Waiting for 2021 MBP

[applekid77]

hey...

Late 2020 (same chassis)

-> 13.3” TGL-U x ARM (Apple Silicon) option

Late 2020/Early 2021 (same chassis)

-> 16” TGL-H x ARM (Apple Silicon) option

Late 2021 (redesign)

-> 14.x” + 16.x” 30th Anniversary ARM-only MBP; could/will also include Apple GPU, Mini-LED and more cool stuff

what do u think?

?

 

[Sarajiel]

hey...

Late 2020 (same chassis)

-> 13.3” TGL-U x ARM (Apple Silicon) option

Late 2020/Early 2021 (same chassis)

-> 16” TGL-H x ARM (Apple Silicon) option

Late 2021 (redesign)

-> 14.x” + 16.x” 30th Anniversary ARM-only MBP; could/will also include Apple GPU, Mini-LED and more cool stuff

what do u think?

Sounds more like wishful thinking than anything based on known facts or even rumors from the semi-conductor industry to be completely honest.

Apple will not release any piece of hardware with two different CPU architecture options that would allow a direct comparison between those architectures. That's also one of the reasons why Apple usually releases hardware that's difficult to compare directly with other OEMs. Just compare the Mac minis of the past with Intel's NUCs or the various Macbook Airs with your average $1000 Windows notebook, etc.

We might see a slightly refreshed 16" MBP with Comet Lake-H CPUs and maybe even some new AMD GPUs in Sept./Oct. 2020 to bridge the gap till mid-2021. These models will probably be the last products with Intel CPUs if everything works according to Apple's plans with Apple Silicon.

Personally I doubt that the rumored laptop with the first AS chips will be a 13.3" MBP. It's more likely that Apple refreshes the 13.3" Macbook Air with a SoC that will showcase the efficiency of the new AS mobile CPUs. If you look at the pictures of the supposed leak of the battery of a laptop that were posted a couple of days ago, it could even be a fanless MB Air design.
The rumored 24" iMac will most likely contain a performance oriented SoC of AS with a relatively low core count to show off without risking too much competition with the 27" iMacs. Both machines will probably feature USB4/TB4, maybe LPDDR5/DDR5 and probably a redesign of the case. Hopefully with USB/TB ports on both sides of the laptop this time...

As hinted before I doubt that we will see any Tiger Like U- or H-series CPUs in any Macbook Pro unless Apple happens to struggle with yields, binning, lack of USB4/TB4 chips, lack of DDR5 chips, unforseen manufacturing problems due to Covid-19, the trade war between the U.S.A. and the People's Republic of China, or a severe gap of performance metrics between Tiger Lake and Apple Silicon CPUs. However at the moment each of these risks seem quite low.

We might see some more Macs like the Mini between the initial release of devices with AS CPUs and the WWDC, but both new Macbook Pros will most likely appear at the same time around the WWDC. The screen sizes of these laptops will depend on the availability of Mini-LED displays and not on type of CPUs.
If Apple can ship the machines with Mini-LED screens they will almost certainly go for the long rumored 14.0" MBP with a 302ppi 3584x2240 display and the 16" with a 302ppi 4096x2560 display. Keep in mind that a "real" 4k and not just the usual Ultra HD resolution would make the 16" MBP the go-to device for anyone involved with digital cinema. In the unlikely case that Mini-LED is still not available the displays will most likely stay the same we have now.

Depending on the price point of the new MB Airs we might also see another entry-level MBP 13.3" or even some sort of 12" Macbook Pro with a 3k (302ppi) screen.

 

[Metrosey]

I do hope we get Tigerlake H-Series before the MacBook Pros go to ARM. Tigerlake H-Series will be a pretty big step for MacBook Pros. This combined with a Mini-LED screen will be an amazing purchase for all markets.

 

[jinnyman]

All I need is X1 Carbon alternative with much better graphic performance which I believe is possible with AS chip.
What I need is MPB 14” that’s thinner and packs more performance!

 

[Sarajiel]

All I need is X1 Carbon alternative with much better graphic performance

If you don't mind Windows 10, you could probably find a couple 13.3" and 14.1" gaming or "creator" (the new buzzword) laptops with 10th gen CPUs and a GTX 1650 from MSI, Razor and even Lenovo in the price range of a current MBP 13 with Ice Lake CPU. A quick look at the regional price comparison website showed half a dozen laptops of that sort on offer in the part of Europe where I live. You will probably find even more SKUs in the US, since HP and Lenovo are usually very weird with that sort of premium offering over here.

While I personally don't doubt that Apple will deliver an interesting laptop in the CPU department, I'm highly skeptical about their GPUs in the AS chips. With Intel's new Xe graphics and AMD's Renoir SoCs we might actually see some decent iGPUs in the next couple of years. Even if Apple is already capable of designing a comparable iGPU it will probably take a couple of iterations for them to get the balance between performance, price and power-consumption right.

 

[ross7777]

Not sure how trustworthy this is but says delay into 2021 and possibly no release event this year.

Apple’s ARM-Powered MacBook Pro Will Be Late

Apple’s transition from Intel to ARM on MacOS means a new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. When will they be released?

www.forbes.com

 

[Sarajiel]

Not sure how trustworthy this is but says delay into 2021 and possibly no release event this year.

If you look at other tweets of that Komiya_KJ person predicting Apple stuff, you'll notice that some of his or her claims are quite strange from a business point of view. Personally I suspect that he or she is mostly just speculating based on other rumors and open source information.

That long rumored October event for the AS launch always sounded more like something born inside the usual internet echo-chambers like reddit or this site than a credible rumor from an insider. Considering how vague Apple has been so far about the first products and the fluid situation within the hardware supply chain at the moment, Apple themselves probably don't plan the timing of such an event too far in advance.
The marketing department probably has their presentations mostly ready and will just fill in the missing technical specs, pricing and similar sensitive information once they get the go from Tim Cook. The promotional material for a new CPU architecture is also probably fairly generic, since a microchip is a rather dull piece of equipment even if it has an Apple logo on it. ?
For a company the size of Apple the lead time for such an event could easily be just as little as two weeks without anyone breaking a sweat.

The rest of the information seems to be more or less what we already know or what people speculated in these forums based on various rumors. However calling that article journalism feels like a bit of a stretch. I've seen better researched articles in The Onion.

 

[pttai]

I just think that if the new MacBook’s got its own sec in an Apple’s event, it’s worth buying.
I was really surprised that the 16inch last year deserved a sec in the October event but it didn’t, so I think they are hiding something big for this year.

 

[nameste]

i am about to buy 16” mbp but i wonder when the 13 model upgraded with intel 10 series cpu ,wasn’t there any suitable cpu for the 16”?

 

[ctjack]

when the 13 model upgraded with intel 10 series cpu ,wasn’t there any suitable cpu for the 16”?

Intel's 10th gen released this year in April, had nothing changed except higher clock speeds. Given the fact that Apple already invented MBP 16 in november and higher clock speeds won't change anything in laptop's performance(no headroom/throttling), they decided to skip on CPU change for that moment.

 

[DanMan619]

i am about to buy 16” mbp but i wonder when the 13 model upgraded with intel 10 series cpu ,wasn’t there any suitable cpu for the 16”?

Yes. https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/02/intel-launches-10th-gen-h-series-processors/

The chip doesn't really add anything other than slightly higher clock speeds, and maybe Wifi 6 if Apple decides to include that (they didn't on the 13" and those had the ability as well i believe). So it's possible Apple may skip the 16" MBP this year and just wait for the 2021 models. Or they might do the refresh this year with those 10th gen chips. We don't really know yet. We're pretty much in the wait and see stage.

 

[PowerGala]

I’m really hoping for a 5G modem. Having my MacBook on my data plan would be a game changer for me.

My iPad Pro has an LTE modem and the Surface X has one too, so I don’t think it’s a crazy thing if it were to happen.

 

[applesed]

I’m really hoping for a 5G modem. Having my MacBook on my data plan would be a game changer for me.

My iPad Pro has an LTE modem and the Surface X has one too, so I don’t think it’s a crazy thing if it were to happen.

Does that give you any additional benefit you don’t get when using your phone as a hotspot?

 

[AttilaTheHun]

I plain to buy the last MBP 16" with the INTEL processor before the ARM comes

 

[PowerGala]

Does that give you any additional benefit you don’t get when using your phone as a hotspot?

Unlimited data on the device vs limited data from the hotspot

 

[m7ammed]

I plain to buy the last MBP 16" with the INTEL processor before the ARM comes

I’m hoping we see an update this year, if I get the 16” this year I would be setup to swap for a new laptop 4-5 years down the road well into the AS/ARM transition with all teething issues out of the way if any. I’m starting to work on 4K videos using FXCP and my iMac late 2015 can’t handle it.

 

[Metrosey]

I wonder if Tigerlake U-Series will come with a MacBook 13 inch refresh. I hope the 16 inch gets Tigerlake-H series next year too. However, part of me thinks Apple won’t do it because the potential performance jump will look better in terms of reports and graphics (PR) when comparing it to Intel’s 4 year old architecture (16 inch) and first approach architecture (13 inch). If they compared the new ARM chips to Tigerlake, there’s a real potential it will be a minimal performance increase, and that won’t look good for Apple when trying to market the new ARM MacBooks.

 

[Altherekho]

I don’t think they will drop Intel so fast ... 2 years they say,
i say , maybe hope , to see a lineup like this :
Late 2020-21

Ipad mini
Ipad Air
Ipad Pro

Arm 12” Macbook
Arm Imac 24”

Macbook pro 13 intel TigerLake
Macbook pro 16 intel TigerLake
Imac 27 TigerLake
Intel Mac mini
Intel MacPro

2022

The same but
Arm 14 Macbook pro
Arm Mac mini

Then i will buy an Arm Macmini and an Intel nuc

 

[limo79]

Since there a lot of supply chain delays and based on ChineTimes news I suppose that we will see Macbook 12 with ARM and refreshed MBP 13 but based on Intel Tiger Lake. I think from the Mac consumer perspective it is important to see ARM SoC in MBA so it can be much lighter, thinner and completely silent. With Tiger Lake this will not be possible to get best performance (CPU/GPU frequencies) and passive cooling. New MacBook Pro 13 and 16 will be presented when new frameless MLED panels will be available together with 3D face recognition from iPhone, TB4 and WiFi 6 (chassis will be redesigned).

 

[nameste]

i see there is no i9 option in the tigerlake cpu .Do you think apple will skip the tigerlake series for the 16”?and i just saw tigerlake H series will be released in 2021

 

[pttai]

Well I just checked why 2016 got the huge update with Butterfly keyboard and the touch bar, it turns out it was because the date marks 25th year anniversary since the first Mac came out.
So my conclusion is that, just wait for the 30th anniversary, it's gonna be huge.

 

[limo79]

@nameste: TigerLake is low power CPU for ultrabooks (not for a mobile workstations). In my opinion MBP 16" will be redesigned late 2021 but it will require strong ARM SoC that is possibly under development now. From the consumer perspective showing MBP 13 with thinner chassis, new screen and FaceID and reduced price is something big that Apple did not present for a long time. If Apple plans to change just a mainboard with ARM SoC this October and upgrade the rest Early 2021 will be a big disappointment. I believe that we need a whole package to say: "Wow!".

 

[nameste]

@nameste: TigerLake is low power CPU for ultrabooks (not for a mobile workstations). In my opinion MBP 16" will be redesigned late 2021 but it will require strong ARM SoC that is possibly under development now. From the consumer perspective showing MBP 13 with thinner chassis, new screen and FaceID and reduced price is something big that Apple did not present for a long time. If Apple plans to change just a mainboard with ARM SoC this October and upgrade the rest Early 2021 will be a big disappointment. I believe that we need a whole package to say: "Wow!".

Well after many days of brainstorming I placed my order 1 hour ago ?

 

[limo79]

We also bought MBP 13" based on Ice Lake with huge discount few days ago. If your workflow really hurts there is no sense to wait paraphrasing Dave Lee. I consider to buy MBP13 on ARM SoC but like I mentioned without LCD screen improvement it does not make any sense for me and it would be a really big surpise to see totally redesigned MBP 13 this October. Need to agree with MaxTech that this sounds too optimistic in COVID time.

 

[smokesletsgo]

Yup, I very much doubt that any updates are coming this year. Why did they bother updating current MBP 13 lineup this May if barely half a year later presumed killer MBP SoC is planned. Very weird rumors. Like you said, they need to hit big, new screen, new design, not just processor transition, they definitely need the best puncher to get those users and devs to jump on board, which probably won't be that simple, even for Apple. So it's most likely 2021 spring-summer until we finally see that.