Apple kicks off a Mac overhaul this week that centers on new M4 chips, Bloomberg reported.
Four years ago, Apple Inc’s Mac got one of the biggest overhauls in its history: a move from Intel Corp. chips to in-house processors. Now its time for another seismic shift. Starting this week, the company will begin adding the M4 processor to the Mac lineup, helping set the stag for Apple’s artificial intelligence era.
First introduced as part of the iPad Pro in May, the M4 chip will be a significant leap for the Mac, particularly for handling AI tasks and gaming. The central processing unit will see a jump in core counts compared with the M3 family. And, as iPad Pro users can attest, the M4 chip should bring a dramatic improvement in day-to-day use from older models.
This week, Apple will unveil a 24-inch iMac and two versions of a revamped Mac mini, as well as a new 16-inch MacBook Pro and both low-and high end configurations of that laptop’s 14-inch model. The iMac will come with an entry-level M4, while the Mac mini will get versions with the base chip and the M4 Pro. The MacBook Pro, meanwhile, will sport higher-end M4 flavors.
TechCrunch reported the mini is Apple’s desktop computer (really just a small gray box) positioned between the consumer and iMac and the company’s professional-grade desktops.
The new mini is reportedly getting smaller — nearly the size of an Apple TV set-top box. It will include two ports in the front and (in some model) three in the back. For the first time, it will support the ray tracing graphics technique.
The two new Mac mini models will reportedly be part of a slew of new Apple devices announced this week. The lineup will also include a 24-inch iMac, a 16-inch MacBook Pro, and two different configurations of the 14-inch MacBook Pro, all using Apple’s M4 chip.
Apple Insider reported that Apple’s week of announcements will start with a 24-inch M4 iMac and two versions of a redesigned Mac mini. M4-powered versions of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro will also be unveiled.
Apple has announced a week of Mac or Mac-related launches, and now Bloomberg says it will see the company standardizing its entire Mac lineup on the family of chips across late 2024 and early 2025. This is the first time this has happened since the company began using its own Apple Silicon processors.
The reasoning is that Apple wants all of its latest devices to run its Apple Intelligence technology. This is also the reasoning behind the bump to 16GB of RAM, which could be a new base standard across all of the forthcoming models.
These improvements will have numerous benefits for users, outside of Apple Intelligence. The two expected Mac models, sporting either M4 or the M4 Pro chip, will be able to handle ray tracing for the first time, enabling substantially better graphics performance.
In my opinion, I think people who are already using Mac computers are probably looking forward to purchasing a newly updated Mac.