In the early morning of March 9, Apple launched a number of new products related to mac OS, in addition to the M1 Ultra self-developed chip with "explosive" performance, there are professional desktop host Mac Studio and studio Display, a more "cost-effective" display.
Although this is Apple's first conference in 2022, Mac-related products are more eye-catching than the release of the third-generation iPhone SE and the fifth-generation iPad Air.
As of now, the only all-in-one machines left in the Mac product line, the iMac Pro and the super workstation Mac Pro, have not yet joined the camp of self-developed chips.
With the advancement of time, apple is bound to upgrade a number of products in the Mac product line this year, of course, in addition to today's M1 Ultra, M2 may also be unveiled this year.
According to the positioning and pricing of M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra, it can be seen that Apple's strategy is to use entry-level M chips in the 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini and 24-inch iMac, as of now, these four products are equipped with M1 chips and according to Apple's recent financial reports, Mac's revenue has achieved year-on-year growth.
As a high-end product line above the entry-level, Apple provides two optional self-developed chip combinations of M1 Pro and M1 Max on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, improving performance at the same time, the price is gradually rising, from the MacBook Air equipped with M1 starting at nearly 8,000 yuan to the 14-inch MacBook Pro equipped with M1 Pro Starting Price of 14999 yuan can be seen.
From the current situation, Apple has only completed nearly 80% of the layout of the M series chips. In addition to the Mac Studio released in the early hours of this morning, it can be seen that apple is bound to bring the combination of M1 Max and M1 Ultra to the 27-inch iMac Pro and super workstation Mac Pro before the end of this year.
As for M2, I think that first of all, the performance improvement will not be very large compared to M1, as a commercial company, Apple not only has accurate knife skills, but also will not do the strategy of moving out new products and directly smashing the feet of the previous generation.
So in the next WWDC and even two or three conferences this fall, Apple will first stabilize the "positioning" of M1 Max and M1 Ultra, and pull the comprehensive performance of desktop-level all-in-one machines and workstations to the fullest, which will be reflected in the 27-inch iMac Pro and Mac Pro. By the way, the 27-inch iMac may be out of the historical stage from the beginning of this year, and Apple does not have any need to launch a 27-inch all-in-one machine with M1 chip, the iMac, to "complex" the Mac product line that has become more bloated.
Another concern is the extremely cost-effective and thin MacBook Air, which will be updated this fall without further ado.
The good news is that this year's MacBook Air will have an all-new form factor design and more color options. Previous rumors suggest that the new MacBook Air will not adopt a tapered design, and Apple prefers a MacBook Pro-style look.
The new MacBook Air is expected to be thinner, lighter, and likely to have a color choice similar to the 24-inch iMac, plus it will feature an off-white bezel and a matching off-white keyboard instead of black.
But it may be disappointing that this "colorful" MacBook Air may still be equipped with the M1 chip. Previous rumors said that the machine will first adopt an upgraded M2 chip, equipped with 8 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores.
The above is enough to see that Uncle Ku's knife method is fierce, and there are always a few performance or functional differences in product positioning and price range.
That is to say, as of this autumn, Apple will complete all the self-developed chips in the Mac product line, laying the foundation for a deeper connection between iPad OS and mac OS in the future.
For professional users, if you or your company is engaged in video and image creation, a Mac Studio with M1 Ultra sold for 29999 yuan can help you save time and improve efficiency, and you or your company are in an ecosystem like Apple, then M1 Max or even M1 Ultra chip will be more suitable for you.
For most consumers, daily use, even ordinary video creation, coupled with cost-effective considerations, products equipped with M1 or M1 Pro are far more suitable for you than M1 Max and M1 Ultra in terms of price, lightness and suitability.