“Claims Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processors may not appear in new Macs until next year men Apple could do worse than to take steps to reassure Mac users,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld.
“Mac users are worried about the future of the platform,” Evans writes. “They are unhappy that new Mac models have become less predictable than iPhones, and they can’t understand why PC makers will be shipping new Kaby Lake powered machines this year while Apple (it is claimed) will not.”
“The problem is the only new Mac that people think may appear this year is one of those the new Intel chip isn’t available for yet, the MacBook Pro. If you believe the rumors, this is getting Touch ID and an OLED touch panel, and if you believe MacRumors it won’t get the new Intel chip,” Evans writes. “Chatter and speculation like this shows the huge divide that’s opening up between Apple and loyal Mac users, particularly in the pro markets.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We hope to hear something about Macs from Apple soon.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s MacBook Pro not likely to sport Intel Kaby Lake processors this year – August 16, 2016
Mac sales to grow in enterprise with new Apple A-series-powered Mac – October 14, 2015
Apple A-series-powered Macs are not only feasible, they may be inevitable – January 15, 2015
Why Apple dumping Intel processors would be disastrous – January 14, 2015
KGI: Apple is designing its own processors for Mac – January 14, 2015
Apple A9-powered MacBook Air? – December 16, 2014
Why Apple will switch to ARM-based Apple A-series-powered Macs – August 27, 2014
Intel-powered Macs: The end is nigh – August 4, 2014
Intel’s Broadwell chips further delayed; not shipping for most Macs until early-mid 2015 – July 9, 2014
Apple will inevitably drop Intel for their own A-series processors in the Mac – June 26, 2014
How long before Apple dumps Intel from MacBook Air? – June 26, 2013
Again, this much silence usually portends a major announcement. I think there’s a complete product line refresh coming.
I don’t care about OLED and Touch ID – who does? I want a faster machine with more memory and storage. Or it’ll be hackintosh for me.
I’ve already decided that I’m going to Hackintosh route with either a Skylake or Kabylake processor and one of the latest motherboards listed on http://www.tonymacx86.com/ that require zero hacked drivers. That way I can run Windows 10 Pro too.
Installing Windows 10 under Boot Camp now is a bloody joke. :/
I want new Mac’s as much as the next person, however I do get a little annoyed that Intel takes its dear old time with its own releases, and then some computer pundit seems to whine when will Apple release a Mac with them the day after… While it would be nice if Apple did something sooner rather. later, to start complaining the day after Intel finally does something, , seems a little much…
Apple has gotten itself into this situation. Other manufacturers are using the current Intel chips. Other then the recently refreshed MacBook, nothing Apple is shipping is using current variant chips. Blaming this on Intel is ignoring the facts.
The 2015 iMacs use sky lake ships also. And the Mac Pro’s used current Xeons until this past May, when the New ones came out. The MacBook Pro’s use has well quad cores because the current ones aren’t much better in performance. And as I’ve said before, no one gives razer any shit for using last gen tech in their “gaming notebooks”, instead they get praise for being “thin and light” and no one gives MSI any shit for a trash can design that is less powerful than a Mac Pro, instead they get praise for “innovation” even thought it’s a copy…. Also the 13″ MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro use broad well chips which sky lake didn’t improve on much in the mobile space, especially in graphics performance.
Current Mac Pros have Intel Xeon E5 CPUs, 4, 6 or 8 cores.
Meanwhile, Intel has released the Xeon E7 (up to 24 cores with a compromise in clock speed and ~ double the CPU cache).
I.E: Again, Apple is two generations of Intel CPUs BEHIND. So of course, pro Mac users ask WTF? (Not to mention the GPU complaints).
‘Tis the season to rightfully bitch about the lagging Mac.
Xeon E5 / E7 has nothing to do with the generation.
But, nevertheless, Apple is using an older Xeon.
I personally choose to call them ‘generations’ of CPUs because Intel is doing so by numbering them. You comprehend the point of what I’m saying, which is my desired outcome.
Derek, the E-5 xeons are for desktop workstation use, the E-7’s are for rack mount servers which don’t have to worry about energy consumption. Also, just because they’re labeled E-5 or E-7 doesn’t mean they’re a different generation. It’s the same as i5 and i7… They’re a series based on the same architecture and manufacturing process. You wouldn’t say that a 2011 i7 is the same as a 2016 i7 would you? It’s the same with the server chips. This past May was the first time Intel refreshed the design of the E-5 and E-7 Xeons, which was my point. And these new Xeons are Haswell based to begin with… So the Mac Pro used the most current chips until this past May that they could.
Also, current Mac Pro’s use E-5 Xeons in 4-6-8-or 12 cores. It doesn’t top out at 8. And the 18 core Chios are compatible
OIC! I actually tried to avoid falling over such differentiation. I apparently FAILed. I need a bigger info shovel.
MUCH appreciated!
The problem is that pro users need substance. We can’t wait around on hope. Call me crazy but I’ve spent my money this year on two HP Spectre pcs – an all-in-one and a small laptop – because I see the same old same old in the oppulent Apple store with no hint that it will change soon. I can’t rely on hope when I need a machine NOW. Apple is silent and I’ve discovered that Windows 10 isn’t too shabby.
“When will Apple put Intel’s Kaby Lake chips inside new Macs?” Approximately two weeks to six months after Intel ships the necessary variants in quantity (meaning more than a million a month for each variant).
The steps to full production (full quantity runs) have not changed in many, many years (decades even):
0) tape out of chip variant design,
1) sampling prototypes to major customers,
2) tweak designs and manufacturing processes,
3) sampling proposed final designs,
4) tweak designs and manufacturing processes,
5) limited production,
6) tweak manufacturing processes,
7) full production.
For some variants of the Kaby Lake chips Intel is at step 5. For other variants Intel is still at step 0 or 1. Often it takes six months or more to go from step 0 to step 7. There have been cases over the years where it has taken more than a year to go from step 0 to step 7. (Hell, in the case of Motorola’s PowerPC G5 chip they got to step 4 and decided to kill the thing.)
Thus Apple *could* ship specific variants of updated Macs this year. With Intel’s focus on the very low power chips shipping first, an update to the MacBook could happen this year — though that is extremely unlikely as Apple just updated the MacBook earlier this year. They could even ship a very low end 11″ Air, but then that Air would likely compete directly with the MacBook.
Higher power and greater capability chips that are required for the Air (if that survives) and the rMBP, Mac mini, and iMac won’t be shipping in full quantity until next calendar year. In the extreme case — the Mac Pro — don’t expect a Kaby Lake variant until fourth calendar quarter of 2017 at the earliest. (There are rumors that Intel NUGHT skip the necessary “E” or Xeon variant of Skylake and push up the schedule for the high end Kaby Lake processors to an earlier launch. If so this is could happen in the fourth calendar quarter of 2017.) If Intel does ship Skylake variants usable in a Mac Pro, don’t expect a Kaby Lake Mac Pro until 2018 at the earliest.
Apple has gotten itself into a bind.
Option 1: Ship Macs based upon Skylake in the next 1-3 months (except for the Mac Pro) and have everyone deride them for shipping old technology.
or
Option 2: Wait for Kaby Lake and ship new Macs in the next 4 to 8 months and have everyone decry the lack of new Macs until then (and lose people not willing to wait).
Neither option is one that Apple really wants, but they did it to themselves. No one forced them into this.
And, no, Apple can’t announce Kaby Lake Macs 3-6 months in advance. The Osborne Effect would kick in almost immediately.
An excellent summation. You should have written the original article that explained none of this nuance.
Perfect summation
Sounds well thought and logical. And here’s a question:
If we get new chassis Skylake MBPs by October or November as seems likely, Kaby Lake is the same nanometer spec, so given the better data bandwidth and path options in Kaby Lake would an incremental upgrade to Kaby Lake by say the middle of next year when the chips are out be a major or minor engineering job for this next iteration of the MacBook Pro…??
While most people speculate that Apple has been waiting for Kaby Lake, I suspect that Apple long ago decided that Macs were just not important anymore, and therefore they would wait two full processor tick-tock cycles before seriously upgrading any Mac. As soon as Cook took the reigns he put all the effort on iOS and extended Mac production lifecycles an additional year or more.
That is part of the reason why Mac sales stagnate at a time when Macs should be easily attracting buyers away from Microsoft. That is why professionals are leaving the Mac platform in droves. That is why eBay prices for old upgradeable Mac hardware is high while current sealed non-upgradeable models are just not as attractive.
So this autumn, it doesn’t matter if the new hardware comes with SkyLake or KabyLake (they use the same motherboard sockets anyway), Apple needs a significant refresh for every single Mac model line. EVERY ONE. It’s a tragedy that the lineup is as stale as it is.
Go ahead and abandon the MacBook Air line since the stupid marketspeak didn’t ever make sense anyway. Expand the MacBook line with cheaper prices and a 14″ model; offer all-new MBPs in 13″, 15″, and 17″ screens with the best chipset options in the business. Upgrade the Mac Mini to again include dual drive bays and superior chips (user upgradeable), with the latest connections. Demote the trash can to a mid-level product with Core chips and standard user-upgradeable GPUs. Re-introduce a proper Xeon-powered Mac Pro tower with best-in-class performance and complete user upgradeability. Consider re-introducing a server to power your own internal iCloud as well as offering it to business & enterprise customers with proper support and guaranteed long-term dedication to continued improvement.
Of course Apple will not be able to keep any of my proposed new Macs in stock, but that’s what happens when you have a marketing genius who can’t figure out how to manage steady rollouts multiple times per year.
I think Apple will end up taking the Option 1 very soon and start releasing the Skylake processor setup to update their product line. And that typically satisfy a good amount of people “waiting for the new processor upgrade” to make a purchase.
Some will continue to wait for the LATEST processor releases which Apple could easily release first Qtr. of 2017 across their product line in stages as they have in the past.
I personally know quite a few people willing to purchase a new system with new chip release even if it is Skylake over the current Haswell chips instead of continued wait for Kaby Lake.
If they are forced to go Skylake in the short term, I’m sure they will beat Intel down pretty hard on pricing.
Something Apple could have been doing for years. Instead Apple continues to overcharge its customers for old hardware. And where once Apple was the lead customer for chip manufacturers, Timid Tim apparently is happy to be last in line to deploy anything for the Mac.
That is why the Mac remains an afterthought in many industries, businesses, and homes: because Apple isn’t making it the best it can be.
We need Mac Pro’s with Knight’s Landing processors.
There was a time that Intel would make their new chipsets available to Apple ahead of release.
What happened man?..now we’re back of the queue
Assuming there’s a new MacBook Pro, it will presumably get the latest available i7 CPUs. Kaby Lake is LATE and may not be available until the end of 2016 (translation: Early 2017). YES, Apple is currently two generations of i7 chips BEHIND. But Intel is also BEHIND getting Kaby Lake out to laptop makers.
IOW: Blame BOTH. 😛
It would not surprise me if Apple will soon depart from Intel. The main reason is that they don’t like to be dependant on suppliers they can’t control. Apple has shown it’s lead with ARM Processor design and release. There is no reason why they are not working on some type of new processor for future MacBooks ans desktops.
Again, we need Mac Pro’s with Intel KNL processors. It is like having 72 combination RISC chips/mini-Crays in each machine. It will out run anything Oracle, SGI or Cray puts in any of their machines right now. ARM is fscking joke compared to the KNL.
ARM has no advantage whatsoever for desktop machines. None.
Move on from Intel Apple, sounds like IBM and Motorola all over again.