With Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference coming up next month, Tim Cook and his team are ready to show us the new direction for the macOS platform in general and the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro specifically. No matter their decision, your decision should be to wait.
With the launch of Apple Silicon in late 2020, Apple changed expectations around desk-bound computing. The M1 chip powered the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, offering more processing power, cooler running temperatures, and improved battery life. Although the M1 chip has been uprated (with M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra all available), there is an expectation that Apple is ready to launch the M2.
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One of the key questions is not when the M2 arrives, but when the consumer devices running the M2 arrive. It’s likely that the first M2 devices – like the M1 – will be the MacBook Air and a base MacBook Pro. But when? Analysts have not agreed on. It could be one of those decisions that Tim Cook will make a few days before the keynote.
Assuming that the launch is at WWDC, buying a new MacBook ahead of that event is foolhardy at best. With much more information coming in the next few weeks, waiting to see what Apple will show is an obvious choice to make.
If the M2 is announced but not the hardware, then the options are a little bit more balanced. You’ll have a rough idea of what’s coming – improvements once more in power, battery life, and efficiency – and with Apple’s love of a regular product cycle, many will be looking at late October as the likely release date.
No matter what Tim Cook decides on the timing of the new MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, they are going to be launched. Are you ready to buy technology nearly two years old when the refreshed hardware is almost here?
Now read the latest Mac, iPhone, and iPod headlines in Forbes’ weekly Apple Loop column…
