New product announcements

[Cmaier]

This morning Apple announced new M3 MacBook Air’s, available for order immediately. Now supporting multiple external monitors.

I’m hoping they announce new iPad Pros this week - my M1 iPad Pro stopped reliably charging last week - the USB-C port appears to be wonky. I’m delaying bringing it to the Genius Bar until after they put the rumored new iPads on sale. Really looking forward to the camera moving to the long edge, if the rumors are true.

 

[Herdfan]

I’m hoping they announce new iPad Pros this week -

Or a new mini.

 

[rdrr]

What do people here think about the specs of the new Air?

 

[Cmaier]

I guess the new MBA only supports two monitors in clamshell mode.

How to use two monitors with MacBook Air with M3 processor

The new MacBook Air with M3 processor supports two external monitors — when the lid is closed. Here's what to expect when using Clamshell mode.

appleinsider.com

Meanwhile, I finally got around to updating my M1 MBP to the latest bug fix release of Sonoma, and it wouldn’t boot after the update completed. Tried a few times. Ended up making a Genius Bar appointment for that and for the ipad. But then I decided to try and remove the SD card I keep permanently installed in the mac (for carbon copy closer backups) and then it booted. So Genius Bar cancelled. Fun times.

 

[Cmaier]

What do people here think about the specs of the new Air?

16GB standard?

 

[rdrr]

16GB standard?

Hardware​

• Apple M3 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
• 24GB unified memory
• 512GB SSD storage
• 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone²
• 1080p FaceTime HD camera
• MagSafe 3 charging port
• Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
• 70W USB-C Power Adapter
• Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - US English
• Accessory Kit

Don't need much on the local drive as I have a 2 TB iCloud family plan, and 1 TB Google Drive family plan, plus a never used Verizon FiOS 2 TB cloud drive (came with internet package).

 

[dada_dave]

I guess the new MBA only supports two monitors in clamshell mode.

@theorist9 made a rather accurate prediction/assesment about this

M3 Die Shot suggests display engines take up nearly the same area as P-cores

In fact, Apple doesn't even need to add an additional display controller to the base chip. They could just allow the controller for the built-in display to instead be used to drive an external monitor. Based on the specs of the M2 Mini (where they do essentally that, since there is no...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[exoticspice1]

There is now a standard 16GB config. thats good as stores should offer discounts later on that model

 

[thenewperson]

There is now a standard 16GB config. thats good as stores should offer discounts later on that model

I wonder if they’ll add that for the 14” M3. 16/512 would have been better than 8/1TB on that tbh.

 

[Edd]

I'm ready to buy a new iPad (Air) and a new iPhone but It doesn't look like a phone is happening for me. I want whatever the SE4 is going to be but I guess they're changing the release cycle for that model again. I'm open minded about a different model but I need something small, big phones just aren't for me.

 

[dada_dave]

There is now a standard 16GB config. thats good as stores should offer discounts later on that model

In a post that straddles this thread and @Jimmyjames’ M4 thread, I do wonder if this workaround for external displays with the base M3 Air and the 16GB RAM as a standard model heralds possible changes for the M4. Maybe I’m just being overly optimistic.

 

[theorist9]

@theorist9 made a rather accurate prediction/assesment about this

M3 Die Shot suggests display engines take up nearly the same area as P-cores

In fact, Apple doesn't even need to add an additional display controller to the base chip. They could just allow the controller for the built-in display to instead be used to drive an external monitor. Based on the specs of the M2 Mini (where they do essentally that, since there is no...

forums.macrumors.com

It was funny that they announced the M3 Airs a day after I posted that!

 

[ArgoDuck]

It was funny that they announced the M3 Airs a day after I posted that!

In that case, please continue to make posts like these!

 

[jbailey]

Just ordered. Midnight 13” 24 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD. New stuff:
M3 (duh) (ray tracing new & mesh shaders)
Support 2 external displays (clamshell only)
Midnight anodization seal
WiFi 6E
AV1 decode

Arrives around March 20th.

 

[Andropov]

It was funny that they announced the M3 Airs a day after I posted that!

In that case, please continue to make posts like these!

Any thoughts on the display controller of the iPad Air in particular?

 

[dada_dave]

Hector Martin on the external display change: posits it could be backported to all the M2s and current M3 laptops as it is a firmware update. So all of the Apple laptops post-M1 could support an extra display in clamshell mode. How far Apple will extend this capability is unknown. He doesn’t believe that upcoming base Mx chips will increase the number of display controllers for the foreseeable future given the size of the controllers. The technical details are interesting.

Hector Martin (@marcan@treehouse.systems)

So the M3 can now drive 2 external displays on laptops with the lid closed... except that's not new! Apple introduced this capability into the M2 already. It's why the M2 *Mac Mini* supports two displays over Type C/Thunderbolt, while the original M1 Mac Mini does not, and requires one display...

social.treehouse.systems

 

[Cmaier]

More good news:

Apple uses two flash chips instead of one for M3 MacBook Air storage

Apple has finally fixed its SSD speeds in the entry-level model of M3 MacBook Air, with it now using two flash chips in parallel instead of just one.

appleinsider.com

 

[Jimmyjames]

More good news:

Apple uses two flash chips instead of one for M3 MacBook Air storage

Apple has finally fixed its SSD speeds in the entry-level model of M3 MacBook Air, with it now using two flash chips in parallel instead of just one.

appleinsider.com

Maxtech are taking credit for this. Yes…Maxtech think it’s their videos that persuaded Apple.

 

[jbailey]

Maxtech are taking credit for this. Yes…Maxtech think it’s their videos that persuaded Apple.

It’s almost certainly because the price of NAND has been going up and now 128GB is cheaper again. But Maxtech

 

[Jimmyjames]

It’s almost certainly because the price of NAND has been going up and now 128GB is cheaper again. But Maxtech

I tried to communicate this and was put in my place. It must be Maxtech. Look at all the comments they got!