If Apple releases a 16" MacBook Pro later this year, how much money do you think it will cost?

[thekev]

I reckon a base MBP 16" would go for $2'999, with a quad-core i5, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD, and I wouldn't be surprised if a top-spec model with i9, 32GB, 2TB and Vega 20 topped $6'000.

That's probably about right, considering their overall pricing direction. It seems a little ridiculous though. As others have pointed out, 16" is likely to be a bezel change. I would have to check an existing one. If it's several tenths of an inch above 15", then they may be able to push it to 16" without a lot of changes. I also don't expect footprint to really increase, because that tends to go against their mantra.

 

[throAU]

it could be an iMac Pro made mobile (mobile Xeon, ECC memory, enterprise grade storage, etc) - the latter would probably mean a starting price of $3,999 or even $4,999.

lol.

Apple won't give you stuff like that in a laptop.

They will however charge 4k for not giving you that though.

 

[Ruggy]

As others have said, I think they will make the bezels smaller and simply upgrade the 15" at roughly the same price.

 

[hooper2]

On a slightly different note, wouldn’t they wait until Back to School promo is done to announce anything new?

 

[x-evil-x]

On a slightly different note, wouldn’t they wait until Back to School promo is done to announce anything new?

yep

 

[wallysb01]

My 2cents:

i9 2.3
16GB RAM
512GB SSD
GPU either Vega 16 or new Radeon Pro 5Y0X (570X?)

Price: $3399/3499.

 

[CocoaNut]

As others have pointed out, 16" is likely to be a bezel change. I would have to check an existing one. If it's several tenths of an inch above 15", then they may be able to push it to 16" without a lot of changes. I also don't expect footprint to really increase, because that tends to go against their mantra.

The internals need a general rearrangement, badly. When the i9 was introduced, this became very obvious because of the disastrous thermals. For this reason, while the external size will probably not change much if at all, most of the inside needs a redesign. While Apple seems to have managed to get this under control through software/firmware, a lot of people (including myself) have held off on the i9 because the CPU doesn't have adequate (thermal) room in the current case.

If this 16" redesign comes with updated internals to allow for pro-level specs to actually make sense, I believe I will be buying one over the coming months.

 

[bill-p]

Going through the thread, I think a lot of you guys are "dreaming".

What I think will most likely happen:

1. Apple will keep both the current 13" and 15" MacBook Pro and sell them at the same price.

2. Apple will introduce a 16.4" MacBook Pro with these specs for the base model:
Core i7
16GB RAM
256GB SSD
Whatever crappy AMD GPU they can throw in that will most likely take another 10 minor revisions of MacOS to be "stable"
16.4" IPS LCD screen

...for $3499, and the model with OLED display will go for $1000 more.

It will also come with a $1000 "docking station" that's basically an aluminum stand.

 

[eulslix]

1. Apple will keep both the current 13" and 15" MacBook Pro and sell them at the same price.

2. Apple will introduce a 16.4" MacBook Pro with these specs for the base model:
Core i7
16GB RAM
256GB SSD
Whatever crappy AMD GPU they can throw in that will most likely take another 10 minor revisions of MacOS to be "stable"
16.4" IPS LCD screen

...for $3499, and the model with OLED display will go for $1000 more.

What you describe here is a ripoff. I get it, that some of Apples pricing policy might be controversial, but you got quite some pessimism going on here . Both the iMac Pro and Pro XDR are well priced. In case of the iMac Pro you can actually look up Linus Tech Tips, where he shows how you'd end up paying more if you bought the components individually - regardless of whether they actually make sense. And the Pro XDR plays in its own league, at a fracture of the cost of its competition.

What you describe here though is massively overpriced. It would only hold up if the display was way ahead of its competition or the machine offered a substantial redesign over its 15" counterpart. Otherwise nobody would buy it, since it just doesn't offer that much value over a 15" for 1k less.

I hope your pessimism doesn't become truth though

 

[jerryk]

yep

Agreed. Announce after back to school to reduce stock of the "old" 15". And before end of year holidays to get on holiday present lists. End of October or 1st week in November seems about right.

 

[thekev]

The internals need a general rearrangement, badly. When the i9 was introduced, this became very obvious because of the disastrous thermals. For this reason, while the external size will probably not change much if at all, most of the inside needs a redesign. While Apple seems to have managed to get this under control through software/firmware, a lot of people (including myself) have held off on the i9 because the CPU doesn't have adequate (thermal) room in the current case.

If this 16" redesign comes with updated internals to allow for pro-level specs to actually make sense, I believe I will be buying one over the coming months.

I haven't kept up with the internals much. It just happens that it would be somewhat of a departure for Apple to increase the footprint of the machine. They have done some very silly things (at least I think they're silly) at times in the interest of compactness. 2011 and 2012 15" models often drained the battery while attached to the charger if run at high but not necessarily full load, although I haven't noticed that problem on newer generations. The keyboard definitely keeps me away.

I don't know that I would ever trust Apple with an i9 personally. I haven't had good experience with their power management on the highest clocked cpus. It might be the only option for a lot of people, but I don't seem to agree with them often on prioritization.

What you describe here is a ripoff. I get it, that some of Apples pricing policy might be controversial, but you got quite some pessimism going on here . Both the iMac Pro and Pro XDR are well priced. In case of the iMac Pro you can actually look up Linus Tech Tips, where he shows how you'd end up paying more if you bought the components individually - regardless of whether they actually make sense. And the Pro XDR plays in its own league, at a fracture of the cost of its competition.

What you describe here though is massively overpriced. It would only hold up if the display was way ahead of its competition or the machine offered a substantial redesign over its 15" counterpart. Otherwise nobody would buy it, since it just doesn't offer that much value over a 15" for 1k less.

I hope your pessimism doesn't become truth though

My own pessimism doesn't extend quite that far. I would not be surprised if 512GB drive + 16GB came in at $3200-3300, assuming they're sticking to 256 and 8 as a baseline and bumping the price by $200 or so every time they do a redesign. That would be following their current behavior, but it doesn't necessarily mean it will work out that way.

 

[bill-p]

What you describe here is a ripoff. I get it, that some of Apples pricing policy might be controversial, but you got quite some pessimism going on here . Both the iMac Pro and Pro XDR are well priced. In case of the iMac Pro you can actually look up Linus Tech Tips, where he shows how you'd end up paying more if you bought the components individually - regardless of whether they actually make sense. And the Pro XDR plays in its own league, at a fracture of the cost of its competition.

What you describe here though is massively overpriced. It would only hold up if the display was way ahead of its competition or the machine offered a substantial redesign over its 15" counterpart. Otherwise nobody would buy it, since it just doesn't offer that much value over a 15" for 1k less.

I hope your pessimism doesn't become truth though

No, I just described Apple. As aptly as I could.

You're saying this same company, which forces a $1000 monitor stand down its customers' throat, is going to be "merciful" with pricing of a new computer it introduces? I think not.

Linus and many Youtubers outright lied to protect Apple against the onslaught of its customers. For instance, you gotta realize that their pricing is not for the most economical components on the market, and OEM pricing is actually even less than that. If someone really wants to, they can very much build a PC with equivalent specs at far less than what the Mac Pro costs.

This is not pessimism. This is reality.

On that note, actual "professionals" who earn a living from their computers will still be able to purchase the MacBook Pro 16" at $3499 just fine. I know I can... provided the thing no longer has a butterfly keyboard, and other improvements are worth it.

The number one thing that has held me back from a 15" MacBook Pro for the past 5-6 years is not even its price. It's the AMD GPU. Barring that, I'd be okay with everything else.

But I'm not going to pretend like the Apple tax doesn't exist.

Also you gotta realize that stuffs made in China are hit with very substantial import tax right now. Thank Trump for that.

 

[eulslix]

No, I just described Apple. As aptly as I could.

You're saying this same company, which forces a $1000 monitor stand down its customers' throat, is going to be "merciful" with pricing of a new computer it introduces? I think not.

Linus and many Youtubers outright lied to protect Apple against the onslaught of its customers. For instance, you gotta realize that their pricing is not for the most economical components on the market, and OEM pricing is actually even less than that. If someone really wants to, they can very much build a PC with equivalent specs at far less than what the Mac Pro costs.

This is not pessimism. This is reality.

On that note, actual "professionals" who earn a living from their computers will still be able to purchase the MacBook Pro 16" at $3499 just fine. I know I can... provided the thing no longer has a butterfly keyboard, and other improvements are worth it.

The number one thing that has held me back from a 15" MacBook Pro for the past 5-6 years is not even its price. It's the AMD GPU. Barring that, I'd be okay with everything else.

But I'm not going to pretend like the Apple tax doesn't exist.

Also you gotta realize that stuffs made in China are hit with very substantial import tax right now. Thank Trump for that.

Fair point. I agree with what you say here (except that I still think the value is there). I guess what I wanted to say is, that considering that the only thing that Apple can sell is the bigger screen in your example, 1K difference to their own product is a lot to ask for, even for Apple
Going back to the example iMac: They offer you Xeon processors, ECC Ram, better thermals, better I/O, better Motherboard, T2 magic and unofficially faster SSDs. So even though the OEM price effectively is much lower, that's quite a lot of stuff being offered on top to justify the 1500K bump. You gotta sell that premium price to the customer, or there'll be a lot of disappointment, as seen with the Apple stand.

Now, do I think the Apple stand is overpriced? Profit margin wise, sure. But as you say, that's not how economy works. It's basically B2B in this case (no sane consumer is going to buy that stuff), so they can get away with much more than that. Also, they most likely were able to squeeze out an even crazier price for their screen without sacrificing too much of their profit margin that way. People often forget, that product pricing is very interdependent (I'm sure you're aware of that however ). I just hope, that they'll make sure that the build quality and ergonomy on this thing is top notch in return.

 

[ux4all]

But I'm not going to pretend like the Apple tax doesn't exist.

Agreed, they also don't like to diminish the value of their other product lines (though, the MB and Air alignment/competition is weird to me)

1. This thing will start at 3k and have the specs you listed or maybe worse... personally, I think it'll base at 9th gen i7 and spike to a Xeon mobile... or ... something from AMD....
2. OLED screen, will add the apple tax like the stand... like what Razer does... to get the OLED, you need the highest level GPU.... the max RAM... in typical Apple fashion, there will be 3-5 versions, each requiring a big dollar jump to get a baseline feature upgrade
3. It will have a new keyboard
4. It will NOT have any new ports, might even retire the headphone jack here too
5. It will be modular... like the Mac Pro. You can open it yourself and upgrade it... but, the base cost will be high enough that Apple still gets their money

 

[iandk]

I hope it won't be larger than the current 15" and not that much more expensive.
Still need it to be portable, just returned my 15"

 

[CocoaNut]

I hope it won't be larger than the current 15" and not that much more expensive.
Still need it to be portable, just returned my 15"

It most likely will be larger. If the current screen size is 15,4", and sources say it will probably be bumped to 16,4", the current case size will be too small to fit, with the edge electronics required for the LCD variant. OLED may allow for smaller bezels, but I'm not an engineer so I'm not qualified to say.

Back when I had my MBP 17", I started using it on the road, eventually then buying an 11" MBA, which turned out to be the best laptop I've ever owned: it did all I needed it to, and it even did great when I occasionally needed to edit some video footage in 1080p on the road with Final Cut. The 17" eventually ended up staying on my desk, with an external monitor, keyboard, and trackpad, as well as a USB hub and wired Gb Ethernet.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Too much.

 

[danwells]

Recent Apple products have technically not been overpriced - they've offered good value for controversial configurations.

The new Mac Pro is a high-end Xeon workstation, not a desktop PC - and it's priced like it.The base configuration performs similarly to a high-end desktop, but it's just getting started where a desktop PC leaves off. Yes, the 8-core Xeon performs like a Core i9-9900K, but the 28-core is far faster than any desktop chip (and you pay a premium for being in the line of chips where the 28-core is available). Similarly, you can get 32 GB of RAM in a far cheaper motherboard - but you can't get 512 GB. The base graphics card is low-end and easily replicable - but a pair of Radeon Vega Pro Duos pulling 56 teraflops aren't (and your average desktop won't support them - that's the smell of a cheap 750-watt power supply burning up)...

It's actually cheaper than its direct competitors from HP in a similar configuration (Z6 and Z8) and comparable to the Dell Precision 7920 configured like a base Mac Pro. We don't know what the upgrades will cost, but both Dell and HP upgrades for this sort of machine are expensive. Apple probably has an advantage by using the single-socket processors.

If you don't need more than 8 cores, a ton of RAM or huge graphics, the new Mac Pro wasn't made for you. The base configuration is designed to offer choice as to which aspect needs to be massively upgraded for a given workload, not to be used in base form. They offer another computer for less ridiculously demanding workloads, which is also controversial..

The other part of Apple's controversial configuration strategy is that they offer a very nice, relatively reasonably priced Core i9-9900K machine - the premium for MacOS over a comparable Dell XPS tower seems to be a couple of hundred dollars, if that). The problem is that it's an iMac, and you don't have any choice except to buy the display it comes with (for an implied cost of $800-$1000). If you take the cost of the display out of a $2800 iMac, it's a very nice, fairly priced $1800 computer. Not all of the upgrades follow that rule, but iMacs are fairly priced until you start upgrading the drives (or the RAM, but the 27" iMac has user upgradeable RAM).

I would expect the new MacBook Pro to follow a similar strategy - actually fairly priced, but "my way or the highway" on configuration. There will be one or two 8-core processor choices, a couple of GPUs and some storage and RAM choices - but the minimum will be generous and priced that way.

My guess is that the Vega 16 becomes the default GPU, the base configuration is something like 16/1 TB, and the price is around $3299 (with an 8-core processor)?

 

[ericwn]

Nah, apple prices never go down.
It's definitely going to be (much) more expensive with the same configs as the 15 inch.

I have no idea myself regarding upcoming prices but Apple notebook prices came down in general 10-15 years ago, probably also connected to the cheaper intel vs ppc chips at the time.
MacBook and Air came down in price vs what they launched for too. So it’s not always true that prices will go up, but a top of the line product of course is almost asking for a big profit margin.

 

[Hieveryone]

My hope is that they keep the 13” and 15” models.

They introduce a 16” model that is like a Pro+. Meaning it can be used with their new monitor that has the $999 stand and other “Pro+” features exclusive to it.

Kind of like the Mac Pro or iPad Pro have feature that are better than iMac and regular iPad.

The starting price is anyone’s guess but I would guess it’s going to be a good bit higher than the 15” base model.

I wouldn’t want them to replace the 15” with a 16” IF it is heavier and overall bigger.

My 2019 15” base model is already big enough.

I also am on the fence about OLED. At times I feel like it is too saturated and that high quality LED is actually better

 

[HappyIntro]

I voted for around $3500, but now I'm thinking I was too pessimistic. Maybe $2999. I'd guess they are going with a redesigned chassis. Looking at my 2019 15" MBP, I feel the bezels are just about perfect; any smaller and I'd be worried that rigidity/reliability would be compromised too much. Also, there was a rumor I read somewhere that pointed toward the 16" being a budget model, which would be interesting. Maybe something less skinny and sexy and more middle of the road, but reliable, with some less expensive components. Still, a 16" Retina screen will cost some significant $$.

 

[gnasher729]

It certainly will be more money then the 15". Given how apple is asking a thousand dollars for a monitor stand I'm guessing the price will be very high

That monitor stand is for a _massive_ and very heavy and very expensive monitor. That you can move around wherever you want it with the tip of your finger. That's not easy to do, and you won't be able to do that for cheap. You can get that monitor stand, or for $200 you get a stand where the very heavy monitor is in one fixed position on your desk. The people who need the new MacPro with 1.5 TB of RAM with tons of processing power and a $5,000 monitor that you wouldn't get cheaper anywhere think nothing of that price.

Now I can see that you don't need any of these things. That doesn't mean that others don't, and that paying $1,000 for a monitor stand that is worth $1,000 and that _you_ don't need isn't entirely reasonable for some people who _need_ it and who can afford it.
[doublepost=1566068513][/doublepost]

You're saying this same company, which forces a $1000 monitor stand down its customers' throat, is going to be "merciful" with pricing of a new computer it introduces? I think not

I can't see Apple forcing a $1,000 monitor stand down anyone's throat. Have you been forced to buy one? You entered an Apple Store, expecting nothing bad, and they forced you at gunpoint to hand over $1,000 for a monitor stand? If you don't have one of those $5,000 monster monitors, that some company will buy instead of the $20,000 monitors they use today, there is no need for that kind of monitor stand. And if you don't have your colleagues standing around your monitor and want to move it around with one finger, you don't need that monitor stand. The people who actually buy this stand don't complain and are very happy with it.

 

[Hieveryone]

That monitor stand is for a _massive_ and very heavy and very expensive monitor. That you can move around wherever you want it with the tip of your finger. That's not easy to do, and you won't be able to do that for cheap. You can get that monitor stand, or for $200 you get a stand where the very heavy monitor is in one fixed position on your desk. The people who need the new MacPro with 1.5 TB of RAM with tons of processing power and a $5,000 monitor that you wouldn't get cheaper anywhere think nothing of that price.

Now I can see that you don't need any of these things. That doesn't mean that others don't, and that paying $1,000 for a monitor stand that is worth $1,000 and that _you_ don't need isn't entirely reasonable for some people who _need_ it and who can afford it.
[doublepost=1566068513][/doublepost]
I can't see Apple forcing a $1,000 monitor stand down anyone's throat. Have you been forced to buy one? You entered an Apple Store, expecting nothing bad, and they forced you at gunpoint to hand over $1,000 for a monitor stand? If you don't have one of those $5,000 monster monitors, that some company will buy instead of the $20,000 monitors they use today, there is no need for that kind of monitor stand. And if you don't have your colleagues standing around your monitor and want to move it around with one finger, you don't need that monitor stand. The people who actually buy this stand don't complain and are very happy with it.

I like so many others are on the side that 1000 for a stand is ridiculous. It's just a piece of metal that needs to be included with the monitor.

If you don't buy cars without wheels, you don't buy monitors without stands. Simple.

 

[gregrichards]

I voted for around $3500, but now I'm thinking I was too pessimistic. Maybe $2999. I'd guess they are going with a redesigned chassis. Looking at my 2019 15" MBP, I feel the bezels are just about perfect; any smaller and I'd be worried that rigidity/reliability would be compromised too much. Also, there was a rumor I read somewhere that pointed toward the 16" being a budget model, which would be interesting. Maybe something less skinny and sexy and more middle of the road, but reliable, with some less expensive components. Still, a 16" Retina screen will cost some significant $$.

There is no chance the 16” will be a budget model.

 

[gnasher729]

Base model might start at $2999 if Apple is feeling nice, but I wouldn't be surprised if it starts at a full 1000 more than the base 15".

The only difference to the 15" model is the slightly larger screen.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple drops the 15" model completely and replaces it with the 16" for the exact same price. Starting at $2399 for six cores and $2699 for eight cores.

In the UK, we sadly have an absolute imbecile as prime minister, whose dangerous actions will likely drop the pound even further against both dollar and euro, and Apple usually re-calculates the prices according to the exchange rate when a new model is introduced. With the pound close to $1.15 and dropping, and 20% VAT, the UK prices in pound will likely be slightly higher than the US price in dollars.