16-Inch MacBook Pro Said to Launch in September With LCD and 3072x1920 Resolution

[gsurf123]

I see this having the same form-factor as the current model, but with a close to bezel-less display. It can make 16".
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I would probably expect this is going to be pitched as the “real pro” laptop. I’d expect Xeon CPUs, workstation graphics, ECC memory, maybe TLC NAND and of course a price to match

I seriously doubt a Xeon CPU or even workstation graphics unless they have folded on size and fan concerns.

This recent release of an updated 15" was just to keep it current. Maybe the 16" was delayed enough an update was warranted to pass the time.

 

[RogerWilco]

Needs a better keyboard, with more travel and better reliability. I would also like the option of not having the touch bar. I'd rather just have function keys.

And a numeric keypad + cursors. Some folks use laptops for tasks slightly more complex than blogging.

 

[SuprUsrStan]

It's possible this system will utilize a Intel® Xeon® E-2286M Processor 8 core 16 thread mobile processor. The Coffee Lake H Xeon with ECC memory capability will certainly cement the laptop as a "Pro" Workstation laptop. The CPU alone MSRP for $623 according to intel.

A similar system from HP goes for $4800 and that's just a 6 core xeon processor. https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-zbook-17-g5-mobile-workstation-p-4qz96ut-aba-1

If Apple decides to use these xeon processors, this workstation is going to be priced similarly to that HP.

 

[gsurf123]

Just curious, but do Apple ever do market research, or do they just assume that they know better than the "market"?

I ask as it seems that I am not the only one who will not look at this if it pursues Jonny's eternal desire for thinner at any cost - such costs including the rubbish keyboard (any iteration of the butterfly keys) and flashy gimmicks, i.e. Touchbar, and as few holes in their aluminium block as possible, i.e. USB-C for everything despite the great innovation of Magsafe and professional users need for at least one USB port and the nice to have SD card slot for photographers who do not want to carry a pocket full of dongles.

As a technical writer, always using Office anyway as that is what all my clients use, once my early 2015 MacBook Pro expires I will exercise my option to choose what I need and the choice available means a switch Window PCs after 30 years of being an avid Mac-user.

You won't be able to do it no matter how hard you try. You'll buy a PC notebook that will lose 1/2 its value in a few months and then ditch it to get back to OSX. It is time to get over the dongles and Magsafe as they are not coming back. This is the same noise that was heard when the iMac dropped all legacy ports for USB.

 

[socialwill]

releasing a new macbook pro after they updated the 2019 pros in may wont sit too well with people. Especially if they drop the 15" model for this 16" i dont see them having around two sizes an inch apart from each other unless this is a completely new thicker chassis pro machine with a 5-800$ increase price point.

What IF this is not a new MacBook Pro...maybe PowerBook? Maybe just a new entry in the MacBook Pro line...something that is more Pro than the current line aka the Mac Pro with high end specs and display?

 

[theluggage]

I love that Apple is on fire with the mac this year...

No that's just the 2015 MacBook Pro...(Sorry, but you really set that one up... )

I also think they would launch it in October and not September.

The September event has been an iPhone-and-media-only show for many years now (although that's never stopped people from predicting Mac launches and then being disappointed when it's all iPhone... again), so that does seem unlikely.

However, if you think back to the spring there was a flurry of Mac updates announced by press release in the run up to the Apple TV event - so that could be the new normal. If the new MBP is just a 15" MBP with smaller bezels then it - along with the rumoured MBA, MBPe bumps, might not warrant an event.

I would probably expect this is going to be pitched as the “real pro” laptop. I’d expect Xeon CPUs, workstation graphics, ECC memory, maybe TLC NAND and of course a price to match

...because (apparently) nobody is doing DTP, web/App development or 2D graphics that benefit from lots of screen space without needing Xeon, ECC RAM, 8 cores, 160 Gbps of i/o and a Vega GPU. Sigh. (...although ISTR the 'Mobile Xeon' processors aren't that Xeon-y).

Many of us Pro's still use USB-A devices!

Actually its notable that, since the 2016 MBP launch, we've seen the 2017/2019 iMacs, the iMac Pro and the new Mini retaining various permutations of USB-A, HDMI and Ethernet ports so it doesn't seem that Apple's strategy is quite as "Dedicated ports are dead! USB-C is the one true port!" as it was in 2016.

Still, if - as seems likely - this is just a larger display in the existing MBP chassis there isn't physically room for USB A ports and, as you say, if they want to keep 4 full-fat TB3 ports they might not have the PCIe lanes to spare.

 

[oopsroger]

If it comes with touchbar I will pass.

 

[socialwill]

The 17" never sold very well. I have one and loved it but it was a bulky beast. Now that I use the 15" at work I really do prefer the size and weight of the 15". I do miss the extra screen space for the UI on the 17" without making details microscopic but I have learned to make better use of the native 1440 UI space of the 15"

If Apple can add more screen space and keep the size and weight form factor the same as the 15" I think that will be a very popular and effective product.

The thing I find odd is the only slight resolution bump to 3072x1920. That makes it seem like it won't really have more screen space for the UI and the 16" will really just be a marketing thing with the very small bezel. Going from 2880 to 3017 isn't enough to really impact productivity in anyway. Thats a UI space of 1440 vs 1536. Not even the 1680 wide option the 15" used to have years ago. If this rumor is correct Apple seems to want to keep the DPI the same and is just getting rid of more of the bezel which adds a few extra pixels around the screen. Running at 1920 scaled mode will be about a 1.6x retina vs the 1.5x retina of the current 15". Not enough to make a visual impact on detail. The DPI will be 134 PPI vs the 141 PPI of the current 15" when using 1920 scaled mode so still very tiny text and details.

Unless there is a significant CPU and GPU upgrade I think the existing 15" models will be perfectly fine alternatives.

I would guess these will be Xeon Processors or starting at high end i9 series and moving truly into a Workstation class machine with HDR and screen specs to show it. I would guess the starting price at 2999-3499.

 

[DanBig]

No that's just the 2015 MacBook Pro...(Sorry, but you really set that one up... )



The September event has been an iPhone-and-media-only show for many years now (although that's never stopped people from predicting Mac launches and then being disappointed when it's all iPhone... again), so that does seem unlikely.

However, if you think back to the spring there was a flurry of Mac updates announced by press release in the run up to the Apple TV event - so that could be the new normal. If the new MBP is just a 15" MBP with smaller bezels then it - along with the rumoured MBA, MBPe bumps, might not warrant an event.



...because (apparently) nobody is doing DTP, web/App development or 2D graphics that benefit from lots of screen space without needing Xeon, ECC RAM, 8 cores, 160 Gbps of i/o and a Vega GPU. Sigh. (...although ISTR the 'Mobile Xeon' processors aren't that Xeon-y).



Actually its notable that, since the 2016 MBP launch, we've seen the 2017/2019 iMacs, the iMac Pro and the new Mini retaining various permutations of USB-A, HDMI and Ethernet ports so it doesn't seem that Apple's strategy is quite as "Dedicated ports are dead! USB-C is the one true port!" as it was in 2016.

Still, if - as seems likely - this is just a larger display in the existing MBP chassis there isn't physically room for USB A ports and, as you say, if they want to keep 4 full-fat TB3 ports they might not have the PCIe lanes to spare.

Remember the PHC chip has the dedicated USB 3.1 interface already (4 ports) just un-used. It's only four lines for the two ports (plus two power lines) and there is physical space on the case, even the current case has the space.

 

[danwells]

I can't see what CPUs they'll use except what they've got now (which Apple had in the MBP a few weeks after release, and well before most other workstation laptop vendors). Intel doesn't release two sets of CPUs per year - we're missing some 9th Generation CPUs, but not the H-series for the big MBP (there is a possibility of new CPUs, including 6 core models, suitable for the 13" MBP). An Apple CPU will show up in 2020 or 2021, but not on the big MBP - it'll be MacBook first, then maybe some Minis and/or the 21.5" iMac. The 15" (16") MBP, the iMac Pro and the Mac Pro will be the last holdouts on Intel, and Apple may have no plans to change them over at all (because of Boot Camp and single-threaded performance). AMD has never shown much interest in high-power notebook CPUs (they have nothing >4 cores, and nothing is rumored).

This is an everything-else update (like the first Retina was). Hopefully, it's the end of the butterfly keyboard, plus a better cooling system? Navi? 7 nm Vega?

 

[RogerWilco]

You won't be able to do it no matter how hard you try. You'll buy a PC notebook that will lose 1/2 its value in a few months and then ditch it to get back to OSX. It is time to get over the dongles and Magsafe as they are not coming back. This is the same noise that was heard when the iMac dropped all legacy ports for USB.

Why the fatalism? Ive is not God, and rational people might see his zero-port design aesthetic as a bridge too far.

 

[DNichter]

Prices are so crazy to me. Another reason I moved on from macOS.

 

[BigBossTony]

People already start to complain without even see the machine.

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

I don't get why Apple won't revive the 17" Macbook Pro instead. Even though this is probably their best Macbook yet, from a marketing stand point, it'll just seem too similar to the 15".

More profit $$$ for Apple with 16" screen rather than 17"

 

[theluggage]

This is the same noise that was heard when the iMac dropped all legacy ports for USB.

Except, somehow, 3 years down the line, that noise had completely died out, because suddenly there were a whole bunch of affordable, cross-platform USB peripherals and you didn't have to hunt down expensive SCSI drives, Localtalk/RS423 printers, ADB mice etc.

The original iMac "dropped" a bunch of outdated ports that were either completely proprietary (ADB, Localtalk), effectively proprietary (RS423) or which were becoming increasingly confined to expensive server/workstation setups (SCSI... maybe you don't remember terminators, device IDs and insanely bulky cables). That's if you can say "dropped" considering that the iMac was a completely new product category, so nobody had the rug suddenly pulled from under them - the existing Power Macs and Powerbooks gradually phased out SCSI and ADB over several years.

USB-A, HDMI. MiniDP etc. are only "legacy" ports in the fevered imaginations of the USB consortium. That's why people are still complaining 3 years later. That's why all the desktop Macs have kept their USB-A, Ethernet and (sometimes) HDMI ports. That's why the majority of "USB-C" devices on the market just use it as a replacement for USB-micro-B, come with USB-A cables or adapters and rarely offer any performance advantage over USB-A.

 

[TommyBoy5]

I bought a 2019 15" i9 MBP two weeks ago. I really love this machine. Very fast. First time with Bootcamp and using Windows 10 which has been a flawless experience and tremendous fun.

My previous laptop was a Day One purchase of a 12" Retina MB. Three keyboard replacements, two battery replacements, top case and bottom case replacement - I believe I took it in 5 times for repair over four years. Everything covered under AppleCare so nothing out of pocket. I loved that little machine and I paid the price for being an early adopter.

I'm getting old and the wait-until-next-gen syndrome has faded for me. I bought an Apple IIe new in 1984 as my first computer and have had Apple products for the past 35 years. I've come to the point where I purchase what I want when I need it. It's fun to read all of these technical posts about scaling, and CPUs, thermals, DPI, T2 chips, throttling, touchbars and 4K. I learn so much from all of them.

But this computer works really well for me and I'm really happy with it. Ignorance is bliss, perhaps. I'm simple. I love the fingerprint reader. I love my AppleWatch unlocking my laptop. I love the Touch Bar and how it changes for each application. I use it - multiple times - every day. Sometimes new features are a pain. My wife has a new iPad Pro and she hates facial recognition. It works most of the time but when it doesn't I can hear her curse as she rotates the iPad to log in. She loved the always-fast and always-worked fingerprint reader on her previous-gen iPad. In fact she doesn't want the new iPhone because it will have FaceID.

Keep the posts coming. They are fascinating and I learn a lot.

 

[Fishrrman]

Base model pricing:
$3,299

Options:
$$$ up. WAY $$$$$$$$$$$up.....

 

[Mick-Mac]

First off, I fully agree with others who said that if it comes with a butterfly keyboard then this machine is dead to them. I'd like to go one further and say the keyboard also needs a numeric pad. I had several of the older 17" MacBook Pros and that tiny compressed keyboard nestled within the vast empty spaces of that aluminum slab looked just utterly ludicrous. I can see Jony getting all upset if a numeric pad was added because it'd mean the trackpad now needed to be a little off-center and that would be against his form over function religion...

 

[DanBig]

I wish people would stop talking about USB-A. USB-C uptake from manufacturers is already slow enough as it is.

As important the USB-C interface is USB-A is till the dominant one and will be for quite a few years in the real world.

One of the problems with standards is they are often created in a vacuum trying to foretell what people will need as well as offer a piece of candy buyers will be tempted with.

Apple tried the cold turkey routine with the 2016 thinking they could get the movement started to the newer standard as good as it is its still costly! And the consumer was forced to buy dongles. Even after Apple dropped the price of them it still wasn't selling the system to the more advanced users that need external physical connections.

Thats why the next system really needs to have USB-A back onboard with SD card support, Ethernet & MagSafe. If Apple fails us now it will also hurt them with the Mac Pro sales.

 

[x-evil-x]

$3,999 would be for the lowest processor, lowest graphics, 8GB RAM, and 256GB storage. IF we're lucky

A decent one will be $6500+

I mean you have to give it at least what’s in the lowest spec 15” so you’re off I know you’re being “playful” but ya. 16gigs ram
Min. 256 storage I believe. CPU at least as good as 8 core 15”.
I still don’t see what they could put in this thing that Intel has.

 

[Tulani]

thank you apple. make it happen.......but please be kind to my wallet

 

[PickUrPoison]

$3,999 would be for the lowest processor, lowest graphics, 8GB RAM, and 256GB storage. IF we're lucky

A decent one will be $6500+

$3,999? Sure, because Apple would increase the price $1,600 for switching out a 15.6” for a 16.5” display. 8GB? Sure, because it’s 2012 again

 

[jonplackett]

What CPU can they put in it that's newer than the one that is currently in the 15" MBP?
I also think they would launch it in October and not September.

Would be one from the new intel 10nm process one I guess. That’s expected soon. AMDs equivalent (they call it 7nm but it’s the same as I tel’s 10nm) just launched and is very fast and uses less power too

 

[x-evil-x]

I bought a 2019 15" i9 MBP two weeks ago. I really love this machine. Very fast. First time with Bootcamp and using Windows 10 which has been a flawless experience and tremendous fun.

My previous laptop was a Day One purchase of a 12" Retina MB. Three keyboard replacements, two battery replacements, top case and bottom case replacement - I believe I took it in 5 times for repair over four years. Everything covered under AppleCare so nothing out of pocket. I loved that little machine and I paid the price for being an early adopter.

I'm getting old and the wait-until-next-gen syndrome has faded for me. I bought an Apple IIe new in 1984 as my first computer and have had Apple products for the past 35 years. I've come to the point where I purchase what I want when I need it. It's fun to read all of these technical posts about scaling, and CPUs, thermals, DPI, T2 chips, throttling, touchbars and 4K. I learn so much from all of them.

But this computer works really well for me and I'm really happy with it. Ignorance is bliss, perhaps. I'm simple. I love the fingerprint reader. I love my AppleWatch unlocking my laptop. I love the Touch Bar and how it changes for each application. I use it - multiple times - every day. Sometimes new features are a pain. My wife has a new iPad Pro and she hates facial recognition. It works most of the time but when it doesn't I can hear her curse as she rotates the iPad to log in. She loved the always-fast and always-worked fingerprint reader on her previous-gen iPad. In fact she doesn't want the new iPhone because it will have FaceID.

Keep the posts coming. They are fascinating and I learn a lot.

In a lot of ways the 2019 is the smarter choice. It’s 4 generations of improvement from the 2016. It’s a very very good machine with most of the kinks worked out. New parts for the keyboard. It’s as refined as this redesign will ever get. Buying new hardware is never wise the 2016 has plenty of problems and was very underpowered. The 2019’s 8 core gpu and Vega graphics is a beast of a machine.

 

[nameste]

After releasing the 16” mbp will they introduce all new design in 2020?