The future of the Pro?

[0000757]

We've seen what the future is, what is your opinion on where it will take us?

To be honest, I would have rather waited till the parts became cheap and just have the new Pro completely replace the whole family. I feel as though this is going to take the MacBook Air route. It's going to be very expensive at first (If you guys are worried about the price of the Pro Retina, remember that the first generation of MacBook Airs cost $1800 and $3000 in their configurations!). Slowly the Retina Pro price will drop, similar to how the Air did, while still being sold along side the standard models, and in just a few short years, just as the Air replaced the MacBook, the Retina Pro will fully replace the standard Pro + be able to match the price of the current entry models.


What about a 13-inch? Could we see that on the horizon? Surely Apple doesn't want to keep the 13-inch Pro stuck in the way it is, as it's still a valuable and important part of the Pro line.

What if they dropped the 15 inch and made it 14 and 16? This allows entry level buyers to get a slightly bigger screen, and compensate for the 17 inch viewers.

Where is this future of the Pro going to take us?

 

[Stetrain]

I doubt that the 15" Retina will drop below $1999. Maybe it will eventually get down to the current base price of $1799, but I doubt it for the next couple of years.

Most likely the price will stay pretty constant, but specs will improve.

The base Powerbook/Macbook Pro has hovered around the $2000 mark for a long long time now. The exception I think is the 2009 $1500 model but that had no dedicated GPU.

If they can pull off a 13" Retina MBP (I think the issues are more to do with heat than the display), I can see it fitting in right between the 13" Air and the 15" Retina MBP, starting at $1400-$1500.

 

[pgiguere1]

They will probably release a new Retina 13" MBP at some point (with Haswell?). I don't think it will have discrete graphics.

I think it will be more expensive than the Air (whose price might drop by then) mainly because of the Retina Display and the battery that will have to be like twice as big to compensate for the display and non-ULV CPU. It will naturally be thicker because of that and will probably have a thickness identical to the Retina 15" along with a new cooling system with the intake vents on the side. I guess it will also have double Thunderbolt ports and HDMI out.

I also expect the current legacy MBPs to be discontinued at the same time as the 13" Retina MBP is introduced, and since the price of SSD will be lower by then, I think Apple will drop the price of the Retina 15" while still offering 256GB in the base model. I'm not sure if a 17" Retina will ever be introduced (I think there's 50% chance), but if it is I expect it to have the same internal specs as the higher end Retina 15" while being slightly more expensive.

I think the MBA will keep its non-Retina display for a while and Apple's focus will be to bring its price down and/or increase storage in the base models.

 

[therealseebs]

We've seen what the future is, what is your opinion on where it will take us?

I think Apple is killing what used to be called the "MacBook Pro" line, and is moving the name over to what used to be called the "MacBook" line.

The "new" MBP -- the Retina, which is clearly the "future" -- has sacrificed a lot of functionality to be Very Thin. And when people point out that this functionality mattered to them, the Apple fanboy community explains that most users don't need that functionality, it's only necessary for professional users.

The "pro" line used to be for professional users. Now it's not, and I am not sure whether Apple ever plans to release new high-end hardware aimed at those users.