Apple Working on Six Mini-LED Products Including New 14.1-Inch MacBook Pro and Refreshed iMac Pro

[Justanotherfanboy]

Are you referencing first major use of a brand new technology for Apple? I ask because Mini LED has been in use for a while now. I'd say Apple's first baby step utilizing Mini LED was the Pro Display with it's 576 LED FALD zones. I'd imagine these upcoming rumored Mini LED devices will use more advanced Mini LED tech similar to TCL's use of Mini LED in their top of the line TV's. Their Mini LED 8K Roku TV uses 25,000 LED's in the panel.

A while back Kuo rumored panels with 10,000 LED's for Apple and that makes sense based on the smaller sizes of Apple's products.

I dunno about all that...
I probably read all the same stuff you did about that TCL set. It’s brand new. The big news about it was: “world’s very 1st mini LED television”.
Mini LED is absolutely the new new. It has not been in use for a while now.
(Unless you consider like 4 or 5 months to be “a while”... I consider that nascent)

edit:
Whoops. I think you’re right, lol.
My assumption (doh!) was that if it wasn’t in tv’s... it wasn’t in use.
Apparently, as you said, it has been used in displays for a while.

 

[cmaier]

I hope that burn-in is not an issue with these displays.

It is not

 

[PickUrPoison]

14" MBP is interesting in light of the discontinuation of the 12" MB. Could be Apple are pushing their laptops up an inch to squeeze back in a 12" MB or some such, at some point. As it was, the 12" and 13" were too close in footprint, this could defintiely put a bit of space between them and see the two products differentiate more.

The MacBook Air will still be 13”. If the 12” MacBook does come back, it will presumably be as the first machine with Apple ARM, which will be differentiation enough 🙂

 

[az431]

Perhaps I'm out of the loop, but just what is the point of continuing the Touch Bar -- and if it is so important, so necessary to the "Apple experience," so popular, so easy to use, then why isn't it available on any of Apple's stand-alone keyboards? Why is it only on the laptops?

Ah the common logical fallacy of assuming one's own subjective preferences and beliefs are the same as everyone else's, and should therefore dictate what the entire world does.

 

[nordique]

Remi

Looking forward to the redesigned 13” MacBook Pro.

Surprised the Apple Watch isn’t listed as getting the Mini-LED treatment.

Why would it? You’re getting microLED and mini LED mixed up

micro LED is what Apple might switch to on Apple Watch

mini led is different

 

[az431]

Why?

Unless it's OLED it's not a big deal.
Find other cravings than technology - I mean .. I am also in the same spot as you are but less stressed about it.
When I bought my 2018 15 inch I wents nuts because the 2019 was released... guess what?? Who cares
Just chill and let it be... make 4 years upgrade cycles when you see big bumps

Save your $$$, live your life, see nature, visit the world. Much better investment. Don't give all your money to Apple's investors so they go to visit the world, see nature, live their lives

Do you even know what mini LED is?
[automerge]1583270083[/automerge]

Macs are kinda dead to me now. No interest in iPads. Sorry Apple.

Thanks for the heads up. Selling off all my Apple stock now.

 

[69Mustang]

I dunno about all that...
I probably read all the same stuff you did about that TCL set. It’s brand new. The big news about it was: “world’s very 1st mini LED television”.
Mini LED is absolutely the new new. It has not been in use for a while now.
(Unless you consider like 4 or 5 months to be “a while”... I consider that nascent)

edit:
Whoops. I think you’re right, lol.
My assumption (doh!) was that if it wasn’t in tv’s... it wasn’t in use.
Apparently, as you said, it has been used in displays for a while.

It's all good. Their new TV's are their second iteration of Mini LED TV's. Apparently they were able to get the Mini LED's closer to the LCD layer with the new generation of TV so they improved off axis viewing.

 

[nordique]

I think MicroLED is what I was thinking of.. lol. Oops!

yeah it’s understandable they sound very similar

mini LED is just like the LCD displays we have now but essentially allow for better contrast. It’s not as good as OLED (because OLED still displays true blacks) but it would be noticeable vs a traditional L display

apple Already makes really good displays. The current retina displays are amazing so I can imagine the new ones would be similarly stunning

I have absolutely zero issues with apples current lcd displays personally so this is still welcomed news

For me the big thing is the 14” size. Nice!! Perfect portable if they can keep the weight down

 

[unobtainium]

I think part of the problem is you now have 3 iPads within the screen size of 1 diagonal inch- a 10.2, 10.5 and 11. It's getting too crowded in that space.

And you already have the mini in the smaller realm and 12.9 bigger.

But I have no idea what the split in sales between the 11 and 12.9 are to have an educated guess if the 11 sells enough to keep

The 11” already feels a bit bulky for reading in bed. It’s just heavy enough to be a little noticeable when you’re holding it above your head. I definitely wouldn’t go up to a 12.9”’ for reading. So I hope it’s not discontinued because I don’t want to go to the lower end model or the giant one.

 

[CWallace]

I hope that burn-in is not an issue with these displays.

It will be no more an issue than it is with the current LED backlight technology in Apple products - which is to say, "not really an issue at all".

 

[bsamcash]

I’m excited for a 14.1” if it happens.

 

[bsimpsen]

Perhaps I'm out of the loop, but just what is the point of continuing the Touch Bar -- and if it is so important, so necessary to the "Apple experience," so popular, so easy to use, then why isn't it available on any of Apple's stand-alone keyboards? Why is it only on the laptops?

The Touch Bar consumes significant power, and would require a fairly large and expensive battery to operate as long between charges as current wireless keyboards (mine goes a month or more). It would be feasible in a wired keyboard.

 

[XNorth]

how do you guys say his name? I say: "ku - oh" but not sure thats right.

Either Kwah or Gwah. To be 100% correct, need to see the Chinese character.

 

[deconstruct60]

Perhaps I'm out of the loop, but just what is the point of continuing the Touch Bar -- and if it is so important, so necessary to the "Apple experience," so popular, so easy to use, then why isn't it available on any of Apple's stand-alone keyboards? Why is it only on the laptops?

1. The Touch Bar screen is driven by the GPU in the T-series chip ( T2 for current models).

If you try to put the T2 in the keyboard then disrupt the security model duties of the rest of the chip.

If you leave the T2 in the non laptop system ( keeping the primary security model mission) then have to drive a constant stream of video data to the external display to be drawn. Still need yet another rudimentary screen driver. both the screen, screen driver , and constant data stream processing consume power.

2. Apple 'hates' wireless keyboards more than they like the touch bar. Apple sells zero wired keyboard options. Highly likely are not going back. ( a the constant high speed data transport and power supply issue would be solved by a wire but Apple doesn't like wires. )


3. The laptops make up 60-70% of the line up anyway. If Apple cranks that to 80% they it will be even more of an outlier.

4. The gap between the primary laptop screen and touch bar screen is substantially farther away in desktop set up. [ Coupled to same issue as to why Apple doesn't put touch screen sensors on their laptop displays. Even worse ergonomics in desktop contexts with larger screens at further distances. ]

If a user is looking at the icons on the dock at the bottom of the screen the Touch Bar is relatively inside the field of view of the user. The notion that there is a "huge" diversion to look at the Touch Bar from all elements on the screen is on the verge of hyperbole. In a desktop with large screen set up that isn't true. There is no hinge coupling the bottom of the screen to the area just on the other side of the hinge. The hinge is a critical mechanism of keeping the two screens in relatively close proximity to one another and that is close to an essential thing ergonomics wise.

 

[0837990]

Mini-LED won't make that much of a difference.
Be excited for the day that Micro-LED arrives, though. That will make a significant difference.

 

[Think creative]

if the 14 inch becomes a reality... i'm in for one in 2021 when they get updated a second time. Never get a new product laptop if you can wait for gen 2. my MacBook pro 13 inch from 2015 is still going strong.
Curious about the iMac pro too... hopefully they go with the 32 inch screen

 

[Polymorphic]

Perhaps I'm out of the loop, but just what is the point of continuing the Touch Bar -- and if it is so important, so necessary to the "Apple experience," so popular, so easy to use, then why isn't it available on any of Apple's stand-alone keyboards? Why is it only on the laptops?

I don't know, but it's the reason I still don't own a MacBook Pro 16". They fixed pretty much everything I hated about my MBP 2017 except that ridiculous Touch Bar. Still rocking the 2015 as a result.

 

[smulji]

Mini-LED won't make that much of a difference.
Be excited for the day that Micro-LED arrives, though. That will make a significant difference.

Micro-LED will arrive on Apple's AR headset and glasses first. That's my hunch.

 

[b11051973]

I would love a mini LED iPad Pro. Yes please!!

 

[jtinch]

Is there a difference between Mini-LED and Micro-LED? I remember one was said to be the successor to OLED panels, I just can't remember which

 

[deconstruct60]

if the 14 inch becomes a reality... i'm in for one in 2021 when they get updated a second time. Never get a new product laptop if you can wait for gen 2. my MacBook pro 13 inch from 2015 is still going strong.

If the 14 inch screen is primarily just loosing some more bezel in the lid then there isn't much of a change to warrant ( don't buy first gen blues). The keyboard would be "2nd gen" which probably matters more. The XDR is mini LED so generally this would be 2nd gen on that too ( probably different mini LEDs and color/luminance range though) .

[quote ]

Curious about the iMac pro too... hopefully they go with the 32 inch screen
[/quote]

The first article of this thread.

"... The trend for Apple's development and promotion of mini LED are more identifiable in five years. We predict that Apple is currently developing six mini-LED-support products (vs. the previous report of only two products), including a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, a 27-inch iMac Pro in 4Q20, ..."

The size of the iMacPro's display isn't being left vague here. It may roll out first to the iMac Pro but likely won't be kept exclusive to it.

Apple is relatively unlikely going to try to couple the XDR panel to any iMac variant. The XDR has two fans already. Another large heat source in close proximity of the backlighting system won't help color accuracy over the whole performance range be better. And Apple really isn't into Mr. Magoo screens with bigger pixels.

 

[Karllake]

Perhaps I'm out of the loop, but just what is the point of continuing the Touch Bar -- and if it is so important, so necessary to the "Apple experience," so popular, so easy to use, then why isn't it available on any of Apple's stand-alone keyboards? Why is it only on the laptops?

totally agree, the Mac Pro looks amazing but without a Touch Bar keyboard I don’t see software being developed as much as it might, therefore it’s less useful on the laptop.

I plan on buying a 16”mbp to replace an original retina. I use a separate monitor 90% so touch bar has little to no value me.

 

[kissmo]

Do you even know what mini LED is?

Yes of course I do and despite of that, unless you have a lot of money to spend or you need for more professional reason, I am not sure it’s justified to get on that buy new tech madness.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it, I would love to have better contrast ratio, deeper blacks on my monitor as well.
I am not against it, I am just saying to save the money and wait for more gens to come out. The machines now are amazing anyway.

 

[44267547]

I think MicroLED is what I was thinking of.. lol. Oops!

I did the same thing. Very easy to confuse.

On a quick side-note:

Micro LED also has some really nice advantages if Apple chooses to utilize that route in the future, mainly it has significantly less power draw from the battery, which results extended battery life. So I definitely could see it’s making its way to the iPhone, Followed by the Apple Watch display, and/or vice versa.

 

[adrianlondon]

Either Kwah or Gwah. To be 100% correct, need to see the Chinese character.

It's 郭明錤. Hmm. This forum doesn't want to display the characters. Let me try this: 过铭记 郭明錤. Nope, neither simplified nor traditional Chinese characters work. Fine, I'll do a screen grab.



The surname is the first character (see pic) and in pinyin (a popular transliteration system) it's "Guō". The accent over the o means it's said in the "first tone" which is flat and high pitched. But just saying something like "gwoh" flatly (i.e. without going down in pitch at the end) will get it pretty much spot on.

If anyone's still reading/caring, his first name is Míng Jī.