Waiting for Skylake MBP thread

[satchmo]

The unibody MBP came out in 2008, but the retina generation came out in 2012. I'm not sure how you wouldn't consider that a redesign. It got thinner and lighter, added retina screens, changed ports (added HDMI and TB, lost ethernet and Firewire), lost the optical drive, changed HDD to SSD, etc. When the MBP is redesigned again, changes overall probably won't be as drastic as the ones that came with the retina redesign.

Yes it's slimmer and lacked an optical drive, but it essentially looks the same. We've had port changes year to year, but don't consider that a redesign. The retina generation is akin to an automotive mid-model re-fresh...or a iPhone 6 to 6S.

I'm talking a full re-think of the MBP. While I don't suspect Apple will ever have a detachable screen, or a touch enabled screen, I'd like to see more than just making it thinner.

 

[ooans]

I'm talking a full re-think of the MBP. While I don't suspect Apple will ever have a detachable screen, or a touch enabled screen, I'd like to see more than just making it thinner.

The keyboard IS something they could easily do something with, if they wanted to. Already in 2009 there were companies that sold keyboards where each key was a small monitor. This could be useful so you could change programs and always see on the keys the shortcuts etc. In a way this is what they did with the iPhone: cause the keyboard was a part of the screen, you could completely customize it for each program or even completely drop it. Would seem natural that they would want to do the same or similar with Macs.

But even though having a touch keyboard instead of the current one could be useful on some cases, it would be absolutely horrible for typing. I seriously dislike typing on touch devices.

I've tried the retina Macbook keyboard multiple times in stores to see if my opinion would change, but every time I've hated typing on it. Luckily for me Apple might not go that route with their future keyboards, cause at least the new Mac Bluetooth keyboard seemed OK or even good for me when I tried it.

 

[fisherking]

plan to see the macbook keyboard on the next macbook pro. anything radically different is (probably) a few years away (or so i believe... )

 

[AirdanMR]

For the keyboard I hope they do it size to size like the macbook 12 with all the top part for the speakers and a full keyboard at least for the 15 / 16 inch model. Maybe a 16:10 trackpad with pressure sensitivity to support the new pen... I don't expect much changes there. Touch id? ... I don't now.

Here is a quick mock-up of how i imagine it. Excuse my crappy PS edition xD

 

[NJPT]

Yes it's slimmer and lacked an optical drive, but it essentially looks the same. We've had port changes year to year, but don't consider that a redesign. The retina generation akin to an automotive mid-model re-fresh...or a iPhone 6 to 6S.

I'm talking a full re-think of the MBP. While I don't suspect Apple will ever have a detachable screen, or a touch enabled screen, I'd like to see more than just making it thinner.

Seriously? Lighter, thinner, dramatic screen resolution upgrade, removing a huge component in the optical drive, changing of the ports, new speaker design, new fan design, new battery design, and introduction of Magsafe 2: all of this combined still isn't a redesign to you because it "essentially looks the same?"

What do you think would constitute a "full re-think of the MBP?" And by your own criteria, why then would the unibody generation qualify when the retina did not? The unibody "essentially looked the same" as the first generation MBP from 2006. And if you were measuring by true functional and not cosmetic differences, removing the optical drive, adding retina screens, and changing from HDD to SSD were far bigger changes than anything the unibody change brought.

It looks like you're taking a very arbitrary and subjective set of cosmetic differences as being able to constitute a redesign in your mind. Your analogy of the iPhone 6 to 6S is inappropriate here. Those use the same chassis but different internals. The unibody to retina switchover had both a new chassis and vastly different internals and technologies.

In any case, if Wikipedia is any indication of general consensus, your opinion on this is decidedly the minority. Wikipedia lists 3 distinct generations for the MBP: 1st gen in 2006, unibody in 2008, and retina in 2012.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro

 

[ooans]

For the keyboard I hope they do it size to size like the macbook 12 with all the top part for the speakers and a full keyboard at least for the 15 / 16 inch model. Maybe a 16:10 trackpad with pressure sensitivity to support the new pen... I don't expect much changes there. Touch id? ... I don't now.

Here is a quick mock-up of how i imagine it. Excuse my crappy PS edition xD

Unfortunately it seems that Apple hates the numberpad so I don't think we'll ever see it on a Apple laptop.

 

[Loveandterror]

This wait is frustrating and confusing. I stopped by a local Apple store to speak with an employee there that I have dealt with a few times only to leave more confused. He said he highly doubts we will get a new Pro by the end of the year and even said he's 50/50 we will get one before summer 2016. He referenced Apple being late to the party and they could hold off the launch to do something bigger than just a Skylake upgrade + redesign. Would that mean skipping Skylake? He then mentioned January 2016 being an anniversary that Apple may want to take advantage of from a marketing point of view.

In his own words employees aren't given top secret information (obviously), he just stays informed with this forum and various other internet outlets. Normally I don't care to wait, but I need to make a decision on an upgrade. I would rather not make a purchase now to only regret it 2-3 months from now. I would rather just deal with my current Mac issues and wait.

I just met a friend yesterday, who just bought a MacBook Pro last week. He saved up over a year. When I told him that there will be a new one soonish(obviously it is speculation), he was devastated, as he can't just afford to resell and lose money (even if not that much).

 

[Macasio]

Should I buy the rMBP 15" Mid 2015 with the M370X ?
It's a beast ! Otherwise I also can wait until the 2016 version will be released.
In addition, I can't understand why is everybody raving about a redesign, the current design is sexy as hell.

 

[Fthree]

Should I buy the rMBP 15" Mid 2015 with the M370X ?
It's a beast ! Otherwise I also can wait until the 2016 version will be released.
In addition, I can't understand why is everybody raving about a redesign, the current design is sexy as hell.

if you are able to wait then do so until the 2018 version it'll surely be faster.

(on a side note i love the the current 2015 15 version)

 

[jk73]

Thanks for the other replies. I sure hope the January/MBP anniversary speculation proves correct. I have a 2012 rMBP, which has been awesome, but it's about time for me to upgrade.

I just met a friend yesterday, who just bought a MacBook Pro last week. He saved up over a year. When I told him that there will be a new one soonish(obviously it is speculation), he was devastated, as he can't just afford to resell and lose money (even if not that much).

I used to be one of those people, when I was a youngster, but this is like saving up for a year to buy a 2015 BMW and then being devastated that BMW plans to release another new BMW in 2016. An MBP purchased in late 2015 will be an outstanding machine for years to come, without question.

 

[doitdada]

I just met a friend yesterday, who just bought a MacBook Pro last week. He saved up over a year. When I told him that there will be a new one soonish(obviously it is speculation), he was devastated, as he can't just afford to resell and lose money (even if not that much).

Why doesn't he just use his computer to make money? The Pro stands for professional

I think if you buy a MacBook Pro just for fun and games without having the budget to loose everything, you are not only poor, but very very ignorant. I see BMWs being compared to computer purchases, but with a car you can drive to better paying jobs, better looking women and friendlier acquaintances. My problem is that I wouldn't make anymore money by upgrading my rMB to a rMBP 15. It would be faster to do my job, but it's not affecting my burn rate to wait an extra second or two for the RAW images to be loaded into Photoshop.

Going from Haswell to Skylake in the rMBP isn't going to make my loading times any faster, at least by comparing the potential performance boost from Haswell to Skylake according to reports from the desktop versions. I read alot of people say they bought the rMBP at the wrong time, but there is no wrong time to buy a rMBP. It's never an investment. It's a risk. It's only important to upgrade if you can drop the cash without remorse or you are loosing time due to lack of performance in regards to proper execution in client work.

 

[Loveandterror]

Thanks for the other replies. I sure hope the January/MBP anniversary speculation proves correct. I have a 2012 rMBP, which has been awesome, but it's about time for me to upgrade.



I used to be one of those people, when I was a youngster, but this is like saving up for a year to buy a 2015 BMW and then being devastated that BMW plans to release another new BMW in 2016. An MBP purchased in late 2015 will be an outstanding machine for years to come, without question.

Of course it will be. But when you save up money for such a long time, you do want the latest technology. And I'd be devastated, if it was me, knowing that only a few months later, there will be a machine that will potentially last longer than the older machine.

 

[tharwan]

Any bets on a silent update together with the release of the iPad Pro this week?

 

[mur.e]

I just met a friend yesterday, who just bought a MacBook Pro last week. He saved up over a year. When I told him that there will be a new one soonish(obviously it is speculation), he was devastated, as he can't just afford to resell and lose money (even if not that much).

Why is he devastated? If he really wants to wait, there's a 14 day return policy...

 

[doitdada]

Any bets on a silent update together with the release of the iPad Pro this week?

That would make me happy, but will only happen if they bump the CPU.

 

[PTLove]

That would make me happy, but will only happen if they bump the CPU.

Yep, which is all I care about. Give me identical outward hardware with a Skylake 28Watt CPU in there and id be thrilled.

 

[leedy]

Just a query concerning the release date. The buyers guide shows that every past rMBP (4 models) has had a 8/9 month release interval.

Since we've already passed the 8 month period on the current 13" model, wouldn't it make sense for a end of year release date? A release in March or even speculated WWDC June release would put the release date 365+ days which seems kind of long.

 

[tharwan]

Just a query concerning the release date. The buyers guide shows that every past rMBP (4 models) has had a 8/9 month release interval.

Since we've already passed the 8 month period on the current 13" model, wouldn't it make sense for a end of year release date? A release in March or even speculated WWDC June release would put the release date 365+ days which seems kind of long.

I did the same analysis a few days ago. The so far longest interval would mean a release in February, if I remember correctly.

 

[AirdanMR]

Unfortunately it seems that Apple hates the numberpad so I don't think we'll ever see it on a Apple laptop.

Didn't know that... then maybe the trackpad next to the keyboard like they use to advertise?

Just a query concerning the release date. The buyers guide shows that every past rMBP (4 models) has had a 8/9 month release interval.

Since we've already passed the 8 month period on the current 13" model, wouldn't it make sense for a end of year release date? A release in March or even speculated WWDC June release would put the release date 365+ days which seems kind of long.

All depends on intel and when they are going to release their Iris Pro 550 / 580 Skylake CPUs. There isn't any information about this. So we can only guess while we wait.

The CPU on the Macbook Pro 15 it's 2 gens old, but worse, it was a small update from the Early 2013 rMBP CPU... In a normal situation I would say WWDC... but Apple really needs to update their machines, so my guess is January (10th anniversary) or February.

 

[nicovh]

Perhaps a little off topic, but with the Skylake rMBP's getting (several) USB-C ports, will transfer speeds get affected by the inevitable adapters we will have to use to connect all our USB2/3/Thunderbolt2 harddrives? I did some research but couldn't find anything about the transfer to older types.

And what are your thoughts on what ports should be on the new rMBP?
I would absolutely love multiple USB-C ports but would still like to have one USB 3.0 port for all the hardware we own now so we don't need to use all these adapters. It would be a nightmare to carry 2 or more adapters everywhere you would go.

Regarding Apple dropping MagSafe, I think it will be a step they will not want to make. It is such a great technology, everybody I know loves it and it keeps your €1500+ machine from violently falling.
If they drop it, yes they will have a port less as a USB-C port can replace its function but just to remove an apple exclusive port that they have so well designed and switch to a (perhaps) weaker and unsafer powertransfer, to me seems like a stretch.

The next machine will be amazing regardless, I am really excited for it's release!

 

[Fthree]

i hope they do NOT drop the mag safe from the pro line. That would be a major disappointment!

 

[acuriouslad]

Do you think that it's possible the next revision of the Macbook Pro's will have a display with the P3 colour gamut that appeared in the iMacs recently? Or possibly even go a step further and have the full Adobe RGB gamut. I read on the forums here recently about the possibility of using a Sharp display that was used in Dell's Infinity Display laptops which has a greater resolution and provides this colour range.

 

[tharwan]

I think this is very much a possibility, as I wrote before from my point of view this would be more important than higher resolution. (Specially since Adam Lisagor said on The Talk Show that movies are recorded in 4k but not mastered, etc because the editing and rendering is to slow and the market is too small).

On the topic of USB-C, I would believe they will just replace the current thunderbolt ports with USB-C. Thats why I would not be terribly surprised to see not much of a revised body. They could just replace the display (bigger color gamut, smaller bezel), the CPU (skylake) and give it a new port layout and this would be enough to make it a "new" laptop in realm of a professional machine.

 

[wheelhot]

Perhaps a little off topic, but with the Skylake rMBP's getting (several) USB-C ports, will transfer speeds get affected by the inevitable adapters we will have to use to connect all our USB2/3/Thunderbolt2 harddrives? I did some research but couldn't find anything about the transfer to older types.

And what are your thoughts on what ports should be on the new rMBP?
I would absolutely love multiple USB-C ports but would still like to have one USB 3.0 port for all the hardware we own now so we don't need to use all these adapters. It would be a nightmare to carry 2 or more adapters everywhere you would go.

Regarding Apple dropping MagSafe, I think it will be a step they will not want to make. It is such a great technology, everybody I know loves it and it keeps your €1500+ machine from violently falling.
If they drop it, yes they will have a port less as a USB-C port can replace its function but just to remove an apple exclusive port that they have so well designed and switch to a (perhaps) weaker and unsafer powertransfer, to me seems like a stretch.

The next machine will be amazing regardless, I am really excited for it's release!

Depending on how thin they want to make the machine to be, I hope it'll be 2 USB-C w/ TB3 + 2 USB 3.0 and retain all the current rMBP ports. Maybe the new MB keyboard w/ current rMBP key travel length.

 

[Nubcake]

It's impossible to make the Macbook Pro any thinner without dropping USB-A. The only possibility to make it thinner and still use USB-A is by using the same design as the Air but that just doesn't belong on a Pro. So I actually think that they are not going to slim it down in order to keep USB-A. It's to early to go all the way with USB-C.