First Apple silicon Mac could debut on Nov. 17
Apple is reportedly readying a special event for November that will deliver word of the company's first Apple silicon Macs, according to prolific leaker Jon Prosser.
Without citing sources, Prosser on Thursday said the upcoming special event will concentrate on "ARM Mac" devices, more commonly known as Apple silicon Macs.
"To confirm, there IS a November ARM Mac event," Prosser said in a tweet. "I'm hearing November 17th."
The post seconds predictions first aired by Bloomberg last week. That report claimed Apple plans to unveil its first Apple silicon Mac alongside "other products" at an event in November, suggesting the computer is to be joined by refreshes to existing Intel-based lines. Apple previously confirmed that it would continue to rely on Intel processors as it transitions to its own chips.
It remains unclear as to which Mac model will be first to get the Apple silicon treatment. Rumors in June claimed Apple plans to revive the 12-inch MacBook with an "A14X" processor. A report from the China Times in August said the machine will boast a custom GPU, USB-C connectivity, weigh less than 1kg and net between 15 and 20 hours of battery life. Cellular 5G connectivity is also rumored for integration.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a solid track record in predicting Apple product launches, in July presented a timeline that pegged both a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and revamped MacBook Air to take on Apple's custom chips in the fourth quarter of 2020. Those are expected to be followed by 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models and an all-new form factor device in the second or third quarter of 2021, Kuo said.
Without citing sources, Prosser on Thursday said the upcoming special event will concentrate on "ARM Mac" devices, more commonly known as Apple silicon Macs.
"To confirm, there IS a November ARM Mac event," Prosser said in a tweet. "I'm hearing November 17th."
The post seconds predictions first aired by Bloomberg last week. That report claimed Apple plans to unveil its first Apple silicon Mac alongside "other products" at an event in November, suggesting the computer is to be joined by refreshes to existing Intel-based lines. Apple previously confirmed that it would continue to rely on Intel processors as it transitions to its own chips.
It remains unclear as to which Mac model will be first to get the Apple silicon treatment. Rumors in June claimed Apple plans to revive the 12-inch MacBook with an "A14X" processor. A report from the China Times in August said the machine will boast a custom GPU, USB-C connectivity, weigh less than 1kg and net between 15 and 20 hours of battery life. Cellular 5G connectivity is also rumored for integration.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a solid track record in predicting Apple product launches, in July presented a timeline that pegged both a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro and revamped MacBook Air to take on Apple's custom chips in the fourth quarter of 2020. Those are expected to be followed by 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models and an all-new form factor device in the second or third quarter of 2021, Kuo said.
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If anyone cares, the (Product)Red watch bands are available now. The Braided Solo Loop is already pushed back to an early-mid December delivery, but the Solo Loop is showing a 1-2 week window.
Plus I think there are many professionals using the MacBook Pro, but not for coding but creative tasks like video editing or 3D modeling.
I’m personally betting on Apple focusing on releasing the Apple Silicon MacBook first, because the requirements of a consumer are closer to the iPad users, and the difference between the iPad silicon and laptop silicon is likely a maller.
I am personally most interested in their GPU performance. For a Pro machine they’ll have to convince users it offers more than current discrete GPU solutions.
So, about 12 hrs runtime, cool and quiet running, instant on/off, hopefully cellular, with great performance, yes. 20 hr battery life? Probably not.
Still waiting for the HomePods in [English-speaking] Sweden.
First of all, it seems like this would be the most generic and least "sealed up" flavor of the hardware since it has to work with conventional peripherals using conventional interfaces and standard protocols. The MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac can employ some levels of non-standard interfaces between some of their built-in components because it's all sealed up in a box that Apple has total control over.
Secondly, if you're on a fast track to getting your software on Apple Silicon hardware you've already obtained the current Mac mini based Apple Silicon prototype dev units. Replicating your dev environment from the prototype Mac mini to the AFS Mac mini is a much closer match and will give you a somewhat better feeling that any behavioral and performance differences seen between the two Mac mini systems is attributable to your software. It's arguably a better Apples-to-Apples comparison than say a Mac mini to MacBook comparison.
Devs want to minimize as many variables as they can, at least early in the dev process. They'll eventually have to test on every Apple hardware platform, but getting to having at least one stable reference platform for evaluating deltas in their software is a huge first step and a reassuring starting point. Whether Apple can accommodate them in this way remains to be seen, but devs will take whatever they can get and make the best of it.
https://www.techpowerup.com/273426/amd-ryzen-9-5950x-16-core-zen-3-processor-overclocked-to-6-ghz-and-geekbenched
This is without any Zen optimizations running on Apple Hardware with the latest Catalina, using an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X engineering sample.
Any questions? This is why Apple should have dumped Intel, gone AMD as it matured Apple Silicon for a few more years at least.
I don't expect Apple Silicon Macs to be less expensive either. I hope I'm wrong and would enjoy being pleasantly surprised, but I suspect i may end up with more more Intel based Mac if my suspicions prove true.
Arguably Apple Silicon is less of a threat to do this, but it would still have an effect. Sure - they aren't "announcing" release of new hardware, perhaps just "giving an update" but Macs are long lived devices (I'm typing this on a 2009 iMac that works just fine.) While everyone knows this is coming, knowing the timeline make people more comfortable extending their purchases, something Apple wishes to avoid. They would like customers to buy now (Intel) and then buy again later (Apple) rather than just the latter.
It seems to me the primary advantage of Apple Silicon is the power advantages, and that would seem to indicate that MacBooks would certainly be up first. IIRC from WWDC though, Apple released Apple Silicon based MacMinis to developers, so there has to be a production facility for that model already in place - albeit one that likely has a limited, but scalable, production capability.
I don't need the advantages that Apple Silicon macs seem to offer. YMMV. It will make many intel macs price drop, and I'm all for that. New, old stock may become very compelling, as will refurbs.