Everything We Know About MacBook Ultra's All-New Design

[staceyu]

• MacBook Pro – Prosumers, business executives, and almost all of the rest of the professionals who will now be well served by base M6/M7/M8 chips, etc.
• MacBook Ultra – small group of truly high end professionals who need M-series Pro and Max chips for serious video/3D production, scientific modeling, and local LLMs/advanced AI coding. Plus the not-small group of price insensitive buyers who just want the highest end model for status. Hobbyists who think they need more power than they actually do, and/or want to do traditional future proofing must buy here.

As is, you can buy a Pro with Pro/Max chips. I think it’s a dumb move to basically force buyers of the current Pro/Max chips into much higher priced hardware. And considering Apple’s record on thermal management, I’m waiting on the 2nd/3rd iteration for these chips.

Personally if the Ultra is a proven gaming/work powerhouse, has no thermal issues, and Apple starts supporting gaming development it’s a definite upgrade for me, and even more of a bonus if the 14 Ultra weights under 3 lbs.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

The thinnest, lightest, and simplest products are always welcome. That’s how technology should advance a product category.

But every product tier should have a clear purpose:

• MacBook Neo – essentials.
• MacBook Air – everyday users and professionals.
• MacBook Pro – creators and power users.
• MacBook Ultra – ??

If Ultra is just a faster Pro, it’s diversification for the sake of segmentation.

If, however, it’s the first device to genuinely merge the strengths of macOS and iPadOS into a new computing experience, then it becomes a compelling new category rather than just a more expensive Pro.

Folks are assuming it’s MacBook Ultra. It could just be the Apple Ultra, the ultra Apple device running the new ultraOS. It can run many Mac (not all, as it will be more secure and won’t run apps that require the less secure macOS) AND can run apps that were previously only available on iPads and iPhones, like Netflix, Disney+, etc. Want to run a more feature complete Final Cut Pro BUT also want to download a few gigs of subscribed videos for a flight/vacation? Only with Ultra. 🙂

 

[Vincent Hanna]

As is, you can buy a Pro with Pro/Max chips. I think it’s a dumb move to basically force buyers of the current Pro/Max chips into much higher priced hardware.

Why is this so hard for people to understand? It is NOT "much higher priced hardware". It's the same Mn Pro and Mn Max MacBook Pros going through the same major four-five year redesign that they have gone through every four-five years for the last two decades. The product stays at the same price through the major redesign, despite getting a slew of new hardware features. In the past it was Retina displays, or the Touch Bar, or Thunderbolt 3/4/5 ports, or a slimmer design with better internal cooling, or Apple Silicon instead of Intel, or just more base RAM and SSD. This year it's an OLED touch screen and the Dynamic Island in a thinner lid with smaller bezels. But the price stays the same, even (especially!) since Apple just raised prices substantially.

The ONLY difference with this redesign is that Apple is doing it alongside a new marketing strategy: changing the name of the two high-end MacBook Pros to MacBook Ultra. It's just a name change. It's not a separate product line in addition to and above the old M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros. It replaces them outright. So they aren't charging you $500 more just for the touchscreen.

Here's out it plays out over the next 15 months:

October 2026:
$1999 M6 MacBook Pro, the now ONLY MacBook Pro (existing design with only the SoC bump)

$2499 M5 Pro MacBook Ultra (slim redesign w/ OLED touchscreen, but with existing SoCs)

$4099 M5 Max MacBook Ultra (slim redesign w/ OLED touchscreen, but with existing SoCs)


June 2027 (WWDC):
$1999 M7 MacBook Pro (inherits the Ultra slim redesign w/ OLED touchscreen)

The M5 Pro and Max Ultras continue as is, making them poor values for the next four months


October 2027:
$2499 M7 Pro MacBook Ultra (SoC bump)

$4099 M7 Max MacBook Ultra (SoC bump)

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I miss the days where we had MacBook and MacBook Pro.
Want an entry level device? Go for the MacBook. Want something with more power? MacBook Pro.
Now you have to do even more research and comparing. It’s bad enough with the iPads and their accessories and now you have like 4-5 different Mac’s to choose from with all different specs and compromises. Splintering at its finest. Thanks, Tim.

There are plenty of folks that suffer from analysis paralysis. But, for the majority of folks, it will always be as simple as “I want the green laptop” or “I want the big laptop” or “I want the lightest laptop”.

 

[soya3]

same here.

moi de même, quoique étant sous Linux et non Windows. je ne vois pas l'intérêt de tripoter mon écran avec les doigts, qui laissent d'autant plus de traces que je vis en milieu tropical.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

The cutout is said to be pill-shaped to accommodate an interactive Dynamic Island.

No cutout at all is required by the Dynamic Island, since the Island appears, expands, and disappears as needed. In Macbooks, the cutout/notch is for the Facetime camera, its activity indicator LED, the ambient light sensor, and the True Tone sensor. The Macbook Ultra's rumored pill-shaped cutout will take up less horizontal space than the current notch, apparently since Apple has figured out how to shrink one or more of these parts, and/or move them closer together, and/or maybe put at least one of them under the display layer.

 

[Harddrive]

My 2019 MBP did not have a notch it also had a crappy FaceTime camera so if future MBP can do away with the notch and still have a good camera I am ok with it.

 

[iShater]

The MacBook lineup is getting almost more confusing than the iPad lineup lol 😂

This is started to resemble mid/late 90s where it was an overwhelming lineup.