Apple’s new MacBook laptops continue to gather fans. The new M2-powered MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops are great all-around laptops with a little bit of headroom for more intensive tasks. Still, those looking for as much portable power as possible should look elsewhere, specifically at the premium 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops.
If that’s you, it would be best to hold off buying a powerful Apple Silicon laptops. Apple is preparing to move on from the current M1 generation and introduce the M2 generation to the top end. Should you wait? How long will you have to wait? And if you wait, what can you expect?
Izmir, Turkey – January 10, 2022: Half opened Apple Brand M1 Model Macbook pro laptop computer with … [+]
One of the best indicators that change is coming is to look at the existing premium MacBook Pro models, namely the 14-inch and 16-inch models running the M1 Pro and M1 Max chipsets. With Digitimes reporting that manufacturing will be slowing down in the near future, it’s clear that the MacBook Pro product mix is ready to be disrupted.
Disrupted by what? The natural answer are the new M2 MacBook Pro laptops.
Production of these new MacBook Pro models started in late August, presumably to build up stocks ahead of a launch and a relatively quick move to bring the product to retail shelves. There’s every chance that Apple will follow an iPhone-like schedule of a midweek announcement, orders opening at the end of that week, and units shipping out to customers for the following week. That, naturally, needs a large reserve of units.
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You then need to consider Apple’s cyclical nature. Tim Cook and his team love a sense of regularity to the calendar. You can see this in the utterly predictable launch windows (CoVID pandemics notwithstanding) over key products, especially the iPhone.
For a long time, this was not present in the Mac portfolio, and a lot of that was down to a reliance on Intel’s timescales. With the move to Apple Silicon, Apple was the master of its own destiny. The hardware could be tied towards the system on chip cycles, cycles already established around the iPhone.
The late October launch window that Apple fought so long to establish was finally locked in with 2020’s launch of the first M1 MacBook Air. The year after that, we had the premium 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M1 family. And one year later, we have the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M2 family. You should consider this alongside the supply chain news.
Finally, the scope of the October event is surely going to be about the power of Apple’s M2 family. Why? Because of the promise made by Tim Cook that all of Apple’s Mac computers would be running Apple Silicon by the end of 2022. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are moving into the second generation. The Mac Mini and Mac Studio take care of the professional desktop, while the iMac satisfies the consumer desktop.
That leaves the Mac Pro, Apple’s ultimate expression of power. It has not seen an update since December 2019, and is waiting for an Apple Silicon upgrade. With the October event likely the last event before the deadline, Cook is going to need to bring the power (of silicon) to the stage… both Mac Pro power and portable power in the MacBook Pro.
If your primary concern is about power, then the smart thing to do is wait for a few weeks because Apple is going to offer you more power than ever before.
Now read the latest Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch headlines in Forbes’ weekly Apple Loop column…
