Updated Aug 18. Article originally posted Aug 16.
There’s no doubt that the hardware and software destined for Apple’s first ARM-powered MacBooks are impressive technical feats, but all of that will amount to nothing if Tim Cook and his team cannot sell the machine. Luckily, that’s one of Apple’s strengths. Let’s start at the top… what should the new Mac be called?
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 30: Tim Cook, CEO of Apple unveils a new MacBook Air during a launch event at ... [+]
August 16 update: Noted Apple commentator Komiya KJ on Twitter has gathered information on the release plan for Apple’s transition of the macOS platform from Intel to ARM.
“Transferring to Apple Silicon…"2020: MacBook, MacBook Pro 13-inch. 2021: iMac (partly), MacBook Pro 16-inch (partly). 2022: iMac Pro, Mac Pro, iMac (rest), MacBook Pro 16-inch (rest)."
Two points of note from this. The first is that the MacBook Air name is nowhere to be seen. The second is that the MacBook Pro name will remain in circulation with the 13-inch model making the jump to ARM. I’m curious to see how Apple will differentiate the ‘MacBook’ and the ‘MacBook Pro’, and just how much power the ARM processors can push out. Apple clearly think it’s enough to be worthy of the ‘Pro’ suffix.
Aug 18 update: Details on Apple’s new A14X Bionic chip have leaked. This processor is destined for the new iPad Pro, and is widely expected to power the first macOS on ARM hardware. Putting that into context is YouTuber Luke Miani:
"A14X performance extrapolated from leaked/suspected A14 info + average performance gains from previous X chips. Puts it around 7480 in Geekbench 5, nearly on par with an i9 9880H. This thing could be insane”
How that will translate into real world performance, and how close it matches the existing MacBook pro benchmarks, remains to be seen. It’s a promising sign that the ARM hardware will match the Intel hardware. The biggest question will be over software compatibility. There’s not much point having that much power if business critical applications cannot run on the new laptops.
MADRID, SPAIN - MAY 04: A customer is being helped by a staffer at the MacBook section in the Apple ... [+]
It’s unlikely Tim Cook’s Apple would ever send something to retail shelves called ‘The Apple MacBook Laptop (A14X Edition) Powered By MacOS On ARM’ (no I’m not looking at you, Redmond…) but it is likely that the team will be thinking carefully about the name for the debutant.
While the geekerati are going to get excited over the presumptively named A14X chip, Apple’s first ARM-based processor for the Mac platform, Apple’s real goal is to make the transition from Intel to ARM as smoothly as possible. The technical details of the new laptop are going to be mentioned in the background - instead benefits of using ARM will be the focus. the ideas of more power, better battery life, thinner design, and a lighter laptop, will be the focus.
ARM is all about benefits to the Mac platform. Apple will not want the general public to worry about app compatibility or any of the headaches that are clear to those following the details of the story.
But there still needs to be something that suggests this is a new approach to the MacBook, something fresh and revolutionary that people should get involuted with.
For me that rules out using ‘MacBook Air’. When it launched ‘AIr’ stood for something as it brought an ultraportable and lightweight laptop to the range. over time the original meaning of the Air has been lost - to the point that Air now means ‘slightly lower specs than the MacBook Pro’, because there’s not a huge amount of physical differences between the 13-inch Pro and the Air. Using MacBook Air for the new ARM-powered MacBook is going to remove any value from the suffix.
It’s probably best to rule out ‘MacBook Pro’, at least for the first ARM machine. While the initial benchmarks for Apple’s ARM-based Developer Transition Kit are strong, nobody is expecting the first ARM-powered MacBook to rival the outright performance of the MacBook Pro. It’s likely to follow in the future, but the new laptop is trading in ‘small and portable’ not ‘grunt and graphics’.
(Of course if Komiya’s schedule is on the nose, there will be a new MacBook Pro running the ARM processor. This... intrigues me).
It’s also worth remembering that the existing Intel-powered MacBook Air and MacBook Pro machines are not going to suddenly disappear. They will remain on sale, they will stay in circulation many years, and there needs to be a clear line between this generation and the next generation.
Apple has been here before, with a new concept to launch with both the ‘Air’ and ‘Pro’ designations in use. Launched in March 2015, the 12-inch MacBook targeted the premium space between the Air and thePro. It was kept small and light, it had a fan-less design, and it was pushed as a highly portable laptop for day-to-day work. Sounds familiar?
The MacBook Air is too old and has lost its totemic brilliance. The aura of the MacBook Pro is not a comfortable fit with what is currently expected from Apple.
How about ‘MacBook’?
Now read more about the impact of the ARM-powered MacBook on Google’s Chromebook project…
