And why can it not be both? It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a different design for the 24 pins allowing only magnets to hold it in place. You would then only need a USB Type-C to USB Type-Magnet cable and would be all set. You could keep all accessories and even internally it would only need a redesigned connector and no protocol changes.
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Bloomberg: Next-Generation MacBook Pro to Offer Improved Displays, Faster Charging Over MagSafe
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I think that we have seven MagSafe chargers. One of them is MagSafe 2 and the rest are MagSafe 1 with the MagSafe 2 adapters. I think that one of the MagSafe 2 chargers died and maybe one or two of our MagSage 1 chargers died. If they do indeed bring back MagSafe 2, then I will seriously be pumped as we'll have spares. It's handy if you use your MacBooks in separate places.
Of course it might not need to be plugged in that much given that it's M1 or M1X.
There are lots of other laptops on the market with USB-C and proprietary charging and a lot of those systems are designed to breakaway easily though I have never found something as good as MagSafe in that.
Of course it might not need to be plugged in that much given that it's M1 or M1X.
There are lots of other laptops on the market with USB-C and proprietary charging and a lot of those systems are designed to breakaway easily though I have never found something as good as MagSafe in that.
I don't follow your argument. Apple managed to place the coils in the iPhone without making the phone larger or reducing the battery life.
Anyway, I agree that it's not a feature to kill for. And it's known that Apple patents a lot of things without ever implementing them. My main point is that I don't think old MagSafe is coming back in any form or fashion. If new laptops will feature "MagSafe", that's going to be something else than what people expect.
Predictions:
• the Touch Bar will live on in some form
• the Air’s heritage as being dramatically thin will be reinvigorated, along with further distinction from the Pro through fewer ports
• the Touch Bar will live on in some form
• the Air’s heritage as being dramatically thin will be reinvigorated, along with further distinction from the Pro through fewer ports
For an M series based MBP - with no Intel CPU in sight; is it really worth having 100W (or greater) charging speeds?
I do not think that incorporating inductive charging into MacBook would be easy since it would not work with a metallic (aluminum) enclosure that MacBooks have. One would need to change the enclosure materials.
Moreover, the patent image shows the iPhone and iWatch are sitting on the sides of the touchpad, where usually our palms are resting. Do you think it would be practical to locate the inductive charging there?
Moreover, the patent image shows the iPhone and iWatch are sitting on the sides of the touchpad, where usually our palms are resting. Do you think it would be practical to locate the inductive charging there?
I would bet anything you want that they will not be bringing any of the old MagSafes back. If for no other reason (and of which there are more than many) then because nobody sane would ever risk the reputation of their brand new halo devices by letting people use them with their 9+ years old chargers with poor quality non-replaceable cables and causing them to break.
I love your optimism that Apple, if they did re-introduce MagSafe, would maintain compatibility with all those spares we have lying around!
They still sell Magsafe 2 chargers and ours have provided considerable service over the years and still work. So I'd be quite fine with it.
Why not? Dell has charging over USB-C and a standard external power supply.
No reason to think the Air will change anytime soon. They'll likely follow the formula of the last Air which stuck around for years. It will be the entry point to macOS and the 14" Pro will bump up a bit in price with the new design.
They couldn't justify a big gap between the current Air and 13" Pro because they're so similar. But the 14" Pro with M1X or M2, bigger screen and fresh design will command a bigger jump in price, probably at least $200, over the Air even when similarly spec'd.
Looking forward to ordering the 14" MBP when it launches. Been too long without a Mac.
They couldn't justify a big gap between the current Air and 13" Pro because they're so similar. But the 14" Pro with M1X or M2, bigger screen and fresh design will command a bigger jump in price, probably at least $200, over the Air even when similarly spec'd.
Looking forward to ordering the 14" MBP when it launches. Been too long without a Mac.
Inductive charging is incredibly inefficient and produces a lot of heat. Some android phone makers released phones with >40W wireless chargers and the charging stations require fans to cool down the phone and the station during use. Not to mention that the heat is like the main thing you are fighting agains when building a laptop and that you would run into an awful positive feedback loop where heavier use of the laptop would cause it to heat up and draw more power from the wireless charger, which would cause it to heat up ever more.
Good luck!
Makes sense. Then water down the 14" to a new air design, like the IPP 11" to the iPad air 4?
As long as the same number of USB ports are available, I am more than happy to have a dedicated, purpose-built port that's optimized for charging well. Breakaway functionality is only part of the equation. Fast, effortless one-handed connection is also very helpful for everyday usability. The LED charge indicator was also a great design flourish: look down at your MacBook and see immediately whether it's fully charged or still charging.
I just hope that (if this rumor is true) Apple makes the MagSafe cable something that can be plugged into a standard USB-C power adapter. The proprietary, non-modular design they had before was not great.
The circuitry in any USB-C charger would have to be compatible with MagSafe and I doubt that that would be the case. If you have a USB-C charger, just charge via USB-C. If you want MagSafe, charge via MagSafe.
I hope they improve the strength of the top lid display. I had a newer one crack by closing it with a thin mouse cable underneath and I didn't even press hard.
Everything sounds great, but I need an Mac Mini Pro. I might get a Macbook 2021 used in a few years, cuz the 2012 is still going strong!
They should of dumped Jony Ive long ago, we now seem to be getting better products again
I'm healthily skeptical about the chances of MagSafe coming back - but if it did, there's absolutely no reason to presume that it would be at the expense of TB3 charging. If you can make a Mac with 4 possible charging ports (split between 2 TB3 controllers) you can make a Mac with 5 without changing the laws of physics. Breaking compatibility with existing displays & hubs with charging capacity wouldn't be the stupidest thing that Apple has done, but it would make the shortlist - yet there are people here trotting out this total red herring (hmm... can fish trot?) as a criticism of MagSafe.
Last time Magsafe was in use on Macs, charging a Mac via Thunderbolt 1/2 or USB-A simply wasn't an option.
Nor are you.
Guess what: some people like having single-function connectors rather than wasting their limited supply of fast data/external display ports on simple charging. Others either don't use data ports much on the road, or have a dock or TB display on every desk... I don't know why people are pretending that those two needs are somehow mutually exclusive: if Apple did resurrect MagSafe, nobody would be forced to use it (unless Apple were epically stupid and removed USB-C charging)... but nobody can use something that isn't there. Plenty of space on a non-Air MacBook for Magsafe + 4 TB3 ports.
Sure, you can get magnetic break-aways for USB-C, but that involves sacrificing a USB-C port for power... because there is a reason that MagSafe makes sense as a power-only port: (a) it's the thing that you're most likely to have trailing across the floor to an inconveniently-placed wall socket when you're away from the desk and (b) laptops have batteries, so there's no immediate damage done by suddenly yanking the power. You really don't want that happening to your external hard drive/SSD (...and if that is on the floor on the other side of the room, you're holding it wrong).
Also, the article is talking about the possibility of faster charging - i.e. higher current and/or voltage than is supported by TB3/USB-C - which would be another reason for having a non-TB3 charging port.
Pretty much every laptop I've ever owned has had at least one port that I, personally, had no use for. I try not to let that keep me awake at nights unless it comes at the expense other ports I do use/need, because I get that, for other people, it is useful.
Trouble is, USB-C does come at the expense of other ports, because a fully-functional USB-C/TB3/4 port requires expensive PCIe and DisplayPort lanes, even if you plug in a device that barely needs USB2.
I think a little green/orange light on the charging cord would be nice.
A third party could probably do that, assuming that information can be retrieved via USB-PD?