New ARM Macs Start Mass Production

[MisterMe]

I agree with this. What's left out of context is that when Apple transitioned from PowerPC to Intel back in early 2006, Apple largely retained the overall look of its products. Apple kept the iMac design the same & swapped out the Power PC G5 for the Intel Core Duo. Likewise on the MacBook Pro, they kept the overall PowerBook G4 design except widened the screen a little, added a webcam, and MagSafe.

To expand upon your point, the Cheesegrater I tower was introduced in 2003 as the Power Mac G5. Three years later in 2006, the PPC>Intel transition added a second optical drive and changed the tower's name to the Mac Pro. By the time it was retired, the Cheesegrater I had been Apple's most powerful computer for ten years--three years based on the PPC and seven years based on Intel processors.

About a year ago introduced the Cheesegrater II tower. Because we are not privy to Apple's product plans, we can only speculate about the future of Apple's products including its top line hardware. We can surmise that the Cheesegrater II was designed with the Apple Silicon transition in mind. We know that the Intel incarnation of this tower has very quiet active cooling. However, its billet aluminum case gives it a large thermal mass with high thermal conductivity. This leads me to believe that the Apple Silicon Cheesegrater II--if it is built--will have passive cooling--at least in some models--eliminating all moving parts and making it dead silent.

Think of the prospect of a dead silent Mac Pro in your recording studio or science or engineering lab. Awesome!

 

[Krevnik]

We know that the Intel incarnation of this tower has very quiet active cooling. However, its billet aluminum case gives it a large thermal mass with high thermal conductivity. This leads me to believe that the Apple Silicon Cheesegrater II--if it is built--will have passive cooling--at least in some models--eliminating all moving parts and making it dead silent.

Think of the prospect of a dead silent Mac Pro in your recording studio or science or engineering lab. Awesome!

I think the flaw in the argument is that the case itself, while a good thermal mass, is not a good sink for heat. Not without bringing it into physical contact with the CPU/GPU heat sinks and use something to help with thermal transfer, but that begins to interfere with the ability to open up the machine. An air gap is a terrible way to transfer heat.

In terms of noise, it doesn’t seem like the CPU is the issue right now anyways? The big sources of noise in my experience are the beefier GPUs when they ramp up and demand more cooling.

I like the idea, but I think the most we can hope for is that the existing design doesn’t have to ramp up the fans as often as it does today. Depending on how much of a miracle Apple can bring to the GPU space, or if they continue to use AMD hardware in the Mac Pro.

 

[dmccloud]

I wasn’t at all denying this - I’m just saying there could be more to the puzzle than what people are saying here like: their partially constrained because they’re shifting some of their production lines over to new hardware. And being at max capacity isn’t always the same as being supply constrained. They could have someone in their chain that can’t keep up production (like batteries or displays, etc) that’s holding up the production line.

There is one part of Cooks' statement that contradicts your theory here. Tim Cook specifically stated "supply constrained", not production constrained. The latter would be the case if Apple was shifting mass production over to new hardware, which resulted in less models being produced. However, when you see a company use the term "supply constrained", that means that the components that go into these devices are constrained. This could be anything from the radios in the iPhone to displays, to specific chips that go on the logic boards. If Apple can't get the supplies in to build these devices, then it doesn't matter how much production capacity they have to work with. The one area that Apple probably isn't constrained on from a supply perspective are the processors coming from TSMC, since they have booked all available 5nm production for the foreseeable future. This distinction between production and supply is actually quite important, especially for companies that are publicly traded and therefore fall under SEC regulations.

 

[Jorbanead]

However, when you see a company use the term "supply constrained", that means that the components that go into these devices are constrained. This could be anything from the radios in the iPhone to displays, to specific chips that go on the logic boards.

Is this not what I said?

They could have someone in their chain that can’t keep up production (like batteries or displays, etc) that’s holding up the production line.

My original comment that you replied to was in response to someone claiming they are at max capacity.