2020 was a boastful yr for the Mac — and we should n’t take that for concede . The first year I start predicting thing in this newspaper column , I felt a short optimism about 2016 , and it turned out to be an almost vacant year for the Mac . The last few yr show that Apple has become more attentive to the Mac , culminate in a year that might not have been as revolutionaryas I was expecting , but still a watershed in Mac history .
So with the M1 processor here and Apple in the midst of a major central processor modulation , there ’s no doubt that 2021 will be an interesting one for the Mac ! Change will abound ! The question is … what form will that change take ?
Time for a new iMac?
Today ’s iMac design is a variation on a design from 2007 , refine in 2012 . That ’s an awful tenacious time to go without a redesign . And so for the last few twelvemonth I ’ve been predicting an iMac redesign — but to no avail .
I shall persevere . There ’s so much opportunity for Apple torethink the iMac , especially with the advent of Apple atomic number 14 . 2021 is proceed to be the class .
I predict that the current 21.5 - inch iMac is account , replaced by a model with a big display . Some of the design changes are obvious , such as much smaller bezels all around . The easy stakes is that Apple will shrink all the bezel , upgrade the camera ( possibly to summate Face ID to the Mac for the first time ) , meliorate the display ’s active range ( MicroLED display are rumored ) , and keep it all wrapped in a conversant shape .
My promise is that Apple will go a little bit further , take a Sir Frederick Handley Page from Microsoft ’s Surface Studio and making the iMac able-bodied to drop down into more of a draftsmanship - board configuration , where it can be drive by an Apple Pencil , if not fingertip input . But my wager is that Apple will take the conservative route and make an iMac that seems familiar , yet updated for a new 10 .
2021 will be the year of the iMac .
The heavy iMac should get a new design , too . I question what Apple thinks the upper range for an iMac screen is . Would it make a 30 - inch iMac ? What about 32 in , like the Pro Display XDR ? Some display size can be added just by funk the bezel , but perhaps Apple will follow the giving - is - better rule learned in the smartphone market and just go all - out . A 32 - in HDR iMac that assume some lessons from Apple ’s ultra - mellow - closing varan would definitely be interesting .
I in person do n’t retrieve the iMac Pro is ever going to be updated , but regardless of how ware are named , Apple knows that a heap of high - end users apply iMacs . The M1 processors preface this free fall are impressive in term of performance , but there ’s fuck off to be another horseshoe yet to drop there . I could see the larger iMac being take for until later on in the year just so that it can ship with a more brawny piece of Apple silicon inside .
Update all the MacBooks
Apple currently makes four laptop computer , two of which were just updated with the M1 processor . Now it ’s clock time for the 16 - inch MacBook Pro and the high - end 13 - inch MacBook Pro to have their turn . Like the high - conclusion iMac , I ca n’t see these laptop shipping with the M1 CPU in the current modelling .
But once there ’s a faster chip available , I conceive Apple will update both models . The 16 - inch model will probably appear more or less like the current model , which was latterly upgraded from the old 15 - inch model . As for the in high spirits - remainder 13 - inch model , this is Apple ’s opportunity to differentiate it from the low - end 13 - in example just released , by giving it the 16 - inch makeover discourse and turning it into a 14 - inch MacBook Pro .
On my ain’t - gonna - hap wish list : A new laptop computer , thin and light and small , the follow - on to the classic 11 - in MacBook Air . Seriously , Apple , I ’d take a 12 - in MacBook with the young Magic Keyboard and an M1 central processing unit in a flash .
New Apple silicon
There ’s no uncertainty in my mind that Apple will be releasing Macs containing Apple - progress processors we have n’t seen before in 2021 . The high - closing iMacs and MacBook Pros demand it . The head is , do we see those raw processors before next fall ?
More M1 - based Macs in the first half of 2021 , then an M2 in high - end Macs .
I ’m going to say no . I retrieve any Modern Macs release in the first one-half of 2021 will be based on the M1 we ’ve already get to know . It ’s implausibly fast and equal to , easily capable to drive a raw iMac . And then in the capitulation , we ’ll see an M2 that will be used in the gamey - close Macs .
What I ’m very peculiar about is how Apple will approach variation on its Mac - base processors . All of today ’s M1 chips are more or less identical ( with micro chip without eight good GPU cores being chuck down into the down - end MacBook Air ) . But to separate on the higher end , Apple may want to design a few different chip with more CPU and GPU CORE . Will we see that in 2021 , or will that be more of a 2022 affair ? Will Apple serve up a form of the M1 in the leaping , rather than await for downfall for a new generation ?
I really do n’t get laid , but if forced to choose , I will guess that Apple observe it uncomplicated for another year . They discharge the M1 in 2020 , they can release an M2 in 2021 , and then gear up for completing the transition in 2022 with higher - meat versions of the M2 or even a more capable M3 . The speed of the M1 processor mean Apple does n’t have to squeeze thing . It ’s got clip to make the conversion it want to make .
The grab bag
I have two more Mac forecasting to make . On the macOS side , I guess Apple will just keep plugging aside . New features of Apple atomic number 14 may necessitate newfangled characteristic tramp into the type O , but otherwise I guess macOS updates are going to be far more incremental than in recent years . It ’s time for Apple to push things forward , fix glitch , deal with the quirks of Mac Catalyst and run iOS apps on Mac , and continue to develop SwiftUI . I expect a lot less drama on macOS than we ’ve seen in a few year .
There ’s elbow room in Apple ’s batting order for a exhibit that ’s not as pricy as the Pro Display XDR .
Finally , I ’m going to go against my better judicial decision and predict the appearance of an Apple standalone extraneous show other than the Pro Display XDR . It ’s not like Apple to leave behind money on the table , and there ’s a huge opportunity for the company to release a Very Nice Display that does n’t be $ 5,000 but pair well with Macs and generate a tidy profit . Apple surely has notice that the quality of be external displays is lacking .
It ’s time . Whatever display Apple uses to labour its new large iMac , I predict that it will also betray a standalone version . Do n’t get your hopes too mellow — it willcost a lot more than you trust . But that ’s Apple . And Apple will sell a lot of them , to couple with rapid new Apple atomic number 14 Macs .
