Will Apple Silicon Macs introduce new designs or keep the same current Intel designs?

[xxray]

Do you think Apple will take advantage of this new era of Macs (Apple Silicon, macOS 11) to usher in new designs for the Mac? Could be iterative (thinner, lighter, less bezels, less fans or no fans) or a radical new design etc.

Or do you think Apple will take take this opportunity to keep the same current Intel designs of the Mac to be able to demonstrate something along the lines of "this is the same Mac you know and love, but it's x% faster/x% more efficient/x% cooler/has x% longer battery life?" Also worth noting that the 16" MBP was just introduced last year with redesigned thermals, the current 13" MBA has a thermal that arguably would make more sense for cooler Apple Silicon chips, and new Mac Pro redesign was finally just released last year after 6 years of anticipation.

What are your thoughts?

 

[MevetS]

Yes.

 

[vigilant]

I’d expect the first releases will probably use existing body styles. I believe we saw that with the transition to Intel.

I would also expect shortly after for there to be net new hardware designs as well.

I could imagine a 13 and 15 MacBook Air, or MacBook.

 

[burgerrecords]

I’d expect the first releases will probably use existing body styles. I believe we saw that with the transition to Intel.

I would also expect shortly after for there to be net new hardware designs as well.

I could imagine a 13 and 15 MacBook Air, or MacBook.

to some extent the transition to intel was a conceit and there was likely a desire to demonstrate that those first intel machines were still just-as-good-as-the-macs-you-already-know. Additionally there was not as dramatic net thermal difference.

I expect new designs.

 

[vigilant]

That’s true.

 

[Danny82]

Assuming the rumours are true that we will be getting a redesign 14" and 16" macbook pro in the 2nd half of next year.. just curious of anyone hope the redesign to shrink it slightly or u are all happy with current dimension..?

For me, I hope they can keep the current 13" size but fix it with a 14" screen.. as for the 16" really hope they can reduce 1cm from both length and width.. current 16" is alittle too big for me.. but always want the more powerful macbook..

 

[ChromeCloud]

Keeping the same design makes it easy for Apple to prove the point that the new Apple processors are way more powerful and efficient than Intel processors.

 

[leman]

I doubt that there is much space left in the design space to significantly change things. Apple has been looking for the "ideal laptop", where "ideal" is a combination of minimalism and functionality. The current MBP like is very close to this ideal.

I am pretty sure that we will get some incremental improvements with the ARM Macs that are not possible currently due to limitation of Intel chips. Like full Thunderbolt bandwidth on each port, with properly isolated device space. Maybe also other things like a better display etc. But I doubt that we will get a different form factor or anything like that. There is simply no need to change it.

 

[Pressure]

All Apple Silicon Macs will differ from their Intel counterparts.

There will be no one mistaking an Apple Silicon based Mac from an Intel based one. Brand recognition and marketing simply demands it. Otherwise it is a massive wasted opportunity.

 

[Danny82]

I doubt that there is much space left in the design space to significantly change things. Apple has been looking for the "ideal laptop", where "ideal" is a combination of minimalism and functionality. The current MBP like is very close to this ideal.

I am pretty sure that we will get some incremental improvements with the ARM Macs that are not possible currently due to limitation of Intel chips. Like full Thunderbolt bandwidth on each port, with properly isolated device space. Maybe also other things like a better display etc. But I doubt that we will get a different form factor or anything like that. There is simply no need to change it.

Okay, how about getting bezel as thin as ipad pro and maybe slightly thicker display so they could fix in iphone front facing camera with face id haha.. will very much love to open my macbook lid and boom.. im auto log in ? and if possible make it 3 face recognition with face id so if the macbook have different user it will still be open lid and boom, u are in the correct user account u should be in.. mini led @ 120hz should be a given in 2nd half of next year macbook if not I be very disappointed..

 

[KPOM]

Likely the first designs will be similar to the current versions, and changes will come later. The thermals for the MacBook Air seem optimized for Apple Silicon. If Apple delivers Intel 13” MBP-like performance in a 10-12W TDP that would bode well for the rest of the lineup. I wouldn’t expect radical changes at first, but perhaps the 13” Pro will increase to 14” in a similar sized case, and a 12” comes back. I think we may see a touchscreen or convertible model but that would likely be a few years off while Apple enhances macOS.

 

[Falhófnir]

Sounds like the first machines will be very similar if not identical to the current lineup (makes sense to offer a reference point for each AS chip as it becomes available) I do hope they will quickly start to take advantage of the new possibilities Apple Silicon will open up though. Seems a waste to keep building machines around Intel's product lineup when they're not even using them any more!

 

[JPack]

Existing designs will be used. It's romantic to want a new chassis, logic board, and OS for the Mac, but it's not realistic from an engineering and risk management perspective.

Apple Silicon will still be actively cooled, as the DTK shows. This could mean a minor reallocation of space to a bigger battery or a slimmer chassis, but not a major form factor change in 2021.

 

[RumorConsumer]

Do you think Apple will take advantage of this new era of Macs (Apple Silicon, macOS 11) to usher in new designs for the Mac? Could be iterative (thinner, lighter, less bezels, less fans or no fans) or a radical new design etc.

Or do you think Apple will take take this opportunity to keep the same current Intel designs of the Mac to be able to demonstrate something along the lines of "this is the same Mac you know and love, but it's x% faster/x% more efficient/x% cooler/has x% longer battery life?" Also worth noting that the 16" MBP was just introduced last year with redesigned thermals, the current 13" MBA has a thermal that arguably would make more sense for cooler Apple Silicon chips, and new Mac Pro redesign was finally just released last year after 6 years of anticipation.

What are your thoughts?

Really good question. If it’s like the intel transition they’ll be identical. But as Apple is playing with its OS idioms this might be a good time to shake things up.

 

[CWallace]

I believe it depends on what models are ready for release by the end of 2020, which is when Apple has committed to launching consumer (as opposed to the current Developer) Apple Silicon Macs.

I believe that at a minimum we will see an Apple Silicon MacBook Pro in the current 13.3-inch form-factor (if not the current 13.3" chassis). I am also inclined to believe we will see a new Apple Silicon iMac with a ~24-inch screen that will replace the 21.5-inch Intel iMac 4K.

I believe Apple is saving the MiniLED-backlit Macs for Apple Silicon. This include the rumored ~14.1-inch MacBook Pro as well as a new 16" MacBook Pro. MCK has rumored that the iMac Pro would get MiniLED in a refresh, but I think that might be planned for an Apple Silicon 27" 5K iMac later in 2021 (with the current Intel 5K iMac being refreshed with new Intel CPUs and AMD GPUs anytime between tomorrow and October).

 

[mikehalloran]

Yes.

Yep. Things will stay the same or they will be different. Historically, Apple does one, then the other—except when they don't.

So let the guessing games begin!!!

 

[jerryk]

My guess is the laptops will start getting more square off, like the iPad Pros

 

[theluggage]

Do you think Apple will take advantage of this new era of Macs (Apple Silicon, macOS 11) to usher in new designs for the Mac? Could be iterative (thinner, lighter, less bezels, less fans or no fans) or a radical new design etc.

No, they'll go back to the 2012-2015 design and there will be much rejoicing in the streets

...but seriously I hope that they will learn from the 2016 MBP/Butterfly debacle and not just make things smaller and thinner for the sake of it. Oh, and Save Our Bezels - preferably the old-fangled aluminium ones rather than trendy edge-to-edge glass - they protect the glass and screen from knocks.

The current Macs are really getting to the point where their size is determined by the size of a decent display, keyboard and enough battery to keep the display running.

I think a major re-design depends when new display tech - be it MicroLED or MinLED - is ready (and the economics of making it in various sizes) which will affect both size and battery requirements.

There could also be a re-shuffle of the range - given that even the A12X gives an i7 a run for it's money, I don't see the need for a distinction between the Air and the 13" MBP - especially the low end/2xTB one. Well, apart from the Touch Bar, and it's debatable whether that's an advantage or disadvantage. Also, since it sounds like the first wave at least will not have dGPUs, the only distinction between an ARM-based 13" 4xTB MBP and 16" MBP could be the screen size.

 

[awesomedeluxe]

I think the Air or MBP 13 returning this year in the same chassis has a high likelihood.

I think the Mac Mini returning this year in the same chassis has a medium likelihood.

And I think all other Macs are probably next year and have new designs - and the MBP13 will get a new design next year too, regardless of whether it returned this year in the same chassis.