A MacBook Pro withM4 puckis, apparently, already in the works at Apple. The company nevertheless unveiled the MacBook Pro M3 at the end of last year, however this potential release rate fits with the Apple firm's habits in this area. We don't know how efficient the new processor will be, but it is not uncommon to see the manufacturer offer chips that are up to 30% faster than their predecessors. With this, rumors have suggested for several days now that the Neural Engine will be revisited. This engine with artificial intelligence on board could thus go from sixteen to thirty-two cores, information not confirmed by Apple.
No one yet knows the possible release date of this future MacBook Pro, but we know that Apple sometimes unveils laptops during its traditional Worldwide Developer Conference in June. However, this timetable is still too close, since our source of the day, namely Mark Gurman, estimates that the M4 MacBook Pros have only just begun their development. This is one of the first stages of the life cycle of the future model, which will later be followed by internal tests, then on a large scale, before finally mass production and sale in stores. In other words, don't expect to see the newcomers arriving anytime soon: not before the end of 2024 at least.
How are Apple chips designed?
Today, we know that Apple silicon chips for the Apple firm's laptops are designed using the “SoC“. In other words,system on chip. A design which consists of soldering the main components which make the machine run on a single printed circuit. From the M1 range to the M3, all Cupertino processors are assembled in this way. We thus find, on each chip, both:
- the CPU
- the GPU (graphics card)
- random access memory (RAM) modules
- internal storage memory
- le Neural Engine
When the models are ready for a future processor, Apple then sends the document to the teams at the Taiwanese company TSMC. It is then the latter which is responsible for engraving in mass the billions of transistors printed on each circuit, and capable of carrying out millions of operations per second. Finally, the material is transmitted to the factories of Foxconn and other subcontractors whose mission is to bring together all the parts of the iPhone (camera, processor, buttons, screens, etc.) within a single chassis. . Finally, head to the Apple Store.
Multiple configurations are available for MacBook Pros with the M3 chip generation
The most affordable MacBook Pro M3 today is the model with a fourteen-inch diagonal and an M3 chip, in its basic configuration with eight CPU cores and a sixteen-core Neural Engine. Still count on no less than 1,999 euros to treat yourself to the device, a figure to compare to the 1,599 euros ofFifteen-inch MacBook Airwhose performance is almost at the same level.
Apple also offers a MacBook Pro M3 with more than 16 inches diagonal, but its price is much higher. On the other hand, it is the only version in its collection which is entitled to both the M3 Max and M3 Ultra chips, but not to the M3 (less fast).
- The MacBook Pro M3 could soon get a successor, by the end of the year at the earliest
- Apple is preparing a necessarily more powerful processor, it is the M4
- The chip will not only embed the CPU and GPU, but also the RAM and the Neural Engine
