Those pretty ULTRA colors are no longer enough to distract the regular buyer from the outrageous pricing we have today. It will truly be interesting to see who buys this thing and whether it ends up being another Vision Pro flop. I can see it having a very dedicated niche/corporate market and a lot of YouTubers telling people it is their “NEXT MUST BUY!!!”
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'MacBook Ultra' Coming Soon With These 12 New Features
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macinfojunkie
macrumors 6502
Feels a bit like marketing horse-*******y.
A true Ultra needs 2x the core and GPU count of the ‘Pro’ and also option to upgrade eto 2x or more of the storage. Ideally also with the ability to throttle the extra capacity to save energy when mobile. But be an ultimate power hours when stationary. No need to be super slim or ultra lightweight. Sheer power would be the key.
Yes it would be horribly expensive, but so it paying for top talent which would need these machines and could easily afford them.
A true Ultra needs 2x the core and GPU count of the ‘Pro’ and also option to upgrade eto 2x or more of the storage. Ideally also with the ability to throttle the extra capacity to save energy when mobile. But be an ultimate power hours when stationary. No need to be super slim or ultra lightweight. Sheer power would be the key.
Yes it would be horribly expensive, but so it paying for top talent which would need these machines and could easily afford them.
anthony13
macrumors 65816
Yea I think a lot of people are assuming Apple is going to exclusively use the ‘ultra’ branding in relation to the Ultra chip but Mac rumors seems to be suggesting otherwise. This Ultra laptop won’t have an Ultra chip according to reports.
Are you new to Apple?
This is to create a tier above the current "top" tier. "Over the top", if you want.
Apple has customers with very deep pockets. They can stomach the price-tag on this one, which will be absolutely eye-watering - no doubt about that.
mikebenton
macrumors regular
With the price of the ultra it should be included but knowing Apple probably not
switz
Contributor
All these requested features cost real money.
What percentage of the current Apple customer base is ready to have the starting price for a laptop at $3,000 or higher for a base model other than the feeble NEO?
Apply the same question to the iPhones as well. The purchase crowd will be far fewer if the base price is over $1,000 for the cheapest model......
What percentage of the current Apple customer base is ready to have the starting price for a laptop at $3,000 or higher for a base model other than the feeble NEO?
Apply the same question to the iPhones as well. The purchase crowd will be far fewer if the base price is over $1,000 for the cheapest model......
woolypants
macrumors 6502a
It doesn't make sense.
With the MacBook Pro, Apple isn't selling the best laptop you can buy. You do get that. But what it's selling is aspiration. It's a creator's device. For that you'll need the best screen, and the best speakers, and the best performance.
Most people don't use it to create. But... They might! They've been thinking for years they'd like to get into video editing, or music production, or proper photo editing.
Aspiration. It sells MacBook Pros.
OK.
So, where does the Ultra fit with that?
Touchscreen because... Why? Better screen, yep, fits with aspiration. Faster chip? Actually, no. Same as the existing one. Super-RAM? Actually, no. Same as the existing one.
And when there's talk about the next gen after this one being ready for AI, with this model being best described as a stop gap... It all sounds like Apple's answering a question nobody's answering.
It doesn't make sense. At worst this is all ********. At best, we're missing some level of detail here that lets this make sense.
If it is indeed all true, you know what this feels like? Another product idea that Tim Cook has pushed through, in one final attempt at having a legacy at Apple beyond just pushing the share price to astronomical levels. It could be just like the Vision Pro -- an answer looking for a question.
With the MacBook Pro, Apple isn't selling the best laptop you can buy. You do get that. But what it's selling is aspiration. It's a creator's device. For that you'll need the best screen, and the best speakers, and the best performance.
Most people don't use it to create. But... They might! They've been thinking for years they'd like to get into video editing, or music production, or proper photo editing.
Aspiration. It sells MacBook Pros.
OK.
So, where does the Ultra fit with that?
Touchscreen because... Why? Better screen, yep, fits with aspiration. Faster chip? Actually, no. Same as the existing one. Super-RAM? Actually, no. Same as the existing one.
And when there's talk about the next gen after this one being ready for AI, with this model being best described as a stop gap... It all sounds like Apple's answering a question nobody's answering.
It doesn't make sense. At worst this is all ********. At best, we're missing some level of detail here that lets this make sense.
If it is indeed all true, you know what this feels like? Another product idea that Tim Cook has pushed through, in one final attempt at having a legacy at Apple beyond just pushing the share price to astronomical levels. It could be just like the Vision Pro -- an answer looking for a question.
Enough of a percentage. It won't be a majority of buyers, for sure, and Apple isn't getting rid of all their other cheaper models, so just like a Mac Studio, not everyone needs one but enough do to spend the extra money on it.
anthony13
macrumors 65816
Absolutely! One of the most common arguments I heard from notch defenders was that it was necessary to house the Center Stage camera's hardware without adding a thicker top bezel. If Apple has managed to engineer a solution that delivers the same camera features that requires only a hole-punch-sized opening, then there's no excuse for continuing to put it in the screen.
As much I've hated the notch, one could at least argue that it was a visually distinct branding throughline. The hole-punch's ubiquity blows this argument out of the water.
To anyone itching to point out, "B-b-but Apple's giving you more screen space" or "Bezels are bad, mmkay" – don't bother. Having a display that's a clean, uninterrupted rectangle is worth either or both of these incredibly minor tradeoffs to me.
G5isAlive
Contributor
There are windows laptops, with keyboards, trackpads, CPU's, GPU's, lids, ports, screens, not really sure what your point is. That Apple shouldn't do it because it's already done somewhere else. Hogwash.
avkills
macrumors 65832
Someone else mentioned this, if the screen does not hinge 360 then the touchscreen stuff is going to be a gimmick that 99% of the people just turn off.
There would be no good way to do any art related Apple Pencil stuff unless the hinge goes 360. And artistic Apple Pencil stuff is the only use case I can see for doing this on a laptop.
🤷♂️
There would be no good way to do any art related Apple Pencil stuff unless the hinge goes 360. And artistic Apple Pencil stuff is the only use case I can see for doing this on a laptop.
🤷♂️
transpo1
macrumors 68000
It may be a tough sell for fine art with an Apple Pencil...but on the flip side, as someone who edits videos, I can see wanting to use touch controls to scrub through and get to a certain point in FCP X, etc. This would be enormously helpful. It's the one thing I used to use the Touch Bar for.
anthony13
macrumors 65816
Yea if they can figure out a good hinge I will use photoshop on this every time over an iPad Pro. That app still feels clunky to me on iOS.
capamac
macrumors 6502a
It psychological manipulation / flattery. This is a "Pro" computer, for "professional" owners. You want to be a "professional," right? Well just buy this pro computer.
capamac
macrumors 6502a
Mouse: you’ve got to find the mouse, move the mouse to the area where you want to scrub, and then press down on the mouse and do the actual scrubbing.
Touch: you’ve got to find the finger (about as hard as finding a mouse, something that basically requires no thought / aka spatial awareness), move the finger to the area where you want to scrub, and then press down with your finger and do the actual scrubbing.
capamac
macrumors 6502a
Apple had been hugely financially successful at first with the Apple II and early Macs. Then Jobs was kicked out of Apple. Then Apple went adrift due to the corporate mindset, which expanded the product line to a silly degree. Then Apple found itself months away from bankruptcy.
And what do we have in Apple today? 1) No Jobs. 2) Corporate mindset. 3) Expanding line-up of silliness / grasping at straws.
I've found mini-LED to be just fine. And with the same performance as you can get now, this "Ultra" machine is literally only a facelift with typical Apple bauble features that are going to make people overspend. The onboard modem is the only thing that would tempt me, but hot spotting to my phone is so easy and efficient that all this seems like a huge waste.
They're going to get the suckers and bauble chasers in the 1st round--I imagine these will be 20 to 30% more expensive than current models and then the features will trickle down, just like every single MacBook.