[Capella]

MacBook Air

• 15" MBA with $1,299 starting price
• Up to 24GB of RAM and up to 2TB SSD
• Price cuts on the 13"MBA - $1,099 for M2, $999 for M1

Mac Studio

• M2 Max and M2 Ultra chipsets
• 24-core CPU and up to 76-core GPU, up to 192GB "unified memory". Up to 6 ProDisplay XDR.
• $1,999 starting price

Mac Pro

• M2 Max and M2 Ultra chipsets
• 24-core CPU and up to 76-core GPU, up to 192GB "unified memory". Up to 8TB storage, 192GB "unified memory". Supports 8K display)
• Nice port array of 10GB ethernet, HDMI, SDXC port, Thunderbolt 4s
• $6,999 starting price

[709]

The 15" MBA is going to sell like crazy. Can't wait to check one out in person.

[chucker]

The lack of additional memory slots on the Mac Pro is a bit surprising.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by 709 The 15" MBA is going to sell like crazy. Can't wait to check one out in person.

Yeah, I can't even get my head wrapped around the insanity that is going to erupt.

And, a long time in coming, too. Old people do not need to be dropping $2500 just to get a bigger screen. The 15" Air is going to fly like a bottle rocket around here. And I suspect that, at $1299, is going to flat out destroy the 13" models, at least for the time being.

Also, I expect we will see a drop in 16" sales of around 25%.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by chucker The lack of additional memory slots on the Mac Pro is a bit surprising.

Given the specs, I don’t get why the Mac Pro even exists.

[Matsu]

B&H had some significant MBP discounts. I think Apple's refurb store might get interesting too. I'm rocking a 10-year old photo editing set-up, and have been sort of stalling any gear overhaul because everything works but is sort of locked down to a workflow where any one change means a cascade of new stuff... especially software... and maybe monitors. Those MBA's look sweet. Looks like they only support one screen, but a single 32" 6K is probably enough. Dell's is $3K CAD...

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by PB PM Given the specs, I don’t get why the Mac Pro even exists.

For the "I NEED MAH SLOTS" crowd.

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by 709 The 15" MBA is going to sell like crazy. Can't wait to check one out in person.

Anyone else notice that the description was not "The world's best ultra-light 15" laptop" as they've termed it before, but just "The world's best 15" laptop"?

Which sounds like they're throwing the MBPro under the bus, until you remember that the MBPro comes in 14" and 16" now...

Clever beasties, are they.

[psmith2.0]

I think the 15” Air will be a strong seller. Over the years (15-20), I’ve heard far more “regular” (non-“pro”) users pine for a larger Air than I’ve heard pro types wanting a smaller (11-12”?) MacBook Pro.

Frankly, the “pro” crowd is well-cared-for/supplied at this time and should probably STFU for a while. They’ve got plenty of “Pro”-badged notebook options, two generations of Mac Studio, a spiffy new tower as of yesterday, along with a couple of iPads and even really expensive iPhones. Apple’s been throwing love at the Pro crowd pretty consistently for the past 2-3 years. Making up for years of not, I suppose.

For the former, here you go. Put your money where your mouth is/was. You (finally) got what you’ve been wanting all this time. Doesn’t happen a lot, s jump on it when it does! My mom, sister and their friends shouldn’t have to fork out $2,500+ just to have a larger screen notebook. Apple made the right move here, making it part of the Air (affordable) family.

I sssume the M3 will debut before this year ends, with an updated iMac attached. If they haven’t already killed/discontinued the model, that is. They’re obviousky looking to set a record for longest time between updates - 26+ months and counting - so it could be another 2-4 years.

[Frank777]

We got updates to Macs we didn't even expect, and Samsung has yet to release the S9 monitor they debuted in January.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by Kickaha For the "I NEED MAH SLOTS" crowd.

There’s nothing to put in them, because nothing works with ARM.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by PB PM There’s nothing to put in them, because nothing works with ARM.

Yep. Especially since Afterburner is now on-chip. I don't know what else you would really want in there these days that isn't already TB4.

Maybe it's a nostalgic thing. You can add Firewire and SCSI back to remember the good old times.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by Frank777 Yep. Especially since Afterburner is now on-chip. I don't know what else you would really want in there these days that isn't already TB4. Maybe it's a nostalgic thing. You can add Firewire and SCSI back to remember the good old times.

People were hoping for third party GPU support I think, but that’s a pipe dream. No GPU maker is going to write ARM code for a few thousand machines, of which less than half will want one.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by PB PM People were hoping for third party GPU support I think, but that’s a pipe dream. No GPU maker is going to write ARM code for a few thousand machines, of which less than half will want one.

I wouldn't be so sure given the rise of ARM in the data center. If Nvidia is already making the H100 for ARM-based servers, they might well decide it's worth their time to make their H100 work in the new Mac Pro for ML engineers.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by Ryan I wouldn't be so sure given the rise of ARM in the data center. If Nvidia is already making the H100 for ARM-based servers, they might well decide it's worth their time to make their H100 work in the new Mac Pro for ML engineers.

Apple and Nvidia hate each other. Theres a reason why there hasn’t been an Nvidia GPU in a Mac in the last 10 years.

[Matsu]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 I think the 15” Air will be a strong seller. Over the years (15-20), I’ve heard far more “regular” (non-“pro”) users pine for a larger Air than I’ve heard pro types wanting a smaller (11-12”?) MacBook Pro. ... I sssume the M3 will debut before this year ends, with an updated iMac attached. If they haven’t already killed/discontinued the model, that is. They’re obviousky looking to set a record for longest time between updates - 26+ months and counting - so it could be another 2-4 years.

I hope they make another try at a large screen iMac. In many ways I just like the whole set-it-and-forget-it nature of the iMac. It's been a model of reliability.

I dock to a single 21" screen at work, which I find too small for side-by-side document review. I dock to a 27" screen at home, which feels right to me and matches my current iMac... In truth I could even go a tad larger though I don't expect an iMac at 30" and beyond...

[psmith2.0]

As popular and strong-selling as the 27” iMac was, I find it kinda odd - and a bit shitheaded - that Apple seems to have just said “meh…whatever”. Maybe one is coming again with the M3? I know that would make a lot of people happy. I hope the crayons colors go away as well. The current 24” iMac just looks toy-ish/out of step with the rest of the Mac lineup, IMO. And it’s certainly not a good buy/value, after two-plus years and still on the exact same specs it came with in April 2001. It’s weird they didn’t do the M2 thing with it as well, last summer, fall or winter.

[turtle]

I have to believe there is a specific event coming for iMac upgrades.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 As popular and strong-selling as the 27” iMac was

…based on?

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by chucker …based on?

Well, we sold an awful lot of them, and I would say that something in the neighborhood of 25% of current iMac customers complain that there isn't a bigger size.

I just had a long-time customer in the shop about ten minutes before typing this, and he had been waiting for WWDC to see if the 27" would return.

So, there is demand for it.

People got used to the bigger screen. Look at it this way: How many people grumbled that Androids were too big and Apple should keep making small phones? Then, when Apple released the iPhone 6, iPhone users got used to big phones and now the mini struggles to sell. Just think about the amount of grumbling there would be if the big, "Plus-sized" iPhones were all discontinued in favor of the smallest screen sizes!

People want the bigger option!

[chucker]

Originally Posted by kscherer Well, we sold an awful lot of them, and I would say that something in the neighborhood of 25% of current iMac customers complain that there isn't a bigger size. I just had a long-time customer in the shop about ten minutes before typing this, and he had been waiting for WWDC to see if the 27" would return. So, there is demand for it.

I have no doubt there's demand, what with Apple screwing up their display story. (Over and over.)

Originally Posted by kscherer People got used to the bigger screen.

Sure. It's just that I figure most people who would've previously bought a 27-inch iMac might just go for a Mac mini with M2 or M2 Pro instead, and get a Dell display to boot. Yeah, it won't be Retina, but it also won't break the bank, and won't be an overengineered mess.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by chucker Sure. It's just that I figure most people who would've previously bought a 27-inch iMac might just go for a Mac mini with M2 or M2 Pro instead, and get a Dell display to boot. Yeah, it won't be Retina, but it also won't break the bank, and won't be an overengineered mess.

You might be surprised at the number of customers that no longer want the cable-clutter mess that that solution offers.

Getting a good camera, speakers, microphone, display, etc. can be challenging. Getting it all built in can be even more challenging.

And in the era of "Zoom meeting everything", all that stuff is pretty much a requirement.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by kscherer You might be surprised at the number of customers that no longer want the cable-clutter mess that that solution offers. Getting a good camera, speakers, microphone, display, etc. can be challenging. Getting it all built in can be even more challenging. And in the era of "Zoom meeting everything", all that stuff is pretty much a requirement.

OK, sure, but then you're at "what those people want is not the 27-inch iMac; it's that they want the Apple Studio Display to cost a fifth of what it does". Because that's about the only part that's missing: the mini + the display suddenly have you at $2200 and up, rather than the previous iMac's $1800 for the entire thing. The iMac having the display integrated was merely the cherry on top (with its downsides, too).

[kscherer]

Yes, true. The Studio Display is an over-engineered solution in search of a problem that the 27" iMac solved over a decade ago.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by Frank777 I don't know what else you would really want in there these days that isn't already TB4. Maybe it's a nostalgic thing. You can add Firewire and SCSI back to remember the good old times.

I guess I forgot you can add SSD storage. And avoid Apple's insanely high upgrade prices.

Using a PCI expansion slot should still be faster than TB4, right? I've lost track of which which PCI version is in the Mac Pro.

[709]

Originally Posted by Frank777 We got updates to Macs we didn't even expect, and Samsung has yet to release the S9 monitor they debuted in January.

There's a product page up on Samsung now, which I hadn't seen before today. Still no price, but I gotta believe it'll be available soon.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by kscherer Yes, true. The Studio Display is an over-engineered solution in search of a problem that the 27" iMac solved over a decade ago.

If you want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, sure. iMac's create needless e-waste due to perfectly functioning screens being tossed when the machine ages out. I'd be happy to see Apple dump the iMac altogether.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by chucker …based on?

You’re not gonna like this, but based on “it’s the only model every iMac owner I know has.”

I can only observe/know what I observe/know. I’m not writing for CNN or the NYT, so I don’t have pages and pages of sales stats/breakdowns.

But every single person in my orbit who owns an iMac all have a 27” model. No 21.5”, and I don’t actually know anyone with a 24” M1 CrayolaMac.

PS - Of all those 27” models, none are the space grey iMac Pro. Just the regular silver Intel-based 27”. I don’t know anyone with an iMac Pro.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 You’re not gonna like this, but based on “it’s the only model every iMac owner I know has.”

Right. I just thought that's an important detail — it's a personal anecdote, not actual data.

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 I’m not writing for CNN or the NYT, so I don’t have pages and pages of sales stats/breakdowns.

But neither do they. Apple hasn't broken down by model in a long time. (And these days, they don't even give unit figures at all!)

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 But every single person in my orbit who owns an iMac all have a 27” model. No 21.5”, and I don’t actually know anyone with a 24” M1 CrayolaMac. PS - Of all those 27” models, none are the space grey iMac Pro. Just the regular silver Intel-based 27”. I don’t know anyone with an iMac Pro.

Right. I have a colleague with an Air, and I know someone who, last I checked, had a 21-inch iMac (I think?), and one who definitely has a 27-inch one, and an iMac Pro at work.

[psmith2.0]

Everyone I know has a 27” iMac, a MacBook of some sort (Air or 13” Pro…I don’t know anyone with a 15/16” MBP) or a Mac mini (Dad and stepmom, each with their own, although she uses her beloved iPad more day-to-day for mail, surfing, FaceTime, etc.). About evenly split between Intel and AS (maybe slightly favoring Intel just due to the time frames/purchase dates involved). Dad has M1 Mac mini, sister has M1 MacBook Air, so they’re the two newer ones. Mom, uncle (her brother), my ex wife and her partner all have Intel-based Macs. The aforementioned friends with 27” iMacs are all Intel of course. Man, everyone in my family/friends orbit are all on macs! Mom, dad, stepmom, uncle, sister, niece, ex-wife, friends, my girlfriend, her adult sons, etc.