With the Mac Studio the iMac Pro is dead, and what is the MacPro?

So we all know Apple has announced the soon to be shipping Mac Studio and 27" Studio Display. And they said there is only one more machine, the Mac Pro, so the iMac Pro is officially dead (though it would be pretty easy to use this new display to make one), but the nature of the Mac Studio makes me wonder what will the Mac Pro be. The last Intel Mac Pro is machine that should be all about expansion, with so many pci slots and thunderbolt ports, but Apple never upgraded the processors or even much in the way of new video cards. It was made to be expandable but Apple was really using it as a stop gap, so they never did anything to expand it. And now we have Apple Silicon, which has proved itself to go toe to toe with anything Intel or AMD can offer at lower power usage. And the Pro, Max and now Ultra also include hardware accelerated Prores built in (it was a pci expansion card for the Mac Pro) to make them video powerhouses. So do we need PCI anymore? I would have said so while I still had my old Cheese Grater Mac Pro, but this basically a head unit, and you expand with Thunderbolt (6 on the one with the M1 Ultra). And since my cheese Grater died and I moved to an iMac Pro I have been mostly happy (sure it is currently unable to shutdown unless I force it to power off, but that isn't too bad until I move to M1). Thunderbolt 3/4 has been pretty incredible, with my main complaint being a lack of pass-through on so many peripherals. Honestly my only real complaint with the studio is only 2 standard USB 3.1 ports, and that is because I use a wired ergonomic keyboard and mouse and like them attached as close to my mac as possible, as I have many usb hubs further down my chain (after 2 Thunderbolt 4 hubs and a Thunderbolt 3 hub) and also a 4 drive JBOD usb 3 housing with my itunes library. So will Apple make another expandable Mac Pro? After seeing the Mac Studio, my answer is no. Since we know the Mac Pro will be doing to the Ultra what the Ultra M1 is to the Max, and that is doubling it, so it will be 4 M1 Max's with up to 256 GB of RAM, and 128 core GPU. And I would love that, but the price will be that much higher. At least $2000 more than the $3999 Ultra but maybe $4000, and probably $2000 more fore the upgrade to to 128 core GPU, so I would guess $8999 and up to $10999 with the top chip and GPU, though they could just make it $9999. And I would bet it is twice as big as the Studio with that many more ports, at least 4 more thunderbolt and maybe 2 more USB…

Rumors were true Apple has announced the Mac Studio with M1 Ultra and a new display the Studio Display

Mac Studio Front I would also bet that the rumors are true that the iMac Pro and Mac Pro are delayed, and likely will be M2 versions of M1 Pro, Max and Ultra, as they have released this new machine. It is a Mac Mini sized7.7" inches square and 3.7 inches tall so twice as tall. 4 thunderbolt ports, 2 usb c in front as well as a sdxc card slot, and 2 usb 3.1 in back a 10gb ethernet a headphone jack as well as an hdmi port. It can run 4 displays and a TV. Damn! I so want one and 2 studio displays, though I would rather have the Mac Pro, which will likely have 4 M1 Max's with 256 GB of RAM (and now we know there is no new iMac Pro). The studio display doesn't do height unless you buy an expensive stand like the previous display and is 27" 5K, anti-reflective, and you can get the nano texture as well and the same camera as iPad and mics and 6 speakers. (Wish I could get it without), but is $1599 to start. It is $300 to add Nano Texture Glass. The tilt stand comes wit6h it and the Vesa Mount costs the same (but then you need a VESA mount) and the Tilt and Height Adjustable Stand is $400 more, which is better than the $1000 for the one for the 32 inch display. The M1 Max studio starts at $1999 and the Ultra version starts at $3999. Oh yes I want one! And this makes me think I couldn't afford a Mac Pro anyway. The $3999 Model is 20-Core CPU, 48 Core GPU and 32-core Nueral Engine. It is then a $1000 upgrade to move the the 20-core CU, 64 Core GPU and 32 Core Nueral Engine, another $800 for 128 GB of Unified Memory, and $400 to move from 1 TB to 2 TB SSD (and would be $1000 to move to 4TB, which is just too much. So that brings this sucker to $6199.00 USD. Wow, and I would need at least 1 studio display for $1500. Youch!

ooooh Apple just announced the M1 Ultra above the M1 Pro and M1 Max in Apple Silicon

So Apple just announced an M1 Ultra so rumors of a new mac today seem to be true! It is literally 2 M1 Max's stuck together with Ultra Fusion technology with 2.5 TB/s of bandwidth. 4 times faster than other multichip setups! And it acts like 1 processor, and that means it is also expanding memory with 800 GB/s memory bandwidth with 128 GB of Unified memory! 20 Core CPU with 16 High performance and 4 slow, and a 64 core gpu. 8 Times faster than standard M1! With 4 ProRes Encode Decode engines! Damn! And much less power than any PC CPU or GPU! Damn this is going to be rocking, and makes the Mac Pro with 4 even more amazing!

MacRumors on Apple’s Most Questionable Design Decisions in Recent Memory

Tim Hardwick at MacRumors has written a really enjoyable article on Apple's Most Questionable Design Decisions in Recent Memory. Honestly he hits the nail on the head on all of these, and I still remember my disappointment on the trashcan Mac Pro when it came out, though amazing how something similar with Apple Silicon, without any expandabillity except for Thunderbolt 4, and now I am excited for it. How things have changed! Of course the built in Pro Res acceleration will certainly be a boon for editing, but I guess also running on an iMac Pro for the last few years has shown me that I don't need that much expandability except for more damn Thunderbolt 4/USB C ports (as I already have 2 OWC Thunderbolt 4 hubs, and could use more ports).

AppleInsider reporting on a fouth M1 Chip which would be 12 Core for an updated iMac Pro

Malcolm Owen at AppleInsider is reporting on a Fourth M1 chip with 12-core CPU may arrive in updated iMac Pro. This would be something above the Apple Silicon M1 Max, which is 10 core (8 core with 2 efficiency cores), so this would likely be 10 core with 2 efficiency cores. This sounds like a last M1 before M2 chips come in. Maybe this makes the iMac Pro a bridge between the current Mac Book Pro and the Apple Silicon Mac Pro which has yet to be announced. it had seemed that the dual and maybe quad M1 Max chips rumored for the Mac Pro would also be for the iMac Pro, but this might mean it is an in between. Let's hope the iMac Pro has more than the current 4 Thunderbolt ports, 8 would rock, but 6 would be helpful.

9to5Mac on Automated workaround for overnight bluetooth battery drain on MacBooks in macOS 12.2

Ben Lovejoy at 9to5Mac posted about Jordi Bruin's FluTooth App which disconnects Bluetooth when you close your macbook and engages it again when you open your macbook, so it won't drain overnight. Of course this isn't a solution for people who use their MacBooks in closed position with bluetooth accessories this won't work, so we will has to wait for an apple fix or manually turn bluetooth off and on at night.