I’m extremely sad to see the end of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, let alone this particular body style. I didn’t dislike the Touch Bar, once the physical “esc” key returned and the butterfly keyboard finally went away. It was a good machine, especially once we crossed over into the Apple Silicon era. And it was the last ”new” Mac notebook to not have the stupid notch. I also do hate that an entry level M3 in a MacBook Pro is now $300 more than the entry level M2 and M1 versions of the 13-inch MacBook Pro costed.
That all being said, this decision makes perfect sense on Apple’s part. That design was clearly out-going. They gave IT departments and anyone who relied on the tried-and-true nature of that form factor plenty of time to buy up as many as they needed. Plus, from a marketing standpoint (and let’s not forget that Apple is, after all, a very marketing-centric company), it makes WAY more sense to just have a base M3 version of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the new design than it did with an out-going design. Plus, you get HDMI and an SD card slot in addition to your two ports, plus MagSafe. I’m not saying that this ought to be worth $300, but it’s indesputably an I/O upgrade.
Them bringing M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max to the MacBook Pro line also allows them to create the distance they need from the MacBook Air line to make it stand out. Again, a smart marketing move (as the 13-inch MacBook Pro, 13-inch MacBook Air, and 15-inch MacBook Air had a weird overlap with M2 that honestly made no marketing sense whatsoever).
I’m guessing that the MacBook Air will probably get the standard M3 around the time that the M3 Ultra comes to the Mac Studio (and maybe Mac Pro as well) and shortly prior to the M4 family coming to the MacBook Pros. Either that, or Apple could do what they’ve been doing with iPhones recently and just update the MacBook Airs to the M3 at the same time that they upgrade the MacBook Pros to the M4, creating the distance in performance across the entire MacBook Pro family from the MacBook Air. Plus, as so many are keen to point out, the MacBook Air isn’t marketed to those that care about what SoC family is inside of it.
I think that, especially with the death of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the Mac for me for the next time I am buying a Mac is now solidly the binned/lower-end Mx Pro 14-inch model with the higher RAM capacity and a 2TB drive. I’m in no hurry to buy such a machine, nor do I need one. But I think that’ll be what I gravitate towards once I’m ready for my refresh cycle to kick in (in a few years).
So long, 13-inch MacBook Pro! You were great when your chipset was made by NVIDIA, trash for most of the rest of the Intel era (until 2020), and then decent and wonderful for the first two generations of Apple Silicon. You will be missed!