Apple to Announce Redesigned 14-Inch and 16-Inch MacBook Pro at WWDC, Says Wedbush Analyst

[Tozovac]

I really hope that SD Card and HDMI won’t have a comeback to the MacBook Pro. Even as a photographer I am not using SD Cards anymore but CFExpress instead. And I‘d rather have an additional Thunderbolt 4 port instead of an HDMI connector. Not so sure about the Magsafe, but as long as I can still charge via Thunder I’d be fine with it.

Not saying that no one is still using SD, but for me it would be a wasted port and dust collector that meanwhile most Mac users will already have as an adapter.

Curious why an SD card slot is not considered/valued as a portal for quick, easy, and inexpensive storage increase, regardless of the data transfer speed? 256gb for $70, I mean, wow!

Transcend 256GB JetDrive Lite 330 Storage Expansion Card for 13-Inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (TS256GJDL330)

The Jet Drive Lite series is specifically designed for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina display computers. Transcend's Jet Drive Lite expansion cards are a quick and easy way to gain the additional space you need without adding any bulk to your MacBook computer. Simply insert Jet Drive Lit...

www.amazon.com

Similar to USB-A — both USB-A and SD card ports may not be the fastest and most adaptable (via a dongle collection) but when it comes to pervasiveness and availability throughout “real life scenarios,” the convenience and low-cost of hardware based on USB-A and SD card technology is hard to overlook. Speed isn’t everything to everyone at all times! (Just like thinner than last year is not always better).

99% percent of cameras still come with SD cards. SD cards are not going away. Apple probably did their research.

oh and I use SD. I bet a lot more people use SD than CFExpress.

This is what I mean. Sometimes (function = convenience) and is more important at times than (function = speed) and/or (function = adaptability of a port), especially when the cost is considered…as in, low-cost of a 256 gb sandisk JetDrive made to be flush with a MacBook, and the no-cost of not needing to buy (and replace over time) dongles just to maintain convenient use of legacy USB-A hardware that’s not going away anytime soon.

 

[theluggage]

The floppy isn't going away. The CD isn't going away.

I must have missed the rumour that the 2021 MBP was going to have internal floppies and CD drive - because, otherwise, what has this got to do with SD/HDMI/USB-A? When Apple dropped optical drives in 2012 you could already store many CDs worth of information on a thumb drive and download a few GB of data in a fraction of the time it took to physically ship a CD - not to mention the drives being huge and unreliable. Whereas, even today, the majority of USB-C applications are simply the same old USB3 and DisplayPort protocols running over a new connector.

The "future" that people have to come to terms with is that progress has slowed - A CD stored about 500x more than a floppy. ~2010 a flash drive could store multiple Blu-rays. USB1 was about 500x faster than RS232, USB2 was 40x faster than USB1, USB3 was 10x faster than USB2 (and managed to use backward-compatible connectors).

...in USB mode, USB-C offers exactly the same speeds as USB3.1 over USB-A (gen2 works fine over USB-A) which isn't even a big deal since even the fastest NVMe SSD drives don't exceed USB3.1g2 speed. Even Thunderbolt 3/USB4 is only twice the speed - of TB1 from 2011 (or 4x with channel bonding which is swings-and-roundabouts).

Whereas past changes have been driven by order-of-magnitude technology improvements, USB-C (including Intel's decision to change the TB connector) is just a repackaging exercise, that also creates unnecessary bottlenecks by forcing unrelated protocols like DisplayPort, USB and power to contend for the same ports - the number of which is now restricted by the cost & resources of each additional "universal" port.

Cool design albeit chunky.

...but not so chunky for their time, especially since it was constrained by the size of CD, Floppy and Zip mechanisms and 90s-tech batteries - which you'd have had to cart around anyway. Now consider a plug-in module slightly bigger than one of those low-profile SD cards that could turn a recessed TB4 port into a flush-fitting choice of 3xTB4 or a SD slot or an HDMI port + USB Micro SD slot or a CFast reader or... But maybe that would be thinking a bit too different and/or might spoil the plan to make the MBP 1mm thinner...

That isn't really a pro machine need though is it?

Macs may come with super-duper-fast-better-than-NVMe-flash drives, but they're also super-duper expensive and super-duper-unexpandable. If you don't need the SD slot to read SD cards, there are a ton of uses for another 256G of slow storage for offloading bulky files that don't need blisteringly fast speeds.

Also, get over this "pro means exactly what I intend it to mean" thing: the 14/16" MBP range will cover customers from heavy Word/Excel users who want a larger screen on their laptop, through musicians, developers and a lot of jacks-of-all-trade (...all of which may also want to carry their music collection, movie collection, multimedia portfolio etc.)

Also - this whole SD thing. We've seen these leaked schematics "proving" that the new MBP will have SD, HDMI and 3xTB3. If they are genuine, that means that Apple agrees that a lot of customers want it, and they have better market research than anybody here. If they are false then a lot of this argument is completely moot (if they ain't coming back in 2012 they ain't coming back in 2022) along with the notion that extra "legacy" ports can only come by losing a TB4 port.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Can’t wait! I’ll bite the bullet this year.

 

[Robospungo]

Curious why an SD card slot is not considered/valued as a portal for quick, easy, and inexpensive storage increase, regardless of the data transfer speed? 256gb for $70, I mean, wow!

Transcend 256GB JetDrive Lite 330 Storage Expansion Card for 13-Inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (TS256GJDL330)

The Jet Drive Lite series is specifically designed for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina display computers. Transcend's Jet Drive Lite expansion cards are a quick and easy way to gain the additional space you need without adding any bulk to your MacBook computer. Simply insert Jet Drive Lit...

www.amazon.com

Similar to USB-A — both USB-A and SD card ports may not be the fastest and most adaptable (via a dongle collection) but when it comes to pervasiveness and availability throughout “real life scenarios,” the convenience and low-cost of hardware based on USB-A and SD card technology is hard to overlook. Speed isn’t everything to everyone at all times! (Just like thinner than last year is not always better).



This is what I mean. Sometimes (function = convenience) and is more important at times than (function = speed) and/or (function = adaptability of a port), especially when the cost is considered…as in, low-cost of a 256 gb sandisk JetDrive made to be flush with a MacBook, and the no-cost of not needing to buy (and replace over time) dongles just to maintain convenient use of legacy USB-A hardware that’s not going away anytime soon.

USB-A is a dead port. It’s time to let it go. There’s no reason to include it on any modern machine. Doing so would only encourage more production of peripherals using the outdated and inferior port.

 

[Duane Martin]

Yeah. Cutting movies for example requires the whole power of the machine and battery power drains fast - even on Apple MacBook Pros. That's at least my experience. So longer sessions without a power cord are not possible and this is, where MagSafe comes into play. Still I believe, Apple has some of the best batteries available on the market in his devices. But until today, mankind is not capable of building the type of batteries, people really would love to have. They drain too fast under load and they age too fast. No breakthrough here in sight IMO.

Sure, but when “cutting movies” you also have hard drives, multiple monitors, and likely a dock or two attached to your MacBook Pro making the MagSafe moot. I, for one, am not happy about having to sacrifice a multifunctional Thunderbolt port for single-purpose power, HDMI, and SD. Not the end of the world but definitely not a move forward.

 

[chucker23n1]

The floppy isn't going away. The CD isn't going away. Technology will stop evolving because I like what we already got.

Technology won't stop evolving, but you seem to say it's a foregone conclusion that displays will move away from HDMI towards USB-C. I see little evidence to support that.

 

[performa_6400]

Percentage of overall cameras is not the same as professional cameras for a professional editing machine. All the full frame cameras are CF, CFast, XQD, or now CF Express. Their are a few outliners like the odd medium format that takes one frame a minute/hour and doesn't need speed. But the general trend has been the moving from CF, CFast, and XQD to CF Express A or B.

Canon's new R6 has dual SD slots, while the R5 and the upcoming R3 have SD and CF Express B slots

 

[Unregistered 4U]

So longer sessions without a power cord are not possible and this is, where MagSafe comes into play.

Ah, ok, continuous power is required and you’d prefer it to be MagSafe.

 

[Tozovac]

USB-A is a dead port. It’s time to let it go. There’s no reason to include it on any modern machine. Doing so would only encourage more production of peripherals using the outdated and inferior port.

Could you please define “dead port” and “inferior?” This may help your argument. This is a serious question. I’m curious to see if you are thinking of something that I’m not seeing.

If you can’t, I’ll jump ahead. I assume you’ll quote the USB-C/thunder’s speed and adaptability via a bag of dongles. After all, what else can be said about the “advantages” of USB-C over USB-A besides speed and adaptability.

USB-A is hardly dead, considering the $$$ of peripherals in use at my home and work, and those homes and work areas of many others, which are not going away anytime soon.

Would you propose closing all gas stations immediately to incentivize automakers to stop churning out internal combustion engines?

Continuing the automobile analogy, consider how car quality is sooooo much better now than 20+ years ago that longevity of pre-owned cars is hard to overlook. It’s much easier to live with a 10-year old car now than it was in, say, 2000 or earlier. Quality and the provided function of a car from 2010 isn’t too far away from that of cars in showrooms today so it’s very short-sighted to claim the best option is to default to a new car every 2-5 years. Same for USB-A. It’s a much better port than the serial/parallel port days and most USB-A based hardware out there provides more than enough speed/power for a majority of users. Printers, keyboards, audio interfaces….even external storage drives for those for whom speed is not a concern. Many of those devices in today’s homes & offices aren’t going to fail-out and require replacing anytime soon.

There’s a point of diminishing returns when it comes to, say, an all USB-C/thunderbolt port MacBook.

If the rumors prove to be true, then Apple is coming back to Jesus and sees this, thankfully.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I’ll jump ahead. I assume you’ll quote the USB-C/thunder’s speed and adaptability via a bag of dongles. After all, what else can be said about the “advantages” of USB-C over USB-A besides speed and adaptability.

Biggest one, bi-directional.

 

[ruka.snow]

Canon's new R6 has dual SD slots, while the R5 and the upcoming R3 have SD and CF Express B slots

The R6 is a consumer model. The R3 and R5 have CF Express B as a primary slot and SD as a backup slot. Using SD cards in the R5 limit and slow down the camera.. because it is a backup slot. If you must have redundant writes using the SD card is an option, not as good as dual CF Express, but it is something. However, as soon at you dump the contents of the CF Express cards that SD card can be formatted in camera as the files are now on your main storage and presumably your backup. If you ever need to read from the backup SD card you can just plug the camera directly into the computer, there is no speed benefit from taking the card out, even if you have a TB3 reader.

 

[Tozovac]

Biggest one, bi-directional.

Thanks, and power-supply into a MacBook I suppose. My point is/was: How much do the advantages of all-USB-C overcome the negative trade-offs, where USB-A hardware is very, very pervasive still and provides exactly enough (or more than enough) function for many, many users, and where no benefit would be seen immediately and even in 5 years for a large number of users (and in fact, negative trade-offs would be felt by many, for having to buy, manage/carry, and replace dongles for the next half dozen years until the possible future where USB-A-connected hardware is about as commonplace as serial/parallel port devices).

Abandoning USB-A and going to, say, an all-USB-C port MacBook sounds great on paper and looks beautiful to the marketing folk. But in practice, it kinda hurts sometimes. Apple may have listened to that.

 

[jimbobb24]

So a bunch of ports I don’t need...

Losing the super cool touchbar.

Hmm... I am definitely the minority on the features I want on the pro notebook. All I want is the current version with more battery and more power. M1+ should solve those issues.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Having used a MacBook Pro with a touchbar, I'd say it's biggest problem is that it's not a bunch of buttons. The ability to drag sliders across it is... interesting, but I virtually never use that. What I do use is my customized buttons in the top right corner. I love having a dedicated screenshot button and a dedicated lock button. The only issue is that they're virtual buttons instead of real buttons, meaning I sometimes accidentally touch them.

Throw out having the unified touch bar and just give us a row of function buttons with little displays on them. I think it'd look better than having just a solid black rectangle with a bunch of fake gray touch-buttons on them.

Also, since Apple seems to be aware of the fact that touchscreens are, in fact, useful on a laptop, maybe, IDK, do what every other laptop that costs half as much does and give us an actual touchscreen? It's been 14 years since the iPhone was introduced. There's an entire generation that thinks the MacBooks are incredibly dated because they're the only screens smaller than 20" that don't respond when you touch them. It's like if Apple was throwing a black and white screen on a computer, or if the iMac was still a bubble shape. It's a bizarre and confusing throwback that it's not a touchscreen, and it just cheapens the Apple brand.

 

[SactoGuy18]

So a bunch of ports I don’t need...

Losing the super cool touchbar.

Hmm... I am definitely the minority on the features I want on the pro notebook. All I want is the current version with more battery and more power. M1+ should solve those issues.

Here's the problem: nobody--even Apple--really did anything long-term to make the Touch Bar actually usable. By going back to real physical function keys, Apple may actually save a little battery power because they no longer need to power the Touch Bar.

 

[businessnumbersmoneypeopl]

Mini led or bust.

Ever since the 2015 MBPs, Apple has released its pro laptops with something important lacking that's clearly in the horizon.
- First it was the lack of ports and a defunct keyboard,
- then the keyboard was somewhat improved but problems remaind
- another keyboard fix but not ideal,
- finally properly fixing the keyboard but by that time, M1s were already anticipated
- M1s introduced but 14 inch redesign was in the pipeline
- A major redesign with more ports at the time when mini-leds are obviously coming soon (2021) ...

By now, at least I've given up and will be super happy with the 14" with more ports, with or without mini-leds. 😅 I don't think we'll ever see again the excitement that the original Retina MBPs incited, or the 2012 model, or 2015.

 

[Tozovac]

So a bunch of ports I don’t need...

Losing the super cool touchbar.

Hmm... I am definitely the minority on the features I want on the pro notebook. All I want is the current version with more battery and more power. M1+ should solve those issues.

I never owned or used a touchbar MacBook. I could see it being a very useful thing and am kind of sad to see it go. But its implementation was bad from the start. Too many users value discrete function keys once they learn their use. I use them on my 2014 MBA daily for brightness, volume, and other things. Removing them completely was short-sighted and overlooked the negative trade offs and for what, lower cost? Better marketing/style? Same thought for abandoning the still-ubiquitous USB-A functionality for an all-USB-C system. Looks great on paper. In practice? Noticeable negative trade-offs.

For many, binning things like USB-A, SD cards, HDMI, etc. in the same arena as floppy/3.5” disks (and even optical discs) is not a similar argument. Floppy/3.5”/optical discs all had significant negative trade-offs that were “fixed” quickly and robustly with the advent of cheap SSD’s, MP3’s/streaming music, and downloadable apps.

Eliminating USB-A’s do not have the same level of negative trade-offs in comparison to USB-C. Both are too similar in the big picture and can’t be compared to physical disk/discs vs. streaming/downloading, etc.

 

[R3k]

The current 16" has the same footprint as my 2012 15", and is about half the weight. I don't think I'd ever describe it as a tank. Any thinner and I'd worry about its build quality.

its bigger and heavier than my 2016 machine though.

 

[Manzanito]

Correct, but besides SD it also supports SDHC/SDXC and UHS-II. Will a MBP SD card slot also support this? And as far as I know, 8K or 4K slow motion recording with the EOS R5 requires CFExpress, because SD is too slow.

That’s right. My own camera supports 4k recording at 60p on one card and at 30p on the other. None of which are sd, by the way, I won’t have an use for the sd slot anyway.

Still, most photographers use the R5 to take pictures, not shooting movies. SD cards are perfectly good for that.

And this is all academic, apple knows its consumer base better than any of us, if they decide to backtrack and add the port back, it’s because it was being used. They won’t add every possible port just for the sake of it, but if hdmi and sd card are making a return the most likely explanation is that apple’s customers have a use for them.

 

[businessnumbersmoneypeopl]

Could you please define “dead port” and “inferior?” This may help your argument. This is a serious question. I’m curious to see if you are thinking of something that I’m not seeing.

If you can’t, I’ll jump ahead. I assume you’ll quote the USB-C/thunder’s speed and adaptability via a bag of dongles. After all, what else can be said about the “advantages” of USB-C over USB-A besides speed and adaptability.

USB-A is hardly dead, considering the $$$ of peripherals in use at my home and work, and those homes and work areas of many others, which are not going away anytime soon.

Would you propose closing all gas stations immediately to incentivize automakers to stop churning out internal combustion engines?

Continuing the automobile analogy, consider how car quality is sooooo much better now than 20+ years ago that longevity of pre-owned cars is hard to overlook. It’s much easier to live with a 10-year old car now than it was in, say, 2000 or earlier. Quality and the provided function of a car from 2010 isn’t too far away from that of cars in showrooms today so it’s very short-sighted to claim the best option is to default to a new car every 2-5 years. Same for USB-A. It’s a much better port than the serial/parallel port days and most USB-A based hardware out there provides more than enough speed/power for a majority of users. Printers, keyboards, audio interfaces….even external storage drives for those for whom speed is not a concern. Many of those devices in today’s homes & offices aren’t going to fail-out and require replacing anytime soon.

There’s a point of diminishing returns when it comes to, say, an all USB-C/thunderbolt port MacBook.

If the rumors prove to be true, then Apple is coming back to Jesus and sees this, thankfully.

One more thing: for anyone using the laptop outside their home and their favourite coffee house, it's not just her/his peripherals but the fact that much of the surrounding world runs with USB-A and HDMI. Customers, conference situations, etc.

 

[gabo864]

How likely are they to release the new MacBook Pro next week? Have they released hardware updates during WWDC in the past? I was ready to buy a new MacBook today, but now I’m thinking maybe I should wait. I just feel like it’s too soon for them to release a new update. Didn’t they just update their MacBook in November last year?

 

[businessnumbersmoneypeopl]

How likely are they to release the new MacBook Pro next week? Have they released hardware updates during WWDC in the past? I was ready to buy a new MacBook today, but now I’m thinking maybe I should wait. I just feel like it’s too soon for them to release a new update. Didn’t they just update their MacBook in November last year?

I think it makes much sense to announce this at the developer conference. It will (almost) perfect the shift to M1(X) and incentivize those developers that have not yet ported their software to do so. My bet would be that the computers would then be at stores when the fall term begins in universities etc.

 

[ionutc]

I never owned or used a touchbar MacBook. I could see it being a very useful thing and am kind of sad to see it go. But its implementation was bad from the start. Too many users value discrete function keys once they learn their use. I use them on my 2014 MBA daily for brightness, volume, and other things. Removing them completely was short-sighted and overlooked the negative trade offs and for what, lower cost? Better marketing/style? Same thought for abandoning the still-ubiquitous USB-A functionality for an all-USB-C system. Looks great on paper. In practice? Noticeable negative trade-offs.

You have the basic controls on the TB but the thing is you can also have a lot more at the same time. Some may not like but it adds functionality.

You just want to use old peripherals and accessories because other than that you can do a lot more with USB-C/TB ports. It's a problem if you have a 7 yo monitor with hdmi, but it's a better experience if you buy a TB one that also charges your laptop. You can expand your storage with an TB external SSD which is a lot better than using a less reliable SD card with an adapter.

Monitor cables have been a mess for some time - there's display port, mini display port, VGA, DVI, HDMI, we all use adapter for big chunky tower PCs. The irony is that you can plug in either of those with an adapter into a newer MBP, but have issues with tower PCs because some connectors can't deliver the proper resolution of the monitor.

 

[lefkonj]

Why go backwards with HDMI/SD Card and MagSafe. Add more thunderbolt/USB-C ports please. We already ripped this band-aid off why put it back on? I bought a USB-C dock that has these ports, and my power adapters are all USB-C.

Wish Apple would dump lightening already too, make it all USB-C and call it a day.

 

[Phoenix1000]

Sure, but when “cutting movies” you also have hard drives, multiple monitors, and likely a dock or two attached to your MacBook Pro making the MagSafe moot. I, for one, am not happy about having to sacrifice a multifunctional Thunderbolt port for single-purpose power, HDMI, and SD. Not the end of the world but definitely not a move forward.

I see your point and I agree with you regarding the HDMI and SD ports. Drop them in favor of another Thunderbolt port. But with the MagSafe it's different. Sure, when cutting movies or image postprocessing, a dock and an external SSD are connected and power is supplied via the dock - no need for MagSafe here. But when using the MBP for work or surfing the internet, I need power after a few hours. And it's not the first time, that me or somebody else stumbles over the power cord. A MagSafe, four Thunderbolt 4 ports and nothing else would be perfect.