16-Inch MacBook Pro May Ship With 96W USB-C Power Adapter

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Apple may be readying a 96W USB-C power adapter for the widely rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro, according to information received by Chongdiantou, the Chinese-language sibling website of ChargerLAB.

Chongdiantou received a blurry photo of the alleged power adapter's label from an unidentified source via Chinese messaging app WeChat. The source claimed the 96W power adapter has a model identifier of A2166 and will be similarly sized as Apple's existing 87W USB-C power adapter for the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

96w-wechat-photo-edited.jpg
Image: Chongdiantou, enhanced for improved legibility

While the blurry photo is rather sketchy, Apple previously confirmed that its upcoming Pro Display XDR will be capable of up to 96W pass-through charging, which is more power than necessary for any portable device that Apple currently ships. Thus, perhaps the higher-power charger is for the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

pro-display-xdr-96w.jpg

Chongdiantou has an established track record in this area, having shared accurate photos of Apple's existing 18W USB-C power adapter in July 2018, nearly four months before it was included with 2018 iPad Pro models.

Apple plans to release a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an all-new design later this year, according to reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The notebook will feature a scissor keyboard, he said, after years of butterfly keyboard issues on MacBooks that prompted Apple to launch a worldwide repair program.

(Thanks, Duorou W.!)

Article Link: 16-Inch MacBook Pro May Ship With 96W USB-C Power Adapter
 
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I will be a happy camper if it gets better cooling, a new keyboard, and better graphics.

P.S. Apple's ARM chips can't come soon enough.
P.P.S. I understand that true professional applications rely on x86. I'm assuming Apple has something up its sleeve regarding low-level emulation if it goes ARM.
 
I will be a happy camper if it gets better cooling, a new keyboard, and better graphics.

P.S. Apple's ARM chips can't come soon enough.
P.P.S. I understand that true professional applications rely on x86. I'm assuming Apple has something up its sleeve regarding low-level emulation if it goes ARM.
I suspect this will be the last introduction of a MacBook with an Intel CPU. Starting March or June next year will have MacBook Air with ARM, then Mac mini, then iMac, then MacBook Pros. The previous transition (PPC to X86) was very quick. Less than 18 months. They'll have to do the same thing this time again to be coherent.
 
October event, here we go!


Why only 1 Thunderbolt 3 port on the rear of the display in that photo? Awesome to have the extra USB-C ports but at this price point all the ports should have the same capability.
The other Thunderbolt 3 ports would be on the Mac Pro itself of course.
 
I suspect this will be the last introduction of a MacBook with an Intel CPU. Starting March or June next year will have MacBook Air with ARM, then Mac mini, then iMac, then MacBook Pros. The previous transition (PPC to X86) was very quick. Less than 18 months. They'll have to do the same thing this time again to be coherent.

Agreed.

Although I have a hunch the emulation might go the other way. They won't transition the Mac Pro to ARM anytime soon and the Pro lineup might use Intel to emulate ARM (since the heavy lifting is done by the T2 anyway for video processing).
 
If the rumors are true they are replacing the 15" model with this (15 going away). They can't leave a massive gap from the 13" (soon to be 14"?) to the 16" so it may even start at the same price as the current 15". Worst case, base price starts $500-800 higher but not $6k.

If they do that, that'd be great. I was imagining a first generation 16'' pro level first, keeping the 15'' with spec bumps for a year, then slowly bringing down features from the 16'' into the 15'' model. Seems like they typically trickle down features from high end products (screens, keyboards, ports) into lower end products over time.

Edit - hopefully not 6k; I'm thinking something like a starting price of $3,500-4k. Again, it's Apple, so who knows.
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I think you mean Apple Pro Display Stand expensive. 😁

Ha, I'm thinking they'll offer a $500 protective case. Made of titanium. 🤪
 
If they do that, that'd be great. I was imagining a first generation 16'' pro level first, keeping the 15'' with spec bumps for a year, then slowly bringing down features from the 16'' into the 15'' model. Seems like they typically trickle down features from high end products (screens, keyboards, ports) into lower end products over time.

Edit - hopefully not 6k; I'm thinking something like a starting price of $3,500-4k. Again, it's Apple, so who knows.
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Ha, I'm thinking they'll offer a $500 protective case. Made of titanium. 🤪

Nah, just declare you Apple Card stolen a bunch of time, then use duct tape and voilà!
 
Why only 1 Thunderbolt 3 port on the rear of the display in that photo? Awesome to have the extra USB-C ports but at this price point all the ports should have the same capability.
There simply might not be enough bandwidth left after accounting for the 6K video stream to justify anything faster than USB-C. TB3 has a number of extra capabilities over USB-C, among them are more bandwidth and daisy-chaining. The former might be moot after subtracting the 6k video stream and the latter is at least partly compensated by there being three USB-C ports.
 
I assume the upcoming 16" will have pretty much the same footprint as the existing 15" but with thinner screen bezels. I love my 2016 15" and it's served me well, but I would have preferred the 13" for portability when travelling. Unfortunately, the original 2016 13" MacBooks didn't have the grunt I needed. I'm hoping the 16" is followed in short order by a smaller version with the same features!
 
If the rumors are true they are replacing the 15" model with this (15 going away).
With the pure chaos that Apple's laptop lineup has been the past years ("Air doesn't mean it weighs less, it means it's cheap"), I am totally expecting them to keep selling the 15" alongside the 16" as "the cheap one". It makes no sense, but Apple's laptop line has also made no sense for very long. They also kept selling the 2015 for quite long, and the ancient Air for years and years, etc. They're trying to hit very many price points/use cases without any cohesive story.

Personally what I would love them to do is introduce a 15" MacBook (non-Pro) that can be the super thin and light machine with no ports, and then have the 16" Pro be allowed to be a little bit thicker with better cooling, more battery, thicker keyboard, a (gasp!) USB-A port and SD card slot, etc. No way in hell that is going to happen though.
 
Apple probably saw a market when a lot of people paid over 6K for their Macbook Pro and then dreamed up this notebook.
 
I'm nervous about the price on this thing, but I think it's going to be exactly what I want: A computer with a big, bright screen, a big, long-lasting battery, and good, fast processors. Maybe most importantly, a decent keyboard.

I expect this computer to be somewhat heavier and thicker than the existing 15" MBP, mostly to accommodate the additional battery and cooling. I'd prefer a switch away from the touchbar, but I don't care much either way.

That $5000 monitor with the $1000 stand has me extremely unsure about the pricing though.
 
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