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Why though? M2 Extreme would be cheaper for Apple than the current Mac Pro chips it buys from Intel. If Apple believed it has to sell it for 10k for the single
by yreg 4y ago
Why though? M2 Extreme would be cheaper for Apple than the current Mac Pro chips it buys from Intel.
If Apple believed it has to sell it for 10k for the single reason of avoiding Mac Studio canibalization, and at the same time Apple believed 10k is too high for the customers, then Apple would kill the product.
- NeverFade 4y agoThe implication in the article is that M2 Extreme would not be cheaper, but would cost substantially more than these Intel chips. It would also perform far better.
- yreg 4y agoI don't think that implication is clear, but even so I don't understand why Gurman believes that. Apple margins improved with Apple Silicon transition.
- NeverFade 4y agoApple margins may have improved, but the M2 Extreme that Gurman posits would be a beast of a chip and much more expensive to produce: > The company made the decision because of both the complexity and cost of producing a processor that is essentially four M2 Max chips fused together. It also will help Apple and partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. save chip-production resources for higher-volume machines.
- zozbot234 4y agoI think the limit would be on the package rather than the chip itself; the Ultra is already two Max dies in a single package. I wonder if this means multiple-socket motherboards (historically used for SMP) are again viable for this class of systems.
- rbanffy 4y ago> much more expensive to produce Apple's foothold in video production is a delicate thing and it seems prone to disruption by a player able to offer a macOS comfort with generic x86 prices. edit: removed wrong part
- JustSomeNobody 4y ago$4000 more?
- mrpippy 4y ago“Cheaper” including the NRE, and having to dedicate (very limited) chip design resources to it? For such a low volume product, probably not.
- brookst 4y agoIsn’t that a decision Apple would have made years ago? I don’t think they can be years into design and still working on NRE in an effort to bring NRE down.
- GeekyBear 4y ago> M2 Extreme would be cheaper for Apple I doubt it would be all that cheap. TSMC is said to be charging $20k for a 3nm wafer, and initial yields for a large die size made on a brand spanking new process node wouldn't be expected to be great.