13-Inch MacBook Pro Said to Remain in Apple's Lineup With New Model Planned

[MacRumors]

While the 13-inch MacBook Pro has an outdated design from 2016, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today reported that the laptop will remain part of Apple's lineup, with an updated model said to be in the works alongside other new Macs.

The report does not offer any additional details about the next 13-inch MacBook Pro, so it remains to be seen if the laptop will receive any external design changes, or if it will remain the last new Mac that Apple sells with the Touch Bar. Apple last updated the machine at WWDC last June with the M2 chip and support for high-impedance headphones.

A previous report indicated that the next 13-inch MacBook Pro will be powered by Apple's M3 chip, which the company has yet to announce. It's unclear when the laptop would launch, but a release later this year is likely at this point.

Gurman said Apple is also working on a larger 15-inch MacBook Air with a processor equivalent to the M2 chip, an updated 13-inch MacBook Air, a new 24-inch iMac, and a Mac Pro tower powered by Apple silicon. Last, he expects updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips to be released in the first half of 2024.

Article Link: 13-Inch MacBook Pro Said to Remain in Apple's Lineup With New Model Planned

 

[topgunn]

I think it is time to drop the "Pro" moniker on this bad boy.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Agreed! Apple should drop the "Pro" naming and just call it MacBook (Keep it simple). I'm also very happy Touch Bar is also here to stay.

 

[Capeto]

I think it is time to drop the "Pro" moniker on this bad boy.

Yeah, if anything this feels like a MacBook "Air Pro"– same specs except with a fan for cooling for prolonged loads plus the Touch Bar.

 

[dannyyankou]

Personally, if I were Apple I'd drop the 13 inch MacBook Pro and drop the "air" from MacBook Air. It would clean up the lineup and branding I think.

 

[GizmoDVD]

I still love the Touch Bar when you use BetterTouchTool with it.

 

[Capeto]

Agreed! Apple should drop the "Pro" naming and just call it MacBook. I'm also very happy Touch Bar is also here to stay.

I was thinking about this but I feel like it wouldn't make much sense for this to be the MacBook and the larger upcoming 15-inch one to be a MacBook Air

 

[RaoulDuke42]

The only way I can see this making sense is if they’re bringing back a two pound laptop like the 2015 MacBook, but now with Pro specs. That’d be neat. The M2 13” Pro is already a strange machine in the line up, but maybe there’s a larger audience for the Touch Bar than I think. I’ve had one for a couple of years now, and never warmed up to it.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Give me the Touch Bar back on more models, make it an option

 

[CWallace]

I'm with Jason Snell that this model sells mostly to corporate / enterprise customers* who need an "inexpensive" laptop and therefore Apple keeps it as a MacBook Pro because IT shops mostly buy MacBook Pro models (of all sizes). So Apple is very likely shifting a fair number of them at fairly nice margins so they have no reason to drop it or rename it.


* - I would expect sales to consumers and prosumers are in the single-digits as they are buying MacBook Airs or the 14"/16" MacBook Pros.

 

[2ilent8cho]

The M1/M2 Pro, and M1 MacBook Air look much better than the current ugly notch Mac's. I wish the 16" M2 looked like my 2019 MacBook Pro 16". The chips may have got better, but Apple's design team seem to have become blind.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

If they got rid of the Touch Bar and fan, put in an M3 and kept everything else literally the same, same 720P camera, same thick top bezel, etc, they could use this thicker heavier design as a MacBook SE to replace the aging M1 Air.
Dumping the Touch Bar should absolutely save them quite a bit of money.
But personally, I would much rather them totally drop this one from the line entirely, I don’t understand why anyone would purchase it over an Air.
The fan does not add that much value, especially when the air already has a better screen, better WebCam, better charging port and its also slightly more portable.

 

[karranz]

I’m a profesional developer working on machine learning, I never had an issue with the 2016 MacBook Pro. It was an amazing machine beautifully designed, Touch Bar was cool but never lived to what could have been. I have been to
Apple stores at least 3 times trying to buy the new design, it was impossible. Ugly form factor, thicker, fatter, notch ridden, cheap looking keyboard and worst of all, with legacy ports that I never ever missed. For me it’s impossible to buy a new machine with a hdmi port (wtf!) or a sd card slot (wtf!x10000). What the **** this guys were thinking? those technologies were done 20 years ago, anyone that “needs” them is an old dino. Sorry Apple I can’t buy your old tech, I guess you are going to put back usb ports and diskettes because someone out there “needs” them, but that’s not me. I’m staying with my machine which has an amazing design and has performed perfectly at profesional level since 2017.

 

[Lakersfan74]

A 13” 16/512 model for $1400 with an updated chassis would be nice. 2K starting price for the 14” is out of range for a lot of people.

 

[Duke24]

Personally, if I were Apple I'd drop the 13 inch MacBook Pro and drop the "air" from MacBook Air. It would clean up the lineup and branding I think.

If they drop the 13 inch model,I already see people complaining that they miss the 13 inch model and how it fit their everyday lives and when is Apple going to bring it back. 😂

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Ughhhhhhhhhh...I get why they keep it. Gotta have a "Macbook" model but not call it the Macbook because the Pro name sells a lot more units...but gooooooood this machine is so pointless. The design is absolutely outdated and terrible and the laptop is the odd one out in the Apple Silicon lineup. I wouldn't be mad if it was just called the Macbook but noooooooo

Can't we just a Macbook SE instead? We could use a Macbook under $1000 to kill those really bad cheap Windows laptops once and for all.

 

[ricketysquire]

Macbook Mini Feat. Touch Bar that no one uses anymore Edition (tm)

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Macbook Mini Feat. Touch Bar that no one uses anymore Edition (tm)

I call the 13 inch the Memebook Pro because, well, that's what it is, a meme. I have...no idea...what purpose this laptop serves. I mean...it has an actual heatsink and...hey it has the touch bar...but that's it! When you spec it out, you might as well just get a 14 inch Macbook Pro at that point.

 

[sw1tcher]

Touch Bar lovers can now breathe a sigh of relief

 

[nelloismello]

If they could replace the touch bar with proper function keys then this would be a decent entry pro machine.

Now for my hot take, I still love the butterfly keyboard.

 

[eulslix]

I’m a profesional developer working on machine learning, I never had an issue with the 2016 MacBook Pro...

Stopped reading right there... you might be a developer, but definitely not a professional one, because if you indeed were earning your money this way, you wouldn't wanna piss off your clients, who mostly just don't have any USB-C connectors for their TVs or projectors. I mean, you can pass on "such people", but again, then you're definitely not money oriented, hence not professional...

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

If they could replace the touch bar with proper function keys then this would be a decent entry pro machine.

We already have a decent entry pro machine: The base spec 14 inch Macbook Pro. It goes on sale for $1500 a lot, and the Apple Refurbished Store constantly gets M1 Pro models for $1500.

The 13 inch Macbook Pro exists for college kids who don't know any better to think they have a pro level computer. That's the sole reason it's called a Macbook "Pro" because the pro name sells. Once you start speccing it out for more RAM and storage, it costs more than a 14 inch Macbook Pro, but with a worse display, worse speakers, worse webcam, and a lot less ports.

Now for my hot take, I still love the butterfly keyboard.

Cancelled. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

 

[sw1tcher]

Ughhhhhhhhhh...I get why they keep it. Gotta have a "Macbook" model but not call it the Macbook because the Pro name sells a lot more units...but gooooooood this machine is so pointless. The design is absolutely outdated and terrible and the laptop is the odd one out in the Apple Silicon lineup. I wouldn't be mad if it was just called the Macbook but noooooooo

Can't we just a Macbook SE instead? We could use a Macbook under $1000 to kill those really bad cheap Windows laptops once and for all.

There's already a MacBook under $1000.

The 13" MBA M1 is $999 or $899 at Apple's education store, and it often goes on sale for $799 at Amazon, Best Buy, and other places. Even at $799, you're not going to get those $500 and under buyers. Not when they can pick up a 16" laptop for $450 with

• 16" 1920x1200 WVA IPS Touchscreen
• AMD Ryzen 5 5625U 6C/12T 2.3 GHz Processor
• AMD Vega 7 Graphics
• 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 3200 MHz Memory
• 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive

and for about $25 more, you can upgrade it to 16GB memory.

 

[rappr]

The design may be old, but it looks wayyyy better than the current MacBook Pros. The only thing the 13 inch model "needs" is a bezel reduction.

 

[nph]

Yes, I really hope they keep the Touch Bar for those of us who likes it and actually use it!