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Apple Planning 'MacBook Ultra' With Touchscreen and Higher Price
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I really hope this doesn't show up in some chunky 18" screen because I'll have to skip out over portability. I take my 14" MBP everywhere I go (yes, even the bathroom).
Naraxus
macrumors 68030
Imagine that.
Something with newer tech gets a higher price until the tech goes mainstream at which point the price lowers.
🙄
dmr727
macrumors G4
This is starting to feel like the mid 90s Apple - models and product categories all over the place with no focused vision anywhere to be seen.
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
Touch screen on a high end device reminds me of the Touch Bar. Pro users are not the ones who want or benefit from a touch screen
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
Don’t you think touch screens are mainstream in 2026?
I am confused. Since the Neo runs MacOS, the iPad should be able to run MacOS too.
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
Actually, no. This is fragmentation. It’s exactly the kind of situation the word “fragmentation” started being used to describe Android phones with all their different screen sizes and options
At the time, Apple fans said it was good that Apple didn’t do that. Fragmentation became a dirty word
Also wrong. Studies show that the more options a consumer has, the harder it is to choose what to buy. Often, this results in them buying nothing at all
It’s called the paradox of choice. Even if more options mean a buyer could find a product that fits their needs better, having too many options does away with that benefit because it makes the purchase experience more overwhelming
I'm certain that they do, but it seems like a solution in search of a problem. They have a touch based OS. They have a mouse and keyboard based OS. There's no need to try and fuse them. That's exactly what Microsoft tried to do with Windows.
capamac
macrumors 6502a
Lately I've been window shopping for PC x86-64 laptops. The selection is so expansive it is confusing. There's frequently a dozen iterations of the same basic product, with differences so tiny I have to read the fine-print specs line by line to even tell how one differs from another.
Mrkevinfinnerty
macrumors 68040
Excellent. I have long felt that MacBooks are just too cheap.
MORE.
MORE.
rafark
macrumors 68020
With this screen being a touch screen i really hope apple redesigns the form factor where the screen is more adjustable, using a Z design instead of the current classic V design of laptops where the screen can be adjused vertically and you can move it closer to you, with it partially hovering the keyboard.
I really feel like there’s room for innovation in laptop design and if there’s one company that can pull it off that’s apple.
I really feel like there’s room for innovation in laptop design and if there’s one company that can pull it off that’s apple.
abowlby
macrumors 6502a
CATiNTHESTORE
Suspended
I have exactly zero interest in a touchscreen on a laptop, but if you offer me a high-end Mac laptop with an OLED screen at a reasonably higher price than the pro-user alternative, and release it within the next year or so, I’ll buy one.
It’s coming up on the upgrade cycle for my M1 Max (though admittedly, even the first gen is so good I’m not feeling like it’s as in need of replacement as I usually do after ~5 years), and would love to go all the way to an OLED if I can.
I do still think that Apple has room to fork the MacBook line in three (not counting the Neo): The Air is an awesome lightweight Mac that is so good it doesn’t feel like it has ultralight limitations. The current Pros are awesome workstations without compromises other than weight. But the spot that the late Intel MacBooks occupied has evaporated: The lightweight pro computer that makes some performance compromises in exchange for weight and compactness.
I for one would be excited if Apple removed the lower-end configs and renamed the current Pro line the Ultra, and released a 13” & 15” MacBook Pro that was similar to the Intel models in thickness and weight, was limited say to the M5 Pro but had no Max option, and offered more storage, RAM, ports, and battery life than the Air. Basically a “lightweight pro” or “less brick pro” option than the current form factor.
Given those choices, I might still go with the Ultra, but I’d seriously consider the Pro as a better compromise between performance and weight now that I’m traveling more.
Once they ditched the keyboard mistake, the final-gen Intel MacBook Pros were actually a really nice form factor, and with a midrange Apple Silicon chip the heat issues caused by an Intel CPU and dedicated GPU would no longer hamstring it.
It’s coming up on the upgrade cycle for my M1 Max (though admittedly, even the first gen is so good I’m not feeling like it’s as in need of replacement as I usually do after ~5 years), and would love to go all the way to an OLED if I can.
I do still think that Apple has room to fork the MacBook line in three (not counting the Neo): The Air is an awesome lightweight Mac that is so good it doesn’t feel like it has ultralight limitations. The current Pros are awesome workstations without compromises other than weight. But the spot that the late Intel MacBooks occupied has evaporated: The lightweight pro computer that makes some performance compromises in exchange for weight and compactness.
I for one would be excited if Apple removed the lower-end configs and renamed the current Pro line the Ultra, and released a 13” & 15” MacBook Pro that was similar to the Intel models in thickness and weight, was limited say to the M5 Pro but had no Max option, and offered more storage, RAM, ports, and battery life than the Air. Basically a “lightweight pro” or “less brick pro” option than the current form factor.
Given those choices, I might still go with the Ultra, but I’d seriously consider the Pro as a better compromise between performance and weight now that I’m traveling more.
Once they ditched the keyboard mistake, the final-gen Intel MacBook Pros were actually a really nice form factor, and with a midrange Apple Silicon chip the heat issues caused by an Intel CPU and dedicated GPU would no longer hamstring it.
dynamojoe
macrumors 6502
I just want the damn thing to be upgradeable. I'm really getting tired of Apple's sealed-device strategy.
Wanted797
macrumors 68020
Wanted797
macrumors 68020
That was what the Mac lineup looked like in 1997 when Steve Jobs reassumed the CEO role. In that speech, Jobs rattled off a list of overlapping product lines with a confusing naming scheme. Apple’s lineup today is nowhere near that. It is more complicated than the 4 quadrants (only 3 of which were filled that day) but there is clear differentiation.
So just like Starbucks coffees. Too many options. I know a guy who complained even when the temperature of the milk did not suit him.
SeaFox
macrumors 68030
I feel like Apple has developed this arrogant belief that anything that fails in the marketplace fails because it wasn't being done by them. Like, touchscreen laptops have been done in the past and Microsoft has already done the market trials to show that people are not interested in having to raise their arm to interact with their OS.
I rewatched Minority Report the other day. Maybe I wasn't the only one, and too many executives take montages of Tom Cruise swiping in midair while wearing Power Gloves accompanied by classical music as some indication of how people want to interact with technology.
I rewatched Minority Report the other day. Maybe I wasn't the only one, and too many executives take montages of Tom Cruise swiping in midair while wearing Power Gloves accompanied by classical music as some indication of how people want to interact with technology.