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New Leaks (hope not)

M

MBX

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Sep 14, 2006
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Ok I really hope Apple doesn’t mess up the MBP’s designs after the iMac fiasco. But I wouldn’t be surprised.

The new leaks based on the leaked CADs show a much less elegant and less premium looking MBP from the sides. They’re actually thicker too. I really hope the damn HDMI port was worth it. Because now with the Silicon CPU’s inside making the MBP’s thicker is not necessary.

But HDMI port or not it just looks odd. The ports are not centered on the sides. Why would Apple do this? It looks so cheap. And apparently the mockups are based 100% on the leaked CAD designs.

We have to wait and see but I pray they don’t pull an iMac with the MBP’s.

 
The thickness is likely due to the curved cover has been replaced with a flat surface like they have done with the iPad Pro/Air and the iMacs. The thickness may be the same - but it appears thicker at the parameter. I welcome the SD card slot back as well as the HDMI connector. I agree, the slots should be centered vertical. It does appear they are aligned to the top of the slot which has an elegance as well.
 
That hdmi port if its 2.1 it is worth it
"HDMI® Specification 2.1 is the most recent update of the HDMI® specification and supports a range of higher video resolutions and refresh rates including 8K60 and 4K120, and resolutions up to 10K. Dynamic HDR formats are also supported, and bandwidth capability is increased up to 48Gbps."
 
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I gawked at the leaked CAD drawing & from what I could see, it looks a little bit like a throwback. As has been mentioned it looks thicker, and probably is to accommodate HDMI & the card slot. It curves inward toward the bottom, sort of in the way the 13" white polycarbonate unibody MacBook did although not drastically so. Much more subtle but it has the hints of that.

A10V_1_20160118617699368.jpg

I wonder if the bottom case will be aluminum or if it will have a different material to keep it from sliding, like the white plastic MacBook, if in fact, it's going to be flat as Kuo says. I would think the rubber feet that we've seen on the MacBooks for the last decade+ will be more like buttons instead of bumps.
 
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DHagan4755 said:
I gawked at the leaked CAD drawing & from what I could see, it looks a little bit like a throwback. As has been mentioned it looks thicker, and probably is to accommodate HDMI & the card slot. It curves inward toward the bottom, sort of in the way the 13" white polycarbonate unibody MacBook did although not drastically so. Much more subtle but it has the hints of that.


I wonder if the bottom case will be aluminum or if it will have a different material to keep it from sliding, like the white plastic MacBook, if in fact, it's going to be flat as Kuo says. I would think the rubber feet that we've seen on the MacBooks for the last decade+ will be more like buttons instead of bumps.
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I sure hope we don’t go that route. That would be terrible just for the sake of going retro. I don’t mind some inspiration from Apple’s past but I sure hope we don’t see plastic and white bezels on the MBP’s and Air.
 
Is it just me that thinks going back to HDMI ports etc is a step backwards.

Even our work issued none apple laptops have USB-C.

We’re not using dongles. For display we use USB-C to HDMI cables. Then a USB-C to USB-A hub for peripherals. The thing with the hub though is that it would be needed regardless as with keyboard, mouse, headset, etc etc. There’s too many for most laptops with multiple usb-a ports anyway
 
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George Colgrove said:
The thickness is likely due to the curved cover has been replaced with a flat surface like they have done with the iPad Pro/Air and the iMacs. The thickness may be the same - but it appears thicker at the parameter.
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Agreed, and I actually like that slab-design. The curved edges of the past years always struck me as a bit of a cheap optical trick,faking an illusion of extreme thinness, at the cost of making internal component placement difficult (epitomized by the 12" rMB with its "terraced" battery). I'd rather have a more honest and efficient design.
 
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George observed:
"I agree, the slots should be centered vertical. It does appear they are aligned to the top of the slot which has an elegance as well."

This probably has something to do with the logic board placement inside the case (there's the back cover which must fit into place and may "intrude" a bit into the innards). "Necessity by design".

Arguing over small things like this can get downright trivial.
 
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Grey Area said:
Agreed, and I actually like that slab-design. The curved edges of the past years always struck me as a bit of a cheap optical trick,faking an illusion of extreme thinness, at the cost of making internal component placement difficult (epitomized by the 12" rMB with its "terraced" battery). I'd rather have a more honest and efficient design.
Click to expand...
The illusions were a good trick though. It was the best Apple could do to achieve a thinner look while dealing with the realities of a power hungry processor. If you look at some other PC makers, like Dell, they have done the same sort of thing, following Apple's lead. I'm thinking of the Dell XPS line.

15257860_5.jpg

We know that the new MBP base won't be too much thicker, considering the 24" iMac is less than a 1/2" thick. The overall footprint will likely be the same and the area where sloping was used to achieve the illusion of thinness will instead provide more space for the battery.

If you look at the leaked schematic it shows a frame to keep the bottom cover from flexing and probably allows for some level of user serviceability for perhaps replacing the battery. That would be a welcome change. I hope they will eliminate glueing the battery to the top case - that's dumb.
 
MBX said:
Yes, let’s not go back to ancient ports now too please.
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It’s not ancient, it’s a ubiquitous port that’s still used by 90% of devices, and shouldn’t have been removed in the first place.


Removing the butterfly keyboard was a great first move, and removing the touchbar while adding more I/O are great next steps. Too little too late for me though since I’ve already moved on this upgrade cycle, opting to go with a Thinkpad this time around. Maybe when I’m in the market again in a few years I can give the Mac another look.
 
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TravelsInBlue said:
It’s not ancient, it’s a ubiquitous port that’s still used by 90% of devices, and shouldn’t have been removed in the first place.


Removing the butterfly keyboard was a great first move, and removing the touchbar while adding more I/O are great next steps. Too little too late for me though since I’ve already moved on this upgrade cycle, opting to go with a Thinkpad this time around. Maybe when I’m in the market again in a few years I can give the Mac another look.
Click to expand...
Come on, seriously. We should stick with USB-A forever instead of pushing the much better USB-C/ Thunderbolt?
 
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MBX said:
Come on, seriously. We should stick with USB-A forever instead of pushing the much better USB-C/ Thunderbolt?
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Thats not what I said, and it has nothing to do with the capabilities of USB-C.

It’s unacceptable to need to use a dongle on a portable “pro” compiter to interact with a common interface that nearly every device uses.

Removing 3.5” disk and optical drives made sense since those were bulky and already on their way out at the time.

Removing USB-A was likely done for profit margins and accessory sales, which is the same real reason for removing charging bricks from their phones.

I’ll take them giving up the touchbar as a win, though of course they won’t drop the price point to match the price increase that adding the TB warranted back in 2016. Again, margins.
 
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If this HDMI port 'leak' is true, then it must be 2.1 with 8k60Hz support, and I'll buy it no matter the cost 😇

If they put that ugly hdmi port and it can only do 4k then.. that would be pointless, so many usb-c to 4k60 adapters.
 
DHagan4755 said:
I wonder if the bottom case will be aluminum or if it will have a different material to keep it from sliding, like the white plastic MacBook, if in fact, it's going to be flat as Kuo says.
Click to expand...
Funny, I was just looking at the schematics and thinking that in one drawing it looks as if there is a uniform pad across the bottom a la the rubber pad from those unibody MacBooks. It would make sense since nobody wants cold aluminum on their lap all the time, and these machines probably aren't going to get very warm.
 
TravelsInBlue said:
It’s not ancient, it’s a ubiquitous port that’s still used by 90% of devices, and shouldn’t have been removed in the first place.
Click to expand...

You mean used by the cheap cable included with devices with the quarter-century old plug on the end?

*shrug* Device cables are easily and inexpensively replaced for the data devices you need to connect to the computer rather than power sources.

Move forward, don't stay stuck in the past with your PS/2 mice & keyboards, DB9 connected 1200baud modem, and Centronics printer cables.
 
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I want a 120Hz screen with fast response time and great colors/angles. Really don't get the touchscreen thing. Why would you want a touchscreen on a laptop? So you have to clean smudges every 10 minutes? Leave the touchscreens to tablets and phones. But a higher refresh and response times will be extremely noticeable and actually bring the laptops into modern times, because 60Hz is a joke.

The ports are a bit late to the party, although as others have said the HDMI 2.1 is quite powerful and not unwelcome. I guess I like using my MBP with a TB3 dock so none of these things really matter to me that much given that the dock is just a single TB cable going into the mac with no need for anything else at all. In terms of portability a video port makes sense, I suppose, but it's just that Apple users probably all have various "usb C to whatever" connectors for all of their needs already as they were forced to adapt like that 5 years ago.

The most important things are to bring the display up to date, reduce the bezels to provide more screen estate, make the body strong as it is now and the screen barely bendable - that's important and separates a MB from most other laptops with their thin and bendy, wobbly screens. And obviously, surpass the M1 performance and actually deliver PRO power with low temperatures.
 
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