10 MACWORLD DECEMBER 2021
MACUSER M1 PRO AND M1 MAXhave noticed is that the old, Intel-based
Mac mini–which has more ports and
processor power than the M1 version–is
still on Apple’s price list! Now that the M
Pro is here, it feels like a new, higher-end
Mac mini is inevitable.
And it is...in a way. Does Apple have a
bit more ambition for its tiny desktop Mac?
The easiest thing for the company to do is
use some of the ample free space in the
current Mac mini enclosure, jam an M1 Pro
motherboard in there, and release a new
Space Gray Mac mini model with lots of
ports and plenty of power.
A harder trick would be to revise the
Mac mini into something new, a mini
desktop designed around the M1 Pro and
maybe even the M1 Max. Consider it the
screenless equivalent to the large iMac–a
powerful system that might not replace the
Mac Pro, but would offer power to spare
for almost any high-end Mac user. There
have been reports that Apple has been
working on a Mac somewhere between
the M1 Mac mini and the Mac Pro. Could
this be it? Possibly. But I’d also be fine with
an M1 Pro in the old Mac mini case.
BEYOND THE M
Clearly there will be more Macs that use
the M1 Pro and M1 Max, but what’s next?
There are two answers to that question. If
you’re wondering where the entire chip
line goes from here, I’d expect that
sometime in 2022, we’ll see the debut of
the M2 processor. We’ll see Apple
gradually update all its Macs with even
faster chips, probably starting again at the
low end with the MacBook Air and
24-inch iMac.
But there’s still that one Intel Mac that’s
looming out there, and it’s the hardest one
to replace. Since Apple seems committed
to its promised two-year window for this
chip transition, that means it has about a
year to create a new Mac Pro. According
to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (fave.
co/3BCaXgW), that new Mac Pro would be
powered by some monstrous chips, 20-
and 40-core models with up to 128
graphics cores.
But if you do the math, you’ll realize
something about Gurman’s reported Mac
Pro chips: They’re multiples of the M1 Max.
That 20-core model is two M1 Max chips
working in tandem; the 40-core model is
four M1 Max chips. This means we may
have already seen the future of the Mac
Pro: It’s the M1 Max...multiplied.
If Apple’s numbers are to be believed–
and I think they are–then the new
MacBook Pro models will prove that Macs
running on Apple-designed chips can be
put in professional-level systems. They
won’t just be as good as the Intel versions,
they’ll be better: faster, cooler, and with
longer battery life. And more—much
more—is on the way. ■