Ports on the skylake rMBP

[LudwigZildjian]

I hope they are able to kind of merge the Air and Pro line - not much heavier than the previous Air, but retina display and Pro Power.

While we are all entitled to our own opinion, you're opinion is bad.... If they merge the two lines, where is the difference going to be? There won't be anyway to have a MacBook and MacBook Pro, when they're the same size.... The only difference will be power, which really isn't possible in that size.... I think it's absurd, because there really won't be a differential within the Mac portable computers. I am a strong believer that this phase of going smaller and smaller is going to come to an end soon enough.... I think everyone is being a bunch of babies, who worry about carrying around a few pounds....

P.S.
I write to Apple Feedback everyday telling them not make the rMBP any smaller....

 

[GeniusJon]

Guessing wildly here but I'm assuming 2 or 3 USB-C ports on the left in conjunction with the 3.5mm headset jack. On the right, 1 USB-C port and the existing SD card slot.

 

[nj-mac-user]

While we are all entitled to our own opinion, you're opinion is bad.... If they merge the two lines, where is the difference going to be? There won't be anyway to have a MacBook and MacBook Pro, when they're the same size.... The only difference will be power, which really isn't possible in that size.... I think it's absurd, because there really won't be a differential within the Mac portable computers. I am a strong believer that this phase of going smaller and smaller is going to come to an end soon enough.... I think everyone is being a bunch of babies, who worry about carrying around a few pounds....

P.S.
I write to Apple Feedback everyday telling them not make the rMBP any smaller....

"Merge" doesn't necessarily mean replacing the rMBP with the current MBA form factor. Merge can simply mean making the rMBP slimmer and dissolving the MBA completely, since the new MB would take its place. I don't think that's at all out of the question and is probably more likely than not. At the end of the day, most want portability with a laptop.

 

[NOT-A-FANBOY]

What makes you think there won't be a refresh before that or are you suggesting a redesign is unlikely before then? I suspect we'll see an update long before then. There aren't any quad broadwell cpus to implement here. Either Broadwell or Skylake variants will show up before the end of this year though. They don't necessarily have to accompany a redesign.

To clarify: I don't think we'll see anything but the 15" Broadwell refresh this year. Broadwell will not have any more relevant 13" CPU upgrades, as Apple doesn't use quadcores in their 13" models.
Could Apple just stick Skylake CPUs in their rMBP without a redesign when they hit the market in Q2-Q3? It's possible but unlikely. Not only would it make for an unusually short cycle, but also Skylake is a completely new platform which requires more development effort than the jump from Haswell to Broadwell, where Apple pretty much just had to stick another CPU on the socket. Skylake will bring DDR4 RAM support, wireless charging and some other goodies that Apple will probably want to adapt. It would be a good timing for a complete redesign.

TL;DR:
Q2 2015: 15" Broadwell refresh
Q1 2016: 13" and 15" rMBP redesign with Skylake. Possibly Q4 2015.

 

[thekev]

To clarify: I don't think we'll see anything but the 15" Broadwell refresh this year. Broadwell will not have any more relevant 13" CPU upgrades, as Apple doesn't use quadcores in their 13" models.
Could Apple just stick Skylake CPUs in their rMBP without a redesign when they hit the market in Q2-Q3? It's possible but unlikely. Not only would it make for an unusually short cycle, but also Skylake is a completely new platform which requires more development effort than the jump from Haswell to Broadwell, where Apple pretty much just had to stick another CPU on the socket. Skylake will bring DDR4 RAM support, wireless charging and some other goodies that Apple will probably want to adapt. It would be a good timing for a complete redesign.

TL;DR:
Q2 2015: 15" Broadwell refresh
Q1 2016: 13" and 15" rMBP redesign with Skylake. Possibly Q4 2015.

That's possible. They do sometimes come out a few months after intel. If it's a redesign and skylake is still slated for the current year bit, not just claimed that way in public, it's probably already in the works.

 

[mcarling]

My expectation is that the Skylake MBPs will have USB-C connectors, not USB-A connectors. The other major change to the ports that I expect is Thunderbolt 3 supporting DisplayPort 1.3 in order to drive external 5K displays.

I would be very surprised to see Skylake MBPs before February 2016, at the earliest.

 

[drewyboy]

Personally, I would like to see at least two thunderbolt ports 3.0, an independent power connector, two USB C, hdmi 2.0??. This is a mix of things I would like and things I expect.

I don't expect to see USB 3.0 ports in their current form for the newly designed rMBP

I tend to agree with this. I'm thinking there will be 2 USB Type-C (one for the charging), one Thunderbolt 3.0 (wouldn't be surprised if they ditched it though), headphone/mic plug, and probably still have SD reader on the left. On the right side another Type C and updated HDMI.

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Guessing wildly here but I'm assuming 2 or 3 USB-C ports on the left in conjunction with the 3.5mm headset jack. On the right, 1 USB-C port and the existing SD card slot.

Don't forget HDMI, I think they'll keep that too.

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Edit: I also don't think it would be far fetched to see 13" & 15" make a transition to 14" and 16" using the same "form factor" by reducing the bezel slightly. It really wouldn't be that hard to fit those screens in the current rMBP's. Cohesion across the platform. 12", 14", 16". Clear product line separation.

 

[thadoggfather]

because Skylake will have wireless charging (supposedly), the next iteration of Macs will be completely port free.

rMB is getting close, the next refresh will be the one to remove ALL clutter.

 

[guychicago]

The next logical design for the new MacBook Pro Should take design elements of the new MacBook. If the new keyboard is received well, apple will definitely include it in the pro line. It is going to be similar to touch ID implementation, try it on one product and then spread across multiple product lines. Slimmer display, new keyboard, force touchpad, USB c ports. We should see a little bit of slimming down and also lighter weight! New colors would be an additional selling point.
I don't know if it's going to be this year or next but it will surely depend on Skylake. I'm guessing Apple would already have test units of Skylake within their labs and product design should be underway.
I wonder what Anand Shimpi he is doing for them??