We are just a few hours away from Apple’s big MacBook Pro keynote address, but last-minute leaks are still filing in about the SoC that will power the laptops. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the more powerful follow-up to the M1 curiously won’t be called the M1X. Instead, it will allegedly carry M1 Pro and M1 Max designations depending on its GPU core configuration.
Rumors suggest that the new MacBook Pro’s SoC will feature 10 CPU cores (eight performance and two efficiency) and faster clock speeds than the existing M1. The default configuration (M1 Pro) would pair the 10 CPU cores with 16 GPU cores, while the high-end config (M1 Max) will marry 10 CPU cores with 32 GPU cores.
Another possibility is that Apple could use the M1X name for the base SoC and M1Z for the variant with the more powerful GPU. Apple previously adopted this strategy with the iPad Pro's A12X and its more powerful A12Z successor, which had an additional GPU core enabled.
While Pro and Max designations grace the MacBook, iPhone, and AirPods brands, this would be a first for Apple’s SoCs if this rumor is accurate. According to Gurman, references to M1 Pro and M1 Max were discovered in logs by developers. “I’m not saying Apple will take that direction with its actual marketing names, but that’s another—albeit more confusing—possibility,” Gurman explained.
According to previous rumors, the all-new MacBook Pros feature 14- or 16-inch displays with resolutions of 3024x1964 and 3456x2234, respectively. Those resolutions are rather odd for a MacBook display, but MacRumors reports that Apple will include a notch that houses the 1080p FaceTime HD camera, microphone, ambient light sensor and a status LED. The notch allegedly is 74 pixels tall, which, when subtracted from the vertical resolutions listed above, would give the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros a 16:10 aspect ratio (just like all current models).
Other rumors floating around concerning the 2021 MacBook Pro revamp include the return of the MagSafe power connector, up to 64GB of memory, a standard 512GB SSD, and mini LED technology for the display. Reports also suggest that Apple will finally remove the controversial OLED Touch Bar.
