We’ve finally made it into 2024, and if you’re of the Apple persuasion, it feels like there’s a huge amount to look forward to this year. Yet that’s not true for everything Apple makes — in fact, this could be an incredibly quiet 12 months for the Mac.
I recently wrote about how 2024 is going to be packed with major releases from Apple, yet among all the goodies that will be coming our way this year, there’s only one Mac announcement that I’d consider notable for fans of Apple’s computers. And even then, I’m talking about the MacBook Air getting the M3 chip, something the MacBook Pro got back in 2023.
So what gives? Why is 2024 likely to be such a dull year for Mac users? And is there really nothing on the horizon to look forward to in the world of Apple computing?
Essentially, this all boils down to one immense new product: the Vision Pro. Apple’s high-powered (and high-priced) headset is undoubtedly the company’s main focus, and it’s been siphoning resources away from everything else, the Mac included. You have to look at the lackluster software releases that were iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma to see that.
With the Vision Pro’s release date just around the corner — late January or early February are the current leading bets — Apple has been pouring its resources into the headset in a major way. Reports have indicated that the company has moved engineers away from a whole range of other products and onto the Vision Pro over the past year or so, and without people to work on new features, everything else inevitably suffers.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really looking forward to checking out the Vision Pro, but I’ll probably be watching from the sidelines rather than snapping up a $3,500 headset myself. I’d much rather get some solid upgrades to products I use every day, and I don’t think I’m alone there. I understand why Apple is going hell-for-leather on the Vision Pro — it’s going to be the biggest new Apple device in years — but that single-minded concentration is having a knock-on effect on things I care about a whole lot more.
Rumors have suggested Apple has a lot up its sleeve when it comes to the Mac — it’s just that most of it isn’t coming this year.
Look at the M4 chip, for example. This could bring massive changes to the Mac lineup, but it’s almost guaranteed to arrive in 2025 rather than 2024. Apple hasn’t even finished deploying its M3 series of chips — the MacBook Air is still on the M2, while the M3 Ultra is nowhere to be seen — never mind the M4. And speaking of the M3 Ultra, I wouldn’t be surprised if this also slips to next year, given how long it took for the M2 Ultra to launch after the M2.
While Apple released a new iMac in 2023, the long-rumored iMac Pro is probably destined for 2025 at the earliest. Mark Gurman – one of the most reliable Apple leakers around – doesn’t expect to see it this year.
Even the smaller things seem to be heading for a delay. Multiple reports have suggested Apple will switch out the mini-LED displays in the MacBook Pro and replace them with OLED panels, but that still seems to be some way off. For example, display industry expert Ross Young believes we could wait until 2026 or 2027 for the tech.
All that to say, most of the major updates we’ve been anticipating for months are likely to drag out beyond 2024. That’s disappointing, but with the Vision Pro looming on the horizon, I can’t say I’m surprised.
We know it won’t be an entirely empty 12 months for the Mac because every year Apple releases a new version of macOS. I have no idea what’s planned for 2024’s edition, but hopefully, there will be something to write home about when Apple debuts it in June. That itself is something to look forward to.
Going back to Mac hardware, there are a couple of new devices that might see the light of day soon. Apple first launched the Mac Studio in March 2022, then followed it up in June 2023 with an M2 Ultra version. That roughly 15-month cadence means we could see another version with the M3 Ultra towards the end of 2024.
Apple might also find a way to surprise us this year. For example, the Mac mini had to wait three years between its M1 and M2 versions, with the latest edition coming in June 2023. But who’s to say Apple won’t mix things up and shorten the time between releases with a new version this year?
I don’t believe there will be absolutely nothing worth shouting about this year when it comes to the Mac. If nothing else, we’ll get a new version of macOS and probably a MacBook Air upgrade, and for some people, that will be enough. But I can’t shake the uneasy feeling that this is going to be a pretty quiet 12 months — and maybe my wallet will thank me for that.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.