Concept Imagines What a Dynamic OLED Touch Panel Could Look Like on a MacBook Pro

[Darryl.Jenks]

That's exactly what they'll be throwing in the new MBPro.

If you're right (and I have no reason to doubt you), I hope we'll have a few weeks after WWDC before the new "improved" ones go on sale. I'll max a current 13" out and just live with it for the next 4-5 years. Some may find it silly, but one interacts with the keyboard thousands of times more than anything else; if the keyboard sucks, the product sucks, regardless of spec.

 

[kgorin]

You know how Apple bakes in OS X features to the Function row (Expose, Mission Control, etc)? Well, these have changed over time, and once Apple has already shipped notebooks with OS X features fixed in plastic in the Function row, they can't go around and replace buttons on all those machines. Sound familiar? That was Jobs' explanation for why smart phone keyboards were a problem.

You certainly have a point. F3 and F4 icons and function did change in the past. Although Esc, F1-F2, F5-F12 did not. Now, is it worth replacing physical keys with the less tactile touch panel, just to maybe have 2 icons updated at some point during 3 year life cycle of the laptop? Highly doubt it.

 

[niun]

If you're right (and I have no reason to doubt you), I hope we'll have a few weeks after WWDC before the new "improved" ones go on sale. I'll max a current 13" out and just live with it for the next 4-5 years. Some may find it silly, but one interacts with the keyboard thousands of times more than anything else; if the keyboard sucks, the product sucks, regardless of spec.

I'm with you on that one. The MBA and MBP keyboards are pretty much perfection as they are.

But thinner trumps perfection.

 

[NMBob]

Where is the power button!


Looks awesome!

What kind of proletariat are you? They can't spy on you if you turn it off.

 

[LCPepper]

That is quite nice actually, I would be happy to have that on my rMBP.

 

[LordQ]

So say I am using Photoshop, if my most used commands pop on the OLED bar it'd be awesome!

 

[thermodynamic]

It's amazing, how many "leaks" continue to come out of fa company that also claims it is tired of being the world's R&D center (despite the number of times Apple has used other companies and platforms as its R&D center too, like how Apple copied Android, Samsung, Xerox, ideas from sci-fi movies and tv shows dating back to the 1960s or even 1940s regarding a watch, and so on)...
[doublepost=1465570292][/doublepost]

So say I am using Photoshop, if my most used commands pop on the OLED bar it'd be awesome!

Hopefully Adobe will do what you ask. Especially as you ultimately pay far more for the subscription cost than buying the product outright. But nobody needed this bling before to make and successfully sell pretty pictures...

 

[pat500000]

Obviously the fastest PCI-E flash storage available on the market (or even not available on the market has been the case the last two times) as they haven't been for 4-5 upgrades in a row now.

But you can pretend they haven't been if it makes you feel better.

If drive fails that's on you.

 

[thermodynamic]

Because it comes at the expense of battery life. Sure, you can get faster, lighter, more powerful, but they all have pretty crappy battery life compared to anything in Apple's offering. Apple calls this 'compromise' power users call it 'sacrifice' it's two sides of the same coin.

Then let the price reflect the difference.

 

[rowspaxe]

I was skeptical of this at first, but with Haptic feedback on the Touch Bar, this could be a very effective interface. Just too bad that it requires looking at it to know what is where. I'm a huge Esc key presser to cancel things.

Haptic touch that might one day make the touch bar feel like...keys? Anyone seeing this on a windows pc would scream "gimmick"
[doublepost=1465571081][/doublepost]

Does Apple release anything that's the same as the competition? It's not like they're slapping Lenovo's touch bar on their Macs. This one will be unique and much better in one or more ways.

Like the apple watch...that was way more awesome than the other crappy smart watches...but not really

 

[BenTrovato]

It's amazing, how many "leaks" continue to come out of fa company that also claims it is tired of being the world's R&D center (despite the number of times Apple has used other companies and platforms as its R&D center too, like how Apple copied Android, Samsung, Xerox, ideas from sci-fi movies and tv shows dating back to the 1960s or even 1940s regarding a watch, and so on)...
[doublepost=1465570292][/doublepost]

When they come out 3-6 months before, that's a leak. The week or two before, it's a calculated move to generate interest.

 

[rowspaxe]

Hopefully Adobe will do what you ask. Especially as you ultimately pay far more for the subscription cost than buying the product outright.

And not updating for 7 years. Well Adobe doesn't need once a decade upgraders, apparently.

 

[ftaok]

I was wrong--my apologies. Here's Apple's financial quarters:

Q1: November - January
Q2: February - April
Q3: May - July
Q4: August - October

You're still incorrect.

Apple's fiscal quarters are as follows:

Q1 - Oct through Dec
Q2 - Jan through Mar
Q3 - Apr through Jun
Q4 - July through Sep

There's a little bit of confusion regarding the years. For instance Apple's Fiscal Q1-2016 refers to their financials from the 3-month period of Oct 2015 through Dec 2015.

Also, when talking about scheduling quarters, it's generally accepted that Q1 is Jan/Feb/Mar and so forth.

 

[Pablo.A.Pucci]

Look´s nice! But the important things are the the all new MBP has to have are:

1) 32 GB RAM Capacity (Super important for demanding APPs)
2) At Least 5 GB Video Ram in the new Polaris Dedicated GPU (Super important for demanding APPs)
3) 4K Screen OLED Display (important to be on date)
4) Faster Ports (the already announced thunderbolt 3) I don't care if the came in USB C or the classical Apple thunderbolt.
4) Touch ID (I am bores of writing my pass)
5) New Colors

If the all new MBP has all that.. i´ll buy it with my eyes closed....

 

[asfdasdf]

Gimmick. Give me OLED screen and dGPU in every model, traditional keyboard and touch ID.

 

[robeddie]

Yeah. Exactly. Apple is looking for growth, not to placate a niche market. The computers you demand are not the growth market. The computers you need are placated by PC Manufactures. Life is full of hard choices: get an OS you prefer but hardware you don't like, or hardware you like but an OS you don't prefer.

It's too bad Apple is making us make that choice. They used to give us both.
[doublepost=1465573912][/doublepost]

If drive fails that's on you.

Bingo. Even standard level SSD's are super fast. To have a non-standard Apple SSD that's double fast but is soldered in and non replaceable? No thanks. I'll be fine with the 'standard' (already super fast) SSD that I can replace or upgrade when needed.

 

[pat500000]

It's too bad Apple is making us make that choice. They used to give us both.
[doublepost=1465573912][/doublepost]

Bingo. Even standard level SSD's are super fast. To have a non-standard Apple SSD that's double fast but is soldered in and non replaceable? No thanks. I'll be fine with the 'standard' (already super fast) SSD that I can replace or upgrade when needed.

People just don't get that. I need longevity. Nothing last forever, but non soldered ones can be fixed whereas soldered one needs to be disposed. Money isn't issue for me but money don't grow on tree as well.

 

[nilk]

As a coder and touch typist, I really don't like the idea of losing distinct functions keys. If this was an extra row above the functions keys it would be awesome, though.

 

[PatriotInvasion]

You certainly have a point. F3 and F4 icons and function did change in the past. Although Esc, F1-F2, F5-F12 did not. Now, is it worth replacing physical keys with the less tactile touch panel, just to maybe have 2 icons updated at some point during 3 year life cycle of the laptop? Highly doubt it.

F1-F2 are brightness keys. F5-F6 are keyboard illumination keys. F-7-F12 are audio navigation and volume keys. Some people may not use some of those often or ever. Or perhaps, people would prefer a custom Control Center set of functions on that row instead of the keyboard brightness functions that they may never touch.

I could see the OLED strip being more of a Control Center utility that can also do F1-F12 than what the mockups show which is more of a menu bar replication. Basically, let's see what Apple says it is before forming strong opinions based on some random guy's (well-done) mockup renders.

 

[routine_analyst]

because, of course, a macbook pro without function keys is really, truly a pro.

 

[MacSince1985]

Edit: I was wrong--my apologies. Here's Apple's financial quarters:

Q1: November - January
Q2: February - April
Q3: May - July
Q4: August - October

But in a news report, they could be referring to the financial 4th quarter or the calendar 4th quarter. So we may have to wait until December (although I expect it to be available for the holidays).

 

[MH01]

I told you what I want: a 13" Laptop with OS X on it. Beyond that, I'm pretty indifferent. I need something that allows me to do generic office work, which is literally anything in their offering. So, having a top of the line CPU, GPU, storage or RAM is trifling. The era of that stuff really mattering is over. People still overly concerned about that stuff are niche power users, which I've said repeatedly, Apple is no longer catering to.

Think about it the same way most people view a car: how much of the population actually gives a crap about horsepower or any other car specs besides safety rating and MPG? Even then, people tend to bu cars based on color, look, feel, design. Consumers don't care about specs, they care about what feels right and what looks good. And price.

I dare you to ask any 'average' consumer why they bought the care they did. I doubt any one will mention more than surface specs. Same thing with smart phones. It's all just marketing. 'iPhone has a retina display, that's why I bought it' vs. 'Galaxy has an OLED display, that's why I bought it' but do the actually notice or understand the difference? It doesn't actually matter.

People 'prefer' Android or iOS. They don't actually have a logically reason most of the time, it's just preference. Same thing with Apple computers and Windows, in the consumer market that is. It IS a fashion statement. I prefer brand X over brand Y.

The fact that people here don't get that means everyone is delusional regarding the current state of computing and the computer industry.

No offence but I very much doubt you even need a laptop, sounds like you just want something with an apple logo, and even the base MB is probably too powerful for your needs.

On that thought, what's wrong with the MB for you? An inch too small? Or the current 13 rMBP, being EOL not cool enough?

Look, some of us do real work, be it school, home or business, trust me people on here are delusional. Delusional is that we are in a time where an iPad Pro running iOS can replace a laptop.

 

[dannys1]

If you're right (and I have no reason to doubt you), I hope we'll have a few weeks after WWDC before the new "improved" ones go on sale. I'll max a current 13" out and just live with it for the next 4-5 years. Some may find it silly, but one interacts with the keyboard thousands of times more than anything else; if the keyboard sucks, the product sucks, regardless of spec.

I'll be like the Magic Keyboard 2 and that by no stretch of the imagination "sucks" - in fact returning to my MacBook Pro after using the MacBook and the iMac makes the Macbook Pro feel spongey and inaccurate. Though i'll happily type on any.
[doublepost=1465576416][/doublepost]

F1-F2 are brightness keys. F5-F6 are keyboard illumination keys. F-7-F12 are audio navigation and volume keys. Some people may not use some of those often or ever. Or perhaps, people would prefer a custom Control Center set of functions on that row instead of the keyboard brightness functions that they may never touch.

I could see the OLED strip being more of a Control Center utility that can also do F1-F12 than what the mockups show which is more of a menu bar replication. Basically, let's see what Apple says it is before forming strong opinions based on some random guy's (well-done) mockup renders.

Technically F1 to F12 are function keys which are only access when holding the fn button down. The "F" is the secondary function, the primary function is the icon labeled on them.

 

[MH01]

'Should' is a very loaded term. I think Apple has lost their base. Apple is trying to be a tech fashion company (just look at how they're marketing the Apple Watch), and they're walking a fine line between alienating fashion and tech enthusiasts.

Apple is looking for growth, and that will not happen from power users. Could Apple placate power users? Sure, but haven't they already with the Mac Pro? Power Users looking for a laptop.... I'm not sure Apple will be coming back to court them anytime soon. I think the writing was on the wall when they discontinued the 17" MBP.

This statement I agree with. The money is not with "power users" apple knows this, and I can see them dumping the Mac Pro this year. To be honest they are better of not pretending they cater for everyone and focus on thier idevices, which I think will happen. The laptops have been becoming less and less pro every generation.

Old school users like myself will whine and complain on MR, but apple will follow the money, and that is not where our needs our, hence why I still have my 2012 Mac mini , and cannot believe in 2016 it's a better machine than the current mini....times change and so does apple
[doublepost=1465576699][/doublepost]

If that's not what it looks like, I'll be disappointed. These concept images are fantastic!

Also, I REALLLLYYYYY hope they don't drop MagSafe. They can USB-C it up all they want. Just don't drop MagSafe.

MagSafe will be gone sadly.

 

[gugy]

This render looks really good.
For me three things are essential.
Ports (not just USB-C)
TB3
performance

If Apple can achieve the above, this is going to be a killer MBP.