Did Apple admit the cannibalization of the Mac Pro by the M1 Max/Pro laptops? Well, it sounds like they did. According to an Apple senior executive: “The Mac Pro with the Afterburner card is left in the dust by the M1Pro and M1 Max”. That means professional editors should be focused on getting an M1 Max chip instead of buying the ultra-expensive desktop beast. Read the interview’s highlights below.
Apple’s VPs talk about the born of the M1 Max/Pro MacBook Pro
Not every day you own the privilege to listen to Apple’s senior executives talking about the company’s most intriguing product: The new MacBook Pros (MBPs for short). RelayFm has interviewed Tom Boger who is Apple VP of Mac and iPad Product Marketing, and Tim Millet who is the VP of Platform Architecture at Apple, to discuss Apple’s chip-design philosophy and how it factored into the company’s first high-end Mac chips, the M1 Pro and M1 Max. The conversation is ultra fascinating. We serve you the most relevant details below:
MBP M1 Pro and M1 Max are the real proof that Apple has started to listen to the professionals.
M1 Pro and M1 Max were developed on the foundation of the M1
Apple executives state that the groundwork for the new chips was laid by the invention of the M1 which was developed for over a decade. The continuation to the M1 Max and M1 Pro lineup was a fairly complex process since the new chips are significantly more sophisticated than the original M1. They repeat and emphasize that the first Apple Silicon has been established on the mobile architecture and concept. However, the M1 Max and M1 Pro are based on the M1 R&D’s knowledge accumulation.
The groundwork for the new chips was laid by the invention of the M1 which was developed for over a decade.
Apple
Apple really (and finally) has listened to the pros
When developing the new MBPs, Apple’s engineers asked themselves repeatedly about the needed workflow that matters for professionals, and their goals, in order to target the pro-market accurately. In fact, the M1 was the entrance, the appetizer. The M1 Pro, however, is the real deal, according to Apple.
The M1 was the entrance, the appetizer. The M1 Pro, however, is the real deal.
Creating the world’s best pro laptops
Apple VP of Mac and iPad Product Marketing states that the company was determined to create the world’s best pro laptops. Thus, when designing the M1 Max and M1 Pro, Apple’s engineers were asking the questions that the professional asks (mainly pro editors), and tried to grant particular solutions for them.
We made mega efforts on developing the M1 Pro and M1 Max. That’s not just implementing a smartphone chip into a computer, but much more than that.
Apple
Utilizing a special team of professionals
The executives elaborated that Apple has assembled a Pro-Workflow Team. That team consists of people of world-winning content creators, and this is the team that pushed the development and motivation for inventing these master chips. The executives emphasize that until now, the industry professionals needed a spec out Mac Pro, but now, they can do their heavy tasks on a laptop. “Those users rely on our Macs, and their salaries depend on it” as stated in the interview. That’s one of the reasons that Apple boosted its R&D to be focused on the professional market, especially on advanced content creators. “We made mega efforts on developing the M1 Pro and M1 Max. That’s not just implementing a smartphone chip into a computer, but much more than that” they said.
Apple has assembled a Pro-Workflow Team. That team consists of people of world-winning content creators, and this is the team that pushed the development and motivation for inventing these master chips.
Apple
Leave the Afterburner (and the Mac Pro) on the shelf
We wrote numerous articles about Apple’s Afterburner, which was built especially for the Mac Pro and that was specifically designed to accelerate the ProRes codec. The Afterburner is an example of building a product that answers a very specific question, and/or addresses a very specific professional demand. However, spec-wise, the new MacBook Pros are more powerful for 8K editing than the Mac Pro armed with the Afterburner. Indeed, Apple senior executives admit that the Mac Pro with the Afterburner card is left in the dust by the M1 Pro and M1 Max. The unified systems/chip breaks all the bottlenecks, the executives confirmed.
The Mac Pro with the Afterburner card is left in the dust by the M1 Pro and M1 Max.
Apple
Battery life is the key
In the interview, Apple’s VPs say that color grading 8K ProRes 4444 HDR video on battery, is possible only on unified architecture implemented on the M1 Pro and M1 Max, and It was not possible before on laptop (battery). Furthermore, they added that efficiency is the key, and battery life is one of the most important factors that contributed to the development roadmap of the M1 Max and M1 Pro. Indeed, battery life and efficiency of power consumption, are the secret sauce of the new MBPs, which constitute as the major advantage when compared to other competitive beasts, like the NVIDIA RTX Studios (read: What’re the Ideal Laptops for Video Editors: RTX Studios or Apple M1 Max?)
Efficiency is the key, and battery life is one of the most important factors that contributed to the development roadmap of the M1 Max and M1 Pro
Final thoughts
MBP M1 Pro and M1 Max are the real proof that Apple has started to listen to the professionals. This interview strengthens the hypothesis that Apple’s newest laptops are more powerful for content creators, filmmakers, colorists, and editors than the mighty Mac Pro + Afterburner. This statement is truly amazing by itself, and thus can be interpreted as cannibalization of the Mac Pro by the M1 Pro/Max laptops. Nevertheless, don’t be worried, as according to Bloomberg, the upcoming Mac Pro will be armed with 2X and 4X the number of CPU and GPU cores as the M1 Max. That’s up to 40 CPU cores and 128 GPU cores on the high-end. So rest assured. Your multiple 12K RAW streams timeline will be encoded-decoded buttery-smooth on that future mighty desktop machine.
Product List
Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- Apple 14.2″ MacBook Pro with M1 Pro Chip
- Apple 16.2″ MacBook Pro with M1 Pro Chip
- Apple 16.2″ MacBook Pro with M1 Max Chip
