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It's worth noting that while there are still quite a few caveats to the M1 MacBook Pro when looking at "pro workflows", this is only intended to replace the "lo
by danpalmer 6y ago
It's worth noting that while there are still quite a few caveats to the M1 MacBook Pro when looking at "pro workflows", this is only intended to replace the "low end" MacBook Pro which was already quite restricted.
Given all the missing parts could require a fair bit more development (eGPU support is not something iPhones have needed so far after all), I expect we'll see these on the next generation of CPUs, along with a range of new higher-end MacBook Pros, the iMac Pro, potentially even the Mac Pro.
- jamil7 6y agoI don't think we'll see a Mac Pro for a long time, this will be the most difficult (and interesting) one to see move over to ARM.
- mschuster91 6y agoWhy? ARM server CPUs are already a thing for years now.
- api 6y agoDiscrete GPUs probably, though I don't see a reason Apple couldn't cram more of their own GPU cores onto a die.
- qz2 6y agoI predict it will disappear from the market within 2 years with no replacement leaving people to limp along on an iMac. Not like it hasn't happened before.
- tonyedgecombe 6y agoI've been wondering about that. I have a suspicion that the sales volumes don't justify the effort Apple needs to put into a device like that. On the other hand it would be nice to see a slightly more grown up MacMini, something with expansion in mind.
- anunes 6y agoWouldn't the surplus of selling relatively few machines that cost a minimum of 5,999 US$ justify continuing its development? Not a burn, they're clearly great, well built computers, but Apple obviously adds a lot of profit to all their machines, Mac Pro included.
- kemayo 6y agoI think the Mac Pro exists for reasons independent of directly making a profit. Though Apple would always like to make a profit, of course. It's a combination of a halo car and a triple whopper. A halo car is a statement of intent from a car company. It's showing off "here's all our coolest stuff, and the direction we think things should go", while being impractically expensive and bought by almost nobody. By putting out the fancy new Mac Pro, Apple reassured professionals that it cared about them, and presumably that's making people less likely to nervously shift away from the platform even if all they actually need for their own work is a laptop or Mac Mini. The triple whopper, famously, mostly existed to be a conspicuously more-excessive product that made the double whopper look more reasonable in comparison. If the Mac Pro exists at $6k base, buying a reasonably specced out iMac suddenly looks downright responsible! Both of these things are good for Apple's bottom line.
- tonyedgecombe 6y agoThose are interesting points although I'm sure I read that Apple expects each product line to stand on its own two feet.
- easton 6y agoThe other side is that if the efficiency and performance of these chips scales up to a big workstation, they could use them in their data centers to get much higher performance without a whole lot of extra power, and then sell whatever chips they don't need as Mac Pros.
- tonyedgecombe 6y agoI don't see that at all, they abandoned Xserve a long time ago.
- runjake 6y agoI'm pretty sure I heard an Apple talking head saying that an Apple Silicon Mac Pro "in a smaller form factor" will be making its way here in the next couple years.
- joking 6y agoMaybe... maybe not, it may not be efficient to make an specific processor for those machines, but with the actual performance of the M1, you just have to put 4, 8, or 16 M1 processors side by side and call it a day. The big beefy intel machines are sometimes dual processor, so it's nothing that it's not already invented.