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

[Zorori]

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 is impossible to buy a new machine with a hdmi port (wtf!) or a sd card slot (wtf!x10000) what the **** this guys are 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.

Couldn’t agree more

I use my M1 Air over a provided MBP as it is a brick… and the only ports that ever get used are USB-C

HDMI is pointless. And if you find yourself in an office of dinosaurs: It’s called a USB-C to HMDI cable

You’d probably need an ethernet in that scenario too…

 

[mielie]

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 The design is absolutely outdated and terrible and the laptop is the odd one out in the Apple Silicon lineup.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.

I think thats subjective. I find the design of the new MacBook Pro more outdated than this model. The new MacBook Pro has outdated ports for example. I've used every version of the 13" MacBook Pro as my work machine. The Touch Bar is the game changer for me, in my company we have several custom applications that leverage it really well. Often find myself undocking just so I can open the thing up and use the Touch Bar!! I will always opt for a Touch Bar enabled Mac if available, so continuing this model is a win for me.

My wife uses an M1 Pro 14" for work and sitting these two side by side the 13" wins hands down. Much cleaner design, appears thinner because of the tapered edges, no horrible notch, the sides of the 14" look untidy due to lots of different size/shape ports, and I dislike the black background to the keyboard area on the 14". And no Touch Bar!! What were Apple thinking. In fact she also has a 13" M1 that is for personal use and even she says that she prefers it.

I only find the fan kicking in when I'm building large projects in Xcode, other than that the performance of the 13" is more than adequate for coding, web/iOS development.

Apple won't be continuing this model if there isn't demand. If you don't like it then don't buy it! And why change the name of a product just because something new has come out, that does seem crazy to me.

 

[boak]

They must have an extraordinary amount of spare parts for this thing laying around, or the existing assembly lines to create this must be dirt cheap at this point.

Talk about milking it for all its worth!

There is no other reason for this 7 year old machine to still exist.

It’s the latter. Apple doesn’t stock parts. I bet this machine has the second highest profit margin. The highest being the M1 MBA.

 

[mielie]

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...

Chalk me up as another professional developer. Not in machine learning, more web app based and some fluid dynamic stuff in C++. I'm guessing you must be a professional developer as well otherwise you wouldn't have replied in such a critical way. Maybe you are also involved in business development and face to face stuff with clients, but personally I just need to be able to pull and push stuff off the company repository and obviously write/review code, I've never had to plug my laptop into a customers projector!

The majority of standups, meetings, etc we do are now Zoom based, and from what I've seen when we do interact with customers it's also using Zoom and screen sharing. I've used my MacBook with other people's projectors in a non-professional capacity and found that the HDMI dongle from Apple works just fine, so not really sure how you can assert that a developer isn't professional because they can't directly plug their laptop into a projector when its hardly the definitive requirement of a 'professional developer' and there is a dongle for it anyway.

 

[Manzanito]

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.

I don’t know about dropping the air from the name, it’s a household name.

 

[karranz]

Chalk me up as another professional developer. Not in machine learning, more web app based and some fluid dynamic stuff in C++. I'm guessing you must be a professional developer as well otherwise you wouldn't have replied in such a critical way. Maybe you are also involved in business development and face to face stuff with clients, but personally I just need to be able to pull and push stuff off the company repository and obviously write/review code, I've never had to plug my laptop into a customers projector!

The majority of standups, meetings, etc we do are now Zoom based, and from what I've seen when we do interact with customers it's also using Zoom and screen sharing. I've used my MacBook with other people's projectors in a non-professional capacity and found that the HDMI dongle from Apple works just fine, so not really sure how you can assert that a developer isn't professional because they can't directly plug their laptop into a projector when its hardly the definitive requirement of a 'professional developer' and there is a dongle for it anyway.

I have the hdmi dongle and have used it 2 or 3 times, I do presentations all the time

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

And for those that recognize that F keys were introduced 40 or 50 years ago and that is nonsense having them nowadays

 

[wanha]

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

The biggest problem with the Touch Bar is that it increased the BOM (bill of materials) substantially without contributing enough value to be worth the additional $200 price.

 

[wanha]

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.

I'd imagine you're in a small minority with that aesthetics evaluation. Not saying you're wrong, just that the majority probably don't see it that way.

 

[Populus]

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

The only gripe I had with the TouchBar was the lack of proper dedicated buttons for volume and brightness. And the escape ley of course.

I think that, if Apple had kept the physical function keys row, and added the TouchBar on top, the TouchBar could have had better adoption.

Anyways, I’m happy there’s still a MacBook for the TouchBar lovers.

 

[mielie]

The biggest problem with the Touch Bar is that it increased the BOM (bill of materials) substantially without contributing enough value to be worth the additional $200 price.

The Touch Bar suffered from a lack of support from Apple. It was a great idea but only really got a single design update and Apple's own UI rulebook made it clear that developers were to treat the TouchBar as a keyboard and not a display whereas really the TouchBar is a hybrid that sits somewhere in between.

Developer support for the Touch Bar was not massive because it was a niche capability within the Apple eco system, only Pro laptops that were not in clamshell mode could use it! If Apple had released a Touch Bar enabled magic keyboard then the feature could have been available for any Mac in the lineup and more developers would have been encouraged to take the time and effort to properly integrate TouchBar into their apps.

 

[MauiPa]

I love my M1 13 MBP, Great screen, good sound quality, good size and not too heavy. I am really intrigued by the MBA with a better screen, and better speakers, and lighter, but passive cooling? If Apple could magically increase the passive cooling capacity and make throttling less Intel inside like, it would be a real winner for me.

Oh, and all you haters whining about the Touch Bar, just go to settings and have it display the F keys all the time, and get over it, it really is not an issue, but I'll take extra features, even if I don't use them all that much. I already replaced my external drive cables and bought some USBc to HDMI cables. I never understood why people were so caught up on USBC versus legacy, new cables are not expensive. It's almost like they are saying "whaaaaa, I want USBC, then they get it and they go whaaaa, what about legacy adapters?" . So If they update, the design, please add:

• better camera
• better speakers
• updated display
• Added USBC ports
• magSafe

And as always, what is up with high cost RAM and high cost SSD prices?

 

[MauiPa]

The only gripe I had with the TouchBar was the lack of proper dedicated buttons for volume and brightness. And the escape ley of course.

I think that, if Apple had kept the physical function keys row, and added the TouchBar on top, the TouchBar could have had better adoption.

Anyways, I’m happy there’s still a MacBook for the TouchBar lovers.

MY MBP 13 has an escape key

 

[karranz]

I love my M1 13 MBP, Great screen, good sound quality, good size and not too heavy. I am really intrigued by the MBA with a better screen, and better speakers, and lighter, but passive cooling? If Apple could magically increase the passive cooling capacity and make throttling less Intel inside like, it would be a real winner for me.

Oh, and all you haters whining about the Touch Bar, just go to settings and have it display the F keys all the time, and get over it, it really is not an issue, but I'll take extra features, even if I don't use them all that much. I already replaced my external drive cables and bought some USBc to HDMI cables. I never understood why people were so caught up on USBC versus legacy, new cables are not expensive. It's almost like they are saying "whaaaaa, I want USBC, then they get it and they go whaaaa, what about legacy adapters?" . So If they update, the design, please add:

• better camera
• better speakers
• updated display
• Added USBC ports
• magSafe

And as always, what is up with high cost RAM and high cost SSD prices?

Can’t agree more, btw I never understood who uses F keys so much that had a problem with that, honestly I used them so seldom that is not a problem. In the other hand mute, volume, keyboard lighting, etc are used constantly, who in the world prefers F keys than to have those keys within reach all the time, i just can’t understand.

 

[karranz]

The Touch Bar suffered from a lack of support from Apple. It was a great idea but only really got a single design update and Apple's own UI rulebook made it clear that developers were to treat the TouchBar as a keyboard and not a display whereas really the TouchBar is a hybrid that sits somewhere in between.

Developer support for the Touch Bar was not massive because it was a niche capability within the Apple eco system, only Pro laptops that were not in clamshell mode could use it! If Apple had released a Touch Bar enabled magic keyboard then the feature could have been available for any Mac in the lineup and more developers would have been encouraged to take the time and effort to properly integrate TouchBar into their apps.

My honest opinion is that this kind of changes are difficult to push forward. Jony was under pressure and some people at Apple started to doubt him, so they decided to dump the Touch Bar. But there is a big problem with that, the touch bar had a very important function, and that was to make a MBP different from other laptops (beautiful colors, emojis, etc. can be said that it’s marketing, but you have to sell laptops!)

 

[karranz]

The only gripe I had with the TouchBar was the lack of proper dedicated buttons for volume and brightness. And the escape ley of course.

I think that, if Apple had kept the physical function keys row, and added the TouchBar on top, the TouchBar could have had better adoption.

Anyways, I’m happy there’s still a MacBook for the TouchBar lovers.

The only gripe I had with the TouchBar was the lack of proper dedicated buttons for volume and brightness. And the escape ley of course.

I think that, if Apple had kept the physical function keys row, and added the TouchBar on top, the TouchBar could have had better adoption.

Anyways, I’m happy there’s still a MacBook for the TouchBar lovers.

And for those who appreciate good design.

 

[karranz]

I'd imagine you're in a small minority with that aesthetics evaluation. Not saying you're wrong, just that the majority probably don't see it that way.

The new design is horrible, change the Apple logo for a dell logo and it’s ready to ship as a PC laptop.

 

[GraXXoR]

I upgraded from the M1 13" Pro to the 2021 14" Pro and TBH, I think I preferred the form factor of the 13" better... Moreover the battery life was unreal.

I'm one of those rare beasts that loved the Touch Bar and miss it dearly on my 14", especially for scrubbing through thousands of photos after a shoot.

Without a doubt, the 14" 2021 14" is more powerful, but the 13" was better everywhere else.... I guess I'm one of those people who really doesn't see the importance of a physical escape key.

 

[JungleNYC]

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

I LOVED the Touch Bar when it launched, and didn't understand all the pushback. I'm really glad they've kept it… and the masses have gotten used to it. I'm gonna check out that app, looks cool!

 

[jdb8167]

I guess I'm one of those people who really doesn't see the importance of a physical escape key.

I’m a developer and the escape key is one of the most used on my keyboard. It’s similar to the inverted-T arrow keys. If you use tools that require a lot of keyboard navigation they make a huge productivity improvement.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Apple is not a sentimental company. The 13” MacBook Pro sells in some measurable quantity or Apple would axe it from their lineup. I own one, I love the form factor and I wanted better active cooling than the Air along with the Touch Bar. An updated version (M3), Wi-Fi 6E and a better webcam would be about all it would take for me to update and hand the M1 down to my wife.

 

[AppleTO]

You’d probably need an ethernet in that scenario too…

I don’t know what kind of office you work in, but mine hardwires every machine possible. We don’t have the time and energy to gamble with Wi-Fi on every machine.

 

[CarAnalogy]

With a hub, USB-C supports all of that retro-tech, plus serial, parallel, and half-duplex 300 baud acoustic modem. 😎

I would have rather they included Ethernet than SD, I’ll admit. I have to use a hub for that and it’s annoying. HDMI sucks but it’s still everywhere. SD is as popular as ever with drones, cameras, all kinds of devices needing small cheap removable storage. And with Apple being as stingy as they are with SSD sizes, one would think people would be happy to have an option to easily add storage.

 

[SoldOnApple]

Long live the Touch Bar! I prefer a bigger screen, but if they made a 13 inch Pro Max with Touch Bar and a 16 inch Pro Max without, then I'd buy the 13 inch.

 

[karranz]

In my company we have more than 500 developers and I can only think of a few that would need a SD slot. That tells you that the laptop doesn’t need a sd card reader as a standard, it should be an option, as you can buy accesories for architects, scientists, etc.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I think thats subjective. I find the design of the new MacBook Pro more outdated than this model. The new MacBook Pro has outdated ports for example.

Okay stop. How the hell is HDMI 2.1 "outdated?" It can output to 4k144hz. Are you gonna call Magsafe outdated too?

I've used every version of the 13" MacBook Pro as my work machine. The Touch Bar is the game changer for me, in my company we have several custom applications that leverage it really well. Often find myself undocking just so I can open the thing up and use the Touch Bar!! I will always opt for a Touch Bar enabled Mac if available, so continuing this model is a win for me.

Okay cool you're one of the few people who liked the touch bar, good for you. However for most it was a nuance and only increased the cognitive load. If I had to choose between a touch bar or a fullsized keyboard with a fullsized function key row, I'd take the latter, and good lord the function keys on the 14 inch feel so good to press on.

If you're using Photoshop or Final Cut the Touch Bar is great. For touch typists like me, it's a liability.

You know you can use the touch bar in Sidecar Mode on an iPad right?

My wife uses an M1 Pro 14" for work and sitting these two side by side the 13" wins hands down. Much cleaner design, appears thinner because of the tapered edges,

Okay stop. Thinness in professional laptops is a bad idea. The thinner you get, the harder it is to cool. The 14 inch is thicker so there's more airflow so the thing doesn't thermal throttle like the old 15 inches with the butterfly keyboard did.

The 13 inch can get away with being thin since it's not really a professional laptop. It's a daily driver wearing the pro name instead of being called The Macbook since putting Pro at the end sells more units. But the only "pro" thing about it is the fact it has a heatsink. That's it. Otherwise you're just using a standard M2.

no horrible notch,

Oh great you're one of them. CAN WE STOP WITH THIS?! For gods sake I thought we were done with the "notch bad" crap with the iPhone X but nooooo. Two years now and people like you are still complaining WHEN THE NOTCH ISN'T EVEN NOTICABLE WHEN ITS ABOVE YOUR CONTENT SO YOU'RE NOT EVEN LOOKING AT IT.

God I'm tired of this. If you want a better webcam and thinner bezels, a notch is necessary.

If they went with a pill design and brought the dynamic island to the Mac would that make you happy?

the sides of the 14" look untidy due to lots of different size/shape ports,

...that is the most stupidest thing to complain about. It's bloody IO ports. Do you complain about that with every other laptop or just the Macbook Pro?

and I dislike the black background to the keyboard area on the 14".

Nah this is a dumb nitpick. The black background of the keyboard makes the backlight popout more and highlights how massive the keyboard is now, showing people "hey you like fullsized desktop keyboards? Now the Macbook Pro has it so you can take that form factor you like anywhere you go!"

And no Touch Bar!! What were Apple thinking.

They were thinking "what do people want in a pro laptop?" Did you forget how terrible the butterlfy era Macbook Pros were? So thin they thermal throttled. No legacy IO that professionals still used. So they took the big requests people wanted in their Macs to make the 14/16 inch to win them back, and it worked. The 14 inch has sold like crazy ever since it came out. So many people who never used a Mac before got one (including me) and it's been the best laptop they ever used. If they stuck with the outdated touch bar design, we would not be in the Mac Renaissance we're in now.

In fact she also has a 13" M1 that is for personal use and even she says that she prefers it.

Good for her. Everyone has personal preference. The majority hated the touch bar design that's why it was removed.