16-Inch MacBook Pro With All-New Design Expected in 2019, 13-Inch Model May Gain 32GB RAM

[Zdigital2015]

I'm sure it'll continue the same horrible trend that Apple has been focused on for the last four years. It'll certainly have fewer ports, the same terrible keyboard as the current generation, less battery capacity, and a shaky thermal profile.

Oh, and it'll probably cost $5k for a processor that's at least two generations old.

I wish I had more confidence in Apple to make good choices in their Mac lineup, but I've mostly given up hope.

The current 13" and 15" MacBook Pro have 4 TB3 ports, use the latest shipping CPUs from Intel (8th Generation quad- and hexa-core) and start at $1799 for the 13" and $2399 for the 15". I do not see the ports situation, pricing or the use of the latest generation of Intel CPUs changing should this rumor prove true.

What you are saying is nonsensical in the extreme. I have read it from other on these forums many times, so you are not the only one, but it gets old when you use hyperbole to make a specious argument that is easily disprovable.

The 2018 MacBook Pro actually added a bit of battery capacity back to help offset the power cost of using DDR4 DRAM. While the keyboard is not everyone's cup of tea, it is hardly the end of the world. The 2012-2015 keyboard that everyone raves on about is not exactly a paragon of design excellence either. Mushy, wobbly scissor keys do not do it for me any more than short travel butterfly keys. Try a Magic Keyboard at the Apple Store or find someone who has a Late 2011 15" MacBook Pro (non-Retina) and take it for a test drive. This will make you wonder if thinner might not be the worst idea in the world. I know it was a revelation to me after I spent some quality time with one.

I agree with you on the thermal profile. Apple needs to adjust for Intel's upcoming 9th Generation 45w TDP H-Series CPUs as the Core i9 models will move up to 8 cores or 8 cores/16 threads.
[doublepost=1550598327][/doublepost]

I think he means theoretically if you had Magsafe that's 1 USB C on the new models; 2xUSB A is equivalent to another two; 2x TB2 is a further two; and an SD makes another one (well, that's 6 connections not 8 but you get the idea)

1 - Mag Safe
2 - Thunderbolt Port 1
3 - Thunderbolt Port 2
4 - USB 3.0 Port 1
5 - Headphone Jack
6 - USB 3.0 Port 2
7 - HDMI 1.4 Port
8 - SD Card Reader

My usage (daily, unless otherwise noted)

1 - All the time, but that's a given
2 - Display Port Monitor 1
3 - Thunderbolt Dock with Display Port Monitor 2 hooked up
4 - Time Machine (unplugged until the evening when work is over and backups can occur without interrupting)
5 - Headphones (as needed, not all the time)
6 - Rarely ever used, maybe for a USB stick, but I don't have one attached all the time.
7 - Used twice in 3.5 years to hook up to a Projector and an HDTV
8 - A couple of dozen times in 3.5 years for transferring photos from a camera that did not have wireless or I could not find the cable.

Regarding the OP, I have never needed to use every port, every single day. If I did, wouldn't that mean that I am carrying cables, dongles, adapters and/or a hub back and forth with a 2012-2015 MacBook Pro just as much as with a 2016-2018 MacBook Pro? It's hard for me to understand the perception that the 2016-2018 MacBook Pro is really depriving us of ports. Certainly, if I used an SD Card Reader every day, I would buy an external one since the 2015 SD Card Reader is really nothing to write home about. If I used HDMI every day, what is the difference if I carry and HDMI cable or a USB-C to HDMI cable? I guess it's convenient if I travel all the time and use HDMI monitors exclusively, but that means one of my old TB1/TB2 ports probably never got used at all. I know there can be some cases where a user has every port filled, but at that point, I would tell them to get a Dock so they aren't spending all that time unplugging and replugging things on any laptop. Certainly the port situation with the MacBook Air and the nTB MacBook Pro is a bit more inconvenient.

 

[Detnator]

Anyone have any evidence Apple is planning on reversing their decision on MagSafe? I still have the original MBP retina, and I kick my cord out at least once a day. I can’t imagine having a MacBook Pro without MagSafe.

Anyone with a new USB-C Mac have any thoughts? Do you miss MagSafe? Any accidents?

There are an abundance of USB-C magnetic power connectors available that provide exactly the functionality of MagSafe:

https://www.google.com/search?q=usb-c+magsafe

;-)
[doublepost=1550599859][/doublepost]

I do miss MagSafe, painfully much. I've been using the 15" TB MBP for the last two years for work, and whenever I'm at home I default to my 2015 MBP or my iPad because they're just more pleasant to use (largely thanks to MagSafe).

There's no chance in hell they're reversing it IMHO. Not only Apple is too arrogant to admit mistakes, their guiding principle post Jobs is unilateral reductiveness and overconfidence that the user will adapt to their designs instead of designing to adapt to user habits.

See my reply above for perfectly good MagSafe solutions.

Interesting though, that you think it’s only post Steve Jobs Apple that wants “...unilateral reductiveness and overconfidence that the user will adapt...”. Those words have Steve Jobs written all over them, starting with the original iMac and practically everything he did since (well, and before too actually - starting with the original 1984 Mac).

 

[theluggage]

Huh? How were you able to plug 8 devices into the previous MBP without a hub when it only had 2 USB-A ports?

Sorry, it should have been 7, not 8, but that's still more than 4 so the point still stands. For example, you're sitting in a meeting demoing the latest app:

Charger -

2015 rMBP: Magsafe;
2018 MBP: TB3 #1​

Ext. display/Data projector -

2015: HDMI port;
2018: TB3 #2​

External drive -

2015 TB2#1;
2018: TB3 #3​

Mouse/keyboard/presentation wand dongle:

2015 USB#1;
2018: TB3 #4 (dongle-in-a-dongle)​

Memory stick:

2015 USB#2;
2018: whoops...​

So, with the 2018 model, 5 devices and you're hoping you packed a hub - on the 2015 you're still a TB2 port and an SD reader up. Maybe more realistically, for that number of peripherals, if you want a "pro" MacBook mainly as a desktop that can "commute" between desks, you're talking about a hub/dock on every desk as a necessity rather than a luxury.

On the road, its a bit more of a problem on a 2015 MacBook Air vs. 2018 MacBook Air or 2017 non-TB MBP:

Charger -

2015 MBA: Magsafe;
2018 MBA: TB3 #1​

Ext. display, Data projector -

2015: TB2;
2018: TB3 #2​

External Drive -

2015: USB #1;
2018: Erk!​

Memory Stick -

2015: USB #2;
2018: Mummy!​

...which is a bit of a pain because not every 'serious' use of a Mac justifies the extra power of a TB-MBP just to get enough ports to plug in your USB-2/DisplayPort/HDMI junk at the same time as a charger.

...but the other problem is that its not really clear what you gain from USB-C over separate USB-A, power and display ports. TB3 has more obvious advantages over TB2, but there's still a hefty premium for TB devices, and USB 3 is more than fast enough for many purposes - and a mythical MBP that took the 2015 design and just swapped TB2 for TB3 would have been the best of both worlds. The 2017 iMac that did just that is actually better overall on connectivity c.f. the 2015 model (although the 2015/2017 iMacs could both do with more ports full stop).

 

[Zdigital2015]

Anyone have any evidence Apple is planning on reversing their decision on MagSafe? I still have the original MBP retina, and I kick my cord out at least once a day. I can’t imagine having a MacBook Pro without MagSafe.

Anyone with a new USB-C Mac have any thoughts? Do you miss MagSafe? Any accidents?

If I may humbly suggest - You may want to move the cord to a location a bit less susceptible to getting kicked at least once a day. If that is not feasible, I understand. It just seems like a cable routing issue.

I, like others, was very concerned about this possibility with my 2016 MacBook Pro. However, I have noticed that the USB-C cable is more likely to come out of the USB-C port on the adapter if it is plugged into the wall. The flip side is that if you purchased a Power Adapter Extension Cable this may not apply. I have one and I have yet to trip over the cable.

I do and I do not miss MagSafe. It has saved me from a couple of catastrophes, but it has also come loose while charging a nearly dead machine and sometimes gets into this rhythm of just coming loose because it doesn't like that I have not put the MacBook Pro on a flat surface. If I am at the end of the cable's length, which happens occasionally, I feel as though MagSafe comes loose just to spite me. I am not waxing poetic about missing it, I think I have more of a love/hate/tacit acceptance relationship with MagSafe at this point. I certainly don't pine for it the way some do around here.

 

[finchna]

The current 13" and 15" MacBook Pro have 4 TB3 ports, use the latest shipping CPUs from Intel (8th Generation quad- and hexa-core) and start at $1799 for the 13" and $2399 for the 15". I do not see the ports situation, pricing or the use of the latest generation of Intel CPUs changing should this rumor prove true.

What you are saying is nonsensical in the extreme. I have read it from other on these forums many times, so you are not the only one, but it gets old when you use hyperbole to make a specious argument that is easily disprovable.

The 2018 MacBook Pro actually added a bit of battery capacity back to help offset the power cost of using DDR4 DRAM. While the keyboard is not everyone's cup of tea, it is hardly the end of the world. The 2012-2015 keyboard that everyone raves on about is not exactly a paragon of design excellence either. Mushy, wobbly scissor keys do not do it for me any more than short travel butterfly keys. Try a Magic Keyboard at the Apple Store or find someone who has a Late 2011 15" MacBook Pro (non-Retina) and take it for a test drive. This will make you wonder if thinner might not be the worst idea in the world. I know it was a revelation to me after I spent some quality time with one.

I agree with you on the thermal profile. Apple needs to adjust for Intel's upcoming 9th Generation 45w TDP H-Series CPUs as the Core i9 models will move up to 8 cores or 8 cores/16 threads.
[doublepost=1550598327][/doublepost]
1 - Mag Safe
2 - Thunderbolt Port 1
3 - Thunderbolt Port 2
4 - USB 3.0 Port 1
5 - Headphone Jack
6 - USB 3.0 Port 2
7 - HDMI 1.4 Port
8 - SD Card Reader

My usage (daily, unless otherwise noted)

1 - All the time, but that's a given
2 - Display Port Monitor 1
3 - Thunderbolt Dock with Display Port Monitor 2 hooked up
4 - Time Machine (unplugged until the evening when work is over and backups can occur without interrupting)
5 - Headphones (as needed, not all the time)
6 - Rarely ever used, maybe for a USB stick, but I don't have one attached all the time.
7 - Used twice in 3.5 years to hook up to a Projector and an HDTV
8 - A couple of dozen times in 3.5 years for transferring photos from a camera that did not have wireless or I could not find the cable.

Regarding the OP, I have never needed to use every port, every single day. If I did, wouldn't that mean that I am carrying cables, dongles, adapters and/or a hub back and forth with a 2012-2015 MacBook Pro just as much as with a 2016-2018 MacBook Pro? It's hard for me to understand the perception that the 2016-2018 MacBook Pro is really depriving us of ports. Certainly, if I used an SD Card Reader every day, I would buy an external one since the 2015 SD Card Reader is really nothing to write home about. If I used HDMI every day, what is the difference if I carry and HDMI cable or a USB-C to HDMI cable? I guess it's convenient if I travel all the time and use HDMI monitors exclusively, but that means one of my old TB1/TB2 ports probably never got used at all. I know there can be some cases where a user has every port filled, but at that point, I would tell them to get a Dock so they aren't spending all that time unplugging and replugging things on any laptop. Certainly the port situation with the MacBook Air and the nTB MacBook Pro is a bit more inconvenient.

I don't use all those ports either, but when video conferencing in a meeting with an owl, I use HDMI, USB-3, headphone jack, mag safe (power), and a second USB port to share files, as needed. When I think about ports I think about what helps the laptop I'm using at a meeting or presentation work most easily with the connectors supplied. In our office we have HDMI and display port/thunderbolt connectors as they work on most current Windows laptops and recent Macs until very recently. So, I'd be interested in seeing those connectors along with USB-C (and USB-3). I'd really appreciate a return to mag safe power connectors, I'd also like a real headphone jack. I also wouldn't mind a thicker body to allow for those ports and a more durable keyboard, up to 64GB ram, and a touch screen (not a touch bar).

 

[theluggage]

Those words have Steve Jobs written all over them, starting with the original iMac and practically everything he did since (well, and before too actually - starting with the original 1984 Mac).

...but he (or someone with influence at the time) seemed to understand the difference between "Pro" computers and "Appliances". The original Mac - and, later, the iMac, were both new product categories for the industry - let alone Apple - aimed at new types of customer.

Remember the other Macs that appeared during Jobs' reign - like the G3/G4 towers and the CheeseGrater - which were industry-leading in their use of tool-free cases that positively begged you to open them up and swap bits around. Or that when the radically different 2012 rMBPs first appeared, Apple also updated the classic MBPs to the latest CPUs so that people who weren't yet ready to give up their optical drive and ethernet and go all-SSD still had a reasonably up-to-date Mac to buy. C.f. 2016 when they dropped all but the lowest spec version of the already 18-months out-of-date 2015 version.

 

[KPandian1]

Sorry, it should have been 7, not 8, but that's still more than 4 so the point still stands. For example, you're sitting in a meeting demoing the latest app:

Charger -

2015 rMBP: Magsafe;
2018 MBP: TB3 #1​

Ext. display/Data projector -

2015: HDMI port;
2018: TB3 #2​

External drive -

2015 TB2#1;
2018: TB3 #3​

Mouse/keyboard/presentation wand dongle:

2015 USB#1;
2018: TB3 #4 (dongle-in-a-dongle)​

Memory stick:

2015 USB#2;
2018: whoops...​

So, with the 2018 model, 5 devices and you're hoping you packed a hub - on the 2015 you're still a TB2 port and an SD reader up. Maybe more realistically, for that number of peripherals, if you want a "pro" MacBook mainly as a desktop that can "commute" between desks, you're talking about a hub/dock on every desk as a necessity rather than a luxury.

On the road, its a bit more of a problem on a 2015 MacBook Air vs. 2018 MacBook Air or 2017 non-TB MBP:

Charger -

2015 MBA: Magsafe;
2018 MBA: TB3 #1​

Ext. display, Data projector -

2015: TB2;
2018: TB3 #2​

External Drive -

2015: USB #1;
2018: Erk!​

Memory Stick -

2015: USB #2;
2018: Mummy!​

...which is a bit of a pain because not every 'serious' use of a Mac justifies the extra power of a TB-MBP just to get enough ports to plug in your USB-2/DisplayPort/HDMI junk at the same time as a charger.

...but the other problem is that its not really clear what you gain from USB-C over separate USB-A, power and display ports. TB3 has more obvious advantages over TB2, but there's still a hefty premium for TB devices, and USB 3 is more than fast enough for many purposes - and a mythical MBP that took the 2015 design and just swapped TB2 for TB3 would have been the best of both worlds. The 2017 iMac that did just that is actually better overall on connectivity c.f. the 2015 model (although the 2015/2017 iMacs could both do with more ports full stop).

What he/I said!

(Sorry about the sexism!)

 

[trillionaire]

Guessing much reduced bezels because of the size. About time.

Most likely the case. The technology is allowing them to make it compact enough that the screen size can be made larger. I'm all for it; always have preferred a bigger screen for any device.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I don't use all those ports either, but when video conferencing in a meeting with an owl, I use HDMI, USB-3, headphone jack, mag safe (power), and a second USB port to share files, as needed. When I think about ports I think about what helps the laptop I'm using at a meeting or presentation work most easily with the connectors supplied. In our office we have HDMI and display port/thunderbolt connectors as they work on most current Windows laptops and recent Macs until very recently. So, I'd be interested in seeing those connectors along with USB-C (and USB-3). I'd really appreciate a return to mag safe power connectors, I'd also like a real headphone jack. I also wouldn't mind a thicker body to allow for those ports and a more durable keyboard, up to 64GB ram, and a touch screen (not a touch bar).

Based on what you have described, it sounds like you would be better served by acquiring a Thunderbolt 3 dock or a USB-C dock if you decide to move to a 2016-2018 MacBook Pro or moving to a Windows-based laptop.

None of the ports that you have mentioned (MagSafe, USB 3.0 Type-A, mini DisplayPort, HDMI) are returning to the MacBook Pro. My preference would be for Apple to keep the 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports it currently has and to add two USB-C Gen 2 ports (10Gbps) off of the PCH. That should be enough to satisfy anyone who feels port deprived. The Gen 2 ports should be able to charge the MacBook Pro as well, which I do not think is an issue.

I have no idea what you mean by a "real" headphone jack as opposed to the headphone jack that is on the 2012-2015 MacBook Pro and the 2016-2018 MacBook Pro.

I certainly would not mind a slightly thicker chassis to accommodate the Magic Keyboard scissors mechanism and a reworked cooling system to accommodate 6-core and upcoming 8-core H-Series CPUs. I would love to have a 64GB BTO option, once Intel releases Sunny Cove H-Series CPUs that support LPDDR4. Until then, 32GB DDR4 is just fine.

Anything much thicker than the 2015 MacBook Pro chassis would be a bit too much for me and many, many others. I love the

After having used a Windows RT tablet extensively, my preference is to never see a touch screen on a Mac of any kind. macOS is not optimized for touch and I do not want Apple wasting time on it. Harden macOS, rewrite the Finder, make it more useful and improve its stability. Spend the remaining engineering effort by fixing iOS' deficiencies and allow it to take full advantage of the iPad Pro's full potential.

 

[buckwheet]

Okay, I've never measured, but could a narrow bezel allow for a 16" screen in the previous MacBook Pro shell? If so, this could be the machine that I've been wishing for; a revamp of the previous design, with new internals... Okay, probably not, but one can dream. My other dream would be a less extortionate and thin-is-everything [EDIT: and user upgradeable] "workstation" MacBook Pro. Again, one can dream...

 

[GtotheE]

My wish-list, as a first-gen touchbar MBP owner.

• Larger screen would be nice
• Better keyboard
• Lose the Touch Bar, or at least add some sort of Haptic feedback. The current touchbar stinks, and is less useful and useable than the F keys.
• An additional Thunderbolt-3 port. While I'd love them to bring back a USB-A or HDMI, another port would be nice too.

 

[fjsiskilroy]

I agree with 99.9% of you about the design and performance of the keyboard. Even if Apple were to rebrand the "butterfly" design as 3.0 and just return to a normal mechanism, I would be all for it as long as they change it.

The big thing that everyone may be missing is that last year's WWDC, Apple announced a project (Marzipan) to be able to port IOS apps (mainly from iPad) to Mac OS X. That along with this rumor to adopt the Liquid Retina display tech used on iPad Pro leads me to believe we might see few additional goodies coming up:

- We might see Face ID, instead of Touch ID.
- This in turn might lead to the Neural Engine chip being added.
- We might see Apple Pencil 2 support (because of the above). I still doubt Apple will go full touchscreen (they tend to be stubborn about certain things).
- If they do add Pencil support, I don't expect the touchpad to get smaller.
- I don't expect the see the Touch Bar go just yet (again Apple being stubborn). They might though go away from OLED, to pay for the additions they maybe doing.
- While Intel may not be out on this generation, we will see more ARM chips being added. The graphics performance of the new iPad Pros is at mid-MBP levels and there is no fan to cool it down. It would be insane not to take advantage of this on the new MBP.
- I would expect them to keep the 4 USBC ports. I know everyone hates dongles, but being part of the Apple ecosystem means loving your dongles (ie. FW400/800, VGA, ADB, DVI, DP, HDMI, Thunderbolt, 30 pin connector, etc). At least this time around, they are using an industry standard
- While the $3999 usd price point might be what most pros will want, Apple needs to hit a $2999 usd price point for marketing purposes.

Obviously all of this is just speculation, but I feel that Apple likes to bring features from their other product lines to provide a consistent user experience.

 

[sidewinder3000]

There are an abundance of USB-C magnetic power connectors available that provide exactly the functionality of MagSafe:

http://******.com/?q=USB-C+MagSafe

;-)
[doublepost=1550599859][/doublepost]

See my reply above for perfectly good MagSafe solutions.

Interesting though, that you think it’s only post Steve Jobs Apple that wants “...unilateral reductiveness and overconfidence that the user will adapt...”. Those words have Steve Jobs written all over them, starting with the original iMac and practically everything he did since (well, and before too actually - starting with the original 1984 Mac).

That’s good to know. Unfortunately, that link you posted goes to nowhere. Can you try again?
[doublepost=1550613534][/doublepost]

If I may humbly suggest - You may want to move the cord to a location a bit less susceptible to getting kicked at least once a day. If that is not feasible, I understand. It just seems like a cable routing issue.

I, like others, was very concerned about this possibility with my 2016 MacBook Pro. However, I have noticed that the USB-C cable is more likely to come out of the USB-C port on the adapter if it is plugged into the wall. The flip side is that if you purchased a Power Adapter Extension Cable this may not apply. I have one and I have yet to trip over the cable.

I do and I do not miss MagSafe. It has saved me from a couple of catastrophes, but it has also come loose while charging a nearly dead machine and sometimes gets into this rhythm of just coming loose because it doesn't like that I have not put the MacBook Pro on a flat surface. If I am at the end of the cable's length, which happens occasionally, I feel as though MagSafe comes loose just to spite me. I am not waxing poetic about missing it, I think I have more of a love/hate/tacit acceptance relationship with MagSafe at this point. I certainly don't pine for it the way some do around here.

Because I appreciate most of the rest of your thoughtful response, I’m not sure how to respond to your insanely obvious suggestion of ‘moving the cord to a location where it’s less likely to get kicked’.

Thanks?

 

[Zdigital2015]

That’s good to know. Unfortunately, that link you posted goes to nowhere. Can you try again?
[doublepost=1550613534][/doublepost]
Because I appreciate most of the rest of your thoughtful response, I’m not sure how to respond to your insanely obvious suggestion of ‘moving the cord to a location where it’s less likely to get kicked’.

Thanks?

I was not trying to be smartassy, but I know it comes off that way. I had to get one of those ugly looking black rubber cable routing things that’s I put on top of my desk to keep the MagSafe cable from sliding around on me. It works well for the most part at keeping the line going in one direction and not sliding over where it can be stepped on or tripped over if I move the MacBook Pro during the day. Here’s the link - Toysdone Cordies Desktop Cable Management for Power Cords and Charging Accessory Cables Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GUS4XK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1ciBCbC306C1C

Hope that is more helpful!
Respectfully, Captain Obvious

 

[EightyTwenty]

My mistake in the choice of the word impossible. Any ratio is possible, even a 3:1 screen.

It will look weird, unless it is used only for gaming or movies. The real estate available for browsing, working on documents, etc. is going to skewed. The practical nature of a 2:1 screen is close to nil.

Oh, I agree completely. But Apple has become more and more "form over function". Just look at the bloody keyboards across their laptop line.

My best guess is the increase from 15.4 to 16 will be in width, not in height. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[KPandian1]

Oh, I agree completely. But Apple has become more and more "form over function". Just look at the bloody keyboards across their laptop line.

My best guess is the increase from 15.4 to 16 will be in width, not in height. Hope I'm wrong.

The shell of the 2015 and before 15" MBP is easily extended with even the 2016 bezel to near 16" screen; the bezel might be too narrow then.

The problem with that is that they will compromise the camera. The room for Face ID might also be jeopardized.

 

[sidewinder3000]

I was not trying to be smartassy, but I know it comes off that way. I had to get one of those ugly looking black rubber cable routing things that’s I put on top of my desk to keep the MagSafe cable from sliding around on me. It works well for the most part at keeping the line going in one direction and not sliding over where it can be stepped on or tripped over if I move the MacBook Pro during the day. Here’s the link - Toysdone Cordies Desktop Cable Management for Power Cords and Charging Accessory Cables Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GUS4XK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1ciBCbC306C1C

Hope that is more helpful!
Respectfully, Captain Obvious

Ha! I was kidding. My issue is that I do most of my laptop work on couches, and so putting them down on coffee tables there’s never a consistently good place for the cord. But thanks!

 

[smirking]

Sorry, it should have been 7, not 8, but that's still more than 4 so the point still stands. For example, you're sitting in a meeting demoing the latest app:

Hold on... that was a pretty contrived scenario laid out so that a legacy setup would win. But ignoring that, let's say that's your everyday real usage scenario. You have an external input device, external display, external drive, a flash memory card, and a stand alone charger. You've got enclosures, adapters, dongles, and wires sprouting from every direction with or without additional adapters off of your MBP.

At this point you're already wired up to half of a computer store, but you'd consider it an issue if you had to introduce a hub into your scenario? I don't see the logic there. If your use case is that extreme, aren't you going to quickly run into something that's not built into that 2015 MBP?

I mean, I've been carrying around a VGA dongle for years because I still run into places that use legacy projectors. One of the biggest reasons why I'm enjoying TB3 is because my MBP actually did look like that crazy headed hydra you described with wires, adapters, dongles, and plugs protruding out from every direction. It now only has one wire coming out of it.

 

[Music Ambulance]

How do you imagine faceid working? What’s equivalent to the swipe up gesture on iOS devices, to prevent unintended log ons and to initiate retries? Or does it just continuously try and logs on no matter what if it sees you?

Just wondering how they’d make it work, because for a Mac I think there may be some advantages to Touch ID over Face ID.

A voice command to kick it into gear might do the trick

 

[KPandian1]

iPhones should have a forehead - no more notches. That 2mm forehead is better than the notch. This applies to the MacBooks too.

There is always need for space at the top for camera, sensors, even lasers in the future, so concede the the forehead/bar.

Extend this concept to iPads and Macs - no notches. The reduction of the bezel all-around will infringe into the camera, so allocate a horizontal bar.

With the absence of Touch ID, the chin has disappeared from iPhones. So, the small loss of screen space at the top will easily adjusted to by the users.

 

[cocoua]

A new touchbar 16” apple laptop!?
This sounds as the 5000USD first macbook pro

Cant understand why peolple is so happy with the redisign thing, dseign couldnt go any further, and the macbooks will still have a bad keyboard, an expensive useless touchbar and would be short on ports , you probably would need to use dongles for a couole of years yet, battery, ssd and ram would still be glued

Only thing apple can positively Make from the design POV is to make a larger screen.

Trackap is already a monster, portables are too thin (they are so thin they compromise important stuff as seriuos ports, magsafe or swapable ram/ssd)

Macbooks pro are a great doomed machines

 

[theluggage]

Hold on... that was a pretty contrived scenario laid out so that a legacy setup would win.

External display/data projector, external drive (on a computer where multi-TB internal storage costs thousands of $ and can't realistically be upgraded after purchase), pointing device and a USB-stick doesn't seem "contrived" to me... and its not that I'd hook up all that stuff every time I sat down at a meeting, but by the time someone's asked me if I can show that video from last year, handed me a memory stick with a PPT on, borrowed my VGA dongle and not given it back and the meeting room WiFi has timed out for the 3rd time, that might be what I end up with.

Its 2019 - if I just wanted to show a Keynote and take some notes I'd have just taken my iPad or got a 12" rMB. There's a reason for travelling with a $3000 "pro" laptop and part of that is versatility.

At this point you're already wired up to half of a computer store, but you'd consider it an issue if you had to introduce a hub into your scenario?

An extra box is an extra box - and in a mobile scenario you're not gonna stuff that hub and all its connected devices in your bag at the end of the day so you're still going to have to plug in N+1 wires. As for 2-3 wires hanging off each side of a laptop vs. 4-6 wires hanging off a USB-C hub that transfers all of that strain via a 3" cable to a single port on the computer... not sure there's a clear advantage there.

The other wrinkle is that there aren't many mobile USB-C hubs that offer multiple USB-C connectors (partly because people want the legacy ports but also partly because USB-C ports are more complicated to implement esp. if they're going to offer more than USB3). So, that's one cable or adapter per device if you want to connect it to the hub, plus another cable or adapter if you want to connect it to the laptop.

Docks are great as a "convenience" on the desktop (where some people have a lot more than 5-6 devices connected, and probably already rely on a USB hub) if they can stay wired up... but then you need to replicate that on every desktop you use plus another hub/dock for mobile use (unless you want to dismantle your desktop every time you go on the road).

If your use case is that extreme, aren't you going to quickly run into something that's not built into that 2015 MBP?

...not as quickly as you would without all those ports. Plus, the example I gave left a whole TB2 port free and, as I said, in a sensible compromise that included TB3/USB-C ports and (so-called) legacy ports (as per iMac and Mac Mini) that would be a universal port... There are also wrinkles such as the option of having a flash card semi-permanently fitted in the SD slot so as to shift some of those just-in-case files and media libraries off your expensive SSD.

That's the thing - I don't think many people are saying that the 2016 MBP shouldn't have adopted TB3, just that it shouldn't have dumped all the "legacy" ports at the same time. Nobody's taking away your option of using a dock - the problem is that the modern MacBooks (esp. the ones with only 2 TB3 sockets) make it essential.

I mean, I've been carrying around a VGA dongle for years because I still run into places that use legacy projectors.

Only one? I usually took a couple, because there was always someone else who'd forgotten one. Sometimes I even got them back. Heck, it was a few years ago, but on a couple of occasions I turned up with a WiFi/Ethernet hub, a bag full of ethernet cables and a bunch of PCMCIA WiFi adapters because I needed to get people hands-on with an interactive website and the meeting was at a hotel out in the sticks. I'm sure some people would like RS232, IEE488 and Token Ring, but there are, however, limits...

Having no VGA was always a compromise for people who gave presentations or demos - and something you're still likely to run in to - but then the sockets are huge (and technically not hot-pluggable, with retaining screws that tended to bind in the sockets if you didn't do them up) and HDMI/DisplayPort offered far higher resolutions and significantly sharper, digital, images, so at least there was an upside.

Problem is with TB3/USB-C there still aren't many devices that really offer an advantage, beyond a few very expensive TB3 peripherals. USB 3.0 was fast enough for any single hard drive and all but the most exotic SSDs - and 10Gbps 3.1g2 doesn't actually need USB-C. I'm not impressed by USB-C devices that merely solve the problems caused by only having USB-C ports (e.g. virtually every mobile USB-C hub).

It now only has one wire coming out of it.

...and straight into a box with half a dozen wires coming out of it. Not an improvement on the road where you're gonna have to make those connections one way or another.

 

[cmaier]

A voice command to kick it into gear might do the trick

Oh god no.

 

[Salty Pirate]

What could be done on the current form factor to increase cooling efficiency? Liquid cooling? Is it simply the physics of the machine is too thin and Intel chips are getting hotter because of the increased core count so next years pro is faster than this years?

 

[rdowty]

What could be done on the current form factor to increase cooling efficiency? Liquid cooling? Is it simply the physics of the machine is too thin and Intel chips are getting hotter because of the increased core count so next years pro is faster than this years?

Intel needs to get their act together and shrink down their chips so they run faster and cooler. I think all the manufacturers got blind-sided when they expected Intel to make smaller, cooler chips instead they released the i9 which the market forced them to use but they weren't prepared for.