Marco Arment

Yeah, so if you've got an M2 Ultra and you bought it back when it was new, there are still some things that it does better. But it has been handily surpassed by the mid-tier laptop chip in single and multi-core performance. That is just, I really hope this whole thing with the Pro series is just an anomaly.

Yeah, so if you've got an M2 Ultra and you bought it back when it was new, there are still some things that it does better. But it has been handily surpassed by the mid-tier laptop chip in single and multi-core performance. That is just, I really hope this whole thing with the Pro series is just an anomaly.

They don't plan on doing this because you can't release a bunch of Pro products, never change the price, and then not update them for two years. Otherwise, you're going to get embarrassing things like this. I mean, if they just keep up with this pace, the phone chips will be faster in every measure as well.

They don't plan on doing this because you can't release a bunch of Pro products, never change the price, and then not update them for two years. Otherwise, you're going to get embarrassing things like this. I mean, if they just keep up with this pace, the phone chips will be faster in every measure as well.

But it's a great time to buy a Mac, and it's not a great time to want to buy one of the desktop Pro Macs because they have fallen behind.

But it's a great time to buy a Mac, and it's not a great time to want to buy one of the desktop Pro Macs because they have fallen behind.

There are rumors to that effect. And the main rumor that we talked about before is about the... The reason I mention this now is because I hope we'll find this out by next episode. Someone needs to get an M4 Max and cut the thing open and show us what the die looks like. Because remember on the M3 Max, someone did that and they said, hey, look, there's no interposer.

There are rumors to that effect. And the main rumor that we talked about before is about the... The reason I mention this now is because I hope we'll find this out by next episode. Someone needs to get an M4 Max and cut the thing open and show us what the die looks like. Because remember on the M3 Max, someone did that and they said, hey, look, there's no interposer.

You can't take two M3 Max and stick them end to end and make an M3 Ultra. uh and that seems like it was true because apple never did make an m3 ultra and maybe it's because they never planned to and they didn't put that interposer on the m3 max and you can't stick to them end to end so when someone gets an m4 max they need to cut that sucker open and say hey

You can't take two M3 Max and stick them end to end and make an M3 Ultra. uh and that seems like it was true because apple never did make an m3 ultra and maybe it's because they never planned to and they didn't put that interposer on the m3 max and you can't stick to them end to end so when someone gets an m4 max they need to cut that sucker open and say hey

Is there that little strip in the bottom that looks like the silicon interposer where they take two Maxes and stick them together end-to-end? Because if that's not there, what that means is either Apple's never going to make another chip better than the Max, or when the M4 Ultra or whatever comes out, it won't be two Maxes stuck together.

Is there that little strip in the bottom that looks like the silicon interposer where they take two Maxes and stick them together end-to-end? Because if that's not there, what that means is either Apple's never going to make another chip better than the Max, or when the M4 Ultra or whatever comes out, it won't be two Maxes stuck together.

But as the rumors suggest, it might be an entirely new chip that is just simply... even bigger than the Max, but it is not made up of two Maxes. And that would be smart, because as we've discussed in the past, putting two Maxes together, you end up with a lot of wasted stuff that you don't need doubles of, right? You don't need doubles of all the media encoders and all the other stuff.

But as the rumors suggest, it might be an entirely new chip that is just simply... even bigger than the Max, but it is not made up of two Maxes. And that would be smart, because as we've discussed in the past, putting two Maxes together, you end up with a lot of wasted stuff that you don't need doubles of, right? You don't need doubles of all the media encoders and all the other stuff.

It's more efficient to make one big honking chip More expensive. Much more expensive, potentially. But more efficient in terms of bang for your buck out of the... Not bang for your buck. Bang for your square meters out of the silicon area. For your buck, it's probably worse. Because the bigger you make the chip, the more expensive it is to get one out that works. So I'm looking forward to that.

It's more efficient to make one big honking chip More expensive. Much more expensive, potentially. But more efficient in terms of bang for your buck out of the... Not bang for your buck. Bang for your square meters out of the silicon area. For your buck, it's probably worse. Because the bigger you make the chip, the more expensive it is to get one out that works. So I'm looking forward to that.

As soon as someone cuts one of these open, we'll know if we're in for a surprise. But if someone sees an interposer, eh, it's just two M4 Maxes stuck together. Which, to be clear, would be great, but boring.

As soon as someone cuts one of these open, we'll know if we're in for a surprise. But if someone sees an interposer, eh, it's just two M4 Maxes stuck together. Which, to be clear, would be great, but boring.

Yeah, I give that a pass. I mean, like, it's amazing that they went back and updated the M2 Air in addition to the M3 Air to be 16. They could have updated neither of them and just waited for the M4 Air in the spring to go to 16, but it said they went back two whole product lines. They just didn't go back to the M1 and upgrade it, which is fine, right? No problem with that whatsoever.

Yeah, I give that a pass. I mean, like, it's amazing that they went back and updated the M2 Air in addition to the M3 Air to be 16. They could have updated neither of them and just waited for the M4 Air in the spring to go to 16, but it said they went back two whole product lines. They just didn't go back to the M1 and upgrade it, which is fine, right? No problem with that whatsoever.