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kscherer
Which way is up?
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boyzeee
 
2021-03-06, 19:41

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank777 View Post
If a professional Mac is being EOL'd in early March, does that confirm at WWDC announcement or a Spring Apple Event?
The only thing it confirms is that the iMac Pro was a stop-gap system prior to the current Mac Pro tower, but we already knew this. It will not likely be replaced.

Besides, the current MacBook Air makes that thing look silly in just about every way (other than top-of-the-Mac-line GPU performance). The next iMac, whatever it is, is going to dance Road Runner-level circles around it, so why keep selling it?

I suspect WWDC is the next event that will see more M-series machines. Total redesigns of the iMac and MacBook Pro. Then an M2-based Air and Mini in the fall, and the Mac Pro at WWDC next year with the M2X Pro chip. Then we will be on a regular, annual cycle where the low-end systems are updated first with M chips, and then the middle tier with Mx chips, and then the big daddy with Mx Pro chips.

I am predicting a chip line something like M, Mx, and Mx Pro, like this:

MacBook Air, 21-ish iMac, and Mac Mini: M

MacBook Pro, 27-ish iMac, Mac Mini Pro: Mx

Mac Pro: Mx Pro

This year the 27" Intel iMacs will hang around while their eventual replacements get Mx processors, and the 21" model will be completely replaced with an M version. The 13" Intel MacBook Pro will stick around while the 13" M version is replaced with a 14" Mx version; the 16" Intel MacBook Pro will be replaced with an Mx version, and next year the Mac Pro will be replaced with an Mx Pro version. The differences in the chips will be in core counts, RAM support, and PCIe slot support.

At least that's what I'm hoping for. I think Apple needs to hang on to a couple Intel things for another year to support the Windows hanger-ons, but I suspect it will go away sooner rather than leter. Either Microsoft licenses Windows for ARM, or Macs dump it altogether and good riddance.

But I'm just stabbing around a bit.

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