Apple launched the Mac Studio with the powerful M2 Max and M2 Ultra in June. Although its $1,999 starting price discouraged some consumers, professionals who perform demanding edits and production work were elated by the launch. And with the M2 Ultra model starting as high as $3,999, it's clear that Apple has built this product for a specific audience.

But if you haven't yet invested in a Mac Studio, you may want to defer your purchase to a later date. A recent leak from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests that Apple is already hard at work on the M3 Max and Ultra, which will come to Mac Studio. However, they likely won't arrive until the end of 2024.

Apple's M3 Max and Ultra in Mac Studio

Gurman's report illustrates some specifics about the power expectations for both the M3 Max and Ultra. The former's base configuration will have 16 CPU cores and 32 GPU cores, while its top configuration upgrades to 40 GPU cores. The latter's base configuration has 32 CPU cores and 64 GPU cores, while the top configuration bumps that up to 80 GPU cores.

He's more confident in M3 Max's launch in 2024, but somewhat uncertain about M3 Ultra. He claims the end of 2024 is its earliest possible launch, but if it is bumped to 2025, we don't expect the Mac Studio to launch until that year. This is because the Mac Studio launched with both the M2 Max and M2 Ultra, and the latter was revealed five-or-so months after the former.

Gurman added that there's a chance M3 Ultra also comes to Mac Pro, but he's uncertain whether Apple will continue making them. The M3 Max could come to 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, too. Regardless, we're not expecting these new models to launch for quite some time.

If you've been eyeing the new Mac Studio and considered snagging one, consider whether you can wait until next year. If it is pertinent to your work, and you need one as soon as possible, you can ignore this recommendation. But if you can wait, why not get your hands on an M3 Ultra Mac Studio instead?

macOS Sonoma was just announced last month at WWDC and there are some enticing macOS 14 features that may convince you to update, but not everyone has that option. MacBooks made before 2018 didn't make the cut for support this year and it's possible the last of the Intel-based MacBooks will join them next year with the release of macOS 15.

That speculation stems from extensive research done by ArsTechnica surrounding macOS support going all the way back to 1998, which lays out the case for Apple potentially hitting the kill switch early on Intel Macs due in large part to the Apple Silicon transition that kicked off in 2020.

Which MacBooks would this effect?

• 2018 MacBook Air
• 2018 MacBook Pro
• 2019 MacBook Air
• 2019 MacBook Pro
• 2020 MacBook Air (Intel)
• 2020 MacBook Pro (Intel)

Keep in mind again that this is speculation, Apple won't announce the official list of devices supported by macOS 15 until WWDC 2024. Most would agree that the 2018 MacBook models are likely to be dropped, but the real question lies with those last Intel-based 2019-2020 models. 

Ars looked to the PowerPC transition back in 2006, when Apple originally moved to Intel, for some instruction on how aggressive the company could be in dropping support for the previous generation laptops. The very last of the PowerPC laptops (the plastic white 2008 MacBook) "received only 2.7 years of new macOS updates and 3.3 years of security updates from the time it was introduced." 

So while cutting off laptops released in 2020 might feel aggressive, it would not be completely unprecedented for Apple. One possible differentiating factor this time around is that MacBooks were wildly more popular in 2020 than they were back in 2008, so Apple has far more customers to worry about upsetting. 

Apple was also selling some Intel-based desktops into 2023: the 2018 Mac Mini and 2019 Mac Pro. While it would be hard to argue anyone bought those computers not knowing that Apple Silicon was the way of the future, they also likely didn't expect to only see one major OS update for their computers. So that may be a second reason for Apple to stay the execution on the last of the Intel-based MacBooks until macOS 16 in 2025.

Now we are talking about the end of new OS updates, not security updates, which as highlighted above will typically extend for at least another 3 years beyond the end of major OS updates.

So if you are reading this from an Intel-based MacBook, don't panic, regardless of whether Apple drops support with macOS 15 or macOS 16, your laptop isn't going to suddenly stop working. Apple will certainly continue to offer security updates that will have your laptop running safely, you just won't be getting whatever the latest and greatest new macOS features might be.

One of the key takeaways from this is for those that are looking at purchasing a used MacBook. Steer clear of Intel-based MacBooks, while there was some trepidation early on, Apple Silicon is thoroughly proven and even the original M1 MacBook Air remains one of the best Apple laptops, so if you are looking for the most affordable MacBook that is where you should draw the line.

As for the actual fate of Intel-based MacBook support, we'll have to wait until WWDC 2024 for the answer.

Even though we’ve just seen the last of the M2 chips, M3 is coming sooner than you think. In fact, you may want to hold off on buying a MacBook because of it.

According to a recent report, Apple may be launching the M3 MacBook Air, a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, and even an upgraded iMac with this new M3 chip.

(M)3 is a magic number

In his latest newsletter for Bloomberg, Gurman reports that Apple is set to launch the first wave of M3 Apple Silicon Macs this October. This would follow the inevitable September iPhone 15 event, plus the launch of the Apple Watch Series 9, and the new Apple Watch Ultra.

Much like the A17 Bionic you’ll see in the iPhone 15 Pro, the M3 is manufactured on a 3nm process. But while the core count will reportedly stay similar to what, the manufacturer TSMC’s enhanced process means we can expect to see impressive upgrades in performance and power efficiency — more than what we saw between M1 and M2.

Now, there is one big question. Why is M3 coming so soon after the M2 lineup has seemingly wrapped up with the most recent Mac Studio and Mac Pro models at WWDC? It all seems awfully fast. 

Well, as we’ve seen, supply chain issues have held back the likes of the M2 Ultra, which doesn’t seem to have affected the M3, given Apple bought up 100% of TSMC’s stock of 3nm chips. So the crossover between these two generations has been a lot more apparent this time around than usual.

Outlook

The likes of the new 15-inch MacBook Air sounds great on paper, but with M3 laptops coming in just three months time, I’d probably hold off on that purchase. Not just to see what the performance gains would look like, but for the discounts that come for older models.

Gurman does not specifically confirm that an October keynote will happen. There is a chance these new models are announced via press release (just like the M2 Pro/M2 Max MacBook Pros). But for something as significant as a brand new generation of Apple silicon, I’d put money on seeing a full announcement event.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to setup a prayer circle for a 13-inch MacBook Pro redesign that finally ditches the touchbar.

The Apple Watch is easily one of the best wearables out there, but the battery life can be pretty underwhelming — but that may change in the future. An Apple exec hinted that extending its wearables' runtimes is a focus for the Cupertino-based tech giant.

Like any comments from the company, you’ve really got to interpret hidden meanings in what is actually said here, and Apple’s VP of worldwide product marketing Bob Borchers is one of the best when it comes to non-committal-but-also-kind-of-committal answers.

While our interpretation of Borchers' responses for Apple Watch is optimistic, I’m afraid it looks like the sunset is near for the dream of a new Mac Pro.

Giving the Apple Watch more stamina

Speaking to India Today, Borchers confirms that Apple is aware of these consistent complaints about the battery life, saying that the Apple Watch “is an excellent health tracker, but which will also greatly benefit from more battery life.”

He also confirmed that in something like a smaller wearable, the company has to strike a good balance of everything — from its real-time health and body tracking to internal processor power. All of this has an impact on battery life, but this does very well seem like the company has heard all the complaints, and is going to do something about it.

Don’t expect a Mac Pro anytime soon (or ever)

So far, the closest we’ve gotten to an Apple Silicon-based Mac Pro is a casual mention during the Mac Studio announcement, and a code reference in iOS 16.4. But beyond that, the company has been very quiet about it.

And I think the reason is simple: there is no new Mac Pro. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be wrong here, but Borchers’ comment about it when asked is very telling. While he reiterated the mission to have the “entire product line” running on its own processors, he then went on to say that Apple silicon can “power and transform experiences from the MacBook Air to all the way up to the Mac Studio.”

Did you get that? No mention of the Mac Pro in his answer. This could be by design, but with the graphical prowess of the likes of the current 14-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac Studio for creative pros, you have to question the point of having a Mac Pro.

Because sure, a dedicated GPU would be nice, and swappable components would be pretty mint. However, I think the ship has sailed on this grand idea, given just what incredible feats the standalone silicon is capable of.

Outlook

So all-in-all, a rather mixed affair of good news and bad news, but the latter doesn’t necessarily mean it’s game over for creative pros at the top of their game.

It’s already clear that the M2 Pro and M2 Max are capable of big things. Add to that the ongoing work to constantly improve (given the fact we’re hearing a lot about the M3 chip being built on a 3nm process), and Apple’s journey seems a lot clearer to just focus on improving this current range of hardware rather than try to introduce a super-expensive pro-tier desktop system.

The closest I think we’d see is an iMac Pro, but don’t quote me on that! Besides that, though, as someone who is always struggling with battery life anxiety in the Apple Watch Series 8, to see the company take a vested interest in this area is encouraging.

During its keynote address at Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2013  in San Francisco, Apple did something very uncharacteristic, teasing a product before it is ready to ship in the brand new Mac Pro. The next generation of the Mac maker's workstation computer is said to double the performance seen in the previous generation, while seemingly halving the size in a brand new design.

Based on the promotional video shown during the WWDC keynote by Apple SVP of Marketing Philip Schiller, the new Mac Pro looks like a glossy cylinder that houses a central thermal cooling unit along with some new innards. Those include a new 12-core, 256-bit Intel Xeon processor with 1,866MHz DDR3 RAM that Apple claims to offer 60 Gbps of performance and dual AMD FirePro GPUs that are said to support 4K displays.

The upcoming Mac Pro also uses flash storage that will be bolstered by four USB 3.0 and six Thunderbolt 2 ports, which support up to six connected devices at 20 Gbps throughput. All of this will be housed in a cylindrical design that will be sure to turn heads. Neither price nor release date is available, but it's safe to assume that this workstation will not be cheap.

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