By mid-2025, the Studio would be three generations behind as the M5 processor would almost certainly be out by then.
I still believe that we will see M4 Max and M4 Ultra Studios at WWDC in three weeks... and if not then, then in the fall when the next MacOS comes out.
M5 would likely use 2nm, this won't be available until late 2025 or early 2026:
I think it’s pretty clear Apple released the M4 in the new iPad Pros because they are low volume devices. M4 production is currently constrained by TSMC. I would think the low volume sales of the Mac Studios would make them another prime candidate for early use of the M4. It won’t spread to the rest of the higher volume devices until TSMC can produce enough. So, it’s sad to think I may have to wait another year to upgrade/replace my 2017 iMac Pro, if this rumor is correct.
I think the obvious answer is NEW HARDWARE designs will wait. But they will have to upgrade the chips on the models before 2025 or Mac Sales will be anemic.
Back to school and the Christmas buying season should be important to any retailer selling products to the public particularity for a company like Apple who sells products that are not necessary cheap so I'm told........over and over.
Back to school and the Christmas buying season should be important to any retailer selling products to the public particularity for a company like Apple who sells products that are not necessary cheap so I'm told........over and over.
Yes, all those Mac Pros and Mac Studios that get sold as Christmas presents ... LOL!!!
I think the obvious answer is NEW HARDWARE designs will wait. But they will have to upgrade the chips on the models before 2025 or Mac Sales will be anemic.
It might seem obvious until you ask what they would do differently with the hardware?
The studio might take some tweaks to maybe make it work better sitting on its side. or more ports, slightly less height. Maybe more rectangular so 2RU high by 4RU for a shelf deployment. Other what would you do with it.
In a similar vain the MacPro was designed with the AppleSilcone Roadmap well and truly in mind. If they wanted a different beast they could have built those choices in from the get-go. So the question is, really, what is different to warrant changing the machine?
To me, that lends itself to an Early M4 Ultra and a binned Desktop Max that has been waiting on the process to mature. As the most sensible rumour floating around. Again, these machines, like the iPadPro, lend themselves to process building up the output.
Back to school and the Christmas buying season should be important to any retailer selling products to the public particularity for a company like Apple who sells products that are not necessary cheap so I'm told........over and over.
Yes, all those Mac Pros and Mac Studios that get sold as Christmas presents ... LOL!!!
I am planning to use ChatGPT to help me draft my Letter to Santa this year. Previous attempts on my own have proven to be unsuccessful. I’m sure the little elves can put together some Dream Studio M4 Ultras in time for Christmas or Boxing Day.
Now I hat the M4 is out, in the “lowly” iPad, Apple will be forced to accelerate M4 upgrades in its entire product line. Sales of Macs will dramatically slow down as people await the M4 deployment. Unless one absolutely needs a Mac now, people will defer their purchase, awaiting the M4 upgrade. And if the M4 has some specific features to enhance Apple’s AI strategy, that will be yet another compelling reason to delay a Mac purchase. I predict a rapid M4 rollout across all Macs.
[1] The M3 Ultra was built and will go into the Studio and Pro at WWDC. The M4 launch was an anomaly created by a combination of need (tandem OLED) and opportunity (N3E).
[2] The M3 Ultra was not built. The M4 launch was not an anomaly, and M4 Pro on N3E will launch at WWDC in the Mac Mini. M4 Max and M4 Ultra will launch together in late 2024 or early 2025 on N3P.
Part of me hopes it is 2025 for the M4 Mac Studio Utra. Given that I have an M2 Ultra version, it would be impossible to justify upgrading this year, although I know I'd be severely tempted, and part of me knows I would! Yes, I can explain it. I am retired, and it's a hobby
It sounds like a weird strategy not to push the M4 now it’s in their tablets. Especially when the Mac Studio still is on M2.
Personally I believe Apple is going full force on AI for their new operating systems and for this they need to get the M4 out there as quickly as possible, so they can once again show the benefits of a perfect marriage of hardware and software. "Sure, laptops come first, but their desktops are a ‘status symbol’ to them: demonstrate what their products can do for professionals who demand high-end performance.
It’s either at WWDC or late 2024 I believe.
"Personally I believe Apple is going full force on AI for their new operating systems and for this they need to get the M4 out there as quickly as possible" => Agreed
i predict the release timeline to be the following:
WWDC 2024 - All desktop Macs transition to M4 counter parts Fall 2024 - All MBP models transition to M4 series Spring 2025 - MBA / iMac are the first to get the M5 (No M4)
That sounds very plausible.
It's annoying how pundits and Wall Street think AI is limited to a version of CharGPT and the likes of Siri and seem oblivious to the massive amount of AI already in Apple products. Apple's use of the term ML rather than AI was probably a mistake in hindsight. Just try the AI behind Logic Pro's autotune; it is amazing as one tiny example.
Back to school and the Christmas buying season should be important to any retailer selling products to the public particularity for a company like Apple who sells products that are not necessary cheap so I'm told........over and over.
Yes, all those Mac Pros and Mac Studios that get sold as Christmas presents ... LOL!!!
Mainly back to school but nice cherry picking........The Mac Studio Ultra with a XDR monitor was a nice end of the year (Taxes) 2023 Christmas present and the new iPad Pro will also serve the same purpose in 2024.
You may not see them at WWDC but I'm guessing more of in the late summer, early fall you might see them. If they're doing this push to AI with their OS's and have made a big push with AI with these new M4 chips it would seem to me like they'd want their higher end products using the latest M4 series of chips to better take advantage of what WWDC will bring. Being that typically macOS isn't released until the fall it makes sense to me to just release them in the fall along side the new macOS release.
The only thing that may keep them from releasing a new Mac Pro and Mac Studio is if those particular chips aren't ready yet, especially if they plan on making an M4 Extreme or something like that. Even if they had a new M4 Ultra, that should easily be placed in the Mac Studio and not delay it. To me it doesn't make sense to put the same chips in the Mac Studio and Mac Pro as like today, there's really no need to get a Mac Pro unless you really really need PCIe expansion slots.
It’s interesting that Microsoft’s Copilot+PC is targeting Apple’s M3 MacBook Air to tout the performance of their new platform. Apple putting M4 in the iPad Pro NOW is at the very least a shot across the bow to let Microsoft/Qualcomm know that comparing their latest and greatest SoC to Apple’s previous generation SoC is less than brag worthy.
This is definitely a big achievement for Microsoft but I think they’re going to find any transition away from Intel much more difficult than it was for Apple.
M1 Ultra owner here. It makes sense that the M4 Ultra/Extreme will be early next year. I agree that the M4 Pro and Max will be announced at WWDC, then shipped third quarter with the new iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. I’d be good with this roadmap for upgrading my M1 Ultra. What I’d love to see is an iPadOS change up where you attach the MagicKeyboard thus activating a macOS Lite that will run full Mac apps, but only when the MK is attached.
It’s interesting that Microsoft’s Copilot+PC is targeting Apple’s M3 MacBook Air to tout the performance of their new platform. Apple putting M4 in the iPad Pro NOW is at the very least a shot across the bow to let Microsoft/Qualcomm know that comparing their latest and greatest SoC to Apple’s previous generation SoC is less than brag worthy.
This is definitely a big achievement for Microsoft but I think they’re going to find any transition away from Intel much more difficult than it was for Apple.
It's going to be fun over the next two years Microsoft is currently fighting on three fronts in AI with OpenAI, Google, and Meta and probably soon to be four fronts, I think their own market inertia with Intel, AMD, Windows developers and their existing users will doom their ARM initiative. Microsoft is right however to give it a try.
When you click on “view comments” for an articles, why can’t you automatically scroll down to the comments instead of the user having to scroll through the article a second time? Not a very Apple like experience.
You'll quickly learn these forums don't work well with any Apple browsers.
Comments
https://www.anandtech.com/show/21241/tsmc-2nm-update-two-fabs-in-construction-one-awaiting-government-approval
It's very plausible that Apple would push the Ultra refresh into 2025 or it could be late 2024.
Although the higher-end desktops are the most powerful Macs, they are the lowest unit volume Macs too and have longer upgrade cycles.
Apple's high priority Macs are the Macbook Air and Pro and they can't upgrade the Air so soon because it just got updated in March.
Given that 2nm is likely 2026, it's possible the M4 Air gets launched in early 2025. M4 Pro/Max in October 2024. M4 Ultra, mini, iMac in mid-2025.
Back to school and the Christmas buying season should be important to any retailer selling products to the public particularity for a company like Apple who sells products that are not necessary cheap so I'm told........over and over.
The studio might take some tweaks to maybe make it work better sitting on its side. or more ports, slightly less height. Maybe more rectangular so 2RU high by 4RU for a shelf deployment. Other what would you do with it.
In a similar vain the MacPro was designed with the AppleSilcone Roadmap well and truly in mind. If they wanted a different beast they could have built those choices in from the get-go. So the question is, really, what is different to warrant changing the machine?
To me, that lends itself to an Early M4 Ultra and a binned Desktop Max that has been waiting on the process to mature. As the most sensible rumour floating around. Again, these machines, like the iPadPro, lend themselves to process building up the output.
[1] The M3 Ultra was built and will go into the Studio and Pro at WWDC. The M4 launch was an anomaly created by a combination of need (tandem OLED) and opportunity (N3E).
[2] The M3 Ultra was not built. The M4 launch was not an anomaly, and M4 Pro on N3E will launch at WWDC in the Mac Mini. M4 Max and M4 Ultra will launch together in late 2024 or early 2025 on N3P.
The only thing that may keep them from releasing a new Mac Pro and Mac Studio is if those particular chips aren't ready yet, especially if they plan on making an M4 Extreme or something like that. Even if they had a new M4 Ultra, that should easily be placed in the Mac Studio and not delay it. To me it doesn't make sense to put the same chips in the Mac Studio and Mac Pro as like today, there's really no need to get a Mac Pro unless you really really need PCIe expansion slots.