Kuo: New MacBook Pro Models to Feature Flat-Edged Design, MagSafe, No Touch Bar and More Ports

[russell_314]

One of the nice things about MagSafe was that it was a defacto standard in some environments. So many people had Macs at the office that you could borrow a cable if you forgot yours. Same thing at university. Every Dell, HP, Lenovo seems to have a separate charging brick. The other thing is that your MagSafe 1 cable that you got with your 2007 MacBook Pro can charge your 2015 MacBook Pro. It would be very cool if you could use a 2007 charger on a 2021 MacBook Pro.

I liked it because it was so easy to attach and you didn’t have to worry about someone accidentally yanking your cable then your computer goes flying. Back in the day it saved my MacBook at least twice. Of course if you use your MacBook at a desk rather than in the field this is probably not a concern. I just can’t see how USB-C charging is supposed to be an improvement. There’s nothing that’s improved. I got it everyone has USB chargers because they have MacBooks with USB-C charging but does this mean we keep the Lightning port on the iPhone because everyone has Lightning chargers? I guess that is a valid argument for some but for me MagSafe was the biggest thing Apple took from the MacBook and I’m so glad to hear it might be coming back

 

[hybra]

Am I the only person to prefer the Touch Bar to the keys? It wasn’t ground breaking and all as they claimed it would be, but it was a step up from fixed keys that was a baggage from the mainframe era.

What I'd like to see is a smooth seamless sequence of glass physical function keys next to each other that embed an OLED display so that makes a raised Touch Bar but also that's type-able. Win-win.

 

[ccorry21]

I’ll add to the chorus and say that if these rumors are true, it would be enough for me to update my 2010 MBP. Touch Bar has always been a joke to me, especially on a ‘Pro’ machine...and I’m intrigued to see which ports would be added back. It seems like HDMI is still pretty standard in many corporate environments...so it’d be interesting to see if Apple goes backward on that. I’d be for it.

 

[rwh63]

if it ain't broke don't fix it. my 2011 13" MacBook pro will look cutting edge again!

 

[Arctic Moose]

There’s nothing that’s improved. I got it everyone has USB chargers because they have MacBooks with USB-C charging but does this mean we keep the Lightning port on the iPhone because everyone has Lightning chargers?

I have lots of other stuff that charges using USB-C, so I definitely appreciate just one standard.

However, I would be very surprised if this new charger is not still USB-C at the charger end of the cable, which for me is a perfectly acceptable compromise. I do not mind carrying multiple cables nearly as much as I detest carrying multiple chargers.

 

[Firelock]

I’ll add another vote for liking the touch bar. Outside of the very esoteric forums at MacRumors—in the real world—every Mac user that I know likes the Touch Bar. I suspect Apple knows this, too, and so the only way I see them getting rid of the touch bar is if they make these devices touch screen, or they double down on the Touch Bar with a larger touch screen above the keyboard. Possibly with the return of function keys as well.

 

[kingspat]

I still use a Late 2013 retina MacBook Pro. Go my moneys worth lol, time to upgrade when these come out.

 

[DHagan4755]

This does not make any sense:

The new MacBook Pro machines will feature a flat-edged design, which Kuo describes as "similar to the iPhone 12" with no curves like current models.

The iPhone 12 uses a flat edge curved design. Unless he means they are going back to the 2006 MacBook Pro straight edge design, just with the current thinness of course.

I wondered about this too. I think what it means is that there will be no taper on the bottom case, it will sit flat on a surface. Like Google's Pixelbook from a few years ago.

 

[pshufd]

I have lots of other stuff that charges using USB-C, so I definitely appreciate just one standard.

However, I would be very surprised if this new charger is not still USB-C at the charger end of the cable, which for me is a perfectly acceptable compromise. I do not mind carrying multiple cables nearly as much as I detest carrying multiple chargers.

My use case was to bring my MacBook Pro into the office. Having a standard charging brick meant that I could leave a charger in the office and one at home and not have to carry a charger back and forth. I did the same thing for laptops from Dell but the chargers were only good for that model. If I upgraded, I'd have to buy yet another spare charger.

 

[k2k koos]

This is going to be a great year for the Mac,I'm really looking forward to news on the new iMac, while I'd like to see one sooner rather than later, if it moves to later in the year so that we don't get an M1 with a bit of a tweak, but rather an M2 or M1X with at least double the core counts and memory as currently the case, that would be worth the additional wait...

 

[russell_314]

I have lots of other stuff that charges using USB-C, so I definitely appreciate just one standard.

However, I would be very surprised if this new charger is not still USB-C at the charger end of the cable, which for me is a perfectly acceptable compromise. I do not mind carrying multiple cables nearly as much as I detest carrying multiple chargers.

You mean that could be like the current one where is USB-C at the brick end but MagSafe at the other end. It’ll most likely be like that not because of any compatibility reasons reasons but it would cost money for them to redesign charging bricks so it’s just cheaper. I wouldn’t have an issue with that. I mean having an additional connection is another possible point of failure but at least it’s MagSafe

 

[k2k koos]

Bring back the lit up Apple Logo!

 

[russell_314]

My use case was to bring my MacBook Pro into the office. Having a standard charging brick meant that I could leave a charger in the office and one at home and not have to carry a charger back and forth. I did the same thing for laptops from Dell but the chargers were only good for that model. If I upgraded, I'd have to buy yet another spare charger.

You will still be able to do this. You’ll have a MagSafe charger at home any MagSafe charger at work. Changing the port doesn’t affect that

 

[russell_314]

Bring back the lit up Apple Logo!

Yeah I would like to see that too but that costs money and doesn’t really introduce a usable feature so I don’t think Apple will spend the extra for it

 

[RogerWilco]

With all that empty metal, they still cant find room for a numeric keypad?

 

[Falhófnir]

With all that empty metal, they still cant find room for a numeric keypad?

Probably more about the aesthetics and affecting users' muscle memory if they offset the keyboard after so long. I still can't type properly on my gaming laptop's offset KB, being used to a MBP.

 

[tubular]

In late 2017 I splashed for a late-2015-era model MacBook Pro, because I was absolutely unconvinced by the TouchBar/butterfly/MagSafe-less/dongle direction that the laptops were going, and it really felt like it might be half a decade or more before Apple built another laptop worth buying. Dodged the butterfly keyboard bullet entirely, which was nice. If I also end up having dodged the MagSafe-lessness and the TouchBar, all the better.

 

[russell_314]

With all that empty metal, they still cant find room for a numeric keypad?

Shhh... Hopefully Apple didn’t see that 😂

Having an offset trackpad would be terrible for most typing

 

[Apple_Robert]

No Touch Bar is certainly welcome but, I will believe it when I see it.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

I don't know anyone who likes the touch bar, so good riddance. An expensive frippery.

 

[ts1973]

Am I the only one wondering if MagSafe on the new laptops uses the same “puck” as iPhone but attaches magneticly over the Apple logo on the back of the screen?

THIS!

You guys are delusional if you think Apple will bring back the original Magsafe. That would be a marketing disaster! They just introduced a new Magsafe concept aka "the puck". As much as I dislike it, it will not go away soon unfortunately.

What they'll do is add the possibility to charge by puck attached to the screen, as the power it can deliver is (almost) enough to drive the entire Macbook. On top of that you'll have your USB-C for charging "normally".

 

[russell_314]

THIS!

You guys are delusional if you think Apple will bring back the original Magsafe. That would be a marketing disaster! They just introduced a new Magsafe concept aka "the puck". As much as I dislike it, it will not go away soon unfortunately.

What they'll do is add the possibility to charge by puck attached to the screen, as the power it can deliver is (almost) enough to drive the entire Macbook. On top of that you'll have your USB-C for charging "normally".

I don’t think so. I don’t see them adding any kind of wireless coils to the inside of the screen and 15 watts? Maybe for the MacBook Air but not the MacBook Pro. I think for a laptop it would have to have a direct connection because you’re talking at least 40 watts for a 16” MacBook Pro. I’m not going to say Apple won’t do anything stupid but this seems too much stupid even for Apple 😂

 

[Haifisch]

I can live without the touchbar. But I love TOUCH ID for ease of unlocking the computer and inputting passwords. Any mention of it staying in the new gen MBP?

 

[Stephen.R]

My wishlist: hdmi, usb-a, sd-card, mini displayport. People upgrading from Retina MacBook Pros would like to reuse old cables.

Here's the problem: to do that (at least the way every other Mac has worked) means you need to have dedicated video streams for the HDMI and DP ports, which is going to limit, if not eliminate video from TB3/USB-C ports.

The HDMI/DP thing makes zero sense to me, when USB-C has alt-modes for both. You will always need a cable for DP/HDMI, why does it matter that one end is USB-C?

Each USB-A port needs either 5Gbps or 10Gbps of bandwidth. The SD card reader would almost certainly hang from an internal USB bus too.

So how many TB ports do we have to lose/cripple before you have enough single use ports, that some of us will literally never use?

Edit: and I forgot to add. You can add HDMI, Ethernet, card reader, 3 or more USB3, etc etc ports to a TB3-equipped Mac, with a single, bus powered hub device, for about $25.

Yes that means it isn't built in. But that also means that other customers aren't forced to compromise for your use-case. It's always "I just want HDMI". **** it, I want eSATA and twin 10Gbit ethernet ports, so you're all gonna have to live with a thicker case, and you'll get less USB ports too. See how ridiculous "I just want this single-use port, its too hard to use that multi-use port" sounds now?

 

[praetorian909]

Imagining this:

Apple: now what everyone has been waiting for, we removed the Touch Bar...

...and replaced the whole keyboard with a touchscreen keyboard.

😆 😕 😤