Reddit user claims 14" ARM Macbook coming on Tuesday's Event + a whole lot more info

[Erehy Dobon]

Because no rumor is talking about iMac, Mac Minis or Mac Pros. It's always MacBook here, MacBook there. But I don't want or need a notebook, I need I new iMac to replace my 11 year old 21,5" modell. ?

85%+ of Mac sales are notebook computers. This is nothing new. It has been like this for about ten years.

Apple will definitely prioritize the Apple Silicon transition to their notebook computers first.

The notebook computers are the ones that are most sensitive to the performance-per-watt metric. Remember that during the WWDC 2020 keynote, the performance-per-watt metric was the FIRST thing mentioned by Johny Sroudji and repeatedly revisited multiple times during the entire segment. Apple pounded this fundamental concept again and again.

Mac desktops are a small fraction of total Mac unit sales.

 

[iKrivetko]

Welp, much ado about nothing.

 

[Realityck]

Guess this rumor fell apart totally, oh well!

 

[Erehy Dobon]

>90% of tech rumors end up being wrong.

Nothing new here.

But hey, we'll be back here again in a few weeks when Apple announces another media event!

 

[JPack]

To be fair, unless you've been following Apple rumors for a few years, it's easy to be swept up by a seemingly authoritative poster on Reddit. He's got all the answers and has info for all product categories. He says he chats with Apple engineers too!

Sooner or later, you'll realize the most credible rumors are from Chinese sources posted on Weibo because that's where the supply chain is. The reality is, Apple engineers don't have the complete product picture for security reasons. It's the supply chain guys in Asia that do becuase they're the ones assembling and testing the complete product. The more vocal, well polished, and complete the rumors are, the less likely they're true.

 

[leman]

He was obviously wrong about timing of announcements, but the actual info given was realistic. Well, I suppose we will know soon enough...

 

[JPack]

He was obviously wrong about timing of announcements, but the actual info given was realistic. Well, I suppose we will know soon enough...

Uh, he was completely wrong about even the most basic stuff. He called power button Touch ID a "myth."

 

[Yebubbleman]

Not sure of how authentic/accurate this reddit user is with these leaks... But there's a whole lot of interesting info in these posts. I'm surprised this hasnt been mentioned in these forums yet.

Some highlights of the claims he seems sure of:

He is certain a 14" ARM Macbook Pro will be announced at Tuesday's event and will ship end of the month or early Oct - this is the claim he seems to be most confident about. All other sources say 14" won't be released until next year. So if this actually happens Tuesday all the items below will also likely be accurate.

Apple silicon chips will have different tiers but not like intels. "They're more based on what features areactually on the chip. Pro chips will have dedicated engines for specific tasks while something like the 12" macbook will get a simple processor for everday users."

iPhone 12 release next week.

13" Intel Macbook Pro will exists along side the 14" during the transition period but will be phased out eventually.

16" ARM Macbook Pro Spring next year.

16" Intel Macbook Pro not getting anymore updates this year.

12" ARM macbook next year.

No more iPad Pro updates this year.

Windows with ARM support will eventually come for silicon macs.

Portless iPhones two years out

Apple is making a carOS for car manufactures.

Link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/ioxe49

The only plausible thing in that dude's predictions, next to the obvious lack of more iPad Pro updates this year, is the nature of the Apple Silicon replacement to the Intel 13" MacBook Pros. He was suggesting that graphics would rival that of the lowest-end 16" MacBook Pro graphics option (albeit assuming native apps that support Metal). But that would certainly be a smart thing for Apple to do with the 13" MacBook Pro. It can't merely just be an Apple Silicon Air with a better screen and the TouchBar gimmick. That'd be totally redundant.

 

[dinobear]

Yeah I admit I got sweapt away a bit by his post. He got me ?. Looks like he deleted his account already too.

I'm really interested to see benchmarks on Apple's GPU. It's going to be great to have high end graphic options in the 14". I dont think there's been powerful GPUs in the smaller macbook pros since the mid 2000's maybe?

 

[deconstruct60]

I don't think it'll be that high (or anywhere close). Portless could still include the smart connector, which would take care of non-Qi charging.

Pretty good chance that isn't going to happen.

The EU Wants All Phones to Work With Interoperable Chargers, Here’s What That Means for Apple's Lightning Port

Despite pushback from Apple, the European Parliament in January voted overwhelmingly for new rules to establish a common charging standard for mobile...

www.macrumors.com

Apple may have to abandon Lightning connector cable

European Parliament members want all tech giants to adopt a single universal charging method.

www.bbc.com

Maybe Apple gets around the USB-C mandate by saying that Lightning-to-USB-C is extremely commonly available. Works with all of the proper USB-C chargers is the bigger consumer saving issue. But going to "Smart Connector" would be a major waving the "red cape" in front of the regulators 'bull'. Lightening at least has huge inertia. The smart connector would be huge retreat in deployment. 'Hiding' the USB signal and power pins on something that isn't even a plug flies directly in the spirit of the regulation.

If Apple is looking to completely sidestep the regulation then wireless only would be a far more viable option depending upon how the regulation is worded. Apple picking a fight here also only throws "gas on the fire" for their anti-trust issues with the same entities.

Apple may thin out the iPhone to a point where their claim is that it is "too thin" and waterproofed for a Ligthning/USB-C port. Like the Watch.

Also as @fokmik wrote, a lot of Android OEMs likely will follow suit anyway. Samsung will spend 1-2 years mocking Apple and its users for it and then join in when they've milked that enough.

Probably not. The vast majority of them are subject to the same regulations. There are also charging speed issues and cost/availability of that type of chargers also.

It is just dramatically simpler to just put a USB-C on their phones and just avoid the cost of additional lawyers and wrangling with regulators. Full employment for lawyers is one cost that Apple does not have a huge aversion to spending.

 

[deconstruct60]

The only plausible thing in that dude's predictions, next to the obvious lack of more iPad Pro updates this year, is the nature of the Apple Silicon replacement to the Intel 13" MacBook Pros. He was suggesting that graphics would rival that of the lowest-end 16" MacBook Pro graphics option (albeit assuming native apps that support Metal). But that would certainly be a smart thing for Apple to do with the 13" MacBook Pro.

Actually not so smart. One, that Apple likely has die size limits with the SoC for the 13" MacBook pro. The cost to make will be a contributing issue. If they don't shrink the thermals enough they won't be able to add more battery (offset of reducting fan size) or allocate for something else ( more RAM) .

Second and related is bandwidth issues. Trying to top discrete GPUs with GDDR6 (or better) bandwidth.

Graphics Card Comparison - Head 2 Head

AMD Radeon RX 5300M vs Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs vs AMD Radeon Pro 5300M - Benchmarks, Tests and Comparisons

www.notebookcheck.net

If Apple gapped Xe-LP and AMD integrated graphics that would be sufficient and on the same shared bandwidth with main system RAM issues. there is plenty of space between the 5300M and the Xe-LP to land with "better performance" but still not covering good dGPUs.

It also leaves space for the MBP 16" to sit.

It can't merely just be an Apple Silicon Air with a better screen and the TouchBar gimmick. That'd be totally redundant.

This carries the presumption that Apple is throwing huge GPU transitor budget at the Air also. A smaller number of GPUs cores ( whether turned off or just not on the die at all) would place the Air lower without having it creep up into the dGPU performance space also.

 

[leman]

Second and related is bandwidth issues. Trying to top discrete GPUs with GDDR6 (or better) bandwidth.

Apple GPUs are less reliant on bandwidth. I think that reaching 5500M-like levels with just LPDDR5 is doable. They will mot likely need more bandwidth if they want to push further than that.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Actually not so smart. One, that Apple likely has die size limits with the SoC for the 13" MacBook pro. The cost to make will be a contributing issue. If they don't shrink the thermals enough they won't be able to add more battery (offset of reducting fan size) or allocate for something else ( more RAM) .

Considering the A12X beats every 13" MacBook Pro that has ever existed without so much as a single fan, they will not have to push an Apple Silicon 13" MacBook Pro to its thermal limit in order to have it handily beat its Intel predecessor.