpler devices | NextBigFuture.com

Diamond can run 5 times hotter than Silicon without degrading in performance and is more easily cooled (with 22 times the heat transfer efficiency of

www.nextbigfuture.com

 

[Boil]

Maxing out my iMac with 2gb RAM and an SSD today...that surely beats apples new SoC?

I always think of the Pixar "mascot", the desk lamp, when I see those older iMacs...

 

[thenewperson]

No, Apple laptops won't be "super cheap" but I can see the base model MacBooks going for around the £700 mark like the iPad Pro. Odds are they'd share most of the same internals.

Exactly my thought. The 'L1' will just be an A14 + whatever else a Mac might need. Plus, the lower laptops likely won't get any redesign so no cost associated with that.

 

[Waragainstsleep]

The only Mac I don't see getting a new enclosure alongside Apple Silicon is the Mac Pro.

Apple's Laptop's have been a manufacturing masterclass since 2009. Where most other PC manufacturers are still making hundreds of pointlessly different models, each with different cheap plastic cases that required new moulds and retooling of production lines, Apple can retool their MacBook production digitally for the most part. They are CNC'd out of aluminium and the ports, key cap holes and speaker grilles are laser cut. Retooling must take minutes, if that. Cost is basically nothing expect the downtime.

 

[bastifantasti]

The only Mac I don't see getting a new enclosure alongside Apple Silicon is the Mac Pro.

Apple's Laptop's have been a manufacturing masterclass since 2009. Where most other PC manufacturers are still making hundreds of pointlessly different models, each with different cheap plastic cases that required new moulds and retooling of production lines, Apple can retool their MacBook production digitally for the most part. They are CNC'd out of aluminium and the ports, key cap holes and speaker grilles are laser cut. Retooling must take minutes, if that. Cost is basically nothing expect the downtime.

And you see that in the build. Every Windows laptop I had for work, particularly during 2000s, always felt like a test model - I always had Compaq and then later HP laptops for work, and every single once suffered hinge failures between the screen/base with cracked plastic etc.

That's not to say apple is perfect, the first gen intel MacBook white plastic models suffered cracking around the arm rest area - however, when that happened to me,4 years after purchasing the MacBook, apple replaced mine free of charge with the final generation white plastic model (I think it was also called the unibody plastic MacBook or something?) - which I had zero quality issues with!

 

[Waragainstsleep]

That's not to say apple is perfect, the first gen intel MacBook white plastic models suffered cracking around the arm rest area - however, when that happened to me,4 years after purchasing the MacBook, apple replaced mine free of charge with the final generation white plastic model (I think it was also called the unibody plastic MacBook or something?) - which I had zero quality issues with!

Yeah, the really early white MacBooks used to turn yellow, then the reformulated ones cracked at the front where the little ridges on the display rested just behind edge of the bottom case. The boards in those were great though, I replaced very few of those outside of my frankenstein builds and ones with liquid damage.
The final white MacBooks were nicely evolved. Only issue I know with them is the rubber bottom cover used to peel off. Too much heat even then.

 

[Boil]

The final white MacBooks were nicely evolved. Only issue I know with them is the rubber bottom cover used to peel off. Too much heat even then.

I have one of those sitting on my bookshelf right now...!

Bottom is definitely separating, rubbery plastic from the aluminum base plate...

Larger issue is the sheared off internal connector for the system drive, laptop fell of nightstand to carpeted floor, but bottom plate pivoted (missing screws) & total destruction...

 

[Polly Mercocet]

And you see that in the build. Every Windows laptop I had for work, particularly during 2000s, always felt like a test model - I always had Compaq and then later HP laptops for work, and every single once suffered hinge failures between the screen/base with cracked plastic etc.

That's not to say apple is perfect, the first gen intel MacBook white plastic models suffered cracking around the arm rest area - however, when that happened to me,4 years after purchasing the MacBook, apple replaced mine free of charge with the final generation white plastic model (I think it was also called the unibody plastic MacBook or something?) - which I had zero quality issues with!

I still have my old white MacBook gathering dust somewhere and yeah it turned yellow and the plastic started cracking off at the sides. I had no idea Apple did replacements for this, dammit! It still boots up too, but the battery is dead so only when it's plugged in. I had it running WIndows 7 for a bit as at the time I needed WIndows for specific software that was annoying to run virtualised and I thought might as well use this spare laptop. Just had to make sure the charger didn't come out in the middle of flashing one of my Android phones... what a daredevil I was ?

But yes consumer grade laptops from most companies are downright awful. I've found if you want a solid laptop from a PC maker you must buy a proper enterprise model. Dell is pretty good these days on their business laptops. Lenovo's Thinkpad hardware is nice too but I just don't trust Lenovo.

 

[Waragainstsleep]

I replaced so many top cases (first yellow, then cracked) and then got a write-off with a good screen so I built my own from parts. Didn't like the yellow top case so I painted the whole case metallic green. Had a glowing red Apple logo.

I always wanted to try the colouring technique where you soak the case plastics in hot dye. I had a grand idea about building custom Macs and raffling them off in our store. I'm quite certain if I had built a pink MacBook it would have been insanely popular.

 

[Polly Mercocet]

I always wanted to try the colouring technique where you soak the case plastics in hot dye. I had a grand idea about building custom Macs and raffling them off in our store. I'm quite certain if I had built a pink MacBook it would have been insanely popular.

There is definitely good money in custom Macs! If you are still able to do this on modern ones, do it!

 

[Boil]

I replaced so many top cases (first yellow, then cracked) and then got a write-off with a good screen so I built my own from parts. Didn't like the yellow top case so I painted the whole case metallic green. Had a glowing red Apple logo.

I always wanted to try the colouring technique where you soak the case plastics in hot dye. I had a grand idea about building custom Macs and raffling them off in our store. I'm quite certain if I had built a pink MacBook it would have been insanely popular.

There is definitely good money in custom Macs! If you are still able to do this on modern ones, do it!

ColorWare charges an arm & both legs, but they will color almost any Mac product for you...

Just on general principle, I hate them...!

 

[Waragainstsleep]

Colorware produce great results. Its expensive because its labour intensive and they have to cover any warranty issues because Apple won't. Getting the keyboard out of a unibody case so you can paint it, then putting it back in seems like an absolute nightmare. I'd expect theres 2-3 hours disassembly and reassembly for any MacBook these days. iMacs probably aren't a lot better. Add in the painting and curing and so on and you're up around 5 hours of skilled labour per machine plus the insurance to cover warranty repairs.

For the life of me I don't know why Apple never applied the process they used on the later iPod Minis and iPod Nanos to their macBook line. Anodised purple or electric blue, bright red would look awesome. Orange too. Imagine the new Mac Pro tower in iPod Nano 4th generation orange! The Mac Mini seems like a cracking candidate for this process too. I'd love to see Apple bring some colour back with their own silicon.

 

[Boil]

Colorware produce great results. Its expensive because its labour intensive and they have to cover any warranty issues because Apple won't. Getting the keyboard out of a unibody case so you can paint it, then putting it back in seems like an absolute nightmare. I'd expect theres 2-3 hours disassembly and reassembly for any MacBook these days. iMacs probably aren't a lot better. Add in the painting and curing and so on and you're up around 5 hours of skilled labour per machine plus the insurance to cover warranty repairs.

For the life of me I don't know why Apple never applied the process they used on the later iPod Minis and iPod Nanos to their macBook line. Anodised purple or electric blue, bright red would look awesome. Orange too. Imagine the new Mac Pro tower in iPod Nano 4th generation orange! The Mac Mini seems like a cracking candidate for this process too. I'd love to see Apple bring some colour back with their own silicon.

Well, I agree with all that...

But...

US$140.00 upcharge to make a pair of Airpod Pros black...?!? Come on...!

 

[Polly Mercocet]

Well, I agree with all that...

But...

US$140.00 upcharge to make a pair of Airpod Pros black...?!? Come on...!

Sounds about right for anyone willing to pay £250 for AIrPods Pro in the first place ?

I don't mean to hate but I really don't understand the hype. Yes they connect easily to Apple devices. But I have a pair of professional grade monitor headphones from Audio Technica that cost less than half the price of AIrPods Pro. They can be wired or bluetooth, if I want the latter I turn them on and they connect with my paired iPhone instantly. The AirPods are just a status symbol for most consumers like Beats headphones.

To be fair, as far as customisation goes, there is a guy on YouTube who actually replaced the casing on his AirPods with solid gold. Not gold plated, but he made an actual casing made of pure 18k gold. That is cool.

As for ColorWare, in all seriousness, taking apart AirPods and reassembling them without damaging them is delicate work because they're so compact and not designed to be opened up. Even Apple will just give (or sell, depending on your warranty) you a replacement instead of bothering to repair them. I am confident in saying this because they do not sell refurbs.

Here's the guy who turned his AirPods into gold. This shows how delicate they are when opened too. But that finished product is awesome.

 

[the8thark]

Imagine the new Mac Pro tower in iPod Nano 4th generation orange!

Sure the 1% of Pro users who look at their case will want this. The other 99%, the majority whom are business would not care less.