Better to integrate the AirTag chip, which is much lower energy than the rest of the Watch.
2024 Apple Devices
- Thread starter wco81
- Start date
iPhone and iPhone Pro getting the “same” chip this fall:
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/07/02/iphone-16-models-a18-chip/
Seems pretty likely to me that they’ll use the same strategy they’ve used in the past where the non-Pro iPhones get a version of the chip with one or more GPU cores fused off.
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/07/02/iphone-16-models-a18-chip/
Seems pretty likely to me that they’ll use the same strategy they’ve used in the past where the non-Pro iPhones get a version of the chip with one or more GPU cores fused off.
OrangeCream
Ars Legatus Legionis
Maybe the best idea then is a cellular Apple Watch (his son in law would help him keep it charged) and a real AirTag attached to his walker or cane or something he is always using.
Not surprised by this at all. It’s been rumored since last year when the A17 was on N3B. That’s probably not a chip with a long life. On top of that I’d be absolutely shocked if any release from now on (other than the Watch or HomePod) doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, which means a new baseline of 8 GB RAM across their entire product line (aside, if you need yet another indicator it’s time for Apple to increase the base RAM in the Mac how about Macs and the iPhones having the same amount?). The more interesting question to me is what chip will go in next year’s iPhones: will they go with a binned A18 or the higher spec A17 from the 16 Pro like the iPhone 14 did?
I think you’re off by one in your chip naming here. Next year’s iPhone Pro will get an A19. The question is whether the non-Pro iPhones will get a cut down A19 or a full A18 (or I suppose they could go with a second year of a cut down A18 but I don’t think that’s likely.)
On some level this is a question of which will cost less in 2025 - a full A18 on N3E or a cut down A19 on N3P. My guess would be that the A18 on N3E would be less expensive so that’s what I think they’ll go with.
Are you expecting they'll skip the A18 entirely, or that they'll release an A18 and an A19 in this year's iPhones?
I was talking specifically about next year’s phones not this year’s. This year’s will be an A18 and a cut down A18 (maybe named A18 and A18 Pro???). Next year we’ll get an A18 (not cut down) and an A19.
Yeah, I got off in my numbers. Particularly embarrassing since I got it right earlier in the same post. Just forgot to increment another year.
In support of new mac minis this fall, I have ordered the m2 mini pro 16/512, because that’s the closest config still available in refurb. Was trying for mini 24/512, but it went out of stock too fast.
For some extra juju, I think my friend is about to bite the bullet on an M3 Pro MBP.
(I may be holding things up as I wait for the M4 Pro/Max though...)
Just bit it myself on a 15" M3 16GB/512GB MBA from Costco. My wife and I have been talking about getting a family laptop since we both have iPhones and iPads, but our only laptops are highly controlled and monitored company machines. This spec should be more than good enough for Internet, streaming, light office work, and budgeting, and to give us some new options for coordinating our tasks and calendars instead of relying on the current hack jobs we use.
My friend got the MBP from Costco ($250 off at the time), and recently a new Mac mini rumor. Things are lining up!
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/08/08/mac-mini-to-become-smallest-ever-apple-computer/
Apple TV sized but taller...wonder if it'll be a cube, and if the Pro model will be in the same enclosure. Course these days I'm living the laptop life, getting a mischievous cat made my wire filled desk a bit annoying/hazardous.
Recent rumor is that the Mac Studio won't be updated to the M4 series until middle of next year.
So it would be about 2 years, since the Studio with M2 series was first shipped in June 2023.
Suggests it's not a high volume product, which is not a big surprise. Obviously they will rev the MacBook Pro to M4 first.
But will they also rev the iMac to M4 before the Studio? M3 iMac shipped in October 2023.
So it would be about 2 years, since the Studio with M2 series was first shipped in June 2023.
Suggests it's not a high volume product, which is not a big surprise. Obviously they will rev the MacBook Pro to M4 first.
But will they also rev the iMac to M4 before the Studio? M3 iMac shipped in October 2023.
Apple must have spent the last 3 years being sick to the guts that the Mac mini has a useful spread of ports so they're finally going to close that loophole. (2 USB-A and 2 USB-C ports are far more useful to me than 3 USB-C ports)
Vincent Hanna
Ars Scholae Palatinae
MacStadium is going to be stoked, because after a one-time retrofit, they'll be able to fit three times as many Mac minis into each rack.
It just seems shocking that they'll let the Studio languish given the price point (I guess we're heading back in the direction of the Mac Pro of prior years). Its like they're consistently trying to give people a reason not to buy the desktop.
A Mac Studio is significantly less expensive than a comparably-equipped MacBook Pro. Of course Apple wants to give people a reason not to buy the desktop— selling more laptops pushes their average selling price up (wouldn’t be surprised if the average replacement cycle’s meaningfully shorter on the laptops, too).
This. And it sucks because it works.
I own a MBP M3 I never wanted, but the lack of desktop upgrades drove me there.
I figure the Studio probably goes as the Ultra goes, barring some lineup rejiggering, like temporarily killing off the Ultra version. Hard to see M4 Max and M2 Ultra options coexisting within the same model*. If you want M4 Max, deal with a MBP or wait. Pro desktop? Deal with the Mac mini's limitations.
Ideally there's some rumor misinterpretation and the Pro Mac mini is replaced with a new low end Studio with a Max version flying under the radar or something. Wishful thinking, but hey I vaguely remember news of the original coming out pretty late in the rumor cycle from some lesser known guy.
*Course there was the strange case of the higher end Intel Mac mini during the ARM transition. And the Mac Pro would languish awkwardly at the top for a while, but that's nothing new.
Ideally there's some rumor misinterpretation and the Pro Mac mini is replaced with a new low end Studio with a Max version flying under the radar or something. Wishful thinking, but hey I vaguely remember news of the original coming out pretty late in the rumor cycle from some lesser known guy.
*Course there was the strange case of the higher end Intel Mac mini during the ARM transition. And the Mac Pro would languish awkwardly at the top for a while, but that's nothing new.
This. N3B (the TSMC node that the M3 family is on) was/is a troubled node from a yield perspective. They want to get off that node as soon as possible which will probably mean all M3 family models get replaced by M4 family models this fall. They didn’t want an M3 Ultra hanging around another 6 months slowing the transition off of N3B.
I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that Apple declined to do an Ultra chip in the M3 generation. It feels to me like a specific response to the N3B debacle rather than a statement of long term strategy.
If N3B is the culprit, then debacle is the right term to describe it. Skipping a upgrade cycle of the complete (headless) desktop line is no small feat, as the AS transition‘s most unsung merit was a somewhat dependable upgrade cycle.
Be not afraid Mac Ach; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day rumors of the M4 Macs. And this will be a sign for you: that the base RAM for all models is now 16 GB.
The minimum size of a a decent llm is about 10GB so it makes sense apple is bumping the ram. Should be doing the same on idevices too. AI is the future of computing
Finally had an opportunity to correct the odd oversight that I had never owned a MacBook Air.
Wife was hitting the boundaries of the iPad lifestyle and needed something to replace the last computer we had bought for her, a 2015 MacBook Pro (which I stole long ago to be our Plex server anyway). We went back and forth on getting her another Pro, but... stumbled on a 15" M3 Air 24/512 on Apple's refurb site and had it in our hands the next day.
What a nice machine. It really hits that sweet spot of powerful enough, big enough, light enough and doesn't feel like it's lacking anything. Feels no less (or more, for that matter) performant than my M1 Pro MBP, which is to say, plenty of power for pretty much anything. While the difference in screen quality between it and my MBP is immediately apparent to me, it's not a dealbreaker for the wife. I do wish Apple would stop using 120Hz screens as a "pro" differentiator, it's kind of silly in 2024. But that's really my only nit. It's such a great laptop that I suspect will be useful for many years.
Wife was hitting the boundaries of the iPad lifestyle and needed something to replace the last computer we had bought for her, a 2015 MacBook Pro (which I stole long ago to be our Plex server anyway). We went back and forth on getting her another Pro, but... stumbled on a 15" M3 Air 24/512 on Apple's refurb site and had it in our hands the next day.
What a nice machine. It really hits that sweet spot of powerful enough, big enough, light enough and doesn't feel like it's lacking anything. Feels no less (or more, for that matter) performant than my M1 Pro MBP, which is to say, plenty of power for pretty much anything. While the difference in screen quality between it and my MBP is immediately apparent to me, it's not a dealbreaker for the wife. I do wish Apple would stop using 120Hz screens as a "pro" differentiator, it's kind of silly in 2024. But that's really my only nit. It's such a great laptop that I suspect will be useful for many years.
Is September 10th a Tuesday? Well, there’s no real way to find out so I guess we’ll have to wait and see!
OrangeCream
Ars Legatus Legionis
Why? Why not 64GB? My point is that the person needing more will pay for it and everyone else really doesn’t seem to have a problem with less.
OrangeCream
Ars Legatus Legionis
I’m not sure why it’s shocking, given you already know they’ve had long update cycles for their desktops for decades at this point.
It’s not like an average customer buys a new computer every year, or even ever other year. I buy a new Mac maybe once every 5 years, and that’s only because we are a household of 4. The oldest Mac in use is 12 years old, the newest is 2 years old, and the third is 6 years old.
You’re responding to joke, so I should probably just drop it… but I’ll bite. I can’t think of a time when Apple has released an OS feature or first party software feature that required more than the base RAM. The minimum RAM sets a floor that everyone in the ecosystem knows about and plans around - including OS and first party software designers. So more RAM gives you space to add more features.
Now you don’t want feature bloat. And keeping a low entry RAM has probably had a useful effect on keeping things focused and speedy. But I’d argue that AI may throw that thinking out the window. A 10GB model is not meaningfully more complex in its implementation than a 100MB model - it just takes more space.
And Apple has more cash than God, which positions them quite well to invest in substantially ramping up RAM as a differentiating feature between Macs and other computers.
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Sure, but at the price points we’re talking about for these machines, I’d expect consistent top of the line products when I want to buy, not a machine lagging two generations behind or updated whenever the planets align the right way. If I’m paying top-Dollar, I want a top Dollar product and to not wait and wonder when they’ll finally come around to updating it.
OrangeCream
Ars Legatus Legionis
I guess you're just fated to be unhappy for the rest of your life.
Expectations should be set by examining evidence. The only available evidence is that Apple pro desktops tend to go for long periods between updates. Expecting frequent updates is not a reasonable expectation given the available evidence.
That said, I would not be surprised if, once the N3B issues are in the rearview, the desktops fell into a more consistent rhythm.