New MacBook Pros Said to Launch in 2017 With Price Cuts and Up to 32GB of RAM

[Brandon Hobart]

Maybe Apple was surprices to see the sale of only 6 MacBook pros with touch bar on release Night and they had to do something...

Though I find it really convincing but still Apple is a renowned company and does not have to worry about anything. However, Apple has been experiencing a decline in their revenues and earnings so this can be a valid reason for revising the prices of MacBooks. But the question is, who's gonna wait for 2 months! And what about those who have already purchased the current version?

 

[xmonkey]

This rumor doesn't make sense, unless the below is completely wrong.

1. "Due to low 10nm yields, Cannonlake will be limited to 15 Watt U and 5.2 Watt Y system-on-chip parts with GT2. Higher power mobile and desktop platforms will receive an update in the form of a 2nd 14nm process refinement, Coffee Lake, that is said to share Cannonlake's architectural refinements."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonlake)

2. "Something else that’s noteworthy is that the roadmap shows the most powerful Cannon Lake-U chips will be 15 watt processors, which means there won’t be a more powerful 28 watt variant.

Instead, Intel will brand its 28 watt Kaby Lake successor under a different name…

Coffee Lake
Coming in the second quarter of 2018, Intel’s Coffee Lake chips will likely include Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors that use between 15 watts and 45 watts of power.

Unlike Cannon Lake, the Coffee Lake processors are expected to be 14nm chips.

The entry-level 15 watt Coffee Lake-U variant will likely be a dual-core laptop processor. There’s also a 28 watt Coffee Lake-U line of chips on the way, which will probably be a set of quad-core laptop chips.

The 45 watt Coffee Lake-H chips are higher-performance, 6-core processors. These chips are also designed for laptops, but since they generate a lot more heat than Cannon Lake or Gemini Lake chips, you probably won’t see the new H series processors in thin and light notebooks."
(https://liliputing.com/2016/09/leak...-chips-2017-2018-coffee-lake-gemini-lake.html)



I don't see Apple going to dual-core Cannonlake chips for the 15". Coffee Lake is for the high TDP chips, that's what would be in the 15". Is Kuo saying the 13" is going to be upgraded to have a 32GB option before the 15" will have it? Something doesn't seem right with the picture he's painting. It makes a little more sense if Coffee Lake can use LPDDR4, however that's not what Kuo is saying.

Either way, I think the timeline here is quite optimistic. Intel had a lot of issues making 14nm Skylake. I'm not sure 10nm is going to go much better for them, but we'll see.

 

[ClassicMartini]

Well, obviously those alpine Ridge controllers cost $2000 each.

So, Apple is giving you the computer for free!

 

[Mr. Dee]

I wonder how those purchasers who just parted with $4,100 feel about this. LOL, the best way to game Apple is to always wait. Like I said, I am not looking at another MBP until Intel Icelake or Tigerlake.

 

[fokmik]

KGI also said apple will launch a 5k display,not an LG

 

[Feenician]

This rumor doesn't make sense, unless the below is completely wrong.

1. "Due to low 10nm yields, Cannonlake will be limited to 15 Watt U and 5.2 Watt Y system-on-chip parts with GT2. Higher power mobile and desktop platforms will receive an update in the form of a 2nd 14nm process refinement, Coffee Lake, that is said to share Cannonlake's architectural refinements."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannonlake)

2. "Something else that’s noteworthy is that the roadmap shows the most powerful Cannon Lake-U chips will be 15 watt processors, which means there won’t be a more powerful 28 watt variant.

Instead, Intel will brand its 28 watt Kaby Lake successor under a different name…

Coffee Lake
Coming in the second quarter of 2018, Intel’s Coffee Lake chips will likely include Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors that use between 15 watts and 45 watts of power.

Unlike Cannon Lake, the Coffee Lake processors are expected to be 14nm chips.

The entry-level 15 watt Coffee Lake-U variant will likely be a dual-core laptop processor. There’s also a 28 watt Coffee Lake-U line of chips on the way, which will probably be a set of quad-core laptop chips.

The 45 watt Coffee Lake-H chips are higher-performance, 6-core processors. These chips are also designed for laptops, but since they generate a lot more heat than Cannon Lake or Gemini Lake chips, you probably won’t see the new H series processors in thin and light notebooks."
(https://liliputing.com/2016/09/leak...-chips-2017-2018-coffee-lake-gemini-lake.html)



I don't see Apple going to dual-core Cannonlake chips for the 15". Coffee Lake is for the high TDP chips, that's what would be in the 15". Is Kuo saying the 13" is going to be upgraded to have a 32GB option before the 15" will have it? Something doesn't seem right with the picture he's painting. It makes a little more sense if Coffee Lake can use LPDDR4, however that's not what he's saying.

Either way, I think the timeline here is quite optimistic. Intel had a lot of issues making 14nm Skylake. I'm not sure 10nm is going to go much better for them, but we'll see.

Intel are leading Apple down the same IBM path of "We'll definitely make G5's suitable for laptops! Any day now...No really! Soon... Er, maybe". As much as it damages my business use case for Macs, virtualising x86 OS's, I can only see this going one way. I don't know when but OS X on Apple's A* chips seems inevitable at this point.

 

[alfonsog]

I bought the new Mac Pro when it came out expecting lowered price and new versions by the next year... 3 years later I still could buy the same computer at the same price... so you never know what Apple is going to do buy it now if you need it or just want it and can afford it... I bought the first iphone and they dropped the price and gave me a gift card which was nice but I don't think they will do it for something coming out a year later.......

 

[HappyMacGuy]

Just "unsolder" your ram and then you can stick 64gb in there. It will work. You try it first though!

 

[protoxx]

I think they were kinda forced. I dunno. Thunderbolt 3 is a bigger deal than I think a lot of people get and it's a chicken and egg issue as well. So they had a couple options:

I don't agree. USB3.(x)-C is likely a big deal (eventually) and Thunderbolt (X) will be largely ignored as it already is. How many USB3-C ports outside of the apple world are also Thunderbolt (or intel named equivalent). Few maybe even none.

Need a dongle to connect Thunderbolt 2 and 3 devices? How about Thunderbolt 1 devices? In comparison you can connect any USB 1,2,3 into each other and they work at the slower of the speeds. No muss no fuss. I predict that Thunderbolt devices will remain a niche product.

 

[wheelhot]

I'm disappointed at the price and the outdated tech in this machine.

I expected more from their flagship notebook. Hopefully they quietly bump the specs by March to include Kaby Lake and 32GB options along with a price cut.

My guessing is they'll update to KabyLake, the 13" models at least.

 

[cult hero]

I don't agree. USB3.(x)-C is likely a big deal (eventually) and Thunderbolt (X) will be largely ignored as it already is. How many USB3-C ports outside of the apple world are also Thunderbolt (or intel named equivalent). Few maybe even none.

Not true. There's already accessories. Even Dell has a Thunderbolt 3 dock.

Unlike previous iterations of Thunderbolt there is acceptance and products already out there. Intel is pushing this and, quite frankly, hybrid setups are a big deal.

And at the end of the day, Apple does this. People continue to act like this is new or post Jobs or whatever. I've been using Apple since my IIgs, and the only thing that was really surprising about this launch was the event itself was mired with hiccups.

 

[44267547]

Who's cancelling their pre order? lol

I still plan on upgrading, but I am glad I waited, being my current set up is sufficient enough for an upgrade at a later time if this rumored article is accurate.

 

[512ke]

The timeline seems overly optimistic.

Maybe Kuo is just trying to discourage people from buying the new MPB now, so that his rather dour sales predictions will come true.

/sarcasm-ish

 

[protoxx]

only thing that was really surprising about this launch was the event itself was mired with hiccups.

LOL. I can just imagine what the postmortem would of been like if Steve Jobs was there. Would not of been pretty.

 

[unobtainium]

When was the last time new MacBooks were so much more expensive, and then took a price cut?

Literally the last time MacBooks were redesigned. Price cuts of $200 or more from 2012 to 2013.

 

[rasputin1969]

Just the way it goes for refreshed generations. We should see $400-$600 cuts across the board in the form of new entry-level MacBook Pro with touch bar models next year.

When Apple released the 15" MBP in August 2012 the base model came in at $2199. Over a year later, after a refresh, the base model was reduced to $1999. We should see price cuts, but I cannot see them going beyond $200

 

[Eithanius]

Wait...! The pre-Touch Bar MBPs were launched back in early 2015...? Now it's late 2016... Shouldn't the next MBP revision comes around mid 2018...?

With Tim Cook's Apple, even this MC Kuo guy can be a phailed or false prophet...

 

[HiRez]

Tim Cook:

 

[Ampidire]

Still hoping for a massive drop in SSD upgrade in the Macs...

I'd like 2Tb to be a lot more affordable than it is right now.

Until such time, I'll be hitting the Black Friday sales for some new 2.5" SSDs for my existing 2012 cMBP 15".

Anyone had experience with RAID 0 SSDs in the cMBP?

Mac OS only supports software RAID in these kinds of machines so I would advise against this type of configuration and just get along with dual drives. Unless losing everything on your machine on a whim excites you for some reason to be fair; I'm not sure macOS is even bootable from software RAID volumes. 8 can't see why not, but well, macOS hasn't always had the best support on these one-off configs.

 

[nbritton]

Only 32 GB? I have 128 GB in my 6 year old Mac Pro 2010. My next Mac is likely going to be a Hackintosh because these clowns apparently can't get it together. They've even been upstaged by Microsoft of all companies. I've got thousands of dollars earmarked for Apple if only they could make something that I want to buy.

 

[pika2000]

I'm sure Apple is extremely frustrated with the way intel is going.
I can see ARM Macbook coming sooner than later just to give intel a jab if Intel keep dragging their feet.

Another interesting point is, I see people complaining about prices. Yet I'm sure the same people will be complaining about the price drop in the future. It's a fascinating behavior.
[doublepost=1477981307][/doublepost]

Only 32 GB? I have 128 GB in my 6 year old Mac Pro 2010. My next Mac is likely going to be a Hackintosh because these clowns apparently can't get it together. They've even been upstaged by Microsoft of all companies. I've got thousands of dollars earmarked for Apple if only they could make something that I want to buy.

And you Mac Pro will fit into your backpack, I'm sure.
By the way, Microsoft's Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 are maxed at 16GB of RAM too, with only USB3 as their fastest I/O. Such an "upstage".

 

[MH01]

Hmmmm £4000 pounds gets me 16GB this year.... Maybe another £3900 will get me 32Gb next year....unless the pound drops more...

 

[BvizioN]

Well that was quick... will they make it thicker and add ports back?

Yes please. In addition to ports back and making it thicker I also want the dvd/cd drive back. And also my all time favorite - FLOPPY DISC.

 

[R.P.G]

Whatever they are doing.. I wish they do that by Feb or March...max May. Sept or Oct would be too late. They may loose actual fanboys to other brands.

 

[Feenician]

Yes please. In addition to ports back and making it thicker I also want the dvd/cd drive back. And also my all time favorite - FLOPPY DISC.

Office 2016 comes on just 225 floppies!