Once again, the gossip factory is focused on Apple, and this time we have heard about what Mac will be released in 2023, and we are preparing for some frauds.
This all comes from a well-known source on all things Apple, Mark Gurman, in his news brochure courtesy of Bloomberg (opens in a new tab), where he examines what's next for MacBooks, Mac Pros and iMacs. (or what is not next, at least not this year, in the latter case, as you will see). As always and in all circumstances, treat gossip with great caution, even those coming from more reliable sources.
According to Gurman, we're going to see new MacBook Pros in the first half of 2023, but they'll have the same design and features as the existing 2-inch and 2-inch models, with the only real update going to be the addition of the MXNUMX Pro. and MXNUMX Max chips. Even on this front, however, the performance improvement is going to be "marginal," says Gurman.
What might be more exciting are Apple's apparent plans for a XNUMX-inch MacBook Air laptop, which could be the "saving grace" for the entire Mac lineup this year, though Gurman won't say what he says. He also tells us that a XNUMX-inch MacBook is not announced, or at least not on the roadmap for the foreseeable future.
There will be a new Mac Pro for 2023, but that too is disappointing in some ways. Gurman thinks a high-end Mac Pro spin, with a 2-core processor (a total of XNUMX cores for graphics) has been undone, and Apple offers a model with the MXNUMX Ultra chip on its site. That raises some question marks as to how it will compare with Mac Studio in terms of value, Gurman notes, and the new Mac Pro will also look exactly like the XNUMX version.
There's another disappointment in an apparent change that means the system RAM won't be user-upgradable, as the memory will be soldered directly to the motherboard.
To top off the rather lackluster situation, the larger iMac Pro that Apple has been considering as a possibility doesn't seem very likely, appearing on and off the product roadmap, according to Gurman. Gurman observes: "I would be surprised at this point if it happens in 2023."
As for a refreshed 3-inch iMac, it won't move forward until the MXNUMX SoC is supposedly ready, so it's probably XNUMX, or maybe it could sneak in late this year. .
Analysis: a rather dark but not unexpected dumping ground for rumors
If all of this makes the reading somewhat bleak, which it usually does, then we must remember that this is all just educated speculation, and Gurman could be wrong on certain (or more) points. Even if he's right, what Apple thinks now could change in the future.
Either way, assuming the above gossip is accurate, it's not really surprising to learn that the MacBook Pros won't change much from current incarnations. While Gurman's way of presenting the performance increase of current models as "marginal" doesn't really lucid enthusiasm.
We expected these updates to come in late 2023, if you remember, and when it became clear that wasn't happening, the assumed release schedule changed to Q1 XNUMX. Now, Gurman claimed that the first half of the year, which seems pointing out that a QXNUMX launch might not happen - another small disappointment.
We didn't see Apple's silicon-powered Mac Pro at CES 2023, as we'd hoped, and now we may know why: maybe things are still up in the air with the machine. However the Mac Pro turns out, presumably Apple should tweak it and look like a prudent proposition in its line, though the mention of a potential rollback in terms of non-upgradable RAM is a grim thought. With an expensive PC like this, the limitations on component upgrades are frustrating, to say the least.
Still, we've got this 2023-inch MacBook Air that could still enter in XNUMX, which could make up for a lot of the rest of the Mac lineup hitting shelves this year as it's little different from existing models. or is disappointing in other respects. A larger MacBook Air has been rumored for a long time and never appeared, but now might be the time: there are indeed big fans of the idea of a XNUMX-inch version of the laptop (and some people who They are more cautious in this regard). ).
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Via Apple Insider (Opens in a new tab)