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

Regarding MagSafe, there's no way Apple will return to the old design, with the unreliable spring-loaded pins and heating issues.

How much can the iPhone 12 MagSafe "puck" be miniaturized? Is something akin to that possible?

Or perhaps it'll still charge via USB-C, and MagSafe 3 will be an optional accessory/dongle...

In any case, I'll be shocked if we just get unmodified MagSafe 2 again. It's been five years.
 
BornAgainMac said:
They can always do Touch Bar on the screen if they want to bring it back. No reason to have it on the keyboard. That way iMacs can have it.
Click to expand...
Thinking about it, they probably figured that because people inevitably have to "learn" the function keys, the TouchBar would be a nice alternative, which removed (or partially removed) the need to learn the function, since you could show it visually (and change the visual dynamically). Obviously it just didn't work out that way... :rolleyes:
 
For "flat edge design" think the TiBook G4 Powerbooks. I can go with that as a design. They still look good. I suspect the MagSafe comments are mixed up with the new MagSafe on the iPhone. Apple would never mix technology names like that. When they say magSafe I suspect they mean Apple will be integrating the new MagSafe into the new laptops. USB-C is here to stay for connectivity and therefore charging as well but apple could add a card reader and hdmi. All the other ports (thunderbolt etc) are dead so they won't be coming back. Won't miss the Touch Bar. Never use mine, part from the fingerprint sensor. I can see that staying a la MacBook Air. The m1 (or possibly 2) processors will be the real show stoppers, especially in the high end machines.
 
Now if they can just fire the person who made these changes to begin with so it will not happen again. Or maybe they did... Jony, you will not be missed.
 
pshufd said:
There are two different types of magsafe-style connectors. The straight in and the one that is aligned with the side of the macbook. Those are nice when the left side of the mac is very close to a wall or other obstruction.
Click to expand...
For my 2013 MBP I actually use a MagSafe v1 power supply plus the little $10 MagSafe 1->2 adapter just so I can use the L-angle connector. Having the cable stick straight out the side just means it's more likely to get knocked out or the cable to wear out due to bending over time.
 
m4mario said:
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.
Click to expand...
Touchbar was DOA as was "Force Touch" aka 3D touch. Same problem with both, can't unify workflows / user interface across devices.

No 3DT on iPad, and no Apple Magic Keyboard with Touchbar = > niche use cases => pointless innovation.
 
I have no idea what a flat edged design means. But if Apple is getting rid of the touchbar and adding ports with Magsafe I do not know how I cannot buy a new 16" MPB as soon as it becomes available. This sounds amazing to me. It reminds me of the old dear MBP from five years ago -- a machine I dearly love.
 
  • Magsafe: possible. It’s beloved among enthusiasts, praactical and convenient
  • SD card slot: somewhat likely. Cards are used by fotographers and videographers.
  • HDMI: very likely. It’s widespread and the most common standard for external displays, TV and video projectors for presentation purposes. The lack of HDMI just annoys many and gives Apple a bad rep for requiring dongles and adapters.
  • USB-A: some doubts. It would look “weird” as reintroducing a legacy port that has been superseded. But then it’s so widespread and there’s the thing with dongles
  • No Touch Bar: likely. Must be relatively expensive, seems to be loved by few, especially Pros. Economies aside, it’s a feature that might be more enticing to casual users. But they haven’t taken any steps so far to bring it to the consumer-oriented MacBook Air (or Desktops), so is inconsistent. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a function keys with changing LED key caps.
  • Ethernet: unlikely, for mainly physical reasons (height).
  • 3.5mm audio jack: likely to be retained, at least for output to headphones.
  • Optical audio out: unlikely. Has largely been superseded by HDMI audio in home entertainment. DJ and musicians often use external interfaces.
  • DisplayPort: never been widespread on notebooks.
  • FireWire: nope.
  • Thunderbolt 2: no.
  • DVD drive: just no.
 
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So, a tweaked 2015 MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon. What it should have been all along. So all of the daft “innovations” from the botched 2016-2019 MacBook Pro generation were a FAILURE of design and understanding Mac users, and they're rolled back one by one.

I wish we didn’t have to go through all of that time, stress and expenditure just so Apple could beta test their top dollar flagship notebooks. Ironically, an all-USB-C design would make more sense now than in 2016, and instead they're rolling it back, now that we've paid through the nose for all the compatible equipment. Lol what a crapshoot.

What an arrogant, costly and futile display of “fixing” what wasn’t broken and design by committee without user involvement. What a travesty when your product costs $4000 off the shelf and then the end user is gaslit by Apple & fans to believe it’s the pinnacle of engineering.

So we've come full circle eh. Apple's abrupt I/O removal was one thing we've been lambasted for speaking out on your forums, for years, being named "visionless" and "stuck in the past". I wonder if there was a third party incentive for this behaviour or a personal knack to see the toilet bowl half full.

What is even Apple's "vision" for the Mac anyway? And if Apple does indeed plan to bring all the old features back, I wonder if the same noxious people calling users "visionless" for decrying feature culling are going to greet the rollback as a breakthrough or fan service.

"We think you're going to love it" – not so much, Tim. Go to hell.
 
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I really hope Apple doesn't screw this up.

The MacBook shell is PERFECT. All these machines need is an XPS-style (or better) thin bezel around the screen.

I love the tapered, radiused edges on their screen lids.

And given how many EXPENSIVE MagSafe chargers I've burned through, I hope that it is an OPTIONAL feature.
 
kerr said:
You can't work out what "the third quarter of 2021" means?
Click to expand...

Not all areas of the world use the same calendar.

And some companies, including Apple (relevant to this discussion), have a fiscal calendar that does not start on January 1 and end on December 31 - therefore those calendars also have different months in the 1st - 4th quarters.
 
I think Apple is willing to part with the touchbar because it plans to introduce touch screen functionality soon afterward. There is no point in having a touchbar and a touchscreen. IMHO. Big Sur seems to suggest this move. I could be wrong but I think Apple would market a touchscreen as the greatest advance in human history.
 
I have no complaints about the Touch Bar, but I don't use it much. I've never used it for any app contextual stuff. I only use it for speaker volume control. The esc "button" is at the same spot as a physical key would be be so that's not an issue for me.

<Rant begin>

The one key I would definitely like to see added to all Mac keyboards is a physical "Print Screen" key. I take screen shots "all the time" and I've never understood why Mac keyboards don't have this key. Windows keyboards have had it forever. I know, there are some arcane keyboard combinations that can be invoked to take a screen shot and then you can dig for the file somewhere. I just want a key that will give me a cursor to select a screen area and then put it on the clipboard. Yes, I know I can map a function key to do that (and I have done that), but the point is that I don't want to do that work. I just want a physical key that does what Windows users have been able to do for 30+ years.

<Rant end>
 
smelly feet said:
I have no complaints about the Touch Bar, but I don't use it much. I've never used it for any app contextual stuff. I only use it for speaker volume control. The esc "button" is at the same spot as a physical key would be be so that's not an issue for me.

<Rant begin>

The one key I would definitely like to see added to all Mac keyboards is a physical "Print Screen" key. I take screen shots "all the time" and I've never understood why Mac keyboards don't have this key. Windows keyboards have had it forever. I know, there are some arcane keyboard combinations that can be invoked to take a screen shot and then you can dig for the file somewhere. I just want a key that will give me a cursor to select a screen area and then put it on the clipboard. Yes, I know I can map a function key to do that (and I have done that), but the point is that I don't want to do that work. I just want a physical key that does what Windows users have been able to do for 30+ years.

<Rant end>
Click to expand...

It would be nice. Shift-Alt-4 isn't that intuitive.
 
Serban55 said:
Apple dont do so much chips for the same product category
So from first gen will be just 2 SoC
History of Apple
Click to expand...
But there is no history of Apple chips for Macs. Macs have very different needs compared to iPhones or iPads. They have much broader usage profile. Nobody here knows what Apple's chips team has been working on in the last five years or so.
 
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Falhófnir said:
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.
Click to expand...

This. I never liked the offset keyboard - or at least for me, offset that the touchpad / trackpad is centered on the keyboard instead of centered in the overall horizontal face.

That causes me no end of annoyance when I move a finger to where I think the trackpad should be and nothing happens.
 
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