Comparing the new 13" MacBook Pro with the previous one that's a regression in every aspect as the Intel-based ones allow up to 32GB RAM and 4TB storage and offer 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports.
In other words, M1 is for the majority of consumers.
- power efficiency
- 16GB RAM
- 2TB storage
- 2 Thunderbolt/USB4
Tim said at the beginning that 50% of Mac buyers were buying their first Mac. Apple’s quarter that just concluded at the end of Oct was massive for the Mac. $7.1B which is a 22% YoY growth. And 50% of those macs went to first time Mac buyers. That is insane growth in new users for a 36 year old product
My guess is that they'll introduce one other ARM-based chip for Macs in 2021, targeted at all remaining Macs (except for the Mac Pro). I believe the differences in performance can be achieved with a single chip simply by binning and different power envelopes.
I expect (or rather I hope) that chip then supports at least 64GB of memory, 8TB of NVMe storage and 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports.
The 4 port 13" MBP will most likely get upgraded early next year and also support more RAM. Apple did announce the transition will take them two years, not sure why people are surprised that their high end hardware is not updated yet on day one.
Think about it. If you want to introduce a new architecture, you can sell a bunch of entry-level devices to pandemic-constrained consumers during the holiday season. Their take-up of the product will spur development and flesh out the software ecosystem for Apple Silicon devices.
Once you cultivate the software ecosystem, more advanced users (professionals with very specific needs) can migrate toward the new architecture.
They're basically using Christmas to slingshot the new chip into the mainstream.
I assume there will be a “four ports“ Apple Silicon version down the road.