Kuo: Redesigned MacBooks With Apple Silicon to Launch in Second Half of 2021

[gnasher729]

Same, the MacBook design is a bit boring at this point, with huge bezels too.
but the power of this years macbooks was tempting.

I like boring. Seriously, my 2010 MacBook looks just as nice as 10 years ago. I'd love it faster, and I'd love a battery that lasts more than an hour But the design? I couldn't care less.

I think that Apple is developing a series of chips in ‘layers.’
M1 is the first layer… MB Air, MBP base, Mac mini base.
Next, we will have the N1 —I just invented the name—, for a most powerful MBP and a high powered Mac mini and, possible, the low level iMac.

Most likely candidates for the name right now are: M1X, M2 – and M1. I could imagine all of the chips being called M1, and you just need to add how many cores and CPU cores there are.

 

[ericwn]

I get that it’s your impression/opinion, but was wondering what could possibly give you the impression that “They’d rather have you get the Air or Pro and seem surprised at the popularity of the model”?

Got you, thanks for the context. As I stated the focus just seemed a bit lost over the years. Many on the iPad forum didn’t even believe we’d get the 5 at all.
I’m happy to be proven wrong in spring with a new model with refreshed exterior and components

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

God please no. There is an iPad for that. Who wants fingerprint smudges on their laptop screen, seriously?
Also the ergonomics are quite different in an laptop, you hold it differently, the screen is bigger. Try lifting your arm for hours to touch the top half of the screen...
Not everything that is theoretically possible is actually a good idea.

No more than who would want fingerprint smudges on their iPad.

Nah, you would still do most of everything via the touchpad and keyboard, but some things make more sense via touch screen.

And besides, just like there are multiple controls to operate the interface now (e.g. menu controls operated by either touchpad clicks, or via keyboard shortcuts, or via voice commands etc), all that adding a touchscreen will do is add one more way that you can optionally ignore if you want to keep your screen smudge free.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

You do know about the iPad + Magic keyboard combo, right?

But missing macOS.

 

[__dontpanic__]

This has nothing to do with laziness. MacOS is not designed for touch, so Apple will not bring touch "back to the Mac" like everything else on iOS.

Apple decided to bring precision pointing (mouse & trackpad support) to iPadOS instead, which given that macOS is precision (i.e. cursor) based it presents few issues when running iPadOS apps on a Mac.

Each device is optimized for it's primary control mechanism: iPad for touch, Mac for cursor. Simple.

Except that with the new M1 and Mac OS Big Sur, iOS apps are now available on Macs. And they're specifically designed for touch. Without a touch screen, those apps are going to suck.

Prior to this it didn't make much sense to have touch. Now it doesn't make sense not to have it.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Got you, thanks for the context. As I stated the focus just seemed a bit lost over the years. Many on the iPad forum didn’t even believe we’d get the 5 at all.
I’m happy to be proven wrong in spring with a new model with refreshed exterior and components

Gotcha. Well as I understand it, it’s a very popular device for certain vertical markets: point of sale, health care (esp. doctors and nurses), aviation (small aircraft) etc. Plus, a lot of consumers like it too 🙂

I have a mini 4, but I decided to skip the 5 and see if I can hold out until the 6. Personally, I’d love a iPad Pro mini but the core demographic doesn’t really need the extra features, so the overall demand for an iPP mini might very well be insufficient to support the product.

But since the mini is a smaller version of the Air, I think we’ll see a refresh that gives the mini the 2020 iPad Air treatment. It’s likely the physical dimensions will remain the same, I think, since there are a lot of sleds that depend on the mini being those exact external dimensions.

 

[gugy]

What I want from Apple right now is a 27” Cinema Display that has the same quality of current iMac screen, fully compatible with AS but doesn’t cost us arms and legs like XDR display. Come on Apple! You’re leaving money on the table.

Preach brother!
I'm tired of waiting for it. I'm hoping if the mini Mac Pro rumors turn out to be true, they will offer it alongside.
Price it @ max $1200 with nanotech and stand included, I'm buying two, maybe three.

 

[gugy]

I hope They FINALLY include a touch screen?
Lazy APPLE. No touch screen when Surface by Microsoft has had it for years
Whats a iPad Pro M1 aka MacBook M1 without a touch screen?
wanna run iPad and iPhone apps on your Mac ? You need a touch screen!

Not sure they will do it so it doesn't compete with the iPad, vice-versa.

 

[Maximara]

But missing macOS.

With the way Xcode is set up is that really going to matter in the future?

 

[CWallace]

I can’t recall where you landed from the redesigned iMac thread, so do you expect it to remain a 27” form factor?

If the rumors are true about the 21.5” moving to 24”, it seems like a logical next step to scale up the 27”. While Apple absolutely could still differentiate and market the 27” on other factors, most consumers will look at that screen size.

Issue is, I’m not sure what they go to other than 32” 6K non-XDR. A 30” inch screen would be appreciably less sharp at 5K than a 27” display and I don’t see them going to a custom in-between resolution.

In early 2020, Kuo stated that a 27" 5K MiniLED display was in development and he assumed it would go into a revised iMac Pro (which many of us, myself included, assumed would have new Intel W-series Xeons and AMD RDNA 2 GPUs).

I now think the Intel iMac Pro will not be updated and will quietly End of Life once a high performance ASi iMac is launched (which I think could take on the "iMac Pro" name). If Apple really is working on a 27" 5K MiniLED display, then it makes sense to me to use it in this new iMac Pro. Yes, it would be close in size to the rumored 24" iMac, but that will likely be a 4K display and perhaps not MiniLED (at least in it's first version). So think iPad Air 4 / iPad Pro 12.9" - similar design differentiated by a slightly larger screen with better features.

The only other real option would be a 32" 6K display based on the XDR, but significantly de-contented to bring the price down. But I am not sure how much Apple can pull out of the XDR display on a technical-level to get the price down enough to make it suitable to use as an iMac Pro display.

 

[Traverse]

I agree with the idea that the iMac Pro will be discontinued. It was designed in a world without the Mac Pro and Apple doesn’t seem incentivized to keep distinguishing it from the high-spec iMac - at least in intel form.

I am very interested to see whether they keep an iMac Pro subset device after the  Silicon transition or if will subsumed by a the high-end iMac line. Probably depends on what they want to do with the space grey color scheme (I kid).

Regardless, I’m very excited for impending updates to the iMac line. I’ll absolutely be in the queue for the 27” replacement.

 

[iJustines]

What I want from Apple right now is a 27” Cinema Display that has the same quality of current iMac screen, fully compatible with AS but doesn’t cost us arms and legs like XDR display. Come on Apple! You’re leaving money on the table.

Apple can sell the new display accessory for Mac Mini by recycling iMac panel. LG or Apple XDR display is undoubtedly not the right tools for the device.

 

[Blu_CoDeinE]

Instead of getting rid of the touchbar just add the regular F keys but keep the touchbar

 

[TB72]

It's not like people upgrade twice a year for fear of missing out. With their design stalling, Apple is keeping those waiting to upgrade waiting forever.

My mid-2010 MBP is still going (new battery and swapped the HDD for an SSD). I would have changed a few years ago but was put off by the keyboard. Now hopeful for 2021; it’s been a long wait.

 

[ericwn]

Apple can sell the new display accessory for Mac Mini by recycling iMac panel. LG or Apple XDR display is undoubtedly not the right tools for the device.


View attachment 1679977

Because the entire point of a Mac mini is to connnect an Apple display? I doubt it.
Some may purchase this for looks for sure.

 

[bkkcanuck8]

Because the entire point of a Mac mini is to connnect an Apple display? I doubt it.
Some may purchase this for looks for sure.

An Apple Display (mid quality) would be a good addition for many purposes - including 2nd monitors, and perhaps for both the Mac Pro (if you don't need the XDR display but need some reasonably quality monitor) and perhaps the rumoured Mac Pro Mini.

I am one of those that are averse to all-in-one, I was not buying the Mac Mini because I could buy it without a monitor - just that it was not an all-in-one that was affordable.

 

[ericwn]

An Apple Display (mid quality) would be a good addition for many purposes - including 2nd monitors, and perhaps for both the Mac Pro (if you don't need the XDR display but need some reasonably quality monitor) and perhaps the rumoured Mac Pro Mini.

I am one of those that are averse to all-in-one, I was not buying the Mac Mini because I could buy it without a monitor - just that it was not an all-in-one that was affordable.

I agree from a design perspective but think about the last few Apple displays they made. Stunning and never upgraded. Really expensive but in plenty cases outdated by the competition rather quickly.

I would like a competitive offering in that space from Apple but I doubt they’ll make another.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Except that with the new M1 and Mac OS Big Sur, iOS apps are now available on Macs. And they're specifically designed for touch. Without a touch screen, those apps are going to suck.

Prior to this it didn't make much sense to have touch. Now it doesn't make sense not to have it.

The issue is that apps designed for the Mac REQUIRE (more) precision, apps designed for iPadOS do not.

Thus, having iPad apps on a Mac is not an issue from a usability perspective, given the Mac's precision-based OS interactivity.

The reverse is NOT true.

 

[bkkcanuck8]

Except that with the new M1 and Mac OS Big Sur, iOS apps are now available on Macs. And they're specifically designed for touch. Without a touch screen, those apps are going to suck.

Prior to this it didn't make much sense to have touch. Now it doesn't make sense not to have it.

The iPad apps on macOS are not the end goal, only an intermediate step to encourage the development of unified apps with a common code base with a macOS (desktop) UI optimized for desktops, and an iPadOS optimized UI within the same binary. IMHO, The reason for doing this is so that if/when in the future they offer new device categories -- the apps will require a rather small update to make them optimized for new form factors. This is no difference than all the steps that Apple has encouraged that have only now lead to the announcement and release of the M1 Macs. Apple's strength is they tend to work on longer term roadmaps for a goal that we the public only see 3, 4, 5+ years after they started making the initial moves.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

With the way Xcode is set up is that really going to matter in the future?

Yes!!!!!!!

 

[mobutt]

Nice. Just long enough for me to not regret my M1 purchase. I'll sell it and swap for the 16" in 2H 2021

Think I might do a 14” but will be doing the same thing.

 

[bobt]

I hope they keep the Touchbar and offer a desktop keyboard with Touchbar. Guess I’m one of the few that feels it is useful. A great GPU would be my other wish for the new MBPs.

 

[iJustines]

I hope they keep the Touchbar and offer a desktop keyboard with Touchbar. Guess I’m one of the few that feels it is useful. A great GPU would be my other wish for the new MBPs.

I believe that the PC industry will be adopting it and so that each application can utilize the feature.

 

[HowardEv]

, I really don't require the portability anymore and would be totally fine with a nice desktop with no batteries to degrade over time.

Not even a little battery to serve as a UPS? A battery is essential to me, but I hate laptop form factor.

And Hexley wants a heavy battery. How about a modular battery we can change how many batteries we need, and we can swap in fresh charged cells so it doesn’t has to connect to AC to stay charged. I can’t use my audio interface when laptop is connected to power due to grounding noise. When it’s running on battery, it’s silent.

One request I would like happen is the battery's mAh not be reduced to save weight.

I want to have more than 24 hours battery life on any Mac notebook.

In the same way I'd want a larger mAh battery on the iPhone Pro max. Like say 7,000mAh so battery life will extended to a week. Longer battery life means less battery cycles. Less battery cycles means more battery longevity to beyond 30 months before requiring a replacement.

 

[Hexley]

And Hexley wants a heavy battery. How about a modular battery we can change how many batteries we need, and we can swap in fresh charged cells so it doesn’t has to connect to AC to stay charged. I can’t use my audio interface when laptop is connected to power due to grounding noise. When it’s running on battery, it’s silent.

As mentioned countless times the issue with modular batteries are as follows

• Adds bulk and weight to the battery and device without increasing mAh
• May compromise IP68 under IEC standard 60529 (maximum depth of 6 meters up to 30 minutes)

A larger battery would lengthen battery life and reduce battery charge cycle so instead of having a bad battery from daily charging by the 2nd year you will instead have a bad battery after every half week charging by the 6th year.