BlueLightning

cgWerks said:

BlueLightning said:
Remember that TSMC makes the majority of CPUs/GPUs for AMD, Apple and NVIDIA (and many others).  

Samsung makes most of the remaining leading edge chips.  
Intel is way behind, and any high performance chips they have are not good candidates for laptops that are GPU intensive.  
Intel laptops have to be plugged-in to achieve high GPU performance, with large amounts of heat and suck batteries dry rapidly.  

True, though this mainly means they'll just use more power while doing it... but at least they can do it.
Apple seems a bit ahead on the CPU front, but quite a way behind on the GPU end.

cgWerks said:

Bummer, I'll be waiting for the M3 minimally. But, my Intel mini w/eGPU is still doing well, so should make it just fine.

Unfortunately, my son needs to buy something in the next few months, so we're probably looking at M1 Max or M2 Pro and trying to figure out which has the edge for what he does (and will want to do).

It seems more like it is the M1, M1.25 (called M2), and M2 (called M3) in reality. Hopefully that M3 will put Apple a bit more back where many of his were thinking/hoping when this Apple Silicon stuff started. We're now solidly back to playing catch-up with the PC market, at least in terms of GPUs.

We all got bit by Apple's early planning/design, I think. I was amazed at what Apple accomplished when everyone was deep in the pandemic, but now 3 years later, we're feeling the reality of the pandemic on Apple. It was just delayed a lot more than other companies.

What I really hope we'll start hearing, is more of the tech differences of the M3, instead of just more cores and energy efficiency (again, mostly on the GPU-front). We're now years into the transition, and we still don't really know what Apple's plan is for the pro users in GPU-centric disciplines.

macxpress said:
I wanna say that the MacBook Air is Apple's top selling laptop?

That even makes it a bit more puzzling, as my understanding is a huge problem here is going to be supply/yields. It seems like they might just be trying to follow the release schedule they've initiated (ie. new chip starts in the low end models and then to more advanced systems). Otherwise, they'd maybe be better to introduce the M3 in the Pro and Studio.

AniMill said:

Either the Mac Pro is dead, or so delayed that it’s become superfluous in their product lineup. Perhaps it’s become such a niche that any further investment simply is not a viability for Apple anymore. Either way, if Apple does not at least preview a Mac Pro option at WWDC, I think it’s dead Jim. Though $3000 ski goggles are considered the “next” thing - but I believe AR/VR is already past the public interest inflection point. WWDC is going to be a very interesting show.

Yeah, I'll certainly check it out, but kind of sounds like another yawner on the way. I have near zero interest in the VR stuff at this point. Maybe a bit in AR, but more professionally (vertical markets) than any use for myself personally.

I'm a bit torn on the Mac Pro as well. Unless they give-in in terms of expandability, the Studio seems like the new Mac Pro. What would be the point of a huge case if it can't be expanded? (And, but give-in, I mean add AMD GPUs or something like that back to the platform.)

I'm hoping they are just way behind - the M3 will be impressive - and they would just be too embarrassed to release a Mac Pro right now with M1/M2 tech in it.

9secondkox2 said:
A delay means that Apple is ensuring I’m the Mac Peo is the butt-kicking, name-taking monster it’s supposed to be. 

That's the hard thing for me to grasp. It would seem (at least from what we know), unless they add AMD back in, it's going to be adequate at best. Hopefully we're pleasantly surprised. Currently, at least for GPU, a top of the line Mac kind of equals a mid-level gaming PC... and then only somewhat (better at one task, worse at others).

Note: this is on the pro side, though. On the consumer side, Apple is certainly kicking butt.

YasminG said:

I’m sick and tired waiting for a new iMac. They should have at least offered an M2 offering

I think they just didn't want to do an iMac M1.25.

humbug1873 said:

"the iMac screen is one of the best 15-inch displays available"!???
That screen was absolutely horrible on the original iMac, probably about the worst you could get.
Thankfully nowadays it's the other way around. I have a 27'' iMac since the day the 5k Version was available and they're still - 4 years later -  isn't anything better on the market (at that price point). 

patdiddy said:

Steve Jobs was a true genius. The only problem with the iMac’s early debut was that nobody had really dealt with Ethernet or WiFi at the time, in fact, the internet was just really starting to become a thing. 

Had it debuted with the iPod, Steve Jobs might have had the best way to get digital music, and saved apple completely.