With the release of theM3 MacBook Airabout a calendar month ago , Apple ’s laptop computer lineup became up - to - date , with each MacBook sporting some version of the M3 chip , the tardy in Apple Si . So , now it should be time for the other horseshoe to miss : the updates to the background Mac card .
But of the four mannequin in Apple ’s desktop Mac lineup , only one has an M3 check , theiMac . That update came five months ago after a two - class wait , and we do n’t even eff if the rest of the lines are going to get an update before the M4 make it . So , what ’s going on with Apple ’s desktop mack ? Only Apple knows for certain . But we can appear at the Department of State of the background Mac card based on each framework and attempt to descend to some understanding as to what Apple is thinking .
Mac mini
The lack of a M3 update to the Mac miniskirt is confounding when you consider its past release history . When Apple introduced the M1 , the Mac mini apportion the glare with the first Apple atomic number 14 machines . Then when the M2 Pro go far , Apple added ahigher - end modeling with an M2 Pro chipas a crushed - price carrying out machine . Both time the Mac mini was at the vanguard of the launching of a new chip .
It seems fitting for Apple to update the Mac miniskirt ( left ) and Mac Studio in 2024 , but it ’s not a certainty .
Roman Loyola / IDG
It seems fitting for Apple to update the Mac mini (left) and Mac Studio in 2024, but it’s not a certainty.
However , thing have changed this year . Apple released theM3 and M3 Pro chipsat the Scary Fast Mac event in October , so it would make sensation that the M3 and M3 Pro Mac mini would stick with . That has n’t happened and there are n’t any hearsay to indicate a new model is coming presently . Apple ’s update chronicle before Apple silicon with the Mac mini is sporadic at best , but there ’s no excuse anymore to keep the Mac mini on an old chip unless Apple plans to skitter a generation or two .
iMac
In case you miss it , Apple updated theiMac with an M3chip ( as well as with Wi - Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 ) last fall . It ’s a nice rise from the M1 it supplant , but since Apple precede its current pattern in 2021 , it ’s now in the incremental update phase where new iMacs will focus on performance and not much else . Apple did n’t even introduce a new color as it did with the M2 MacBook Air and M3 MacBook Pro .
That ’s not to minimize the grandness of each iMac update going forward , but incremental chip shot update are somewhat predictable . Also , it await like Apple ’s cadence with the iMac is to update it every other fleck coevals , which means we ’re not getting another iMac until the M5 cow dung – in all probability in 2026 or 2027 .
Apple could spark the iMac lineup by releasing a large pro model , but it does n’t look like that ’s coming either . Apple said specifically that a27 - inch iMac is not in its plans(even as hearsay of a32 - in iMac Prohave been blow ) but unless Apple is being coy , the 24 - inch model is the one we ’re stick with for a while .
It seems fitting for Apple to update the Mac mini (left) and Mac Studio in 2024, but it’s not a certainty.
A lot of Mac drug user are hoping an iMac Pro revival is in s
the plant .
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
A lot of Mac users are hoping an iMac Pro revival is in ssthe works.
Mac Studio
Apple surprisingly reveal the Mac Studio alongside the Studio DIsplay at an event in March 2022 . It represented a speedy desktop machine that was more muscular than a Mac mini but less expansible than the Mac Pro with an highly little step .
The Mac Studio gotM2 Maxand M2 Ultra chips less than a twelvemonth ago , so an update does n’t yet feel delinquent even though high - goal MacBook Pro models already have an M3 Max . Conceivably , Apple could update this Mac atWWDCin June with a new chip , since we do n’t expect Apple to redesign it for a while , if ever . But it also feel like a generation could pass along us by without an update .
conceive how Apple has handle Mac Pro upgrades in the yesteryear , it wo n’t be surprising if the company does n’t update it in a meaningful mode for a long while .
Considering how Apple has handled Mac Pro upgrades in the past, it won’t be surprising if the company doesn’t update it in a meaningful way for a long while.
metalworks
Mac Pro
Apple stick in the first Mac Pro back in 2006 as an ultra - in high spirits - end machine and today it ’s less relevant than ever . For one , the Mac Studio is thousands of dollar cheaper and just as fast . For another , the biggest selling points — upgradeable graphics and storage — went away when the M2 Ultra framework was annunciate last June . The only affair that separates the Mac Pro from the Mac Studio is the design , a few extra ports , and upgradeable storehouse .
So the question remains : Does anyone really manage if Apple upgrades the Mac Pro or not ? The Mac Pro has always catered to a particular recess , so it does n’t get a large figure of sales . It ’s also a group of users who do n’t elevate their Macs as oftentimes as Mac mini or iMacs users do .
Like the Mac Studio , Apple could easy skip the M3 Ultra and wait for the M4 in 2025 . It ’s waited eld between update before — a full six years passed between the cylinder ( 2013 ) and the wicket tugboat ( 2019 ) .
The iMac is nice, but the new design could have been so much more.
So what about the M4?
accord to arecent report from Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman , the M4 may arrive before the end of 2024 , just 12 month after the M3 made its launching . He says the cow chip will have several variants , computer code - mention Donan ( M4 ) , Brava ( M4 Pro and Max ) , and Hidra ( Mac Pro ) . Specifically , he says Apple “ is looking to beef up ” the Mac Pro with support for 512 GB of memory , a massive increase over the current 192 GB limit but still far below the previous model ’s 1.5 TB upper limit .
Gurman does n’t mention performance or efficiency betterment , but we can feign the usual 20 or so percent . More significantly , the new crisp kinsperson will have an AI focus to assist hunt down the software program features expect to come at WWDC as part of macOS 15 . That likely means a major improvement to the nervous engine , which make it on the Mac with the M1 chip .
AI is the latest technical school cant but it seems to be here to stick . And all of that algorithm crunching takes a ton of CPU power . Apple silicon has a massive advantage here due to its unbelievable efficiency and Apple ’s desktops may get new life as AI infrastructure machine , peculiarly the Mac Studio and Mac Pro . But that could leave an even larger hole in the consumer desktop card as Apple shifts its stress to the extremist gamy end .
Is there any hope for the desktop?
If Apple releases newfangled desktop Macs at all in 2024 , the Mac miniskirt and Mac Studio are the most likely candidates , but even those pocket-sized updates do n’t find like a certain thing . We have intercourse Apple will update the MacBook Air and Pro with a novel chip every generation , and a young iPhone and Apple Watch go far every twelvemonth , but desktop Macs are far less certain .
With Apple atomic number 14 , desktop Macs should be on th e same cadence as Apple ’s laptops , but it ’s clear that desktop Macs have taken a backseat . Granted , Apple in all probability does n’t ask to update them as frequently as MacBooks , but a longer cadence should at least bring some more innovation . We waited two - plus class for the smallest of iMac updates and the long - look Mac Pro with Apple Si took away features compared to the Intel fashion model it replaced.only
Apple did n’t even change the design of the Mac mini or Mac Pro when they got their Apple silicon upgrades . There had been rumors of a smaller Mac Pro and a sparse miniskirt with unexampled colors , but instead , we have the same old cases Apple has sold for years . Even the iMac , which did get a significant design overhaul with Apple silicon , is more derivative than new and lacks the wild creative thinking it once had . And we ’re unforced to bet it wo n’t be much unlike a decade from now if it exists at all .
The iMac is dainty , but the new design could have been so much more .
Then there ’s the Leontyne Price confusion . A Mac mini maxed out to match the Mac Studio ’s storage and RAM ends up costing the same cost even though the Studio has a good mainframe . The Mac Pro with the same M2 Ultra chip , memory , and store as the Mac Studio costs $ 3,000 more for a brace of supernumerary USB - speed of light ports and a larger case . And the Mac Pro does n’t offer any high - terminal processor options than you get in the Mac Studio despite persistent rumors of an “ Extreme ” chip .
While the M3 MacBooks propose aclear mixture of feature and options , Apple seems to sell a variety of desktop Macs because it has to , not because it ’s cautiously debate what consumers need . Apple does n’t deal a MacBook Air with an M3 Pro chip , yet the Mac mini has a high - price M2 Pro option . The Mac Studio is bully , but either it or the Mac Pro is unnecessary . And Apple refuses to give iMac purchaser what they really need — a larger filmdom .
Desktop Macs take a backseat to the MacBook batting order because laptop sales eclipse the market place and people generally do n’t upgrade screen background Macs as oft . It appears that Apple has determine that the stern is now far back than before . You take to look no further than theVision Pro with Mac Virtual Display — soon enough your entire Mac will be housed in a headset with a 100 - foot virtual monitor and you wo n’t need a $ 1,599 Studio Display plugged into your $ 1,999 Mac Studio . That ’s awing , but the same innovation should be add up to Apple ’s desktop Macs .
For Apple fan who wish to see the company ’s highest - end desktop Macs have the late and greatest engineering , it ’s disappointing . Apple ’s current desktop lineup offers swell designs and features , even if it ’s mostly comprised of M2 chips that are comparatively dated , but when you see that , for example , theM2 Max extend the same mainframe performance as an M3 Pro , it make water customers hesitating to purchase a Mac miniskirt or even a Mac Studio and inevitably pushes them toward MacBooks , where the value and choice is much swell .
Apple still makes desktop Macs , but the waiting game for updates is longer and more uncertain than ever . And with very little on the purview , it ’s just a subject of time before they ’re gone forever .
