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I was speaking to the owner of a video production company recently. He’s excitedly awaiting the arrival of his brand-new Mac Studio.
“It feels like Apple made this computer for us,” he said, enthusiastically. It’s what his business had been crying out for, he told me.
All he needs to do now is sell his Mac Pro.
We’re living in interesting times. Apple has gone from iPhone- and design-obsessed to pro-focused. They’ve answered their critics; as it turns out, they do care about the Mac (deeply), and they want to build computers that don’t place form before function.
But there’s a problem with their current strategy, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
Remembering the Trash Can
That was a laugh, wasn’t it?
I think everyone can accept that the ‘trash can’ Mac Pro was an unmitigated disaster. Quite why Apple designed it in that way is anyone’s guess. Maybe it was arrogance. Perhaps they genuinely thought they were onto something. Perhaps an internal disagreement led to someone throwing their toys out of the pram. We’ll never know.
Regardless of what happened, that Mac Pro was entirely the wrong direction for Apple’s professional computing category, and it created something of a domino effect. Following the launch of the ill-fated cylindrical Mac Pro, we were ‘treated’ to a MacBook Pro with poor thermal efficiency, a lack of ports, and the dreadful butterfly keyboard.
The Mac mini was treated even worse. The tiny desktop Mac that provided both a cost-effective route into the world of macOS and scalable server duties was given the coldest of shoulders; its fate seemingly sealed.
Apple had lost its way in the professional market.
Then, it all changed.
Hello, new MacBook Pro!
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are a return to form for Apple. Packing more power than most people need, they’re basically great, big, chunky apologies from Apple.
More ports, a thicker case, and unhindered power thanks to those M1 Pro and M1 Max chips signalled a new era for professionals of the Apple persuasion.
Similarly, the Mac mini’s resurgence following the launch of the M1 chip is a sight to behold. For small businesses, bedroom tinkerers, and freelancers, it’s a dream (despite that ageing design and those lingering Bluetooth issues).
So, Apple does care about professionals, right?
Clearly. But there’s a problem.
How much more power do we need?
Apple is showering high-end professionals with gifts at the moment. If you thought the M1 Pro and M1 Max were powerful, wait until you get a load of the M1 Ultra.
It’s the ultimate flex. Apple planned this all along. The ability to ‘glue’ two M1 Max chips together to create a chip that obliterates their own top-end computer and consigns their largest and most powerful iMac to the legacy bin is impressive stuff.
They’re not finished, either. During the ‘Peek performance’ event earlier this month, we were informed that the final transition to Apple silicon would take place later this year during an update to the Mac Pro.
Hold your horses. Keep a hold of those trousers. Steady on, Tim.
How much more power do we need?
I’ve taken a bit of stick for suggesting that ‘no one’ needs the power offered by the M1 Ultra. My sense of humour is clearly lost on those people (my mum told me a million times not to exaggerate, I guess), but I do wonder how small the market is for 800Gbps of memory bandwidth and 22 trillion neural operations per second.
An M1 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio can play back up to 18 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video. No one has enough eyes for that (and you cannot argue with me on that one).
This is all wonderfully impressive. But we have now officially entered the realm of the Tech Pissing Contest. The quicker these chips get, the less most normal folks give a toss.
They just want what they want. Now.
The gaping hole
I’ve spoken about the gaping hole in Apple’s strategy before. It is now a gaping chasm that occupies the space between the M1 line of Macs and the new Mac Studio.
That space could be filled by two machines:
- an M1 Pro- and M1 Max-powered Mac mini; and
- an M1 Pro- and M1 Max-powered big-screen iMac.
Apple is clearly pushing those who want the big screen iMac down the path of modularity with the Studio Display, but they haven’t given us the mid-range Mac to which it can be attached.
That Mac would suit a huge audience. It’d be for the home users who have the budget and desire for lots of power, the semi-professionals who need it for their profitable side hustle, and the professionals who have nor the budget nor the requirement for the Mac Studio.
I’m delighted for my video production company buddy. There are plenty of people like him for whom the Mac Studio and Studio Display are a dream release. But I think Apple has gone too far in the “we still love pros” direction.
They’ve already proven their desire to keep professionals happy. We get it, Tim. Message received. The problem is that the line of diminishing returns has now well and truly been passed.
Let’s do something about the midrange, shall we?
