Apple Said to Ship New 'Ultra-Thin' 13" and 15" MacBooks by June-July

ArtOfWarfare said:
I really want Apple to offer a laptop with an LTE connection.

It seems bizarre to me that the iPad has had cellular antennas from the beginning, 6 years ago now, but Apple has never given that to their laptops, even as an optional add-on, throughout the many revisions that they've had to their laptop line over the years.

If Apple put cellular connections in their computers, I could just cut Comcast entirely. AT&T's LTE is faster and cheaper than my Comcast broadband, but because tethering is less than convenient, I still mostly use broadband for when my computers need to connect to the internet.
Click to expand...

FYI in case you did not know. You can use your iPhone to tether a connection to your Mac. My wife does this all the time with her MBA.
 
I wonder if they reduced the bezels if they could make a 17" MacBook Pro nearly the size of the current 15" ones? As I posted the other day, it would be neat if Apple just consolidated it like this: 12" and 15" MacBooks, 15" and 17" MacBook Pros. Get rid of the Air and add an extra port or two to the MacBook and call it a day. I mean, after all, the original Air expanded ports over time.

With the A9X having a better Geekbench score than the fastest MacBook (5466 vs. 5284), and Apple being rumored to acquire Imagination Technologies, I'm looking forward to seeing a MacBook/iPad crossover device. Apple uses "A" for their iOS devices, "M" for motion co-processors and "Hey Siri", and "S" for Apple Watch. I wonder if they would come out with another chip line that is the ultimate in performance.

Think three A9X cores on a single die using a 10nm process, Geekbenching around 16,000, in a MacBook Pro/iPad Pro 13" hybrid device. Think about using the smart connector like a Thunderbolt 3 connector to attach to a keyboard base. You could store a discrete graphics card, extra battery, and extra ports inside the keyboard part. When it snaps on it clocks up the processor and has access to the additional graphics resources and USB 3.0 speed ports for accessories. Apple has a patent on an OS that quickly switches from touch-based to mouse-based. When you dock, the display and apps morph to being a mouse-friendly desktop OS. Unification across the lines will happen eventually. And providing an SDK for (more easily) scaling iOS apps for the desktop could really help the Mac gain more market traction and help Apple achieve growth in the enterprise which, as Tim said the other day, is ripe for expansion with tons of users using really old PCs.

Everyone keeps saying that Apple's growth isn't sustainable. A hybrid device that isn't rushed and well thought out could bridge the gap to other markets that are ripe for growth. Or maybe it's just my wishful thinking. I think that Apple could figure out how to do it properly, and if they are then they are certainly taking their time. Such a machine would be really expensive to start out, but I think costs would come down over time. I know I'd easily drop $3000 on a machine like that—one that is an iPad Pro and MacBook Pro in one with great performance? That supports the Apple Pencil? It would be fantastic. Apple has been doing a lot of things lately that people never thought they would do. A stylus? Another 4" iPhone? A new iPhone with new, fast components for only $399? iPad Pro? A phablet? A watch? A $17,000 watch? Maybe even a car and removing the headphone jack? Anything is possible. Heck, it wasn't even long ago when people said they would never make an iPad Mini. Steve was famous for saying they wouldn't make something and then making it.
 
kevinkyoo said:
Don't do this to me, Apple. Please. If you really make that thin of a MacBook Pro in a 15" form with Skylake, I will throw all of my money at you. Please include some USB 3.1 and C ports, keep the MagSafe, keep the battery life, force touch, and I will be satisfied with this year with Apple.


EDIT: And most of all, no butterfly keyboard
Click to expand...

What's the problem with the butterfly keyboard? I've never used one.
 
Mums said:
Apple basically stated that they want to phase out personal computers. Not everyone is purely a consumer of content - some of us produce it. You can make interesting music on iPad, but otherwise than that iOS is far to limited to be useful as a platform for professional production. Don't be so short-sighted Apple!
Click to expand...

Sure. The "laptop" form factor is something that we've arrived at by accident/convenience than as a result of some high level look at the way humans need high performance compute power on the go. Hard attaching a keyboard to a screen is unnecessary when you think about it. Why impose such constraints? Because putting the keyboard on top of the CPU and disk was the way they did it back in the 1980s?

But I still think Apple will give us one last amazing "laptop" machine.
[doublepost=1458659079][/doublepost]
rediffusion said:
What's the problem with the butterfly keyboard? I've never used one.
Click to expand...

A small minority of folks "don't like it" (for unclear reasons). But they're very vocal and folks looking in would think there's a major problem with the MacBook keyboard.
[doublepost=1458659164][/doublepost]
soupcan said:
Apple, for the love of whatever you believe in, get some actually decent dedicated graphics in the MBPs. And do something about the cooling as well. One puny heatpipe for both the CPU and GPU, come on.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me that you need to be plugged in to a power plant seeing as your graphics performance requirements are so high. Maybe balanced power/portability computing isn't for you?

Let me guess, you play video games? Or do you actually need a GPU to do important stuff?
 
Oppenheim said:
My dream machine:

- USB-C only
- no 3.5mm jack
- no MagSafe
Click to expand...

What?! So you wouldn't want thunderbolt 3 which is backwards compatible with USB-C and offers better IO speeds, you've want less options for headphones even though a 3.5mm jack won't hinder the design in the slightest or inhibit Bluetooth headphones presuming that's what you prefer. And you want one of the best features (MagSafe) of the MacBook range to go?!

I get it's subjective and what makes each machine perfect to each of us is subjective, but those are awful suggestions that only limit the potential of the Pro-line. You're essentially asking for the extremely limited IO options of the portability-focused retina MacBook to be applied to the Pro range, but with even less options.
 
Forget rumors, I just have the feeling that Apple eventually wants to arrive at this lineup after a few years:

Macbook 11, 13, 15
Macbook Pro 13, 15

It'll take some time to phase out the Air, but that's where I see this all going.

rediffusion said:
What's the problem with the butterfly keyboard? I've never used one.
Click to expand...

They really feel like typing on an iPad screen. But you don't get the advantage of having a screen that can change. It's basically the worst of both worlds.
 
The MBP thickness (or thinness) is good as it is. Wound't mind it getting the new MB keyboard, but thats just design details. However, there is no way they can fit a higher-end Skylake HQ part within a 'thinner than MBA' frame factor, and it would be quite ridiculous for Apple to abandon its pro line. No, I think a much more likely scenario is this:

1. MBA gets canned. We got MB instead (maybe in two sizes, 12" and 14"?)
2. MBP is redesigned to resemble the MB a bit, we get the color options, maybe new keyboard, but keep the faster CPUs/GPUs. The 15" model will use the HQ CPUs with the Iris Pro 580 and a yet to be discosed dGPU in the higher-end model.

However, the June-July timeframe seems quite realistic. We should see the HQ-class Skylakes until then and also, AMD Polaris might be in production as well. A 6770HQ+Polaris10 would be a very sweet upgrade indeed.
 
Psyfuzz said:
What?! So you wouldn't want thunderbolt 3 which is backwards compatible with USB-C and offers better IO speeds, you've want less options for headphones even though a 3.5mm jack won't hinder the design in the slightest or inhibit Bluetooth headphones presuming that's what you prefer. And you want one of the best features (MagSafe) of the MacBook range to go?!

I get it's subjective and what makes each machine perfect to each of us is subjective, but those are awful suggestions that only limit the potential of the Pro-line. You're essentially asking for the extremely limited IO options of the portability-focused retina MacBook to be applied to the Pro range, but with even less options.
Click to expand...

Agreed. And if Razr makes the external GPU compatible with Apple, or if Apple makes its own, TB3 is a savior.
 
accrama said:
I am sick of thinner, thinner, thinner. I want better, upgradable, powerful computers.
Apple has become such a terrible expensive waste.
Click to expand...
Tim Cook should demote himself back to operations, where I believe it was that he excelled. They need a CEO who can run the entire company phones/pads/computers and not be sucked in by concentrating on thin at any cost.
 
I still don't understand why the price for a 15'' Laptop is a minimum of $2000. I would love a 15'' Intel i5 Skylake. I still think the minimum currently for the 15'' Macbook Pro's is entirely too high, please just give me the option to have my 15'' screen with lower specs like the older Macbook Pros.
 
Psyfuzz said:
What?! So you wouldn't want thunderbolt 3 which is backwards compatible with USB-C and offers better IO speeds, you've want less options for headphones even though a 3.5mm jack won't hinder the design in the slightest or inhibit Bluetooth headphones presuming that's what you prefer. And you want one of the best features (MagSafe) of the MacBook range to go?!

I get it's subjective and what makes each machine perfect to each of us is subjective, but those are awful suggestions that only limit the potential of the Pro-line. You're essentially asking for the extremely limited IO options of the portability-focused retina MacBook to be applied to the Pro range, but with even less options.
Click to expand...

We've had the 3.5mm discussion to death over on the other forum.

Yes, the flimsy 3.5mm jack is an anachronism that we've inherited for no good reason. Tradition is not a reason to keep it around.

Audio professionals do not use 3.5mm jacks. People who use 3.5mm jacks listen to Beyonce with their cheap headphones. The next gen iPhones are moving to AirPods.
 
Apple is killing me with their delay. I want a mac for my next computer, but at the same time, the Dell XPS 15 is a gorgeous and well-built computer available today for insane specs.

15" 4K touch display
Aluminum and Carbon Fiber body (it is awesome to hold)
Skylake CPUs w/ nVidia discrete grpahics
Thunderbolt 3 via USB C
Upgradable memory up to 32GB

etc...

The hardware is just incredible. Apple should be selling this type of machine now.
 
SSD-GUY said:
And then a couple weeks later, Kaby Lake will be available making your 1 month old, shiny, new RMBP, a generation behind in CPU terms.
Click to expand...

Who cares, an update is an update, everything you buy is always outdated as soon as it's released. If people always thought like this, no one would ever buy anything, they'd spend their lives worrying if it would be outdated next week.
 
longofest said:
Apple is killing me with their delay. I want a mac for my next computer, but at the same time, the Dell XPS 15 is a gorgeous and well-built computer available today for insane specs.

15" 4K touch display
Aluminum and Carbon Fiber body (it is awesome to hold)
Skylake CPUs w/ nVidia discrete grpahics
Thunderbolt 3 via USB C
Upgradable memory up to 32GB

etc...

The hardware is just incredible. Apple should be selling this type of machine now.
Click to expand...

Exactly. No excuse for a company with Apple's resources to fall behind like this. Tim Cook should demote himself. He is not capable of running this entire company. He was very good at what he was doing before- global operations I think- making sure the manufacturing got done to spec and on time.
 
if they released the same computer as the macbook air 13" only with a 1080p IPS display and even better battery life I would be sold. I do not need it to be any thinner, lighter, have any more ports or features (although HDMI out would be OK). Just better battery life and better viewing angles and possibly just a little higher resolution. That said I am still clinging onto my 2010 iMac because I hate how they have gone with the iMacs and I equally hate where they are going with the 12" macbook
 
Despite Intel releasing CPUs appropriate for the rMBP, I still maintain that Apple is waiting on (1) the Intel chipset with a 580 iGPU (yes they have been announced, but none have been seen in public yet) and (2) on Polaris for (a) an internal dGPU option and/or for (b) an eGPU solution (even Razer's eGPU solution will not be available until June). Especially given the latter fact that eGPUs won't see public release until June, it seems that Apple is waiting for the technology to align.

Also, I wonder if Apple's update will come from the revision of Skylake CPUs. The original Skylake CPUs had a serious bug that caused the chip to lock up under "complex workload conditions." This was supposed to be fixed, at least by the chip's revision.

For those bemoaning the proximity to the launch of Kaby Lake, I say this: look at Intel's launch of Skylake. That is what I expect from Kaby Lake too--a very broad release with the chips Apple prefers being released at the end of the release.

My one concern is Tim's comment at the Apple event that the iPad was the "perfect expression of personal computing" (edit: and the iPad is "the future of personal computing.") I don't think Apple will kill off notebooks yet, but I am concerned that (1) Apple believes it is sufficient for the prosumer (much less professionals) and (2) Apple is still considering moving everything to ARM. That last move would be the end of my relationship with Apple.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top