Apple Planning 'MacBook Ultra' With Touchscreen and Higher Price

[SmOgER]

I hate the fact that my thumb slightly touches the screen when I open my current laptop.

No way I want to put even more smudges on a screen. This seems like it would benefit greatly from nano texture glass.

I have a work laptop with a touchscreen. In addition of smudges you are also gonna be dealing now with apps closing when you inadvertently touch the 'close' button when adjusting the screen angle. The number of times I needed to actually use the touch input for it's intended purpose rather than it being just a mere annoyance is around none.

 

[tennisproha]

Dislike. Just more fragmentation to increase prices.

 

[darngooddesign]

Hope they are not going to introduce a new cable/port standard again.

The last proprietary port Apple introduced was Lightning, 14 years ago. On the Mac I think the last one was Mini Display Port, 18 years ago. Maybe you could consider MagSafe to be a port, and Im totally happy with proprietary Mac ports like that.

However, Apple did help develop FireWire 400/800 and USB-C as open standards, and they donated phone MagSafe to the Qi2 standard so… you’re welcome.

 

[darngooddesign]

I have a work laptop with a touchscreen. In addition of smudges you are also gonna be dealing now with apps closing when you inadvertently touch the 'close' button when adjusting the screen angle. The number of times I needed to actually use the touch input for its intended purpose rather than it being just a mere annoyance is around none.

Are you really poking the screen to change the lid angle?

 

[antnythr]

• A new top laptop does not need to be the most powerful desktop replacement laptop Apple offers. The existing MBPs can continue to fill the Studio-power-but-still-portable role.
• A new top laptop could be mostly pretty, thinner and lighter, like an iPhone Air is.
• Using the high efficiency of the latest Apple chips a new top laptop could be reasonably powerful without needing to be a maximum workhorse.

I was more thinking that a MacBook Ultra would be including a new Ultra chip and thus the need for the cooling. Looking at the post again, this isn't mentioned at all.

 

[1674117]

You left out the notch!!

Those are definitely Apple innovation!

 

[deconstruct60]

Can an MBP Ultra just have like 17-18" screen? May seem silly for some, I have the 16", would love more screen real estate.

First iteration, the "Ultra" probably won't be a 'Foldable screen" PC , but a decent chance that it will be incrementally heading that way if Apple believes that can make typing on the screen keyboard something that folks will grow into.
[ Kind of like the iPhone Air is 'half' of the foldable iPhone. Make the 'half' work and then go 'whole hog'. ]

It would/could morph into a very large iPad-like device when completely unfolded.

The old MacBook/Power 17" like chassis? Probably not. Times have changed. Type-C , one cable docking to a large desktop display means can just plug into a larger screen if just lugging laptop from worksite to worksite in many cases. There is also a 'second portable screen' market in the current era (for example https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-portable-monitor
that is 4 examples but there are several dozen models. It is a growing market. ) . If have an iPad it also can.

Those are not going to cover everyone , but it does chip away at the folks who are left in the market. A 14" , 16" , and something bigger than 16"? Each one of those is an increasingly smaller group.

P.S. there are lots of dynamic alternatives being tried in general Windows market. ( it is a larger market so the niche pockets are bigger in unit terms. 2% of 90% is pretty close to being 2% of the overall market. 2% of 10% is extremely small.

Lenovo’s Modular, Two-Screen ThinkBook Is the Futuristic Laptop I’m Rooting For

Lenovo is teasing a whole bunch of forward-looking mobile devices at MWC 2026, but this twin-screen concept laptop—with lots of swappable parts—is the one that made me go "Whoa!"

www.pcmag.com

https://www.microcenter.com/site/mc-news/article/lenovo-x1-fold-review-2024.aspx

 

[Allen_Wentz]

It’s gotten to the point now where I just don’t expect Apple to release a product that’s neither functionally or financially compromised. Incremental gains are now described as “evolutionary”.

At least the Neo fills a hole in the market. Where do you position an Ultra (or whatever stupid unoriginal name they come up with)?

This is just what the MBA should have become after the M1 generation, ultraportable, options like nano-texture display, minimal bezels. But Cook refused to do that as long as he had to conform to the magic $1000 threshold.

Jobs’ Apple used to lead the way, skate to the where the puck is going to be. How times have changed.

You ask "Where do you position an Ultra (or whatever..."

That is easy. A new design high end laptop can share the high end with the existing MBPs. Then as Apple empirically discovers what consumers want to buy they can adjust with evolved MBN, MBA, MBP, MBUltra offerings in future generations.

 

[Brother Cavil]

Yeah..

Yeah.. they seem to contradict themselves if this is going to go down. Gurman often wrong though.. god knows why he still has a job as an analyst 😂

So if this happens maybe Apple is looking to actually fuse iPad and MacBook so neither will exist after and the OS’es are actually transitioned into one. Like a decade or more timeline.

Then they would make good on their “What’s a computer?”

People are reading waaaaaay too much into all of this. Think about it. Touch is just another input method. Apple added mouse support to iPadOS and nothing about the iPad touch experience changed. Apple can add touch to the Mac and nothing about the Mac experience will change. It's not much different from gestures on the trackpad. First we had one click, then two, then three, then gestures. If you don't like any of that stuff, you can simply disable those features and you're back to a 1984 one click mouse.

Steve Jobs hated touch screens 20 years ago. That's where the anti-touch stubbornness originates. You know why he hated touch on the Mac? Because he wanted to sell you an iPad too! It's not hard to understand. People get all worked up over the ergonomics, yet completely ignore the fact that using an iPad with a keyboard is the EXACT SAME ergonomics. Tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people do that every day. And yet there's no epidemic of "gorilla arm." The anti-touch Mac crowd has been brilliantly mind-controlled for 20 years.

On the one hand converging OSes makes a lot of sense. They've always said this is not the plan, however. While I think they could do it, I tend to believe them for one simple reason. Why would I buy a Mac and an iPad if I could just buy one device instead? I wouldn't. There are many reasons to converge the OSes and there are many reasons to keep the product lines and OSes distinct. Each has trade-offs. For now converging would cannibalize sales, so I don't see that happening. Decades from now, when the "computer" division is just one part of the Apple conglomerate, maybe, but not now.

 

[Brother Cavil]

I have a work laptop with a touchscreen. In addition of smudges you are also gonna be dealing now with apps closing when you inadvertently touch the 'close' button when adjusting the screen angle. The number of times I needed to actually use the touch input for it's intended purpose rather than it being just a mere annoyance is around none.

Curious, since I've never owned a touch-enabled laptop, is it not possible to simply turn touch off? Does Windows not give you that option?

I'm not surprised by these poor UX issues given that it's Windows, but I certainly expect Apple to take the issue you describe into account when adding touch to the Mac. What you describe is a very solvable problem, not an indictment of touch as an input method.

 

[deconstruct60]

I think it’s the different computing contexts. My iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard has never made me try touch my MBP’s screen, but my work laptop did.

Multitasking dymanics on the iPad were much weaker. If you largely learned iPadOS with a "Magic keyboard" before the free floating windowing happened it is likely the case that you learned a narrow subset that never existed with Windows (especially in the post Windows 8 era).

If Apple does that, I think the entire OS will be touch friendly even if most people don’t use touch for everything.

Pretty good change this is a narrow subset of the OS that has to do with the narrow subset of item selection ( touch and click/select) and windows management. That subset would not impact the vast majority of the OS.

It is also likely flowing out of iPadOS evolving in these areas ( and some VisionOS user point/select stuff). When you touch the widget/element might shift to be more touch friendly but he baseline look and fell is still macOS. (and goes away when take finger off the screen).

If Apple build a 2-in-1 like device there might be a more radical shift, but decent chance that is not where this is going on the first several iterations.

 

[Schrödinger’s]

NGL, I would totally get a “new computer” air freshener.

Mmm, smell of brominated fire-retardants… those were the days! New stuff doesn’t smell anymore like it used to do :/

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

yeah, I'm sure all those hardware engineers are super bummed that they now have to work on TV shows instead of being able to just focus on making hardware for user benefit... /s

You didn't need the tag, I got the sarcasm—but you're wrong to assume these devisions and services aren't distracting Apple and its execs. Apple should cull many of the things they make and refocus the whole company back on making quality operating systems and the hardware that runs them. They don't need to be the 10th TV steaming service, or the 8th fitness video platform.

 

[Rayansb]

The higher price point is a feature now

 

[darngooddesign]

…What you describe is a very solvable problem, not an indictment of touch as an input method.

The solution is not adjusting the lid by touching an app’s close button. 😁

 

[Velli]

The MBP never had an Ultra chip.

Managed to confuse myself I guess.

The Mini will be updated to the M5 and M5-Pro, and the Studio will be upgraded to the M5-Max only since it is more powerful that the M3-Ultra. Then when the next Ultra chip is available, they will stick that in the Studio.

Apple doesnt really care about the MacPro, so it will probably be discontinued.

Based on your logic of both being called Ultra, then the Apple Watch shoudl also get the Ultra chip. Just look at the size and weight of the Ultra’s heat sink in the Studio compared to the Max if you still think they are going to cram an Ultra chip in a MBP; its only a good idea if you're nostalgic for the days of 5 hour battery life.

My logic is that the chips shouldn’t have the same monikers as the products in the first place.

“Do you have a MacBook Pro Pro or a MacBook Pro Max” is a question that no one should need to ask.

You have never been able to get a MBP with an Ultra chip. No one knows it its a new computer line, or just a MBP option like nano-coating. If its a new computer it will probably have the same chips as the MBP.

People overthink things, its not that confusing.

Clearly confusing enough that I got it wrong by overthinking it… 🙄

 

[Boil]

Give it an 18" OLED screen and a Mx Ultra chip...

 

[Bubble99]

On the one hand converging OSes makes a lot of sense. They've always said this is not the plan, however. While I think they could do it, I tend to believe them for one simple reason. Why would I buy a Mac and an iPad if I could just buy one device instead?

Unfortunately what is holding back iPadOS that it needs to merge with MacOS?

 

[chars1ub0w]

The market for a high-end MacBook Pro is already tiny. If you go and look, a fairly high-end M5 Max 14" MacBook Pro already costs over $5,000. If Apple adds another $1K for tandem OLED, you're looking at over $6,000. Would you spend that much on a laptop? Yes, if work or a sponsor will pay for it. (When I got my M1 Max 16" 4TB SSD 64GB RAM, luckily a sponsor paid for it.) No, if I have to pay for it myself.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Curious, since I've never owned a touch-enabled laptop, is it not possible to simply turn touch off? Does Windows not give you that option?

I'm not surprised by these poor UX issues given that it's Windows, but I certainly expect Apple to take the issue you describe into account when adding touch to the Mac. What you describe is a very solvable problem, not an indictment of touch as an input method.

Wife has a surface pro 9, which is touch enabled. She never uses the touch, except when clients use the pen to sign PDFs. Her screen stays perfectly clean otherwise.

 

[Brother Cavil]

The solution is not adjusting the lid by touching an app’s close button. 😁

Lol, yes, that too! 😂

Seriously, though, I can rest my palm on my iPad when using the Pencil and it understands what is happening. Similarly, there's no reason a touchscreen Mac couldn't account for these UX scenarios. While I feel Apple software quality has slipped a bit in recent years, they're still very much the kind of company that focuses on these sorts of UX issues. I can't imagine a world where they bring touch to the Mac and users are accidentally closing windows and apps when adjusting the lid.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I was more thinking that a MacBook Ultra would be including a new Ultra chip and thus the need for the cooling. Looking at the post again, this isn't mentioned at all.

Existing maxxed-out MBPs are hella powerful and the heat management is excellent. I do not think there are very many MBP buyers wanting an M-series Ultra chip 2x as powerful as the M-series Max chip, although there probably are quite a few that want more RAM.

It will be interesting to see how Apple might configure a new thinner/lighter high-end laptop. Will it get the M-series Max chip or the weaker M-series Pro chip and the compromises (e.g. memory bandwidth) that the Pro chip includes? Will it get fans? How much available RAM?

My personal opinion is that thinner/lighter, M5 or M6 Pro chip and lots of RAM could be a very sweet high price laptop that could halo the line and sell adequately. The RAM can make a huge difference. And Apple would need to keep the display, ports and speaker quality at least as good as the MBPs.

 

[Brother Cavil]

Unfortunately what is holding back iPadOS that it needs to merge with MacOS?

I don't think they "need" to merge. I can also imagine a future where I carry around an iPad-like device that gives me a desktop UI when certain input devices are present. It's not hard to imagine macOS and iPadOS converging, but I don't see the benefit and it's certainly no benefit to Apple's bottom line if I only buy one device instead of two.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

This makes more sense than the M5 MacBook Pro becoming obsolete 6 months after its release.

Obsolete?

 

[darngooddesign]

My personal opinion is that thinner/lighter, M5 or M6 Pro chip and lots of RAM could be a very sweet laptop. The RAM can make a huge difference. And Apple would need to keep the display, ports and speaker quality at least as good as the MBPs.

The MBP speakers are as good as they are due to their size. The 15” Air has worse speakers (less midrange and bass) than the 14” Pro due to less internal space so greed is no way an even thinner and lighter laptop will keep the good MBP speakers.