Not sold on "MacBook Ultra"

[DHagan4755]

There's been quite a bit of chatter about a "MacBook Ultra." This is supposedly the MacBook line with a tandem OLED display with touch support, a thinner enclosure, possibly a cellular option, etc. My problem has been why would Apple clutter the line with yet another even more elite tier of MacBooks? This "ultra" may be what Apple internally calls it because of all of the improvements, but in my opinion, it's just going go to be another MacBook Pro that replaces the existing models over time. My look at it is similar to when retina displays came out back in 2012. You had the 2 body styles; the thicker non-retina update model, and the thinner retina model. Same product line. That's probably what's going to happen this time, too.

 

[Basic75]

Is the name really the important part? If and when Apple releases a higher-end laptop what I'm interested in are the tech specs and the price. I couldn't care less about whether they call it MacBook Pro or MacBook Ultra.

 

[benholt]

The Retina parallel only holds if you assume everyone eventually wants the new tech. The 2012 jump was non-controversial — nobody was going to pick a lower-res display at the same price. Touch + OLED is a workflow decision, not just a spec bump. Plenty of pros don't want to be reaching across the screen all day, and Apple's never been shy about keeping forked lines for diverging use cases (iPad Pro vs iPad Air).

If they actually drop an M-series Ultra chip in a laptop too, the gulf gets wider than retina vs non-retina ever was. Wouldn't shock me if it stays its own tier for years.