Apple Said to Shift to Lower Power IGZO Displays for MacBook Pro Later This Year

[HobeSoundDarryl]

This is highly unlikely. A notebook computer without power is useless. Not useless in the sense that a computer without a floppy drive is useless to someone whose livelihood or self worth is dependent on having a built-in optical drive. I mean truly useless as a notebook computer. The only way the battery would be removed would be if it were replaced by some other technology (e.g., capacitors instead of batteries, or ubiquitous wireless power).

I didn't say that they would make it impossible to work with a battery- just jettison the battery out to an add-on (sold separately) accessory... like current useful ports... or headphone jacks, etc. "Thinner" can't magically thin forever without more stuff being jettisoned to- in Apple's own words- "make room." And battery is the biggest space eater inside all of the principle Apple tech.

I'm looking at that OWC thing announced this week and I wonder if it is offering a peek at the future, where Apple kicks out the battery and one pretty much must buy a "bottom" for a future MBpro to add in the battery, much like one needs dongles or a hub to plug into the new MB for (what many consider essential) ports that used to be there.

For all the passion some have shown in supporting the choices to jettison headphone jack and then many key ports, why not? "Thinner" seems to rule all.

 

[skids929]

Please post your tweaks and stripped out functions. It can help a lot of people on here.

Notifications off
Siri Dead, removed from Toolbar
Bluetooth Off
Safari only
Ghostery add on to Safari
Keyboard backlight off
Autobrightness off
Screen brightness always 50-60%
Shut down completely at night when I put it away


If I think of any later that I forgot to put here I will edit this.

 

[dumastudetto]

This should make everyone who just shelled out $3000+ for a new MBP 2016 feel real warm and fuzzy that they will soon have an inferior MBP.

There's always something better coming out. But right now the current MBPs are the very best laptops money can buy, and they will still be better than all Windows laptops for least 6 years.

 

[rixax]

Apple will shift to indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) material for MacBook Pro displays as soon as later this year, ...

At first I thought "OK! Lower heat means more RAM! Then I saw that it means brighter screen and lighter weight. WTF! Make it heavier and dimmer and give me 3.0 GHZ and 32 gig ram! Then It will be a PRO.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

There's always something better coming out. But right now the current MBPs are the very best laptops money can buy, and they will still be better than all Windows laptops for least 6 years.

I agree with your first sentence, but then you had to go and get all stupid on me.

 

[elvislives]

That's true...

I suspect 99%+ Apple customers will not be doing or need to do that kind of photo processing on their laptop. Speaking as a photographer, I suspect that's true for 99% of photographers as well.

Apple knows who their customer base is.

Err nope. It's just dumb to call it a pro computer with 16GB RAM, anybody running pro 3D apps will tell you that. Give pro users the choice Apple!

 

[Investor27]

I love how all of the buyers of these first-gen touchbar MBPs basically became beta testers to the tune of $2K+ with the next version addressing all of the issues.

$3.7K according to the guy right above your post.

 

[citysnaps]

The battery life is really not that bad. And by not that bad, I mean it's actually pretty great considering the intensity of the display.

The whining on these forums is pretty disastrous. I've been running off a 13" 2012 MacBook Air since… well, since 2012. It served me fantastically, but the display was getting a bit splotchy. I just bought a decked out 15" 2016 MBP. It takes a few days to settle. iCloud, Mail, Photos, Spotlight, Messages, iTunes, Time Machine… all this background **** running basically nonstop for days. After that, battery life is a good 8+ hours. The display is incredible. I don't even know what to do with it honestly, since my external display is crap by comparison now.

Even the dongles… really not a big deal. I just need one—USB-C to USB-A for a hub. Everything else is a few dollars on Amazon for a new cables (USB-C to DisplayPort, USB-C to USB-MicroB, etc.). Carry an extra USB-C to USB-A adapter in the bag just incase. People make a big deal out of the silliest things.

This "disaster" of a notebook is the best computer I've ever owned. If the battery goes to hell in a year I'll hand it in and get another one, NBD. That's the glory of AppleCare. Maybe I'll get the new display an an extra 30 minutes of battery life.

Stop it! That's Satan talking...

You'll be ridiculed here for having an excellent experience with an Apple product. Amazing how people want to be stuck in and cling to a 20 year old USB A past rather than move forward with modern, fast, and incredibly flexible I/O. And as you said, a tiny highly-rated $4 adapter is available, when needed.

BTW... After 4+ years of use I just had the battery replaced in my 2012 MBA at the local Apple Store. $129 and an excellent experience getting it taken care of - in less than one day. I should be back up to 8 hours of battery charge.

 

[macTW]

I realize you are joking but the relentless clash of "thinner" and battery seems to inevitably culminate in the battery getting jettisoned. I mean, we just rationalized the headphone jack getting jettisoned on arguments like "antiquated/outdated." Well guess what is an OLDER technology than that headphone jack?

And Apple seems to be "innovating" heavily around the idea of add-on stuff (sold separately of course) to deliver what used to be built inside... so why not eject the battery and then sell small ("thinnest"), medium ("thinner") and larger ("thin") add-on packs so that people "can get whatever amount of battery they want."

Apple would get their 5 seconds at the big reveal to spin "thinnest MB ever" AND the increased revenue on each MB transaction since pretty much everyone would need to buy a battery pack of some size. Make it so that the pack must connect via a proprietary, patent-protected jack so that only Apple has supply for the first X months the new MB is out... and licensing keeps third parties from being able to roll out much cheaper alternatives.

Of course, with iPhone Apple learned they can eject that thing and raise the price, so why not eject this thing and raise the price? And they learned they can make the thing ejected connect via a proprietary jack for anyone that wants the functionality that used to be built inside, so Apple gets paid (extra) either way.

Bad dream? Or "the future" coming to Apple laptops near us all?

Too bad you're factually incorrect. Battery technology is nowhere near older and more outdated than the 3.5 mm headphone jack. The concept of a battery might be old, but what's in that battery has changed intensely over the last five or so years, unlike the 3.5 mm jack...

 

[ralphthemagi]

Err nope. It's just dumb to call it a pro computer with 16GB RAM, anybody running pro 3D apps will tell you that. Give pro users the choice Apple!

16GB is all that's available, and all that's been available, in that form factor from any manufacturer—ever. The previous model had 16GB of RAM. The Surface has 16GB of RAM.

The SSD in the new MBP can read/write sustained at over 2 Gbps. Yeah, it's not close to memory bandwidth but gone are the days of <100 MB/s bottlenecks.

It's literally the most "pro" computer that's ever existed, whatever that even means.
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I love how all of the buyers of these first-gen touchbar MBPs basically became beta testers to the tune of $2K+ with the next version addressing all of the issues.

I mean, the alternative was spending the same amount of money for a 2015 MPB. It's not like you get the choice to purchase future technology today.
[doublepost=1483744856][/doublepost]

Stop it! That's Satan talking...

You'll be ridiculed here for having an excellent experience with an Apple product. Amazing how people want to be stuck in and cling to a 20 year old USB A past rather than move forward with modern, fast, and incredibly flexible I/O. And as you said, a tiny highly-rated $4 adapter is available, when needed.

BTW... After 4+ years of use I just had the battery replaced in my 2012 MBA at the local Apple Store. $129 and an excellent experience getting it taken care of - in less than one day. I should be back up to 8 hours of battery charge.

Battery life never really bothers me. When they get 3+ years old I relegate them to desktop use for the most part. I DO wish they had a screen replacement service. The screens on all laptops eventually seem to degrade, either as a result of heat damage or the coatings wearing down. Apple forces you to buy the whole top clamshell for $800 which is honestly just insane. I could stomach $200-$400 for a new screen, but $800 is just crazy.

 

[kingtj]

This guy probably disagrees.

There's always something better coming out. But right now the current MBPs are the very best laptops money can buy, and they will still be better than all Windows laptops for least 6 years.

 

[44267547]

Thats apple. They will just make the laptop thinner instead cuz who needs battery life on a portable machine

Why? Because you believe the battery life is so abysmal as it stands currently. Not quite.

 

[Larry-K]

Leave only one USB-c port, make it 40% thinner, introduce external keyboard (innovation!), cut out the internal one, slap an additional 500$ price tag to the mix, call it pro, say it's courage, and call it a day. Weeeee...

There's always an optimist in the crowd.

 

[Appleaker]

The battery life is really not that bad. And by not that bad, I mean it's actually pretty great considering the intensity of the display.

The whining on these forums is pretty disastrous. I've been running off a 13" 2012 MacBook Air since… well, since 2012. It served me fantastically, but the display was getting a bit splotchy. I just bought a decked out 15" 2016 MBP. It takes a few days to settle. iCloud, Mail, Photos, Spotlight, Messages, iTunes, Time Machine… all this background **** running basically nonstop for days. After that, battery life is a good 8+ hours. The display is incredible. I don't even know what to do with it honestly, since my external display is crap by comparison now.

Even the dongles… really not a big deal. I just need one—USB-C to USB-A for a hub. Everything else is a few dollars on Amazon for a new cables (USB-C to DisplayPort, USB-C to USB-MicroB, etc.). Carry an extra USB-C to USB-A adapter in the bag just incase. People make a big deal out of the silliest things.

This "disaster" of a notebook is the best computer I've ever owned. If the battery goes to hell in a year I'll hand it in and get another one, NBD. That's the glory of AppleCare. Maybe I'll get the new display an an extra 30 minutes of battery life.

The battery life is inconsistent and depends on your workflow. If you're coming from a 2012 MBA, with 4 years for the battery to decrease in capacity, then it may appear better for you than it would for others. I am not getting the 2-4 hours people are complaining about, but it isn't 10 hours.

The adapter situation has been blown way out of proportion, and it's thanks to the media showing bundles of dongles when in reality only one is needed to gain back previous functionality and more. For personal setups at least, having TB3 is better since it had higher bandwidth and can be adapted. It's like Apple letting the customer choose the ports.

 

[ocnitsa]

That's true...

I suspect 99%+ Apple customers will not be doing or need to do that kind of photo processing on their laptop. Speaking as a photographer, I suspect that's true for 99% of photographers as well.

Apple knows who their customer base is.

I seriously don't care about the RAM thing...more interested in a good GPU, but Apple can *know* who their customer base is and still offer options for those outside it, because options are, well, optional. The MacBook Air, MacBook, and MacBook Pro seem to be converging towards a single, broad (vanilla) customer base. This is worrisome because it allows PCs to close the gap related to difference and function. It is more closely becoming a matter of aesthetics, brand, etc., as PC laptop makers are catching up in build quality. I'm not saying they make a better laptop, but they offer options not available on Macs, often at the same price or cheaper. It gets closer and closer to making the trade offs not such a big deal. Now, I certainly don't want Apple to fragment and lose their way...but a clear vision that differentiated between current laptop models which included meaningful options *not* only geared at the most general (vanilla) consumer would be a good thing imho.
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16GB is all that's available, and all that's been available, in that form factor from any manufacturer—ever. The previous model had 16GB of RAM. The Surface has 16GB of RAM.

The SSD in the new MBP can read/write sustained at over 2 Gbps. Yeah, it's not close to memory bandwidth but gone are the days of <100 MB/s bottlenecks.

It's literally the most "pro" computer that's ever existed, whatever that even means.

What are you smoking? There are laptops that offer 32 GBs of RAM.


Edit- I see you said "in that form factor." Not sure what it means though.

 

[9081094]

Apple will never do a double redesign in the same year, so no thinners macbook pro later this year

Even if the design is flawed? It takes COURAGE to get it right!

 

[smirking]

This should make everyone who just shelled out $3000+ for a new MBP 2016 feel real warm and fuzzy that they will soon have an inferior MBP.

Such is the life of the early adopter... always. I typically wait for the second generation, but given the long refresh lag lately, I'm finding myself ponying up the premium to be part of the first wave. I suspect timing has pushed other people into the same camp.

I know what I'm getting into and hopefully, the rest of those people know as well. As long as it works more or less as advertised, I'll stop grumbling in a month or two. Even without consulting MacRumors, I'm buying it knowing full well that if I hold off another 6-12 months, I'll at least capture marginally more value and perhaps significantly more, but it's a machine that I need now. As much as it hurts, I'll just have to chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

 

[dilbert99]

There has to be some reason for not making them thicker, adding back USB-A and HDMI in the process. Right?

Some call it progress, some call it stubbornest, my mum calls it cutting your nose off to spite your face

 

[citysnaps]

I seriously don't care about the RAM thing...more interested in a good GPU, but Apple can *know* who their customer base is and still offer options for those outside it, because options are, well, optional. The MacBook Air, MacBook, and MacBook Pro seem to be converging towards a single, broad (vanilla) customer base. This is worrisome because it allows PCs to close the gap related to difference and function. It is more closely becoming a matter of aesthetics, brand, etc., as PC laptop makers are catching up in build quality. I'm not saying they make a better laptop, but they offer options not available on Macs, often at the same price or cheaper. It gets closer and closer to making the trade offs not such a big deal. Now, I certainly don't want Apple to fragment and lose their way...but a clear vision that differentiated between current laptop models which included meaningful options *not* only geared at the most general (vanilla) consumer would be a good thing imho.

Seriously? No differentiation?

MacBook Air: Lowest cost, medium weight, generic TN display panel (not great for processing photos/videos), two USB A ports, 8GB max RAM, up to 512 GB SSD. Will be retired soon.

MacBook: Medium cost, lightest weight, smallest size, up to 1.3 GHz dual core CPU, 1 USB C port, 12" retina hi-rez display (decent for processing photos/videos), greater cost, 8 GB max RAM, up to 512 GB SSD.

MacBook Pro: High cost, best performance, touch bar, retina hi-rez 500 nit display with P3 wide gamut (great for processing photos/videos), 16 GB RAM (will be 32 GB in 2017), huge trackpad, up to 2.9 GHz i7 CPU, dGPU option, four TB 3 ports with prodigious bandwidth (40 Gb/sec EACH port) and great flexibility, can drive two 5K external displays each over a single cable, touch ID unlocking, up to 2 TB SSD.

I find very little in common, other than all three are laptops with a keyboard and battery.

I do expect the MacBook Air will be retired soon. What additional differentiation would you like. Perhaps a wing spoiler and VTEC stickers?

 

[sinsin07]

Too bad you're factually incorrect. Battery technology is nowhere near older and more outdated than the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

What is the definition of "battery technology"?
Wouldn't "battery technology" start with the first working battery?
According to various sources the first true battery was invented in 1800 by Volta (thus we have the term volt).
Was not his invention "battery technology"?
If so then "battery technology has been around a lot longer than the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The concept of a battery might be old, but what's in that battery has changed intensely over the last five or so years, unlike the 3.5 mm jack...

The concept of a battery?
Seems like your playing with words.
The last part of your comment appears to contradict the first.

 

[smirking]

What are you smoking? There are laptops that offer 32 GBs of RAM.

Edit- I see you said "in that form factor." Not sure what it means though.

He probably means truly portable and compact laptops that a business user would favor.

There's an interesting Quora thread on the topic of 32GB of RAM in a laptop.
https://www.quora.com/What-practical-advantage-would-32GB-of-RAM-in-a-laptop-provide-over-16GB

Long story short, it seems that the answers distill down to only finding that much RAM useful for Virtual Machines and advanced Video Editing. You could argue that if you're doing advanced video editing, you probably would prefer a desktop machine anyway so maybe that thins the good reasons for 32GB on a laptop down to those who need to run Virtual Machines and there should be a fair number who do. MBPs is popular hardware for coders, which I am one and I do occasionally feel the pinch when I'm allocating a large chunk of memory to one of my VMs or dev environment servers.

I do care about battery life, so if I need to accept 16GB as a tradeoff for having better battery life, I'll live.

 

[ocnitsa]

Seriously? No differentiation?

MacBook Air: Lowest cost, medium weight, generic TN display panel (not great for processing photos/videos), two USB A ports, 8GB max RAM, up to 512 GB SSD. Will be retired soon.

MacBook: Medium cost, lightest weight, smallest size, up to 1.3 GHz dual core CPU, 1 USB C port, 12" retina hi-rez display (decent for processing photos/videos), greater cost, 8 GB max RAM, up to 512 GB SSD.

MacBook Pro: High cost, best performance, touch bar, retina hi-rez 500 nit display with P3 wide gamut (great for processing photos/videos), 16 GB RAM (will be 32 GB in 2017), huge trackpad, up to 2.9 GHz i7 CPU, dGPU option, four TB 3 ports with prodigious bandwidth (40 Gb/sec EACH port) and great flexibility, can drive two 5K external displays each over a single cable, touch ID unlocking, up to 2 TB SSD.

I find very little in common, other than all three are laptops with a keyboard and battery.

I do expect the MacBook Air will be retired soon. What additional differentiation would you like. Perhaps a wing spoiler and VTEC stickers?

Please God no!

I hear you.

Seems like the only real game changers are 16 GBs of RAM, discrete GPU, and i7, though (all that vs increased portability). But I hear you.

 

[Soccertess]

I like a bit of benzel (not as much on the macbook air), but a little because i do get some bangs and dents on the edges of my laptops sometimes. Just worried it would make the screen extra brittle and smash. But I guess that's what the case ecosystem is for.

Personally, I would rather have an HDMI or USB-A port instead of a better screen. Let's all hope the board get's tired of reduce Captain dongle head's pay and just replaces the loser.

 

[doelcm82]

I didn't say that they would make it impossible to work with a battery- just jettison the battery out to an add-on (sold separately) accessory... like current useful ports... or headphone jacks, etc. "Thinner" can't magically thin forever without more stuff being jettisoned to- in Apple's own words- "make room." And battery is the biggest space eater inside all of the principle Apple tech.

I'm looking at that OWC thing announced this week and I wonder if it is offering a peek at the future, where Apple kicks out the battery and one pretty much must buy a "bottom" for a future MBpro to add in the battery, much like one needs dongles or a hub to plug into the new MB for (what many consider essential) ports that used to be there.

For all the passion some have shown in supporting the choices to jettison headphone jack and then many key ports, why not? "Thinner" seems to rule all.

I could see them (if I squint really hard) giving you a choice of thin battery or thicker battery, but the basic battery would be included in the price, not a separate purchase. Just as when you buy an Apple Watch, it comes with a band. I still say it's unlikely. The latching mechanism for attaching the battery pack would eat up valuable real estate and interfere with the quest for ever thinner and lighter devices.

It's definitely not the same as the adapters you need (but I may not need) to connect your new laptop to legacy peripherals. The tell is when you say "what many consider essential", because it also allows that many don't consider them essential. Unlike a way to power your notebook without plugging it in.

Even though I don't think Apple will do it, your idea seems as though it would please certain set of Apple fans who would love to return to the days of carrying spare batteries. And why couldn't the base also contain all those legacy (what many consider essential) ports? Your nightmare scenario could be a dream come true for some of your target audience!

 

[nigerson]

Forgetting the absurdity of the incorrect stupid cliched repetitive dongle posts for a minute (you don't need them, just get the improved cables), when did we all start using the world dongle incorrectly? A dongle was alway an end device, a software protection key, a USB memory stick, a wifi dongle, a 4g dongle, a 3g dongle. A dongle has never been an adapter let alone a hub...
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And it doesn't even provide support for DDR4L, now that's a fail.

The U-series, which the macbook pro's use does support DDR4L...