Apple Reportedly Aiming to Upgrade the MacBook Pro Twice This Year

[Satch111]

I think that the OLED touch screen laptops will be and additional new line (eg MBP Ultra) and not replace the current MBPs.
Touchscreen on laptops is niche, Windows has taught us that much.

Since it is just a layer on the screen why would it be a separate product? You can just choose to turn it on or off as you please.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I don’t believe it either. If this is true then the first release may not sell, as people will wait for the better release.
Remember the Osborne effect?

MBPs are not Osbornes. MBPs are well established, Mac chips iterate ~ annually, and MBPs are known to receive design changes every few years. Osborne's fail was mostly due to inadequate financing of v2 of a young company's v1 product in a rapidly evolving brand-new PC industry.

Apple can easily finance whatever varying sales of MBPs occur as they sell new MBP product versions into the now mature PC industry. Apple will not fail depending upon which version MBP folks buy.

 

[artifex]

To everyone running Intel-based laptops, I would strongly recommend upgrading to an Apple Silicon-powered laptop. When I did, everything improved, from the battery life, to the cooler chassis you could now literally rest on your lap, to the superior screen and speakers, and to the processor speed improvements that vastly outpace any Intel chip. And if you bought a butterfly keyboard MacBook, the new magic keyboard on current laptops is far better.

However. MacBook Pros are multi-thousand dollar laptops. I still maintain that once you've upgraded to Apple Silicon, you shouldn't upgrade too often lest you burn a hole in your pocket.

Generally, you should upgrade when you can't do what you want to do on it, if it's a personal device, or what you need to do, if it's for work.
On the other hand, sometimes it's a matter of predicting where the market is going to be when you're ready, in case it's better to buy sooner. I almost upgraded my 2018-era desktop and laptop a year ago, but I thought nah, I can still do what I want for now, I'll wait for the next gen CPUs. The cost increase of the memory I had planned to put in my replacement desktop build last year probably exceeds the value of at least one Mac Mini, now.

 

[257Loner]

No one needed iPhone 5-17, 4s was perfect!

I'm glad you mention that, because you're completely correct. For example, my iPhone 13 mini was perfect, and I see no reason to upgrade until Apple makes something similar.

 

[kepler20b]

itll be a new product line. it has too many new features for them to ship it at the current base price of 1499.

Macbook pro max.


they will stop production of the m5 pro and max chips from the MacBook Pro line


and

raise the base price of the new MacBook Pro Max line to

$2499 m5pro chip 14"
and 2899 m5pro chip 16"


this makes sense because it will give them 2-8 years to wind down the lcd production lines and the existing panel mfgs while they build out the oled lines and both apple and panel mfgs can max extract cost of production & sales.

 

[Dark_Omen]

Have we seen benchmark leaks for the Pro or Max yet? Usually we've seen the number right before.
I remain doubtful.

I do see the new A series budget ones soon, and even a budget one with cellular connectivity as the A series chip already has cellular connectivity, and the budget ones would be the ones carriers would be most ready for.

My uninformed guess is the Pro's and Max later this year.

I’m looking forward to seeing Apple Charge a $400 premium just for cellular connectivity.

 

[delsoul]

Give me an M5 Air with pro-motion and slightly better speaker, I’d buy it in a heartbeat

 

[delsoul]

That's silly. Getting from A to B only requires a Toyota Corolla. Not everybody needs the latest Ferrari.

But life is better when you cry in a Ferrari instead of crying in a toyota 😂

 

[Shustr]

PLEASE PLEASE make Touchscreen an Option! Didn’t the Touch Bar teach them anything?

 

[jz0309]

Since it is just a layer on the screen why would it be a separate product? You can just choose to turn it on or off as you please.

Addl cost and features (touch) = higher premium price

 

[gmanist1000]

People keep saying MacBook Pro Ultra. More like MacBook Ultra. Sounds way better.

 

[HVDynamo]

No one needs the Zilog Z80. An abacus is good enough.

View attachment 2599012

Who needs an abacus when our fingers are good enough.

 

[HVDynamo]

No one needs an abacus. Fingers and toes are good enough

View attachment 2599018

oh man, I just replied with the same joke before seeing this haha

 

[HVDynamo]

Careful or the M2 Mac Pro will solider on for another year.

Unless they are going to make it more upgradable (as in being able to drop in a newer CPU module, or add RAM that extends the unified memory) they should either just discontinue it, or just do an M5 update and let that be the final iteration. It's just barely useful the way it is compared to the studio with the price premium you pay.

 

[HVDynamo]

Just give us the new Mac Studio already!!!

Seriously, I want one and don't want to buy an M4 version this late into the cycle. But I'm also worried about supply and prices with all the RAM pricing issues and whatnot going on so the sooner they can release them the better.

 

[Skytouch]

No one needs the Batcomputer. 🤓

View attachment 2599078

 

[Marty80]

I bet Cook knows the old saying: If you don’t succeed the first time, try try again.

 

[themacobserver]

All I want is a Surface Pro running macOS. Just do it. Please.

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

All I want is a Surface Pro running macOS. Just do it. Please.

Get out of here sir

 

[rp2011]

I’m looking forward to seeing Apple Charge a $400 premium just for cellular connectivity.

Yeah, but doubtful, these are iPhone chips that they are leveraging the scaling and nullifying any advantage Qualcomm may ever have on that sector of the laptop market.

 

[svish]

Waiting to see the redesigned MacBook Pros. Also would like to see cellular capability. Expecting the iMac also to get a refresh some time this year. Overall many Macs are getting an update this year!

 

[JSRinUK]

I predict that they’re bringing out the M5 because it’s an easy upgrade for them and then they’ll quickly bring out the redesign for the M6, with the biggest upgrade being - at last - user upgradeable RAM.

The catch? Like the power brick in the EU, the base models at the current price will come with zero RAM. That way Apple will be able to maintain the current prices without being affected by RAMageddon over the next couple of years.

 

[rp2011]

I predict that they’re bringing out the M5 because it’s an easy upgrade for them and then they’ll quickly bring out the redesign for the M6, with the biggest upgrade being - at last - user upgradeable RAM.

The catch? Like the power brick in the EU, the base models at the current price will come with zero RAM. That way Apple will be able to maintain the current prices without being affected by RAMageddon over the next couple of years.

Naw these are low volume chips. It’s not easy and it’s not cheap. That’s one of the reasons I’m skeptical on Apple releasing TWO different Pro and Max chips in one year, that and lack of benchmarks.
Thats why I’m skeptical on new MacBook Pros and Max any time soon. I have no inside connections like Mark, so what do I know, but it just doesn’t seem to make any sense.

 

[kurtfoster]

I wouldn’t mind having a touchscreen MacBook Pro. I routinely prop up my phone towards the right side of my MacBook Pro screen, and I would be multitasking, looking at news while I watch something on Apple TV. It would be nice if, with the iPhone mirroring, you could actually interact with your phone by tapping and scrolling your laptop screen. That would be pretty cool.

 

[Marx55]

Looking for PCIe 5 for much faster internal SSD (~15,000 MB/s as Samsung 9100 Pro internal SSD allows now) and the revolutionary M6 chip. All that will leave previous models in the dust. Same for Mac mini and other Macs. Besides the new Studio Display 27-inch with built-in Thunderbolt 5 hub with ports.