Kuo: New MacBook Pro Models With HDMI Port and SD Card Reader to Launch Later This Year

[Tozovac]

Given the blurring of lines between “Pro” and non-pro (MBA, Mac Mini) at this point, the “Pro” designation is really silly. The only real “Pro” options IMHO are determined by price, not function...those options whose price tag exceeds $3000....

How about Apple replace the Pro and non-Pro lines with Minimalist and Realist options. I’ll take my MacBook slightly heavier and thicker, with headphone jack, MagSafe, at least 1 USB-A port, and upgradeable RAM/storage/battery at minimum. A touchbar is fine as long as the function & ESC keys remain.

Same for phones. How about an iPhone 14 Minimalist for those for whom the phone is more a fashion accessory, and an iPhone 14 Realist that doesn’t need a case in order to survive a 4 foot drop?

 

[Kashifnawaz85]

Take the ports away and bring them back!

It's just work.😂

 

[coolkid93]

hdmi? Why not usb a ports... I’d use that way more than an hdmi port lol. Never even used that on my old 2015 MacBook Pro

 

[0924487]

bringing back the sd slot is such a stupid idea. for professional cameras, plenty of them use CFAST cards and a lot of them are moving over to USB-C SSDs. have you seen the cost and max size of high performing SD cards to record 4k/6k/8k ProRes RAW/Blackmagic RAW footage?

let's move on from SD. Apple was right to remove them. rather have an extra USB4/Thunderbolt 4 port.

this is one of those situations where Apple should tell everyone to shut up and be glad they're removing the Touch Bar at least.

another thing is the cameras are moving towards micro-SD cards. You still need an adaptor to use the regular SD card slot.

 

[lefkonj]

No reason to take steps backwards. If you have lived without an onboard SD reader then let's just make the entire thing USB-C, no other ports at all. Sorry but MagSafe has been gone a while so don't need that again. Touch Bar, I actually use and have grown to like but won't stop me from purchasing.

 

[Kilibee]

So which special people get to have the single-use, useless-to-others port they want, and who gets ****ed over with a port they can't use, and just as likely less capability to accomodate said port?

You will not like it, but obviously the people who use MacBook Pros in front of others, in business or education settings.

Apple likes to demonstrate that this are smooth work horses, not that these are shiny objects that need a dongle for the most basic tasks, like attaching to the presentation system, which in 90+% of the cases is HDMI.

Dongles demonstrate deficits.

 

[Stephen.R]

The 2020 Mac Mini only officially supports 2 monitors ( in fact, all Apple Silicon machines only support officially 2 displays ) , so you talking about having three monitors attached to the Mac mini is irrelevant, in this context. Since almost all monitors have an HDMI connection, having an HDMI output on the Mac mini is just common sense, and one less dongle required.

The 3 displays part is in relation to a 2018 model, the M1 minis exacerbate the issue because their total is reduced by one.

On both models one is forced to be hdmi, which presents an artificial limitation on its use.

Many monitors support hdmi, but not all. Those that don’t support it includes any display Apple has sold directly, in the last decade.

every monitor in existence can be run from a USB-c/tb3 port, with an adapter or different cable

So I have to ask, how is making something impossible for a group of customers, to provide a very slight convenience to other customers “common sense”?

 

[shaferz]

I got pillaged on reddit about this, but the idea of touchbar going away is depressing at best. Someone else suggested giving the option of keeping the touchbar - I'd happily pay extra to retain the ability to continue this sort of functionality:

 

[Onelifenofear]

As long as it has NO TOUCH BAR,

we good homie

Nah - I love it. The problem is people only actually moan on the internet about stuff they DON’T like.

Why people are clinging onto a keyboard quirk from the 1970s I don’t know. F Keys are Pointless these days.

It’s awesome for so many things, but does need a third party app like better touch tool to customise it.

I apple do this they are regressing into the lowest common denominator race to the bottom like PC laptop world. They have actually done it already by removing the force touch on the phone and the Watch and while the physical need was not needed on the phone that much, it had a real use on the watch and they basically made my watch worse by removing it ( and actually killing a physical function that helped people with mobility issues )

The alternative of course is that they are bringing in the backlit e-ink keyboards that a patent appeared for a while ago where every key is adaptable and that would be great for content creation apps / editing etc.

TL;DR - just because you don’t use it, others do.

Edit - Actually really simple...
1 version WITH touchbar
1 version WITH Function Keys from the 1970s
or
1 Version with both!

 

[Stella]

The 3 displays part is in relation to a 2018 model, the M1 minis exacerbate the issue because their total is reduced by one.

On both models one is forced to be hdmi, which presents an artificial limitation on its use.

Many monitors support hdmi, but not all. Those that don’t support it includes any display Apple has sold directly, in the last decade.

every monitor in existence can be run from a USB-c/tb3 port, with an adapter or different cable

So I have to ask, how is making something impossible for a group of customers, to provide a very slight convenience to other customers “common sense”?

The vast majority of monitors support HDMI. Only a fraction of monitors do not support HDMI. 2020 monitors are being sold supporting HDMI. HDMI is here to stay for a good while.

I would confidently guess that the vast majority of Mac users do not buy their monitors from Apple, due to the high price, instead buy elsewhere, and those cheaper monitors, on balance of probability, do support HDMI. So, the vast majority of users do not case about having to use HDMI.

So, I have to ask: Why would you inconvenience a large user base with having to buy a HDMI -> TB3 adapters when only a small amount of users have monitors that do not support HDMI? It's not common sense, it's added cost.


Mac Mini's are not constrained by width or height space to add ports, unlike MacBooks, which is probably why Apple removed the HDMI port, to reduce the height. Your argument against HDMI really doesn't make a lot of sense. You want to cater for a small amount of users. I guess you personally don't want the HDMI port, but you aren't the user base.


If you need two USB C monitors, you aren't the target market for the 2020 Mac mini. These are low end machines.. You'll have to wait for future models, like those people who want to use two external monitors on MacBooks.

 

[lilkwarrior]

As long as it has NO TOUCH BAR,

we good homie

They need to upgrade the Touch BAR to a Touch SCREEN similar to the Zenbook Pro Duo (even as a new SKU).

HDMI 2.1, CFAST/SD 4.0+, configurable keyboard switches (even digitally), Dolby Atmos speakers, & a Dolby Vision HDR OLED/MiniLED touch screen compatible w/ Apple Pencil is a creative pro's dream.

 

[Suckfest 9001]

Good. People like to reference the floppy as “see!? apple can totally guess when somethings about to be phased out”

except they totally guessed wrong on headphone jacks (for any actual professional use not just listening to top 10 hits on bluetooth), they totally guessed wrong on HDMI, they totally guessed wrong on USB-A, and they totally guessed wrong on SD. Consumers aren’t gonna move on just because apple slapped the word courage all over their marketing material. It’s not courage it’s cost cutting and up selling of dongles and smart people can see right through that smoke screen

 

[lilkwarrior]

I think HDMI is back due to second monitor limitations of M1.. Like mini 2nd gen macbooks will support 2 screens; 1 with USB-C, one with HDMI..
A couple of years later once M2,3,4.. can power 2 screens via T3, then it'll be gone again..

I think it's much simpler: HDMI 2.1 exceeds the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4. Accordingly, it makes sense again to support next-gen Hi-DPI screens.

Do not be surprised they release more 6K+ products in their line-up; they accordingly want that their laptops to be able to plug-in such panels–especially 6K Ultrawides.

 

[Stephen.R]

Why would you inconvenience a large user base with having to buy a HDMI -> TB3 adapters when only a small amount of users have monitors that do not support HDMI?

you have to ask why it makes sense to accomodate all customers rather than making it literally impossible for some customers to use the product?
Ok I think we’re done here.

 

[lederermc]

bringing back the sd slot is such a stupid idea. for professional cameras, plenty of them use CFAST cards and a lot of them are moving over to USB-C SSDs. have you seen the cost and max size of high performing SD cards to record 4k/6k/8k ProRes RAW/Blackmagic RAW footage?

let's move on from SD. Apple was right to remove them. rather have an extra USB4/Thunderbolt 4 port.

this is one of those situations where Apple should tell everyone to shut up and be glad they're removing the Touch Bar at least.

A person could put a 1TB micro SD card in there for TM backups.

 

[lazyrighteye]

Serious question for the engineers lurking out there: How much flatter can the edge design get than the current completely flat edge design?

And beyond the return of some ports, I'm interested in an overall redesign. Specifically, curious at a post-Ives take on MacBook Pro. While I don't dislike current language, I do feel it worthy to look beyond current aesthetic.

 

[Stella]

you have to ask why it makes sense to accomodate all customers rather than making it literally impossible for some customers to use the product?
Ok I think we’re done here.

Correction: your done here.
Have a nice day.

 

[Funky_Alphonzo]

An SD slot would be nice, but a slot that not only accepts SD but maybe A combination of CFexpress Type-A/UHS-II, XQD or Cfast ... would be nicer ... if at all possible.

The MacbookPro 17 inch could even read SXS cards ( not saying we need that back ) for Sd cards you still needed a card reader.

HDMI would be interesting if it allowed for a Broadcast Video output from FCPX, AVID, FCP8 ( Premiere ) or Davinci Resolve.
For just Displayport output, a USB-C/TB3 to HDMI cable would be enough for most cases...

USB-A ??? You would still need to bring different cables depending on the device you connect to : There is USB3-B, USB3-MicroB, USB2.0A, USB2.0B, USB2.0Micro A, USB2.0Micro B, USB2.0Mini A, USB2.0Mini B

I don't seem to carry more cables/dongles with my USB-C only MacBook Air than with my MacbookPro 17 inch ( FW800 to FW400 dongle, FW800 Cable, FW400 Cable, USB A to B, USB A to Mini B, USB A to micro B, Displayport to VGA, Mini DisplayPort to Displayport... and an SD/CF card reader).

The return of HDMI and SD... I wouldn't mind, but I don't see any point in USB-A.

 

[Stella]

Then why did they remove SD Cards in the first place?

Seriously, they made a mistake. No need to fanboy and claim everything they do is so smart and intentional.

Jonny Ive's quest for looks over functionality. Sure, smaller laptops are nicer, but at the detriment to functionality, i.e., removal of ethernet port, HDMI port, MagSafe connector, SD card reader? Apple probably went too far with some of their decisions.

Apple lost their way, they seemed not to understand their user base needs; the Trash Can Mac Pro is a good example. Or the removal of the physical Escape key on MacBooks. Apple reversed both of those design choices, the escape key is now a physical key on laptops and the Mac Pro redesigned.

 

[Stephen.R]

I think it's much simpler: HDMI 2.1 exceeds the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4. Accordingly, it makes sense again to support next-gen Hi-DPI screens.

Do not be surprised they release more 6K+ products in their line-up; they accordingly want that their laptops to be able to plug-in such panels–especially 6K Ultrawides.

DisplayPort 1.4 has the bandwidth to run 8k@60hz. Their existing 6k display is DisplayPort over Tb3/USB-c.

if you want next gen display support, DisplayPort 2.0 allows for 16K displays, or 3 10K displays.

Adopting hdmi for high end computer displays is like going to McDonald’s for fine dining.

 

[Tozovac]

No reason to take steps backwards. If you have lived without an onboard SD reader then let's just make the entire thing USB-C, no other ports at all. Sorry but MagSafe has been gone a while so don't need that again. Touch Bar, I actually use and have grown to like but won't stop me from purchasing.

MagSafe is gone but gravity and human nature for accidents remains...

 

[Ethosik]

This is unrelated to Apple CPUs. The same limitation was placed on the 2018 Intel Mac mini.

It's part of the reason I'm anti-HDMI port. "Up to 3 displays" is not really helpful for anyone who cares about the picture quality when one of them has to connect via HDMI.

No. The Intel Mac mini supports more displays. Look at the specs page:


Support for the following combination of maximum concurrent display setups:

• Up to three displays:
• Two displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt 3 plus one display with 4096-by-2160 resolution at 60Hz connected via HDMI 2.0
• or
• Up to two displays:
• One display with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt 3 plus one display with 4096-by-2160 resolution at 60Hz connected via HDMI 2.0

 

[Stephen.R]

No. The Intel Mac mini supports more displays. Look at the specs page:

The limitation I’m referring to is one display has to be via hdmi.

so the 2018 intel mini is advertised as “up to 3” but only supports two if you use USB-c or tb or DisplayPort displays.

the 2020 m1 mini is advertised as “up to 2” but only supports one if you use USB-c or tb or DisplayPort displays.

 

[gatortpk]

My current MacBook Pro is the old 2014 15” because it has MagSafe, SD Card slot, and USB A. It’ll be nice to upgrade to a 16” M2 MacBook Pro with at least two of those ports.

 

[nawnp]

Is there a way to like your comment twice? This really deserves greater recognition. Touch bar is trash.

So the touchbar itself is a great concept, the problem is Apple refuses to give it the software customization it was meant to have and they've never mentioned it since they released the MacBook Pros in 2016. I'd like them to go back to having it optional on both the 16" and 13/14" Macbook Pros, but we'll see.


The description here seems to much like they are going to just rerelease the 2015 Macbook Pros with the new M series processors, no touch bar, ports including freaking MagSafe is all specs from those old Macbooks and makes no sense for Apple to move towards.