Well, its also a response to the Mircosoft Surface.
The Surface and the retina MacBook aren't even comparable, especially given that one is $1000 less expensive than the other.
I think they've just been announced and will be out over the summer - but the fact that Apple have now done a Haswell+force touch bump does make it look like they're waiting for Skylake.
Right. Apple must have clearly had to make the decision and they realized that skipping Broadwell to be on time to Broadwell was better than being on time to Broadwell and late to Skylake, especially given Thunderbolt 3.
Hmmm - wouldn't hold my breath for that.
The USB-C connector has proven to be quite popular among third-party developers so far. For Thunderbolt 3 to succeed, it at least won't be about the connector.
Also, the bumped rMBP 13" offered a solution to people waiting for a 13" Retina Air.
The 13" Retina MacBook Pro has essentially been exactly that since they were updated with Haswell. With Ivy Bridge and earlier, you had the quad-core mobile CPUs (for the 15" and 17" MacBook Pros), the dual-core mobile CPUs (for the 13" MacBook Pro and Mac mini) and the ultra-low-power dual-core mobile CPUs (for the MacBook Airs). Now with Haswell and Broadwell, it's pretty much just quad-core mobile CPUs (for the 15" MacBook Pro) and ultra-low-power dual-core mobile CPUs (the higher end of which is slapped into the 13" MacBook Pro and the Mac mini and the lower end of which is slapped into the MacBook Air and low-end Mac mini and 21.5" iMac models).
One off-the-wall suggestion: perhaps the 13" rMBP could be dropped (in name) and replaced by a new tapered design 13" Retina MacBook Air, with the 15" rMBP staying much the same size/shape (but with new ports)? Then the range would be something like:
12" Retina MacBook (1 x USB-C - maybe gaining TB3 in time)
13" Retina MacBook Air (2 x USB-C/TB3)
15" Retina MacBook Pro (2 x USB/C-TB3 + 2 x USB-C only or maybe some regular USB)
...just speculation, but it would make for nice clear product choices.
Really, your suggestion would've made more sense if they had made the Air the 12" machine and the "MacBook" the 13" machine, given that the 13" MacBook Pro is really just the modern-day successor to the original "MacBook" like the current "MacBook" is the eventual successor to the MacBook Air. Though, given that they have room for two Thunderbolt 2 ports and two USB 3.0 ports currently, my guess is that they'll at least preserve the number of ports.
More likely (but still relevant): the natural resolution for a 'retina' 27" TB display is 5k, and until TB3 comes along that would require 2 cables. Only fly in the ointment: does TB3 have enough capacity to drive a 5k display at 60hz and have enough bandwidth left to be useful as a hub for ethernet, disc drives etc. especially as it still seems to be limited to DP1.2 (which needs two streams to drive 5k). Maybe the idea of a monitor as dock (for more than a mouse and keyboard) isn't ideal for 5k.
DP 1.2 will be able to do it. Since that wasn't out when they were making the Retina 5K iMac, Apple had to engineer their own connection to the display.
Bear in mind that Apple may simply not replace the TB display. If the things were selling like hotcakes I think they'd have updated it to match the current iMacs and USB 3 a couple of years back. USB-C ports and docking & charging functionality are probably going to be common on new 3rd-party displays, as will USB-C 'docks' with display connectors.
Thunderbolt displays still well as well as any of their other monitors. They're currently not selling as well as they once were because the technology therein is obviously outdated.
True - the current form factor was originally designed to hold a CD. However, remember that the NUC and friends all have fugly external power bricks, while the Mini has a built-in PSU.
The Mac mini had this once. Plus, it's not like the power bricks to the Brix and the NUC are all that much larger than the 45-Watt MagSafe 2 adapters that currently ship with the MacBook Airs.
...not that it needs to be any thinner, but I know that won't stop Jony Ive....
Apple will keep making things smaller and thinner whether we want them to or not. I agree that the need for thinness died six years ago. Nevertheless, this has not stopped Apple and I suspect it will continue to not stop them.
WTF is the point of making a desktop even smaller?
Because they can. Look, I think it's silly too, but when these things are already wasting the space they have on the current minis, which doesn't (a) give us more expandability, (b) doesn't give us more storage options, and (c) doesn't give the computer any additional ventilation to allow it to run any cooler than it does currently; they might as well
It's not a notebook. It's a DESKTOP. If they get freed up space, they should be using that for extra drive bays or a high-end GPU option. If I wanted an AppleTV for a computer, I'd buy an AppleTV.
They've had the space for a discrete GPU since the last time the Mac mini had as discrete GPU. That space is there now. Apple's not doing anything with it, which shows that they have no interest in doing so.
Again, you're preaching to the choir; I think Apple's desktops (the iMac and the Mac mini, at least) have lost sight of the advantages of even having a desktop to begin with. Nevertheless, Apple is all about making things smaller. I didn't say that this is what I wanted to have happen; this is what I think will happen.
Or they could use the extra space for lots and lots of ports so we don't have to weight 10 years for a freaking DOCK that many companies promise, but then NEVER seem to deliver. I mean this USB-C concept makes sense for docking, but how long did it take for a single solitary Thunderbolt dock to appear?
First off, Thunderbolt was introduced in 2011. Docks were out in 2012. For a brand new port that pretty much only had Apple's mainstream support, that's not bad. Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C will sell each other in ways that Thunderbolt 1 and 2 couldn't have (because the USB-C connector will become more ubiquitous than Mini-DisplayPort could've ever hoped to be) and will be far more useful in the end. I'm not saying I want to have to go out and get dongles for standard USB connections. Yeah, that'll be annoying. But getting a port that does literally every kind of connection I could ever want (USB 3.1, DisplayPort, Ethernet, FireWire, PCIe 4x, Thunderbolt 1, 2, and 3, sound, power) sort of eases the burn a bit.
Hell, is there even one available yet? How much do they cost? Hundreds? I could buy another Mac Mini to use as a glorified dock!
I saw a decent one for under $200. Mac minis start at $500. 60% price difference there, and to be fair, you get (a) a lot of functionality out of those docks and (b) what you pay for; Thunderbolt is expensive technology, legitimately. And it's sort of a bargain if you really stop to think about what you actually get out of it.
It's ridiculous. Apple needs to either offer a reasonably priced dock themselves (and not just attached to a monitor as I don't want to pay 3x the price of everyone else's monitor) or include enough ports on a desktop that you don't NEED a bunch of docks. It's bad enough I have TWO USB docks as it is with my Mini (both 7-port docks and 13 of the 16 ports are in use as I type here!) In fact, every single port on my Mini is in use except for one USB 3 port and the FW800 port. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Less ports? No thanks. I want MORE ports! Having to buy two $300 docks and five $80 dongles to get the equivalent functionality on a $1100 computer? No thanks. That's NOT an "upgrade". That's horse crap.
I don't see the Mac mini cutting the number of ports with such a redesign.
