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If Apple releases a 16" MacBook Pro, how much do you guess the base model will cost?

  • Around $3,000

    Votes: 149 42.1%
  • Around $3,500

    Votes: 92 26.0%
  • Around $4,000

    Votes: 36 10.2%
  • More than $4,000

    Votes: 35 9.9%
  • Less than $3,000

    Votes: 42 11.9%

  • Total voters
    354
  • Poll closed .
I can't believe there are more than 0 people who think Apple is going to increase the starting cost of the 16" model $1,600 over the base 15.4" model. A $1,600 increase for a slight screen size bump and a new keyboard?
 
I can't believe there are more than 0 people who think Apple is going to increase the starting cost of the 16" model $1,600 over the base 15.4" model. A $1,600 increase for a slight screen size bump and a new keyboard?

I honestly think people are already used to Apple increasing prices..
 
I honestly think people are already used to Apple increasing prices..

Yes.

Under Tim Cook’s management, I expect two things from Apple: (i) use the old form factors until they become ancient, to increase the efficiency of the supply chain; and (ii) increase prices every time a new model of any product is released.

I wish I was Apple’s shareholder instead of consumer.
 
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Rumors said to be starting at 3499$ for a 16.4" 512 ssd, navi 14, 9th gen cpu, 16 gb Ram
 
Rumors said to be starting at 3499$ for a 16.4" 512 ssd, navi 14, 9th gen cpu, 16 gb Ram

Can you please cite the source? Not because I don’t believe you but because I want to read the article lol.

And what does Navi 14 mean?
 
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Yes.

Under Tim Cook’s management, I expect two things from Apple: (i) use the old form factors until they become ancient, to increase the efficiency of the supply chain; and (ii) increase prices every time a new model of any product is released.

I wish I was Apple’s shareholder instead of consumer.

Yeah I agree it’s what’s happening all the time
[doublepost=1566581884][/doublepost]
Can you please cite the source? Not because I don’t believe you but because I want to read the article lol.

And what does Navi 14 mean?

Navi 14 is the new mobile chip by AMD. It equals the performance of a GTX 1650
 
That seems a little high without another configuration bump, even assuming that the "9th Generation CPU" is a 9880H (8-core). That is essentially the $2799 2019 MBP with a bump to a GPU that might be close in performance to the Vega 20 (a $350 upgrade) - e.g. a $3150 Mac with a $350 price hike for the new case.

If it was 16/1TB, I could see it easily - it gets another $200 upgrade, and then only $150 is an actual price hike.

Less usefully, it could come only with the 9980HK - that's also a $200 upgrade, but a less popular one.

It would be a deal (by Apple standards) if it were 32/512 to start - the RAM upgrade is $400, so the base 16" would actually be a tiny bit cheaper than a 15" upgraded to match, at least assuming that the Navi 14 is equivalent to the Vega 20.
 
I agree with the tone of your post, as I read it, but I do feel like my 15" was worth the money for me.

Reason being:

1) I need a 15" laptop

2) I prefer MacOS

So of course I could've gotten an older model and been just fine, but I also wanted True Tone. I'm not sure which year they started with True Tone on the 15" MacBook Pro but I know it wasn't too long ago so my guess was the discount wouldn't have been all that great if I got it refurbished or used.

So that's why I went with the 2019 15" base model (6 core/2.6/16/256)

I would've been fine with Windows if I'm being 100% honest, and probably could've saved some cash for an equivalent or maybe even better (in someways) laptop...but meh. I've been using Mac for almost 6 years and I don't really want to go back to Windows.
They started True Tone in the 2018 models.

I have it in the 2019 MBP---it's great.

I agree with every point in your post.
[doublepost=1566778391][/doublepost]
On a slightly different note, wouldn’t they wait until Back to School promo is done to announce anything new?
For a laptop costing > than $3,000.00? I don't think back to school really figures in their thinking for this machine.
 
They traditionally do avoid introducing Macs in the middle of Back to School. The only Macs released in August or September since 2006 were a Mac Pro in early August 2010 (and if there's one Mac where they're unconcerned about Back to School, it's the Pro) and iMacs in late September 2013 - late enough that they missed the promo, which ended early that year.

Interestingly, they do occasionally introduce iPads during that season - which would seem like more likely back to school targets than 15" MacBook Pros. They also frequently update Macs right before the beginning of the promotion, or even during the first weeks in July.

It may be that the lack of Macs in August and September is not really related to Back to School... It could simply be that they are trying to avoid stealing the iPhone's thunder by not releasing products independent of the iPhone around the same time. When you look at August/September releases other than the iPhone, they're all iPhone related (earphones, Apple Watch, etc.).
 
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Yeah I agree it’s what’s happening all the time
[doublepost=1566581884][/doublepost]

Navi 14 is the new mobile chip by AMD. It equals the performance of a GTX 1650

these are not mobile GPU's though but desktop only. I cannot see any references to mobile GPU's.
I would like to be proven wrong though, and am hopeful Apple get the first mobile Navi chips.
 
If its going to replace the 15" model then I think it would take over the pricing of the 15" with a nice top end model. If its a complement to the 15" then expect to pay more at the high end.
 
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these are not mobile GPU's though but desktop only. I cannot see any references to mobile GPU's.
I would like to be proven wrong though, and am hopeful Apple get the first mobile Navi chips.

They are the upcoming mobile low powered variants.
 
They'll probably try to have some form of it under 3k, perhaps with a lower clocked quad core i9 (2.0 ghz?) or maybe a 1.4ghz model like the 13 inch to keep heat/noise/power usage down for people that want that. Probably a more stock video card, sucks but that's what they'll probably do, tho i'd appreciate it all being at least Vega albiet a weaker one on the stock version but still 4gb of VRAM at least. 256gb SSD, 16gb RAM, that seems to be their MO in their base models at this point. I doubt they'd hold back the screen or ports in anyway but you never know, seems unlikely tho. So probably base model under 3k to entice buyers but upgrades will put it over 3k with ease.
 
At first, it may be one fairly high end model with CTO options up only - say 8 core only, with the 15" sticking around for people who don't want to pay for it. Within the year, the 15" Pro will disappear and there will be less costly 16" models. This is what they did with the Retina a bunch of years ago.

The other possibility, with the whole bunch of unaccounted for portable model numbers, is that the 16" will be strictly a high-end machine - no 16/256 configurations or hex-cores... The 15" Pro goes away - but Apple releases a 15"MacBook Air using processors in the same class as the 13" Pro (or possibly the Intel/AMD chimera processors that use a quad-core Intel CPU and (very oddly) an AMD GPU on one package). Such things exist, and, when they were released, the speculation was that they were were custom jobs for Apple (which has never used one).
 

FTA: "Ultimately, we would not recommend drawing conclusions from one benchmark, especially with what will be results from an engineering sample. Instead, take it as an indication of things to come, with the retail version likely to outperform the engineering samples currently being benchmarked."

Apple currently offers a basic, midrange, and highend dGPU. The cost of the vega's HBM though ... over say GDDR6... (same reason why the slower Radeon VII is more expensive than the newer and faster 5700 series).
 
Everyone keep talking about specs

What we really need to talk about is the Thermal Envelope!

The 16 inch MBP needs to be thicker than the current form factor of the 15 MBP

It needs oversized heat sinks and fans. It needs more ventilation

What’s the point of dishing out all this money for heat to cripple the 16 inch down to base 13 inch specs


As exciting as it is.... I encourage the first time adopters to wait a few weeks to the reviews hit YouTube..... many of the tech reviewers are very critical about the current gent macs now.... they will tell the truth!
 
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I encourage the first time adopters to wait a few weeks to the reviews hit YouTube..... many of the tech reviewers are very critical about the current gent macs now.... they will tell the truth!

I have a feeling it will be a paradigm shift in design language... I am surprised we haven't seen any leaks... though there aren't any cases to leak prototypes...

The Mac Pro cheese grater is a complete shift away from the garbage can aesthetic.. I wonder if the new laptop will be a fundamental shift away from the unibody... heck, a modular concept in the same line as the area 51 in the alienware lineup...

I know, a bit random of a thought on my side.
 
I guess a 16” would start at £2999, price point a tier higher than the upgraded version of the actual 15”. Specs could be:

-i7 6-core
-16 GB ram
-256GB SSD
- Vega 16

Then, one year after launch, the 15” lineup will be taken over by the 16” one, save keeping the base 15” at a lower price point for an year to facilitate the transition for customers on a tighter budget.

I truly hope Apple won’t try any courageous moves and just make a good, all rounder machine.
What they must focus on, imho, would be:

- Great build quality, with less glued components prone to fail due to crippled thermals or to stupid choices like short screen connectors who snap after prolonged use.
Also more thickness to help thermals, fans of ultraportable laptops have the Air lineup to look at.

- Great keyboard with scissor mechanism: everyone in the market can engineer low-profile keyboards without compromising usability and reliability ( Surface laptop for example), I don’t see why Apple cannot

- Decent graphic card: this is always been overlooked by Apple, probably for lack of need by most of their customers, and also because the focus was on creating the thinnest, lightest and with best battery life laptop possible, and up to 2014 ( maybe even 2015) the formula was a winning one: MacBooks would simply blow the competition out of the water.
Unfortunately is not the case anymore, what was once Apple magic formula is now everyone’s bread and butter, and if it wasn’t for MacOS, many users would have abandoned Apple laptops by now.
In 2019 there’s no reason why a £2.5k + machine shouldn’t have at least the graphic power of a gtx 1060 or Amd equivalent.

-Better battery life: this was the biggest disappointment with Apple’s modern laptop lineup. I still cannot get used to my MacBook’s battery lasting 5 hours whenever I do anything other than listening to Spotify. And the way the market their laptops power efficiency is sneaky at best: yes it still lasts 10 hours, but with WiFi off, keyboard and screen lights dimmed and no apps open besides iTunes. As soon as you start using the laptop normally, things don’t look quite as good.

Times have changed and Apple need to pull his head out of the sand and look realistically at the market. They’ve done an amazing job with the iPad lineup, keeping the crown despite a strong competition by the likes of Microsoft with the Surface lineup, now I hope they do the same with the MacBook one too.

Price wise, who cares: we’re used to the crazy pricing by now and I sure wouldn’t mind spending £ 3000 on a laptop, as I don’t mind spending £ 1500 on an iPad, but there must be something other than the OS to justify the price.
 
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Everyone keep talking about specs

What we really need to talk about is the Thermal Envelope!

The 16 inch MBP needs to be thicker than the current form factor of the 15 MBP

It needs oversized heat sinks and fans. It needs more ventilation

What’s the point of dishing out all this money for heat to cripple the 16 inch down to base 13 inch specs


As exciting as it is.... I encourage the first time adopters to wait a few weeks to the reviews hit YouTube..... many of the tech reviewers are very critical about the current gent macs now.... they will tell the truth!

Good thoughts in my opinion. I just occasionally have a hard time finding anything useful on YouTube when it comes to tech reviews. And by that I mean a person with no bought opinion of any sorts (sponsorships) and who actually has measurable results presented in a reproducible manner.

Any credible sources you would recommend that fall into the above categories? Cheers!
 
Good thoughts in my opinion. I just occasionally have a hard time finding anything useful on YouTube when it comes to tech reviews. And by that I mean a person with no bought opinion of any sorts (sponsorships) and who actually has measurable results presented in a reproducible manner.

Any credible sources you would recommend that fall into the above categories? Cheers!

Dave2D’s reviews are always very objective. He was the one who first brought up to attention the thermal limitations of the i9 MacBook Pro.
In my opinion he is, together with Marques, the best tech youtuber out there.
 
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