MacBook Ultra: 5 Features That Could Justify the Name

[novagamer]

It's not going to solve the heat issues from a real ultra chip in any meaningful way. A couple of percent? Sure. But not the massive improvement needed, which would be quite a bit above 50%. And the thinner the laptop would be, the fewer watts the chip can use.

Of course, they could just rebrand a non-ultra chip.

Bingo.

Also there's no evidence about the thinness of this device. It's all speculative.

We got weird P cores with M5, they could give us a weird mobile Ultra variant of that in an updated chassis, 16"+ only, designed entirely around cooling like e.g. the Studio and the iMac Pro were.

It's going to cost like $6000 starting if that happens, and it will sell.

The iPhone Pro got larger and thicker, I don't know why everyone thinks the laptop cannot, consumers have shown they will purchase bricks that are slightly faster or more capable.

And once again, I repeat, the touch screen may not be where everyone thinks it is. We'll see.

 

[Le0M]

Are there any rumors that clearly state that this MBP wouldn't be the next iPad Pro Fold?

Either way, these devices are bound to become one.

 

[krspkbl]

Will be far too expensive. Neo or Air is where it's at.

 

[dumastudetto]

Looks like a MacBook Pro Max to me.

 

[starlabjump]

Well, I still don’t quite understand why Apple is spending so many resources trying to develop a touch OLED MacBook.

Honestly, they could just offer macOS as an option on iPad Pro models. From a user perspective, that would solve most of the problem.

The hardware is already there anyway, as evidenced by devices like the MacBook Neo.

If macOS were available on the iPad Pro, it would essentially become a

MacBook with
cellular connectivity,
13inch tandem OLED display,
full touch and Apple Pencil support,
and Face ID.

 

[ricketysquire]

How about keeping it simple, MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. We don't need thousands of different hardware combinations, colors and SKUs. Just keep it simple. Apple did that really well at one point.

Do we really need a Neon Pink MacBook Ultra M5 Pro Max Ultra with a Nano-texture screen? Thats a damn mouthful.

 

[ginuz]

I remember an old interview with someone in the development product lab, could have been Ive, that clearly said that they researched and tested for Touch iMacs and the ended up being an unuseful fatigue for the arms and nothing more added to what you can do with a mouse. They clearly were in dividing technology per medium, each medium has his tech and computers don't need touch. Tablets do. What make the laptop different? maybe could bee the size? the portable form? In my personal experience I found touch laptops (some colleagues's PC) absolutely bothersome and again useless. The only one that seemed sensible to me was that PC, I don't remember what brand, whose screen comes off and becomes a tablet.

 

[throAU]

Well beyond what I need, but if they're willing to make a chunky boi (think: something the size of a typical Windows gaming laptop), they could stuff an ultra SOC in there for a start. Think 17" form factor, 1.5-2" thick. Proper "portable workstation". Not intended to be used on a lap, more carted from location to location and used in-situ.

There are people who will want 1/2 TB of RAM in a notebook these days because they can, because apple could physically make it and some of the ultra high end workloads people are messing with in 2026 and beyond are going to start demanding it. Plus the demand for compute.

I'm NOT in that target demographic, but it certainly exists. People used to buy Mac Pros - there is nothing stopping apple from making a portable equivalent now. They already got halfway there with the trashcan, but thunderbolt now is actually decently fast.

Once you're committed to the ultra SOC with high count cpu/gpu and lots of ram and storage, the additional cost to make it portable with a battery, display and keyboard/trackpad is minimal additional cost vs. total BOM cost.

 

[thecocoa]

Touchscreen? iPad, iPhone: Necessary. MacBook Pro: Unnecessary.

 

[bLackjackj]

Mark Gurman has suggested the new Macs will come with up to a whopping 32GB of RAM" He's quoted as saying "This is unprecedented in a top tier 2027 product - I'm very excited"

Seriously. Have a 4 year old Surface pro with 32gb and NVIDIA graphics..Lol 🙄🤦‍♂️

 

[carswell]

While I'm sure some people would love to have a touchscreen, I'm betting that many more don't. That being the case, Apple should, like many PC laptop manufacturers, offer a non-touchscreen option at a lower price (and, no, the regular MacBook Pro doesn't qualify).

 

[nottorp]

"Thinnest devices ever" again...

When is Cook officially kicked upwards? Not a moment to soon...

 

[ThisIsMike]

I wouldn’t be forking over a crapton of money just for essentially an oled touch screen and thinner chassis. If this is the extent of the meaningful improvements, they should stick with the pro banding. Speaking of which, I’ll be sticking with mine.

 

[vegetassj4]

Ultra Smultra, studio is where its at

 

[kingjames1970]

Yes there are people who buy the high end MBPs just because they want the best for whatever reason. But surely a large percentage are visual artists (designers, photographers, film makers/editors)? None of whom want smudges on their screens or gorilla arm. I’m very doubtful of this rumour.

 

[jdawgnoonan]

The touch screen = Ultra still makes no sense to me. Touch screens on laptops are used more by little kids than anyone else. Even when I had an MS Surface I avoided touching the screen.

 

[PsykX]

Thinner design -> cosmetics, no real value.

Hard disagree.

For a desktop, maybe you're right up to some point.

But a laptop that is more portable than ever before, yes, this is real value because the first function of a laptop is portability.

 

[loby]

Does actually anyone want the touch screen option? I hate the smudges on my screen and I'm even trying to touch that on purpose. It would make sense if the device would be 2-in-1 and thinner in design so it could be used as a tablet on the go (but it wouldn't be an Ultra in the sense that it would be more powerfull than Pro). I just don't get why I would like to have a regular laptop with touch screen.

The thing I'd personally love to see are:

- 5g modem with esim for connectivity on the go
- faceId would be nice even tho I get it might not be possible due to physical constraints

The things from the article I don't care too much:

- touchscreen+thinner design as i mentioned
- m6 - the generation doesn't matter as much as Pro/Max variants do
- dynamic island - it might happen to be more in line with phones, but i just don't see it as a feature to be able to see 10px of background above the cam

I still think that Apple will not put out a touch screen Mac. Apple has said many times over the years that they don’t see the need for it. Ipad is there touch screen. Apple also said that macOS is not good with touch. But…things change, including personnel…so you never know.

I personally do not want a touch screen macbook. No finger prints on my screen as i constantly wipe my Macbook’s screens. I tried a few touch screens with Windows and never used it after a day or so. Drives me crazy if just a spec is on the screen.

I am sure some look forward to touch screen, especially Microsoft crossovers, but I will pass. I hope Apple continues to provide Macs without touch. We will see…

 

[boswald]

I mean, that's a great option for professionals, but to the rest of us broke plebs, all I can say is I'd rather buy a new (used) car with the money this thing will likely cost.

 

[centauratlas]

"Mark Gurman has suggested the new Macs will come with up to a whopping 32GB of RAM" He's quoted as saying "This is unprecedented in a top tier 2027 product - I'm very excited"

Given the 2024 MBP could go to 128GB of RAM, that doesn't seem right. Could he mean that is the lowest RAM size available?

 

[DougiePhresh]

I really hope the touch screen rumors are wrong. And before people start with the “well then just don’t touch it” argument … it’s a fundamental hardware and firmware change that is just going to add more complexity and it one more thing to break and be an outrageously expensive fix a few years down the line. Even if you ignore it, it won’t ignore you.

 

[SvenLorenz1975]

I'm already getting my popcorn ready for when people realize that OLED is not an upgrade. 🍿

 

[thefredelement]

I got a max spec M5 10 days ago, despite this rumor, in the current market I think an MBP like this will be even more than what the M5 cost me.
The mini and studios are already constrained, I'm really curious about the pricing of these things.

 

[Seanm87]

Surprised no one else has mentioned this but could the display be detachable and go into touch mode and then back into laptop mode when docked?

 

[Icehawk]

Yes, finally a thinner laptop. Who cares about thermals when you can look good.

hey! Who doesn't want a hot plate on the go that can also play Darkest Dungeon 2? 😛