Apple Announces October 30 Event With Focus On 'M3 Series MacBook Pro' (macrumors.com) 31
Apple has announced a Mac event for October 30th with the caption "Scary Fast." According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company is expected to focus on the M3 series MacBook Pro models. MacRumors reports: Kuo's wording suggests that he is expecting multiple M3 chips rather than just a single M3 chip, hinting at the possibility of M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips. If Apple does release M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips at once, we can expect to see the new chips introduced in 13-inch, 14-inch, and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. Kuo says that he previously predicted that Apple would not likely introduce new MacBook Pro models in 2023 because of "limited 4Q 23 shipments," and if new MacBook Pros do come out in November or December, the tight supply will last until the first quarter of 2024. Kuo further says that Mac shipments have declined due to the "limited M2 computing power upgrade," which may be the reason why Apple might launch M3 MacBook Pro models with low production volume.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also says that Apple has been testing M3 Max and M3 Pro MacBook Pro models, suggesting that these machines are going to be refreshed. Gurman just last week claimed that Apple would not update the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips until early 2024, so it seems that his predictions have since changed. That Kuo and Gurman are both now suggesting that we'll see 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models at Apple's October event comes as a surprise because much of their prior information pointed toward a 2024 refresh for these devices.
Gurman maintains that Apple will not refresh the MacBook Air models, Mac mini, Mac Studio, or Mac Pro at this time, which leaves the iMac, 13-inch MacBook Pro, 14-inch MacBook Pro, and 16-inch MacBook Pro for the October event. As Gurman has previously pointed out, these are the machines that are facing extended shipping times in Apple's online store. You can watch the event live via Apple's website starting at 5 p.m. PT on October 30th.
Further reading: Apple To Revamp TV App in Step Toward Simplifying Video Services
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also says that Apple has been testing M3 Max and M3 Pro MacBook Pro models, suggesting that these machines are going to be refreshed. Gurman just last week claimed that Apple would not update the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips until early 2024, so it seems that his predictions have since changed. That Kuo and Gurman are both now suggesting that we'll see 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models at Apple's October event comes as a surprise because much of their prior information pointed toward a 2024 refresh for these devices.
Gurman maintains that Apple will not refresh the MacBook Air models, Mac mini, Mac Studio, or Mac Pro at this time, which leaves the iMac, 13-inch MacBook Pro, 14-inch MacBook Pro, and 16-inch MacBook Pro for the October event. As Gurman has previously pointed out, these are the machines that are facing extended shipping times in Apple's online store. You can watch the event live via Apple's website starting at 5 p.m. PT on October 30th.
Further reading: Apple To Revamp TV App in Step Toward Simplifying Video Services
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Unsure why that got upvoted as it's wrong no matter how you look at it. For base M1/M2 the comment isn't salty enough - only one external display is natively supported, but it's a scalable architecture and the display support doubles as the chip does. So, the Pro variants get 2 displays, the Max get 4 external displays - even 2021's now rather old M1 Max - while the Ultra does eight displays (with none internal as there are no Ultra-based laptops). It's all based around overall bandwidth of course, Because
Re: Let me guess (Score:1)
So, the Pro variants get 2 displays, the Max get 4 external displays - even 2021's now rather old M1 Max - while the Ultra does eight displays (with none internal as there are no Ultra-based laptops). It's all based around overall bandwidth of course, Because Physics, with M2 Ultra per-display resolution up to 8K, or frame rate up to 240Hz; 8 displays would max out overall at 6K / 60Hz each or 4K / 144Hz each.
If bandwidth is limit, then they've lost bandwidth since the Intel switch. But that's not what it is, Apple limits how many displays you can have by not enabling MST in macos. Why they do this, I can only speculate, but my hunch is that they want you to pay extra if you want additional monitors. It's effectively a soft cap.
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Compared to which of the very many GPUs employed across their Intel machines, exactly? (I do agree about the lack of MST support in macOS being a PITA, tho, since if one output port can support 1 x 4K60, then it can easily support e.g. 2 x 1440p60 and that's all I'd need myself for development work - but that's nothing to do with Apple Silicon since it has never been implemented on any Mac chipset).
Re: Let me guess (Score:5, Interesting)
There is one caveat- one of the framebuffers is perma-tied to the HDMI port, so you can do 3 screens across any 2 ports you like, but the 4th screen must be the HDMI port.
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Re: Let me guess (Score:2)
Well let's compare...
Before:
https://support.apple.com/kb/S... [apple.com]
After:
https://support.apple.com/kb/S... [apple.com]
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what's the point? you drop two spec pages. at last tell us what we are supposed to see.
Re: Let me guess (Score:2)
Seriously?
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The fact that they market the Air as a Pro in the 13" model is another gripe entirely.
Though I'll grant you for a pure apples-to-apples comparison between an Intel MBA and a M* MBA, that's legit.
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Before:
https://support.apple.com/kb/S... [apple.com]
After:
https://support.apple.com/kb/S... [apple.com]
And with this one note the four year delta, and the pro still won't do as many displays. Pro still won't in the 2023 version here:
https://support.apple.com/kb/S... [apple.com]
Max will, still without MST. Either way you slice it, this isn't a bandwidth limitation, it's more of a "put another dollar in" limitation. I use three 1200p monitors at work, and with the 2021 MBP 16 only two displays work with the third needing shitty displaylink, whi
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It's almost certainly simply a number of hardware framebuffers per GPU block.
MST simply doesn't factor in here, since the limit is logical. Whether the Max could do 4 displays on 1 port, or 2-per as it can, the limit would be the same. MST lets you put more streams on a port, that's all.
Your Max c
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I use 2 docks for my 4 displays (using 2 ports), with one of the docks also driving the data for my iPad's SideCar or whatever it's called display.
Is MST more ideal? absolutely. But Macs have never supported it for Reasons (TM)
But the idea that your MBP can only drive 2 native displays is flatly incorrect, unless you meant on a single port, in w
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I'd guess it's a limit on hardware framebuffers it can handle, and since it doubles from Pro->Max->Ultra, which essentially have doubled GPU blocks, I'm guessing it's based on that.
The MBP Max has 3 TB4 ports, which give you 2 SST streams per port, so a physical maximum of 6- but it can only do 4, so the limit isn't the transport.
paradox of choice (Score:2)
Re:paradox of choice (Score:4, Interesting)
The other thing I've noticed since Tim Cook took over was that the prices for build to order specs are set abusively so that not only are they sore individually, but you are always just a *little* bit under the next upgrade, and the next, and the next. Trying to find the sweet spot of price vs. performance lands you exactly nowhere because everything is always more money than you want to spend but not quite enough machine for you to settle.
It's the kind of pricing behaviour that gacha/lootboxes/mtx currencies perfected where they try to ensure there's never a good time to say "enough." You're always just on the brink of the next big thing. Because of this I sat fiddling with the macbook pro options for ages... and bought none of them. Then the studio... and bought none of those either.
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Because of this I sat fiddling with the macbook pro options for ages... and bought none of them. Then the studio... and bought none of those either.
Same here. None of the options really convinced me, for exactly the reasons you said. Either it was just a bit less than I wanted to, or way too expensive for what I wanted.
It's come to the point where forums recommend buying the lowest internal drive and adding an external SSD.
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Apple's model has been Base, Better, Best for the past decade+. I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Barry Schwartz's TED Talk: The paradox of choice [ted.com] is a great video.
Re:paradox of choice (Score:4, Informative)
Yep... and the "Base" model always has at least one critical hardware shortcoming that's unacceptable in a modern computer, like only having 8 GB of RAM or a 256 GB SSD in a $1,000 laptop. Those hardware specs might have been OK in 2018, but not in 2023.
They always make the upgrade prices insanely expensive too, like charging $200 for an upgrade to 16 GB or $200 for an upgrade to 512 GB of storage. You could probably buy both of those parts on Newegg right now for under $100 if Apple products were still user upgradable... but they aren't.
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...and nobody came? (Score:1)
I am curious how much their current strategy supports growth. I get that they have a reasonably captive replacement market, but even as a long-time Mac user I don't get what the value is today to people to get a Mac. I use my iPad Pro as my primary computer, along with a few NUCs as a desktop and headless machines. My iPad is heavily used, but Apple refused to honor the warranty on a screen crack nearly four years ago, so I will use it until its last breath as a constant reminder of how Apple treats their c
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You sound like me 5 years ago. I had an iMac on the desk, MacBook Air in the backpack, iPad Air in the briefcase, and an iPhone in the pocket. The integration between all the devices made needing four different tools bearable, and I could do things on one device that were not practical on any of the other three. I kind of miss having the laptop right now; it is impractical to use Inkscape or SketchUp on my iPad. But the sad reality is the laptop can only run one of them today, and the migration away from x8
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But can it run QEMU x86_64 code really fast? (Score:1)
Because that's about the only thing that would get me to buy one.
Re: But can it run QEMU x86_64 code really fast? (Score:2)
I've had better luck with Windows 11 for ARM's x86-64 emulation layer under Parallels. It's snappy enough for daily use.
I'm still waiting on a 27" upgraded M? iMac... (Score:2)
Always buy refurb, and use all the discounts (Score:1)
I've bought all my Apple hardware from their refurb store for years, with no regrets. That typically saves at least 10%, even if the thing you're buying is still being sold new by Apple. Stacking a military or .edu discount gives you another 10%. Use the Apple Card and you've saved another 3%. Compounded together, a haircut of at last 21% from the price of the a machine.