Sami Fathi at MacRumors has reported that TSMC has started 3nm production as of December 29th.
This will likely mean the rest of the M2 line for the MacBook and for the eventual MacPro will be 3nm which will save power and be more efficient, and of course will eventually make it’s way to the iPhone and iPad as power savings and less heat is better across the line.
Mark Gurman’s report in his PowerOn newsletter at Bloomberg that Apple has killed the M2 Extreme, which would be 4 M2 chips linked together like the M1 Max is 2 M1 chips linked together.
This is awful news, as it means the MacPro won’t have much differentiation from the Mac Studio. It isn’t like they can add additional memory slots as that isn’t how memore works with Apple Silicon. It could have more hard drive slots, maybe some sort of pci expansion, but that seems doubtful because of the way the graphics work. So more Thunderbolt ports, that seems likely, though still Thunderbolt 4.
With only a M2 Max, why make a macpro? Especially when the Studio gets upgraded to the same chip. Allot of Thunderbolt 4 ports would be great as Thunderbolt 4 hubs aren’t cheap. Still with Apple prices will some hard drive slots and extra ports will this even make sense financially.
This is certainly worrying. It could also mean a wait till M3 for the MacPro and just do an M2 Mac Studio till then.
We will have to wait (probably a while) and see.
Jason Cross at Macworld has a really interesting article on the new A16 for the iPhone 14 Pro.
It seems it isn’t even really a 4 nanometer process, but an enhanced 5 Nanometer Process, just running faster with faster memory, but with none of what was expected for the A16.
And if the true A16 is delayed, it also might explain why the M2 for the MacPro is delayed and why Apple might not hit the 2 year mark on the Mac Pro moving to Apple Silicon.
From Ben Lovejoy at 9to5Mac, these rumors could make for a pretty powerful mac, but so expensive I am assuming.
Of course this is just a rumor, but it is likely though higher than the previous rumored 40 core, and 128 core gpu.
And that M2 Extreme could cost many thousands more, and 384 gigs of RAM, I am betting we are talking $7500 more than whatever the machine costs.
Harlety Charlton at MacRumors has an article, “Apple Silicon Mac Pro Configurations: Everything We Know.”
Of course we don’t really know anything, other then it is coming, so it is literally all speculation. We think it will be based on the M2, and it might be 5nm or even 3nm, and we don’t know ports and it is rumored to have 40 cores, or double the M1 Ultra.
I wish this machine was a known quantity as it really should be my next machine if it isn’t too expensive.
José Andorno at 9to5Mac has this article on an interview Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman gave.
It is really interesting that it says there was a M1 MacPro ready but they decided to wait for the M2, which means they won’t make the 2 year promise on the move to Apple Silicon.
Honestly it is likely because the M1 could only do dual, and the performance would not have been hugely more than the Mac Studio if there was not a quad option. So likely the M2 can do Quad.
Malcolm Owen at AppleInsider on how to boot from an external drive on an Apple Silicon Mac. Important technical information for those with Apple Silicon.
Malcolm Owen on what to be expected in performance from the M2 Pro, Max and Ultra. All just extrapolations, but all what we will likely be seeing in the next few years.
If only it didn’t look like the next MacPro is probably a year away, meaning that Apple won’t be making it’s pledge to move everything to Apple Silicon in the next year.
Basically while it can be more energy efficient, it can also run more power and be more powerful. And it is larger than the previous generation, and it also includes ProRes acceleration instead of just H264 acceleration in the chip. Also it has more memory capacity, 24 vs 16 and at 100GB/sec vs 68GB/sec in the previous M1,
And the larger chip will have Max and Ultra versions and I am betting the quad version that will be in the next Mac Pro, which makes me happy that they didn’t yet release the MacPro as if it is based on this it will beat out the current Mac Studio, though will certainly be quite expensive.