Who's gonna buy the new ARM MacBook?

[bsamcash]

OK...but I would expect at least a year's wait before you can get an ARM equivalent of the 6-8 core MBP16. Rumors are that the MBP13 will be the first. It will be very interesting to see how an ARM MBP13 compares to an Intel MBP16 - maybe it could come close?

Probably. But I’m not looking to get the best model, just the first.

 

[JohnnyGo]

MB 12 reincarnation is the ARM Macbook I am waiting for. There is a Macbook with completely new form factor predicted by Kuo for next year, wonder if it means a touchscreen or even detachable screen. Hopefully Apple still has couple surprises up it sleeve...

I think they retired the MacBook for a reason: to bring it back now.

If they are able to cram a mini led screen, 120hz display, and have a 12h battery (we know Apple will always prefer to keep weight down vs a 30hr battery life), they will have a winner from the get go. High performance, low weight, great battery life.

My 2016 MBP can only last 5-6 hours. Except for the display size of the MB (which may be bumped from 12 to 13” due to lack of bezels), I would jump on it as a replacement.

My only requirement would be dual TB3/USBC ports (vs original design with only one port).

All for $999 (cheaper than an iPad + keyboard) !!!

One can only dream...

 

[JohnnyGo]

Maybe the first ARM MBP will be the 14" we heard so much about earlier this year? A completely new MBP inside and out would be a nice showcase product for the new chips.

That’s the other interesting option. Go for the 14” MBP as the first showcase to highlight all the power and the lighter design (MBA like weight for a MBP like power).

That might be tempt me to jump and buy day1 as well. But the price has to be around $1499...

Buy an expensive first generation product is not my cup of tea!

 

[JohnnyGo]

A fan-less laptop that gets like 24 hour battery life and doesn't get that hot and runs laps around anything x86 even the top end would be a marvel, all under $999 lol

Big Dog,

No way Apple will go for 24hr battery. They will just slash the battery in half and keep it at 12hrs

 

[JohnnyGo]

As long as the arm chip has a pcie controller (guaranteed to be included), dGPUs and even eGPUs (assuming TB3 compatibility) will work exactly as they do with x86. The question is whether Apple will deem dGPUs as required if they can push their SOCs to the same performance levels. (The fact that the A12z was able to run tomb raider in emulation mode at 1080p with what looked like a decent frame rate is impressive for such a low power chip). I can certainly see AMD Navi graphics included in arm desktops and possibly high performance laptops such as the 16 inch.
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They have already gone on record saying that would not be the case. They have no plans on locking down mac to mac apps store apps even on apple silicone.

In the keynote they said they were running on Apple Silicon... not necessarily on an A12Z... to release an ARM Mac by year end they certainly have prototype/first run SOCs to test hardware with today

 

[thadoggfather]

Big Dog,

No way Apple will go for 24hr battery. They will just slash the battery in half and keep it at 12hrs

It won't be under $999 either

a boy can dream though

 

[stratokaster]

I usually upgrade my laptop every 2-3 years.

I bought my current 13" MBP in 2016 and was so "impressed" with it that I decided to never buy anything with the butterfly keyboard again.

This year they finally fixed the 13" MBP but I had other priorities due to COVID-19. The new ARM MacBook may well be my first new Apple laptop in 4 years.

 

[Krevnik]

OK...but I would expect at least a year's wait before you can get an ARM equivalent of the 6-8 core MBP16. Rumors are that the MBP13 will be the first. It will be very interesting to see how an ARM MBP13 compares to an Intel MBP16 - maybe it could come close?

Agree. The Air and 13” MBP are probably the first... however, if the 21” iMac is ready this year, then it means they are far enough along for the 16” MBP and Mini as well most likely. The 8700 on the 21” iMac is used in the Mini, and the 16” MBP caps out not much faster than the 8700 in practice.

But I am interested in a 16” MBP with this. Especially if it can deliver quieter computing at the same performance today. It also depends on the GPU setup though.

 

[JohnnyGo]

It won't be under $999 either

a boy can dream though

Apple has set the bar at $999. Even if it is for creating room for discounting / sales. The last two years have seen constant $50-100-150 sales for iPads and MacBooks

 

[DanMan619]

Agree. The Air and 13” MBP are probably the first... however, if the 21” iMac is ready this year, then it means they are far enough along for the 16” MBP and Mini as well most likely. The 8700 on the 21” iMac is used in the Mini, and the 16” MBP caps out not much faster than the 8700 in practice.

I honestly think they have the ARM chips for everything except maybe the Mac Pro ready to go as far as being designed and ready to mass produce already. I think the only reason they're staggering out the product launches is to not overwhelm the market with new products (because when do companies ever re-do their entire product line all at once?) and not to "rush" the transition by having ARM Macs release too close on the heels of their last Intel Mac equivalents (which as Apple said, there's still a few more coming) that were already in the pipeline before Apple decided to pull the trigger on the timing of this transition. I think it's more about timing and not pissing off customers more than they already might and not really that the higher powered chips are still in development or something like that.

 

[JohnnyGo]

I honestly think they have the ARM chips for everything except maybe the Mac Pro ready to go as far as being designed and ready to mass produce already. I think the only reason they're staggering out the product launches is to not overwhelm the market with new products (because when do companies ever re-do their entire product line all at once?) and not to "rush" the transition by having ARM Macs release too close on the heels of their last Intel Mac equivalents (which as Apple said, there's still a few more coming) that were already in the pipeline before Apple decided to pull the trigger on the timing of this transition. I think it's more about timing and not pissing off customers more than they already might and not really that the higher powered chips are still in development or something like that.

I have the same impression: Apple silicon is ready to go but they’re waiting/staggering product launches for other reasons.

Laptops showcase much better the advantages of the new SOC, so they will go first.

Consumer desktops are price sensitive and do not usually require specialty software, they will go second (mac mini, smaller iMac)

Prosumer and professional grade hardware will go last because it’s users need in most cases specialty software (and SW transition will likely hold them back)

 

[ArrayDecay]

I'll get the 13" Arm MBP so long as the CPU has a better name. "Apple Silicon" sounds like something you get in a drugstore.

 

[Zackmd1]

I honestly think they have the ARM chips for everything except maybe the Mac Pro ready to go as far as being designed and ready to mass produce already. I think the only reason they're staggering out the product launches is to not overwhelm the market with new products (because when do companies ever re-do their entire product line all at once?) and not to "rush" the transition by having ARM Macs release too close on the heels of their last Intel Mac equivalents (which as Apple said, there's still a few more coming) that were already in the pipeline before Apple decided to pull the trigger on the timing of this transition. I think it's more about timing and not pissing off customers more than they already might and not really that the higher powered chips are still in development or something like that.

I think the rumors of the Intel 13" MBP getting discontinued when the ARM variant ships later this year is actually spot on. It explains the 2 lower end tiers of the 13" retaining the 8th gen processors.

So in my theory, around November time-frame Apple will update their MBP lineup. The 2 lower tier intel 13" MBPs will get replaced with ARM variants while the higher tier 10th gen models stick around for another 6 months or so. The 16" will stay intel this cycle. Same thing I see happening with the iMac. The lower tier 21.5'" intel models get replaced with a new design 24" model while the 27" stays intel.

Doing it like this with ARM chips that will likely outperform the intel variants (even though the intel variants will be more costly) would give even more incentive for customers to switch to ARM while only developers with a NEED for x86 would buy the higher tiers.

Then early next year they update the Macbook air with arm processors (discontinuing the intel model entirely) and possibly revive the 12" model as the "budget" laptop priced lower then the entry model MBA. Same for the mac mini. The intel variant gets discontinued and replaced with the arm variant early next year.

That then only leaves the 16", the 27" imac/imac pro, and the mac pro which I would all expect to get higher performance chips.

 

[Krevnik]

I honestly think they have the ARM chips for everything except maybe the Mac Pro ready to go as far as being designed and ready to mass produce already. I think the only reason they're staggering out the product launches is to not overwhelm the market with new products (because when do companies ever re-do their entire product line all at once?) and not to "rush" the transition by having ARM Macs release too close on the heels of their last Intel Mac equivalents (which as Apple said, there's still a few more coming) that were already in the pipeline before Apple decided to pull the trigger on the timing of this transition. I think it's more about timing and not pissing off customers more than they already might and not really that the higher powered chips are still in development or something like that.

Honestly, they better be looking at engineering samples for the whole lineup by now, but ramping up production on a whole CPU family all at once is also insane for technical reasons. But I never really suggested that they would swap the whole lineup at once. Just that the 21" iMac, the 16" MBP and Mac mini are all in the same performance category (minus the dGPU on the MBP). The rumors suggest a redesigned iMac this year which could very well be a 21" iMac with an ARM SoC. If they can hit that target this year, the Mac mini would be a slam dunk, and the MBP 16" would be easy depending on how much PCIe I/O is available on these first chips, and the TDP of the chip.

I wouldn't be surprised if this year are devices they intend to ship without a dGPU. It does simplify a lot of things and lets them focus a bit on getting the out, before addressing what remaining design issues linger on the higher end chips.

I'm still interested, but I'd probably pass on the 13" and wait to see what the 16" is like.

 

[mr_jomo]

someone mentioned them trying to lockdown downloads and buy everything through the Mac App Store.


Dear apple, I'm a lifelong user at age 38. If that happens, GO **** YOURSELF.

That'll most likely never come to pass.

Apple knows that's a big concern for a lot of its customers, who will just migrate to Windows, cry a few tears, spend 3 to 4 weeks adjusting to the equivalent software on that platform and then never look back.

I know I would. It's literally 5 minutes to get on dell.com, order the latest XPS 15, which is a glorious laptop, and wave Apple on its merry way.

Such a move would sound the death knell on the Mac platform. I'm certain that Apple
has tested the concept with focus groups, developers and select software partners behind closed doors, so they know the calamity this would cause.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I am really at the "take my money!" phase right now. I enjoy my iPad Pro 12.9 with Magic Keyboard, but there are still a few occasions per week for either a website or email where iPadOS just won't work correctly.

Considering Apple will want to announce ARM Mac on a stage (virtually) as opposed to press release, I'm guessing we're looking at late September before we know exactly what the first machine will be.

 

[cardfan]

That'll most likely never come to pass.

Apple knows that's a big concern for a lot of its customers, who will just migrate to Windows, cry a few tears, spend 3 to 4 weeks adjusting to the equivalent software on that platform and then never look back.

I know I would. It's literally 5 minutes to get on dell.com, order the latest XPS 15, which is a glorious laptop, and wave Apple on its merry way.

Such a move would sound the death knell on the Mac platform. I'm certain that Apple
has tested the concept with focus groups, developers and select software partners behind closed doors, so they know the calamity this would cause.

Wouldn’t jump to conclusions. I’d assume lock down til Apple says otherwise.

 

[thisismyusername]

I’d assume lock down til Apple says otherwise.

Apple already said otherwise

 

[KPOM]

I am really at the "take my money!" phase right now. I enjoy my iPad Pro 12.9 with Magic Keyboard, but there are still a few occasions per week for either a website or email where iPadOS just won't work correctly.

Considering Apple will want to announce ARM Mac on a stage (virtually) as opposed to press release, I'm guessing we're looking at late September before we know exactly what the first machine will be.

I’d guess November or December. The first Intel Macs were released in January 2006 after the June 2005 WWDC. Steve Jobs stated the same 2 year transition timeframe.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I’d guess November or December. The first Intel Macs were released in January 2006 after the June 2005 WWDC. Steve Jobs stated the same 2 year transition timeframe.

Well, I did infer they’ll announce the hardware in their fall event, even if it doesn’t end up shipping until December.

 

[throAU]

I'm planning to buy one in 2021-2022 depending on performance and the rate of software compatibility/application migration.

I just bought a high spec 2020 air, but that can go to the GF to replace my old 2015 13" Pro she's currently using when I upgrade. That will be 7 years old at that point and likely either out of support or very close to it.

 

[KPOM]

Well, I did infer they’ll announce the hardware in their fall event, even if it doesn’t end up shipping until December.

They said the first Macs with Apple Silicon would be released by the end of the year. That could mean a limited release as late as December 31 like the Mac Pro a few years ago.