New 13/14 inch ETA???

[LastStarfighter]

Hi All,

I've been looking for some intel (no pun intended) on when we might see a new 13 (or 14, but hopefully 13) inch MacBook Pro.

As someone who travels fairly frequently for business I bought a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports). I like the portability of the 13 inch over the 15/16, for air travel. Unfortunately at the time I only specced the unit with 8GB of RAM and now wish I'd gone to 16 for running virtual machines.

I can order a new one at any point, although if we're about to see a refresh with the new scissor keyboard (and hopefully 6 core chips) I'd like to wait for that before doing so...if it's not going to happen anytime soon then I'll order. Really hoping they don't make it bigger as many travel bags (including mine) have laptop sleeves to suit 13 inch units.

I saw an interview with Phil Schiller after the launch of the 16 inch which seemed to really suggest that they had no immediate plans for any significant refreshes of the 13 inch. I've also not even seen any rumours suggesting there's a new one on the horizon. Does anyone know differently?

 

[matram]

Late spring next year maybe. I think Apple will wait for new Intel chips and they probably also want to get some field experience from the new keyboard before rolling I out on more machines.

 

[LastStarfighter]

Oh well, I ended up ordering a new 13” today with a 16gb of RAM and the best CPU they offer which unfortunately is only quad core...

 

[Sirmausalot]

I suspect as soon as they can to get the butterfly keyboards out of circulation. March maybe?

 

[x3sphere]

Oh well, I ended up ordering a new 13” today with a 16gb of RAM and the best CPU they offer which unfortunately is only quad core...

I don’t think the next line of Intel chips will offer a 6 core, not in the power class the current 13” uses anyway. Intel’s roadmap shows no 6 core for the 28w CPUs, and I doubt they’ll be going beyond that. Going up to 32GB is likely though.

 

[mikethebigo]

I don’t think the next line of Intel chips will offer a 6 core, not in the power class the current 13” uses anyway. Intel’s roadmap shows no 6 core for the 28w CPUs, and I doubt they’ll be going beyond that. Going up to 32GB is likely though.

Yeah, the Dell XPS 13 has a 6 core option but it's a 14 nm Comet Lake chip, and I'm positive the next chips to come in the MBP will be of the 10 nm variety. We just don't know if they'll run with Ice Lake or wait until Tiger Lake. But I suspect it will still be quad core.

And if you need more than 4 cores/8 threads, I don't know if the 13" is the right machine for you anyway.

 

[LastStarfighter]

And if you need more than 4 cores/8 threads, I don't know if the 13" is the right machine for you anyway.

I suppose I am pushing things a bit in terms of thermals. I travel by air frequently, managing IT for a Group that has companies in 6 countries so I want the portability of a 13” but since having my existing 2017 MBP I’m feeling the pain of not initially going for more RAM and a more powerful processor.

I’d really prefer not to have to go up to a 16” but have 32GB of RAM and a 6 core CPU in a perfect world.

Hopefully the new one will deliver a bit more when doing a dozen things at once and running a VM.

 

[iemcj]

I'm in a very similar boat. What I'm doing is just ordering the 16", getting apple care, and relying on the fact I can get most of my money back selling it used in 6 months when they inevitably update the 13" line. It would be highly irregular for apple to let their 13" sit untouched for a year so spring 2020 is the most logical time. Just get the 16" now to hold you over, and if you really find it clunky then you can always flip it.

 

[impulse462]

there is no 14"

 

[lambertjohn]

there is no 14"

And there never will be...

 

[fokmik]

The first estimation can be at March event (if there will be one)
The 10nm for the 13/14" mbp start shipping so my guess is in March or at WWDC in June
[automerge]1576307309[/automerge]

And there never will be...

never say never...because if there will be...you will be the jok..er

 

[iemcj]

And there never will be...

There also would "never" be a 16 inch one "because there's already a 15 inch lol that would be dum why wuld apple do that" yet here we are.

It's completely logical that when apple updates the 13" line this spring that they'd also make the screen a bit bigger, have less bezels to keep up with other premium laptops, while keeping the same form factor. Why does this seem strange to you? I'm genuinely curious why you feel this way.

 

[mikethebigo]

There also would "never" be a 16 inch one "because there's already a 15 inch lol that would be dum why wuld apple do that" yet here we are.

It's completely logical that when apple updates the 13" line this spring that they'd also make the screen a bit bigger, have less bezels to keep up with other premium laptops, while keeping the same form factor. Why does this seem strange to you? I'm genuinely curious why you feel this way.

While I agree it's not smart to say never, I do agree that a true 14" isn't in the near future.

Apple really went 15.4 inch to 16 inch, so a 0.6 inch increase, and they even had to increase the case size to do it. So I don't know if there's room to make an even larger increase of 13.3 inch to 14 inch, or 0.7 inches, without also expanding case size, which they may be hesitant to do for the more "portable" model.

My guess is we'll get something like a 13.8" MBP. Then you have to decide if they will round it out to 14" for marketing purposes, or still call it a 13". I mean even the 12.9 inch iPad Pro isn't called 13". And that's best case scenario, worst case is that they don't increase the screen size at all and just throw the new keyboard in it, which would really be a shame. I doubt they'll do that though, I imagine force cancelling speakers, the new mic array, increased battery, etc is headed to the 13" when the design team has the time to sort it all out.