iCaveDave
0:00 Intro
0:13 Beats Flex Price Increase
1:07 Personal Update
1:56 MacBook Air M2 – What we THINK we know.
2:11 What is M2 Anyway?
2:31 Which devices will get M2?
2:59 Apple M2 Chip Core Layout
3:22 MacBook Air M2 Design changes
3:46 MacBook Air M2 Release Date
4:36 MacBook Air M2 Pricing
4:52 MacBook Pro M1X Expectations
5:36 Breaking news- MacBook Pro chargers OOS
6:15 MacBook Pro M1X Colour options
6:27 MacBook SE – Could it happen?
7:06 Could 128GB be enough for a MacBook SE?
7:36 Why Apple CAN price a laptop that low
8:04 What would you buy?
8:17 iCaveAnswers coming later today
MacBook (Air) M2 in Q3 2022?
A couple of days ago news broke from Ming Chi Kuo that the redesigned MacBook Air would be entering production in Q3 of 2022, which doesn’t exactly line up with what we had expected. So let’s talk about it.
The MacBook Air is expected to be powered by Apple’s M2 chip, the A15X if you will, or a more multicore, more thunderbolt and more speedy bigger brother to the A15, just as the M1 was to A14, rolling out to Apple’s first, more efficiency focussed Macs to take advantage of the new Apple Silicon architecture. So expect to see a MacBook Air, Mac mini and iMac with M2, though wether Apple will keep around a MacBook Pro with M2 is less clear – Is the addition of a fan in a world where the TouchBar is going away enough to earn a pro badge? Let me know in the comments.
The M2 itself will have a similar layout to the M1, with a balance of 4 Blizzard efficiency cores and 4 Avalanche high performance cores, as well as a 10 core GPU which will likely have some binned chips with a single inactive GPU core available too at a lower price point for entry level devices, which helps Apple increase chip yields and lower overall prices.
We’re also expecting to see a full redesign, featuring a flatter design which drops the iconic MacBook Air wedge design, prompting some to wonder if this is truly a New MacBook Air or actually a revival of the pure MacBook name. The design will also likely feature white display bezels and keyboards along with colourful aluminium chassis, along the lines of the iMac refresh we’ve seen earlier in 2020, at the Spring Loaded event in April.
And… we don’t know for sure, what order those products will sit in Apple’s line up, as Air seems to mean “The Cheapest one” in laptops, but “the midrange” in iPads, sitting above the standard iPad in the range, but on the Mac side, having sat much cheaper than the MacBook when it was introduced, even though it was originally a premium option. I just hope Apple decides what Air means one of these days. The MacBook Air is expected to be introduced at around the current starting price of $999, though there is a chance that like the 12.9” iPad Pro, if Apple adds a miniLED display that they could bump the price $100 to $1099.
In terms of the other MacBooks, we have the MacBook Pro, which should be just weeks away now in 14” and 16” display sizes, with a more squared off design M1X 10 core processors (2 IceStorm efficiency cores and a massive 8 Firestorm performance chips), and 16-32 GPU cores, probably the fastest integrated graphics in the world when it launches.
The M1X MacBook Pros are expected to get MiniLED Displays in both sizes improved 1080p FaceTime cameras which I hope could include CenterStage, Wifi6E and a whole bunch of resurrected zombie ports like HDMI, SD Card readers and the triumphant return of MagSafe charging. There’s also a non-zero chance that the charger brick could have an ethernet port, much like the power supply for iMac.
While I’d love some exciting colours here too, I think Apple may be pretty conservative and go with darker bezels as well as colours like Starlight, Silver and Space Grey, but we’ll see.
The final MacBook that could be on the cards is a MacBook SE… and I’ve been harping on about SE as a Mac thing for some time too. If Apple was to redesign the MacBook Air, the current chassis could be repurposed as an SE model, being a more affordable way to get into the Mac ecosystem. Potentially a fanless MacBook Air design with an M1, 7 Core GPU inside and maybe even a smaller 128GB storage starting point to help get the price as low as possible. I could see Apple making this as low as $749.
Everyone tells me Apple doesn’t do cheap or accessible – but its simply not true. An iPad with A13, centerstage, a 10.2” Retina display and more costs just $329, or $299 for education customers. That’s insane value, just like the current iPhone SE that also uses the A13 inside. Both devices use older design styles with Touch ID home buttons and big top and bottom bezels, but both also perform great, so why not?
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