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6 Things That Didn't Make an Appearance at the Apple Event
6 Things That Didn't Make an Appearance at the Apple Event
Apple introduced an array of new devices at its "Peek Performance" event on Tuesday: a 2022 5G iPad Air with an M1 processor, an upgraded iPhone SE with 5G (and the same A15 chip as the iPhone 13) and the desktop-and-monitor pairing of the Mac Studio and Mac Studio Display. The M1 Ultra, a new processor even more powerful than the M1 Max, also took the stage as a chip option available for the Mac Studio.
While the newly announced products aligned with a lot of the speculation preceding the event (here's what the 2022 iPhone SE rumors did and didn't get right), not every rumored device ended up making an appearance. Here are all the Apple products that didn't get launched during Tuesday's event -- and that we're still hoping to see in 2022.
Upgraded Mac Pro
The Mac Pro, a desktop tower targeted at professionals, is due for an upgrade. It's the only remaining Mac that hasn't yet made the leap from an Intel processor to one of Apple's own chips (Apple discontinued the 27-inch iMac Tuesday instead). And we're right at Apple's self-imposed two-year deadline to stop using third-party processors, so it's more than likely we'll see a new Mac Pro, maybe with a brand-new M1 Ultra chip. It's possible this desktop will show up at Apple's next event. Check out our full roundup of Mac Pro rumors.
Faster Mac Mini
The 2020 Mac Mini with Apple's M1 processor could see an update powered by the M1 Pro, M1 Max or even the newly announced M1 Ultra chip. Reliable tech analyst Mark Gurman predicted in February that a new Mac Mini would be one of the first Macs that Apple introduced this year. While the Mac Studio technically proved him wrong at Apple's Tuesday event, Gurman did say more Macs would follow in May or June. A 2022 Mac Mini could be one of them.
iPad Pro and entry-level iPad
The rumor mill speculated that the iPad Pro and entry-level iPad would get upgrades at Apple's March event, but Apple instead introduced the 2022 iPad Air. Considering Apple's typical product release timelines, the next possible arrival times for the iPad and iPad Pro are either in June or sometime in the fall. Speculation says a 2022 iPad Pro could include MagSafe and a battery upgrade. Here are the most up-to-date rumors about the next iPad Pro.
New MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
No MacBooks showed up at the Apple event, but new versions of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are still on the radar for this year. Rumors suggest that both the new Air and new Pro could come with a new M2 chip. Or maybe it'll be the M1 Ultra announced on Tuesday.
Other Apple products we could see in 2022
We're also expecting the iPhone 14 in the fall. Much less likely for this year is a foldable iPhone, which Apple has reportedly pushed back to 2025. Some new accessories could be on the horizon: AirPods Pro 2, an Apple Watch 8 with new health features or even the long-awaited Apple VR/AR headset. A couple of home entertainment devices are reportedly in the works as well. On the software front, look out for iOS 16 and MacOS 13, both of which could get a preview at the next Apple event. Speaking of which…
When is the next Apple event?
Now that Apple's spring event is over, we probably won't see another until June. That's Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference. WWDC is a goldmine of Apple announcements, and we'll be keeping our eyes out for any confirmation of the dates for WWDC 2022. In the meantime, here's everything we learned at WWDC 2021.
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Despite hopes of Apple unveiling an updated 27-inch iMac, the company instead discontinued the 27-inch version of the desktop altogether. That change comes amid a day full of news out of Tuesday's Apple event, including new iPhone models and new, smaller desktop devices, which it seems are intended to replace the 27-inch iMac.
The 27-inch iMac is one of the last Macs that still run on Intel rather than Apple's own chips. Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on why it discontinued the desktop.
Apple's most recent 27-inch iMac launched in 2020, and was priced at $1,799, $1,999 and $2,299. It added higher-end CPU and GPU choices over the previous iteration, also expanding RAM and storage and adding nano-texture screen coating.
You can check out CNET's live blog to see how Tuesday's Apple event unfolded, or go here for everything Apple announced.
New M2 MacBook Pros to Enter Production Soon, Analyst Predicts
New M2 MacBook Pros to Enter Production Soon, Analyst Predicts
Apple will include its new M2 processor in upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch models of the MacBook Pro, which will hit production in the coming weeks, Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst known for his reliable predictions, said Monday.
Apple revealed the M2 chip at WWDC in June, saying the new chip would be an upgrade from the M1, which marked a new era for the company as it transitioned away from Intel processors for its computers. So far, Apple has released its 13-inch MacBook and MacBook Air using the newest chip, but it didn't provide details on when its larger MacBook Pros with the M2 processor would start rolling out.
Kuo tweeted that production will happen in the fourth quarter of 2022. But it's not clear if he's referring to Apple's fiscal fourth quarter that ends in September -- or to chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's fourth quarter that ends in December. In July, a Bloomberg newsletter predicted that the new MacBooks would launch in fall 2022 or spring 2023, as reported by 9to5Mac.
The M2 processor is 18% faster than the M1 while not affecting battery life. The M2 also features a memory boost of 24GB, up from 16GB.
Apple's next event is set for Sept. 7 , which may be when the company shows off the larger MacBook Pros and the iPhone 14.
Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.
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Apple has set the date for its latest iPhone's debut. The new device, which is expected to be called the iPhone 14 and include an always-on display, will be unveiled on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). Rumors suggest the new iPhone lineup will nix the Mini in favor of a new Max model, joining the rumored iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, and potentially increase the price by about $100 over last year's. Apple may also have plans to excise the iPhone 14's notch in favor of a hole-and-pill-shaped front camera, at least for the Pro models.
In addition to the iPhone 14, Apple's may also use the event to unveil the Apple Watch Series 8, which will reportedly look similar to last year's model but have more health features such as a fever sensor, as well as improved durability.
The tech giant has invited press to its Apple Park headquarters in California for the event, though it'll also offer a livestream on Apple.com and other streaming services. As is typical, Apple didn't say much in its invitation about its upcoming iPhone event. The invitation shows an Apple logo seemingly set in a night sky, suggesting potential camera improvements or last year's rumored satellite emergency calling. The image looks like something we might see from the James Webb Space Telescope, whose stunning photos have already begun changing how we see the cosmos since first being released earlier this summer. In its announcement, Apple included the teaser words "Far out."
Read more: How to Watch the iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8 Launch
The new features for both the iPhone 14 and Apple Watch 8 may help Apple stand out from Samsung and other device makers during what is expected to be heightened competition this year. People have been cutting back on tech purchases, leading to surprisingly low sales reports from chipmaker Intel, as well as sudden ad business shortfalls for Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta. And they're not alone.
Our collective confidence in the economy has fallen through the floor, thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic mixed with continual inflation and a looming recession. One survey from the University of Michigan found that consumer sentiment is at its lowest point in at least 70 years.
That means Apple will have to fight even harder to win over new iPhone owners. Samsung, for its part, made Apple's job a little easier by announcing its flagship Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 at their standard prices of $1,800 and $1,000, respectively, earlier this month. It also raised the prices of its Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro by $30 apiece.
Apple so far isn't acting worried. Over the past couple of years, Apple's notched its biggest revenue and profits each holiday shopping season, largely on the popularity of 2021's iPhone 13 and 2020's iPhone 12. Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously cited the advanced cameras, long battery life and well-regarded software as reasons people continue choosing iPhones. But he also said that 5G, the super-fast wireless technology Apple began using two years ago, is likely to push even more people to upgrade.
"5G has been an accelerant," he said when speaking to investors on a conference call last month. He added that although the technology is spreading through some places, like China, the EU and US, other parts of the world haven't begun using it as much. And so as 5G expands, he said, "I think there's reason to be optimistic."
While the iPhone will be a key product we see at Apple's event this year, and likely what most people focus their attention on, the company's expected to have other devices to show off. Those include new Mac computers with upgraded chips and new iPads.
Apple's M1 Pro and M1 Max chips mean new trouble for Intel
Apple's M1 Pro and M1 Max chips mean new trouble for Intel
A year ago, Apple announced it was taking on Intel's most efficient chips by introducing lightweight MacBook laptops powered by the M1, a homegrown processor. On Monday, the consumer electronics giant expanded its challenge, launching MacBook Pro laptops built around the new M1 Pro and M1 Max that take on Intel's beefier chips.
The new MacBook Pros bode well for Apple's attempt to take firmer control over its products. And they're bad news for Intel, whose chips Apple is ejecting from its Macs after a 15-year partnership. It's a loss of revenue, prestige and orders to keep its factories running at full capacity.
"Intel has completely lost the Mac and is unlikely to regain it any time soon," New Street Research analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a research note Tuesday.
Intel didn't lose this big customer overnight. The company that was once synonymous with consumer computers -- remember Intel Inside? -- fell on hard times because of difficulties upgrading its manufacturing. New CEO Pat Gelsinger has started an Intel recovery plan, including an effort to revitalize manufacturing progress. But turning around a behemoth requires patience.
Meet the Mac's new chips
Intel's troubles encouraged Apple to develop its own chip expertise and technology for computers. (It already designed its own A-series chips for the iPhone and iPad, and indeed the M-series chips capitalize on that investment.) The company's M1 processors, which came in last year's MacBook Air and low-end 13-inch MacBook Pro, were evidence it wanted to take control of its own future.
The M1 Pro and M1 Max demonstrate the company's increasing power as a chip designer. Both are designed for more capable models, the 14-inch and 16-inch Pros, geared for video editors, programmers and others with intense computing needs. The heft of the chips -- each of which sports eight performance and two efficiency cores, compared with the M1's four-by-four design -- is intended to sustain heavy work. They also come with much more powerful graphics processing power and memory, up to 16GB for the M1 Pro and 64GB for the M1 Max.
Miniaturization is what lets chip manufacturers economically squeeze in more transistors, a chip's electronic circuitry elements. The new M1 models are doozies of miniaturization, with 34 billion transistors in the M1 Pro and 57 billion in the M1 Max. That's how it could add special chip modules for graphics, video, AI, communications and security into its high-end MacBook Pros.
Intel's troubles
Intel, which for decades has led the world in chip technology, suffered for the last half decade as an upgrade to its manufacturing technology dragged on longer than the usual two years. The company's problem came as it tried to move from a 14-nanometer manufacturing process to 10nm, the next "node" of progress. (A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.)
Intel didn't respond to a request for comment. Apple didn't comment for this story.
Apple's chip foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., took advantage of Intel's lag to the benefit of Apple, Nvidia, AMD and other Intel rivals. It now leads in electronics miniaturization and the all-important measurement of performance per watt of power consumed.
The result is the M1 Pro and M1 Max, which according to Apple's measurements are 1.7 times faster than Intel's current eight-core Tiger Lake chips, formally called 11th generation Core. Compared differently, the M1 Pro and Max consume 70% less power than the Tiger Lake chips at the same performance level.
Apple doesn't reveal which speed tests it uses, so the results are hard to validate at this stage. The consensus, however, is that the performance claims are valid in broad terms.
"I am overall impressed at what Apple has been able to do on the latest process from TSMC," said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. He estimates that Apple saves a few hundred dollars per laptop because it doesn't have to buy Intel processors, although it spends a lot of that money designing its chips.
Don't count Intel out yet
To be sure, Intel won't be hurt badly by the loss of Apple's business. The company has plenty of other business. The vast majority of Windows PCs still use x86 processors from Intel and AMD. And customers only rarely change from Windows to MacOS or vice versa.
It also doesn't have a lot of competition. Apple doesn't license its chips to others, and Qualcomm's efforts to sell processors to PC makers has been a limited success at best.
Intel mostly has to worry about AMD, which makes increasingly capable chips but still trails in market share.
Intel also has its Alder Lake processor, scheduled for later this year, and Meteor Lake processor, coming in 2023, to generate excitement. The chips will bring speed boosts in part by adopting a combination of performance and efficiency cores, just like the M1 does, and by adopting the new Intel 7 and Intel 4 manufacturing processes.
Still, Apple has taken wind out of Intel's sails. Intel may narrow the gap as its new chips hit the market. But in the meantime, Apple's M series could help it steal market share from Windows computers, Intel's stronghold.
Apple's Peek Performance Event: Follow Live Announcements of iPhone SE, Mac Studio, iPad Air
Apple's Peek Performance Event: Follow Live Announcements of iPhone SE, Mac Studio, iPad Air
One of the more interesting stories about Apple in the past couple of years has been about its chips. In 2010, Apple announced its first iPad was going to be powered by a chip called the A4, designed by the company's teams specifically for its devices. Back then, the iPhone was doing well, but its chip ambitions were unproven.
Fast forward to today, and not only is the iPhone one of the most popular consumer products in the world, but it's also powered by the successor A-series chip. Apple's also used that technology in its other devices, including the Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple TV and HomePod.
Over the past couple of years, Apple's also begun using a variant of its A-series chips in its computers, starting with the M1 in 2020. Apple said it would take two years to transition its product line of computers over to the M-series chips, with rumors swirling that the company will likely finish in the summer with a new Mac Pro.
During today's event, we may hear more about the M1 -- or even its higher-performance cousins the M1 Pro and M1 Max. The Mac Mini, which helped kick off the M1 transition two years ago, is now due for an upgrade. And so is the MacBook Air. Meanwhile, there's already talk about an M2 chip on the horizon.
Apple Mac Studio and Studio Display Review: A Desktop Combo for Creators Looking to Step Up
Apple Mac Studio and Studio Display Review: A Desktop Combo for Creators Looking to Step Up
It's rare that Apple launches an entirely new product line, but that's what we have in the Mac Studio, a new desktop positioned somewhere in the huge gulf between the Mac Mini and Mac Pro.
The Mac Studio that I tested impressed me but didn't surprise me. Internally, it's very similar to the 16-inch MacBook Pro I tested and reviewed in late 2021. Both systems feature Apple's M1 Max chip, a CPU/GPU combo that's in all new Macs and some iPads. Both systems target creators of all kinds, but especially filmmakers, video editors, audio producers and coders. The biggest difference is that the MacBook Pro is a high-end laptop meant for travel and as an all-in-one solution, while the Mac Studio is a compact desktop and more likely to remain tethered to one place, connected to a display, keyboard and mouse.
Mere months ago, the M1 Max chip was the reach-for-the-stars, top-end Apple chip, outperforming the original M1 and the in-between M1 Pro. It was part of Apple's nearly complete evolution from Intel chips to its own designs, sometimes called Apple Silicon. Now, the M1 Max has moved down to become the middle-of-the-road version, because you can now get the even more powerful M1 Ultra chip in the Mac Studio.
My first inclination was to write off the $2,000 M1 Max version of the Studio as not ambitious enough, and the $4,000 M1 Ultra version as too expensive for a non-upgradable desktop. That audience is probably waiting for a new Mac Pro desktop for upgradability and future-proofing.
But speaking to other creatives, I heard the opposite -- that the M1 Max Mac Studio (try saying that five times fast) is exactly what a developing filmmaker or music producer might want. My colleague Patrick Holland told me that back in his filmmaking days, "The Mac Studio would have been ideal for me. It's $1,500 less than the 16-inch MacBook Pro. It's small enough that I could travel with it and plug it into a ton of displays, TVs and even cameras. But most importantly, the Mac Studio would have meant that I didn't need to 'design a computer' for my workflows."
The Mac Studio is paired with another brand-new product, Apple's new 27-inch Studio Display. It has a chip inside, too -- in this case the A13, as seen in the iPhone 11. That enables on-board features like Center Stage and spatial audio. Its only comparison within the Appleverse right now is the professional-level Pro Display XDR, a 32-inch display that starts at $5K, plus an extra $1,000 if you want its sold-separately stand. At $1,599, the Studio Display feels like a reasonable ask for a pro-level display, even if stand and screen options can drive up the price.
The Mac Mini (left) next to the Mac Studio.
We've only tested the M1 Max version of the Mac Studio so far, not the M1 Ultra version. That version has a bigger, heavier heat sink (that weighs about two pounds more), because the M1 Ultra is essentially two M1 Max chips joined together. Even in the M1 Max version, the case is practically half-filled with fans and cooling gear.
Besides the look -- a gently rounded square with an Apple logo on top -- there's not much common ground between the Mac Studio and the Mac Mini. In fact, I've described the Studio as two Mac Minis stacked up, but it's actually taller than that, at 3.7 inches, vs. 1.4 inches for the Mini. If anything, the price difference should tell you this is a different category: $700 for the entry level M1 Mac Mini vs. $2,000 and $4,000 for the two Studio base models. I'd like to see an M1 Pro chip version of the Mac Studio -- that might be an even better in-between level for budget-conscious creatives looking to step up.
An underside view of the Mac Studio.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Upgrades add up
The configuration we tested is a few steps up from the base model. It adds 64GB of RAM, 2TB storage and the version of the M1 Max chip with 32 GPU cores (vs. 24 GPU cores for the base model). That all adds up to $3,199. Choose your options carefully, as the Mac Studio isn't internally upgradable after the fact.
That's probably the biggest sticking point for a certain brand of creative professional. The appeal of the Mac Pro desktop, or really any tower desktop PC, is its upgradability. In some cases that just means being able to swap out a graphics card. In other cases, everything from the power supply to the CPU to the fans.
Once you get over that hurdle, if you do, a comparably configured 16-inch MacBook Pro is $4,300. The price difference accounts for the screen, keyboard and touchpad that you don't get with the Mac Studio.
The new accessories look great, but are sold separately.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Note that the keyboard and mouse or touchpad are not included in the box. If you don't already have a set, there are new gray-and-silver versions of Apple's input accessories to go along with the Studio. The Magic Keyboard, with a number pad and Touch ID, is $200. The Magic Mouse is $100 and the Magic Touchpad (which looks great in dark gray) is $150. As a long-time Apple user (and even longer-time PC user), the Magic Touchpad is one of my all-time favorite computer input devices. The Magic Mouse is one of my least favorite. Then again, I predicted the imminent death of the computer mouse back in 2010, so what do I know?
Front loaded
The biggest innovation of the Mac Studio may be one of its simplest. Take some of the connections and put 'em on the front face. The Mini, for example, has USB-C/Thunderbolt, Ethernet, audio and other ports on the back. The Mac Studio has a similar setup, with four USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, a 10GB ethernet port, two USB-A ports, HDMI and an audio jack on the back. But there are also two USB-C ports and an SD card slot on the front, a move sure to appeal to photographers, videographers and others who hate digging around the back of a system to plug anything in. On the M1 Ultra version of the system, those front ports are Thunderbolt as well.
From its nadir, when some MacBooks included only a single USB-C for power, accessories, output, everything, we're almost in a golden age of Mac ports now. The latest MacBook Pro laptops have HDMI and SD card ports (again), for example.
Plenty of ports on the back of the Mac Studio.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Familiar but fast
I wasn't expecting anything radically different in our basic benchmark testing when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro we tested last year. Both systems have M1 Max chips with 10 CPU cores and 32 GPU cores. Both include 64GB of RAM.
I'm not a full-time high-end creative pro, but especially during the Covid era I've been shooting and occasionally editing my own videos, usually in 4K. I also do some design and layout work in Illustrator and Photoshop and a little recording and mixing in Logic Pro. I sometimes design 3D printed objects in a CAD program, too.
As expected, the M1 Max Mac Studio performed similarly in our testing to the M1 Max MacBook Pro. That review includes a deeper dive into the differences between the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, as does this M1 family performance comparison. The Mac Studio version was marginally faster in many tests, perhaps because if its better cooling.
Asus Zephyrus GX701 (Core i7-8750H, Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)
16628
MacBook Pro, 14-inch, M1 Pro
10383
MacBook Pro, 13-inch, M1 (2020)
4918
iPhone 13 Pro Max (A15 Bionic)
2660
Center of attention
The Mac Studio is being pitched hand-in-hand with the Apple Studio Display, the first new Apple display since the Pro Display XDR. It's a lower-cost alternative for the XDR in some ways, but doesn't cover all of the same ground. I asked our display guru Lori Grunin to weigh in on the Studio Display as well.
At $1,600, the Studio Display is certainly more attainable than the $5,000-and-up XDR. But it's also missing some key features you might want. Specifically, it's a typical standard-definition IPS monitor with an undisclosed backlight tech, not HDR like the 1,600-nit XDR display, which uses a Mini LED backlight. The Studio Display doesn't even support HDR content, despite its 600-nit peak brightness.
The Studio Display.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Both Apple displays top out at 60Hz refresh rates, although other Apple products, like the iPad Pro and some MacBook Pro models, have ProMotion, Apple's variable refresh rate technology that goes up to 120Hz.The XDR is two years old, so that's understandable; it's a big disappointment in the Studio. Like the XDR, the Studio Display's controls are all in software, so, for instance, if you want to disable it or power it down you have to unplug it, and it's basically unusable with anything other than a Mac, unless you want a non-smart display with no controls.
We haven't finished our formal testing yet, but eyeballing the Studio Display and XDR side by side shows excellent consistency between the colors in the reference modes. There seemed to be slightly better detail in the darkest shadows in photos on the XDR, understandable given the wider tonal range. We'll offer a full benchmarked separate review of the Studio Display soon.
The new Studio Display still has a few unique tricks courtesy of the built-in A13 chip. The speakers support spatial audio and the built-in webcam supports Center Stage, which lets the camera zoom and pan (not physically, all within the original 12MP camera image) to keep faces centered and visible.
The ports on the back of the Studio Display.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
I played around with Center Stage in FaceTime, but it works Zoom and a few other apps as well. Before now, it's been limited to iPads, but I liked it on the Studio Display. With three people ducking in and out of frame, Center Stage did a reasonable job of keeping up with us, widening the image when all three of us were in-frame and zooming in when it was just me. The real trick here is the 122-degree field of view from the camera, which gives it extra space to work in. You can see the distortion of that lens if you force the Center Stage view to its widest, where the perfectly straight pillar next to me appears bowed.
Center Stage auto-adjusting the frame. Note that while there are webcam image quality issues, the softness of this image is mostly from the gif compression.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Other Macs and even iPads can connect to the Studio Display, but will need an OS update to iPadOS 15.4. or MacOS 12.3 to use the Center Stage and other A13 features. Apple says it works with MacBook Pro laptops from 2016 and later, and MacBook Air and Mac Mini systems from 2018 and later.
Some early owners and reviewers have had issues with the webcam quality on the Studio Display. So much so that Apple is said to be readying a software fix. I found images soft, and the color not as good as an on the 16-inch MacBook Pro. Look for more on the Studio Display camera in our upcoming deep dive review.
MacBook Pro (FHD) webcam vs. Studio Display webcam.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
The in-betweeners
It's clear that Apple would like you to think of the Mac Studio and Studio Display as a perfectly matched pair of devices. If you're building a mid/high-end video production or other creative workspace, that's an appealing combination that solves a lot of problems in a single package. Together, it's a minimum investment of $3,500, and probably more. The height-adjustable stand for the Studio Display feels like a must-have, especially if you use multiple monitors and want them positioned at similar heights, which adds another $400 to the total. The Studio also has a $300 Nano-texture glass option that cuts down on screen reflection. Reflections on the standard screen weren't overpowering, and glossy screens do make everything look better -- but they can be distracting for some types of work.
The setup will cost a minimum of $3,500.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Through a certain lens, the financial side works out. A comparable MacBook Pro can cost $1,000 more, making the M1 Max version of the Mac Studio seem more reasonably priced. The Studio Display doesn't have every high-end feature you might want, but it's right around where some comparable prosumer displays sit, although they also can come cheaper because they don't toss in the speakers and webcam. For instance, HP's new Z27xs G3 Dreamcolor monitor, a 4K color-accurate display with similar specs plus HDR support, is less than half the price. Remember that the $5,000 XDR may seem expensive next to even high-end consumer displays, but it's considered very reasonable compared to true professional models.
I'm reserving judgment on the M1 Ultra version of the Mac Studio until we can test one. I'm also leaving room in my creative pro thinking for the long-promised Mac Pro update. That system seems to change radically with each new generation, from the original tower to the black tube version to the current massive cheese grater design. Will the next Mac Pro, teased at the very end of the Mac Studio introductory webcast, follow in the Studio's footsteps and look like an elongated Mac Mini? And how will it address the issue of discrete graphics cards and upgradable components, both must-have features for many of those highest-end buyers? The GPU issue is especially important, as M1 systems don't currently support any AMD/Nvidia GPUs (so for example, you can't hook up a Black Magic eGPU to an Apple Silicon MacBook or Mac Studio).
That leaves us back here, with the Mac Studio and Studio Display. It's somewhere in-between the future Mac Pro and standard M1 Macs, and it'll probably appeal to people who find their work or their budget are similarly in-between those two extremes.
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AMD's Ryzen 7000 Gives High-End PCs a 29% Speed Boost
AMD's Ryzen 7000 Gives High-End PCs a 29% Speed Boost
What's happening
AMD will begin shipping its Ryzen 7000 family of desktop processors, bringing a 29% speed boost to PCs favored by gamers and creative types like video editors and animators.
Why it matters
The new model, packaging three "chiplets" into one processor, keeps the pressure on Intel to so high-end PCs should get more powerful without massive price increases.
What's next
AMD is working on a more powerful Ryzen 7000 model with higher performance using the company's 3D V-Cache technology.
AMD on Monday revealed its Ryzen 7000 series of processors for desktop PCs, promising a 29% speed boost over the Ryzen 5000 line it began selling in 2020. The new models, which go on sale Sept. 27, are good news for gamers, video editors and anyone else who demands top performance.
The 29% speedup shows when running a single, important task. When measuring the performance of multitasking jobs that can span the top-end version of the processor's 16 total processing cores, the performance boost is 49%, Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster said in an exclusive interview. If you're happy with the same performance as a last-generation Ryzen 5000, the Ryzen 7000 line matches it while using 62% less power, he said.
The most expensive model, the Ryzen 9 7950X, costs $699 — $100 cheaper than the Ryzen 9 5950X at its 2020 launch during the earlier days of the pandemic. AMD also offers $549 7900X, $399 7700X and $299 7600X models that run at slower clock speeds and don't have as many of the new Zen 4 processing cores. AMD also will continue selling its 2-year-old 5000 products in lower priced machines.
For anyone in the market for a high-end machine, it's good news. AMD has been carving away sales from Intel, and the new models will keep the pressure on its rival. And it could reduce the temptations some Windows PC users might feel to switch to Macs with Apple's efficient M1 and M2 processors.
"AMD is giving the gaming and content creation crowd exactly what it's asking for — better performance or lower power at the same price," said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
Some of the credit for the speed boost goes to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which builds the AMD designs on a newer 5nm line that's faster and more efficient with electrical power, helping to push the top clock speed of the chip up 800MHz to a peak of 5.7GHz, Papermaster said. Also deserving is the Zen 4 technology, which churns through 13% more programming instructions for each tick of the chip's click than Zen 3.
New chip packaging techniques
More broadly, though, AMD has benefited from the "chiplet" approach it began with the first-generation Zen design in 2017, packaging multiple smaller processing elements into a single, larger processor.
Such chip packaging technology is moving to the forefront of processor innovation, as evidenced by Apple's M1 Ultra, which joins two M1 Max chips into a single larger processor, and Intel's 2023 Meteor Lake processor, which includes four separate processing tiles, three built by TSMC.
AMD Ryzen 7000 prices range from $299 to $699.
AMD
The Ryzen 9 5950X includes two chiplets, each with eight Zen 4 cores, and one chiplet for input-output tasks like communicating with memory. AMD will marry more of these eight-core chiplets for server processors it'll sell to data center customers later this year.
"With a desktop, you're going from eight cores to 16 cores," Papermaster said. "Think of a server going all the way up through 64 cores and many more than that in the server we're going to announce this fall."
Mobile versions of Zen 4-based processors are scheduled to arrive in laptops in 2023. AMD also plans a compact Zen 4C variation for cloud computing work in data centers that'll offer up to 128 processing cores in the first quarter of 2023. It sacrifices some clock speed for the ability to run lots of independent jobs in parallel.
Zen 4 based machines also benefit from other speed boosts:
Faster interfaces to the rest of the computer, supporting DDR5 memory and PCI Express 5.0 links to devices like storage and graphics cards
The new AM5 socket to plug into circuit boards, which the company will support through at least 2025 to ease upgrades for PC makers and customers
The ability to process AVX-512 instructions, which should speed up some software like image editors that employ artificial intelligence methods
A third dimension in chiplet packaging
AMD relies chiefly on a relatively straightforward side-by-side packaging approach for its mainstream chips. But it's added a more sophisticated third dimension to its packaging options, stacking high-speed cache memory on top of the processing cores. It began this approach, called 3D V-Cache, with a rarified top-end option for the earlier Zen 3 processors. 3D V-Cache models are on the way for the Zen 4 generation, too, though Papermaster wouldn't say when they'll arrive.
Packaging flexibility has been crucial to AMD. For example, TSMC builds the Zen 4 processing chiplets on its latest 5nm manufacturing process but uses the cheaper, older 6nm process for the chiplet handling input-output functions.
The approach means AMD can spend money more judiciously, since the using the newest process raises the cost of a chip's basic circuitry element, the transistor.
"The cost per transistor is going up, and it's going to continue to go up in every generation," Papermaster said. "That's why chiplets have been so important."
AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X plugs into motherboards with a new AM5 socket, a more capable interface that AMD plans to use through at least 2025.
AMD
AMD will also use chiplets built with TSMC's 5nm technology for its next generation RDNA3 graphics, the foundation of its upcoming Radeon graphics processors, CEO Lisa Su said during AMD's Ryzen 7000 launch event Monday. Showing off a prototype, she said RDNA3 offers 50% better power efficiency, an important consideration for gamers trying to run software without overheating their PCs. The Ryzen 7000 processors have more basic RDNA2 graphics built in, useful for booting up machines and other basic tasks but expected to be supplemented by more powerful, separate graphics chips.
Don't count Intel out
AMD has succeeded in part through its chiplet strategy, but it's also benefited from Intel's major difficulties advancing its manufacturing over the better part of a decade. That advantage might not last much longer.
Intel expects its own manufacturing technology to match rivals by 2024 and surpass them by 2025, in the view of Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger. And it's been working for years on its own packaging technologies. Where AMD's 3D V-Cache is a pricey rarity, Intel will stack chip elements in its mainstream 2023 Meteor Lake PC processor using a technology called Foveros.
"Intel has more diverse and technically advanced options" when it comes to chiplet packaging, Tirias Research analyst Kevin Krewell said.
Another Intel advantage is the combination of performance cores and efficiency cores, an approach cribbed from the smartphone market that better balances speed and battery life. That's in Intel's current processor, Alder Lake.
Intel declined to comment.
Could Intel build AMD chips?
If Intel succeeds in its current ambitions, it could one day be building AMD chiplets. That's because Gelsinger launched a new foundry business which, like TSMC and Samsung, builds chips for others.
AMD once built its own processors but spun that off as the business now called GlobalFoundries. Papermaster wouldn't comment directly on what it would take to sign on with Intel Foundry Services but said it requires trustworthy foundry partners with proven capability and a good working partnership.
"We would love to see more diversity in the foundry ecosystem," Papermaster said.
