Apple rumored to debut two 13-inch MacBook models at Nov. 10 event
Apple will debut at least one and possibly two 13-inch MacBook models of some sort at its Nov. 10 "One more thing" special event, a previously accurate leaker said on Monday.
Credit: Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider
The Cupertino tech giant on Monday morning announced a "One more thing" special event for Tuesday, Nov. 10. Although it didn't reveal any details, the event is largely expected to center on Apple Silicon.
Shortly after the announcement, leaker @L0vetodream posted two tweets that simply read "13 inch" and "13 inch X 2."
Although cryptic, the tweets imply that Apple will release two devices with 13-inch displays during the Tuesday announcement event. Based on its current MacBook lineup, those could be a 13-inch MacBook Pro and a 13-inch MacBook Air.
Of course, Apple said it would announce the first Apple Silicon Macs by the end of 2020. The Nov. 10 event is the likeliest candidate for a debut, though Apple did add that it also has more Intel-based Macs in the pipeline.
As such, one of those 13-inch Mac devices could be Apple Silicon-based, while the other could be an Intel Mac. It isn't clear which monikers the new Mac models could use, however.
Other Apple leakers have suggested that the first Apple Silicon device could be a reboot of the 12-inch MacBook with an A14X processor.
It's also possible that Apple could release its Ultra Wideband "AirTags" accessory at the November event alongside new AirPods models, such as the long-rumored "AirPods Studio". The company may also debut or announcement the release date of "macOS Big Sur.
L0vetodream has previously said that a 14-inch MacBook Pro model is in the works for a 2021 release. Although the leaker doesn't have a perfect track record, their predictions have been historically accurate.
Credit: Andrew O'Hara, AppleInsider
The Cupertino tech giant on Monday morning announced a "One more thing" special event for Tuesday, Nov. 10. Although it didn't reveal any details, the event is largely expected to center on Apple Silicon.
Shortly after the announcement, leaker @L0vetodream posted two tweets that simply read "13 inch" and "13 inch X 2."
13 inch
-- (@L0vetodream)
13 inch X 2
-- (@L0vetodream)
Although cryptic, the tweets imply that Apple will release two devices with 13-inch displays during the Tuesday announcement event. Based on its current MacBook lineup, those could be a 13-inch MacBook Pro and a 13-inch MacBook Air.
Of course, Apple said it would announce the first Apple Silicon Macs by the end of 2020. The Nov. 10 event is the likeliest candidate for a debut, though Apple did add that it also has more Intel-based Macs in the pipeline.
As such, one of those 13-inch Mac devices could be Apple Silicon-based, while the other could be an Intel Mac. It isn't clear which monikers the new Mac models could use, however.
Other Apple leakers have suggested that the first Apple Silicon device could be a reboot of the 12-inch MacBook with an A14X processor.
It's also possible that Apple could release its Ultra Wideband "AirTags" accessory at the November event alongside new AirPods models, such as the long-rumored "AirPods Studio". The company may also debut or announcement the release date of "macOS Big Sur.
L0vetodream has previously said that a 14-inch MacBook Pro model is in the works for a 2021 release. Although the leaker doesn't have a perfect track record, their predictions have been historically accurate.
Comments
But wait, "X" doesn't mean multiplication here. It means "10" to Apple, so it really is 13 inch 10 2, a sly reference to the display size, 10 Watts and 2 ports!
Actually hoping for iMacs...
The biggest question in my mind is what the CPU cores will look like. Will they support SMT or will Apple simply throw lots of them into a SoC? If there is no SMT I can see Apple putting 16 core ships into its entry level laptops and far more into the MBP's.
MacBook 12” - lowest performance, highest battery (2 high-cores, 4 low-cores, 20 hrs) $799
MacBook Air 13” - decent performance, decent battery (4 high-cores, 4 low-cores, 15 hrs) $999
MacBook Pro 14”/16” - high performance, good battery (8 high-cores, 4 low-cores, 12 hrs) $1299/$1399
And that “lowest performance” would match if not outperform the A14.
So it could be a 26 inch model.
I'd really like to see aid and Pro with no just MB, unless if anything the Air should be the smallest, lightest one - at a price premium for the fancy tech in it to make it that way, but without crippling it's performance, while the MacBook (plain) should be the cheapest one, similar performance to Air but without the fancy shrinking tech, which saves cost of course. At least that's what it was in Jobs' day and made more sense. Air being bigger than MacBook seems a bit dumb to me.
Maybe the latest Retina MB Air kept that moniker because of the fan. Fan. Air. Geddit? 😛
All that said, I doubt the prices will be that low. I expect they won't go any lower than $999 for the cheapest one.
The way I see it, the current 13"MBP with the 8th gen processors, is more like what the MB should be, with slightly lower prices. I'd think a new MB should be an ASi 14" version of that, starting at $999. Its focus is price, compromising size for $. Performance should be baseline, but not crippled (like the 12" MB was).
Then MBA 12 & 14. Its focus is size (slim and light as possible, like the old 12" MB), but without compromising performance like it did). I'd propose this and the above MB have more or less the same performance/specs but this Air version adding fancy tech (like the battery layering stuff) for size and weight. Starting price say $1299, with $100 or $200 premium for bigger screen.
Then MBP more or less the same as they are (except 14 instead of 13), no expense spared, no compromises, even in the smaller one. Higher priced (because no expense spared for performance). Prices starting at $1999 and $2199 for 14/16 respectively (yes, higher even than today's 10th gen 13" $1799, but 16" starting lower than its current $2399). With the MB and MBA above this one is not for the price conscious.
There's no "low-end" MBP, because that's covered by the MB. If someone wants something in between, note of course that the MB I've described above STARTS at $999 but would have CTO options to get it up to almost base model MBP specs, at prices near the base model MBP, so all performance and price ranges are covered.
All that said, I suspect it's not going to go like that, if the last few years of product range organization is anything to go by. It's been a bit of a mess. The 12" MB should have been MBA from the start in my opinion, so who knows what they're thinking down there in Cupertino.
TL;DR: They won't sell a $799 laptop. Apple's own chips in these ASi Macs aren't going to drive the prices down, they're just going to drive the performance and features up at similar prices to today.
We also know that the iPad Air - with your hexacore Apple Silicon chip - costs $750 in the 256 GB configuration and only 4 GB of RAM. Sure you ditch the 10.8" touchscreen, but you add a 12" Retina screen back, so marginal savings there. Add the 4 GB of RAM, a keyboard with trackpad plus a motherboard with a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports and you are well over $799. $899 minimum and possibly even $949.
Make the case that this proposed MacBook will have 128 GB of storage, 6 GB of RAM and perhaps even a single Thunderbolt 3 port then we can start talking about knocking real money off what a MacBook Air currently costs. Otherwise we know based on iPad pricing that merely switching from the Intel Core i3 to an A14 won't save a bit of money.
Intel makes the following: Xeon, i9, i7, i5, i3, Celeron, Pentium. So, the chip in the lower half of what Intel charges OEMs for.
Qualcom is confusing - especially lately - but released the following this year: 865, 765, 750, 732, 690, 662, 460. The 765 is their #2 chip in cost.
How much does Qualcomm charges OEMs for the 765? $45! And it costs $35 to make!
I know that you all regard Qualcomm as inferior ... to Apple. But compare it to the Intel Core i3. The one that is in the MacBook Air? Dual core on a 10nm process that runs at 1.1 MHz. The 765? 8 cores, 7nm process, 2.4 MHz. Want to compare benchmarks? (You really don't, trust me.)
So, you would expect me to believe two things.
1. That Intel charges a lot more for the Core i3 than the $45 that Qualcomm charges for the 765.
2. That TSMC charges Apple A LOT LESS to make the A14 than the $35 that they charge Qualcomm to make the 765.
Now both of these have to be true for Apple Silicon Macs to cost less than Intel-based Macs. But there is a much greater chance that neither of them is true. There is a much greater chance that:
3. Intel charges OEMs less for their #5 chip than Qualcomm charges for a chip that provides superior performance while using less power, less heat and providing 5G.
4. TSMC charges Apple more to make the 5nm A14 than they charge Qualcomm to manufacture their #2 7nm chip.