What's the future of the 13" MacBook Pro?

[Howard2k]

No laptop is truly a desktop replacement...

Really? Nobody has ever replaced a desktop with a laptop?

 

[MF878]

The reason why Kuo’s predictions are almost always spot on is they’re not based on a guess. They’re based on supply chain contracts. He knows Sunrex has been asked to supply scissor keyboards for 2020 models. More importantly, how many keyboards and what size. These discussions happen 12-18 months ahead of launch. He can infer the future plan of the 13” and 15” based on these discussions.

Second, it’s not possible to suddenly begin production of 14” panels merely months before launch. Suppliers don’t suddenly have vacant fab capacity to make things they don’t expect. Apple needs time to qualify suppliers to avoid sole sourcing and negotiate pricing. This is how Kuo is able to tell us about 16-inch nine months in advance. Same reason he’s able to tell us about the size of 2020 iPhone 15-months before launch.

Supply chain info is ONE of many tools and methods Kuo uses to make predictions, otherwise he’d never be wrong. He has a solid track record because of his sources, but he is prone to getting details wrong from time to time.

One example is the resolution of the iPhone X and how it would have a “dedicated function area”. If you trawled through my post history, you’d see I claimed that his guess of 2800x1242 total with 2436x1125 excluding the “function area” was non-sensical and that 2436x1125 would be the total display area. Granted, you could probably also find examples of when I doubted him and he was right, but my point is that you can’t just say “Kuo said it and he knows more than you!” because even with his supply chain knowledge and sources, he can still get things wrong.

 

[Falhófnir]

That's exactly what he's predicting - the return of 15" with scissor.

Right now, the gap between 13" and 16" is more than $1,000.

And that gap will be filled by a 14" perfectly:

• 13" MacBook Pro (current 15W model) - $1,299+
• 14" MacBook Pro (current 28W model) - $1,799+ (maybe slightly more expensive if it adds a dGPU and ups base storage to 512GB, up to $1,999)
• 16" MacBook Pro (as is) - $2,399+

 

[JPack]

Supply chain info is ONE of many tools and methods Kuo uses to make predictions, otherwise he’d never be wrong. He has a solid track record because of his sources, but he is prone to getting details wrong from time to time.

One example is the resolution of the iPhone X and how it would have a “dedicated function area”. If you trawled through my post history, you’d see I claimed that his guess of 2800x1242 total with 2436x1125 excluding the “function area” was non-sensical and that 2436x1125 would be the total display area. Granted, you could probably also find examples of when I doubted him and he was right, but my point is that you can’t just say “Kuo said it and he knows more than you!” because even with his supply chain knowledge and sources, he can still get things wrong.

The stuff Kuo gets wrong tend to be minor details like timing, pricing, and sometimes chassis colors.

For display sizes, he’s spot on, whether it’s Watch S4 sizes or iPad 10.2”. For the iPhone X display size, I think he tried to guess how Jony Ive would carve up the 5.8” display with the Home Bar. Ultimately, he was still correct with the 5.8” prediction.

 

[JPack]

Looks like Digitimes is also "wrong" with their 13-inch prediction.

13-Inch MacBook Pro With Scissor Keyboard Expected in First Half of 2020

Following the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple plans to release a new 13-inch MacBook Pro with a scissor switch keyboard in the first half of 2020,...

www.macrumors.com

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[fokmik]

Intel's 10th Generation Ice Lake 10nm mobile processors suitable for a 13-inch MBP refresh are available since Q3/19. What are they waiting for?!

Are you sure the 28w intel 10th gen are ready for mass prod?
[automerge]1574097656[/automerge]

And that gap will be filled by a 14" perfectly:

• 13" MacBook Pro (current 15W model) - $1,299+
• 14" MacBook Pro (current 28W model) - $1,799+ (maybe slightly more expensive if it adds a dGPU and ups base storage to 512GB, up to $1,999)
• 16" MacBook Pro (as is) - $2,399+

The 13” with 15w will remain the macbook air

 

[yanksrock100]

Historically, every update to the 15 inch is countered months later with an equivalent update to the 13.

I will be disappointed if that Digitimes rumor is true. It's time for Apple to make those bezels smaller and give us a 14 inch notebook with the same footprint. Why would they only increase the size of the 15 inch but ignore the 13 inch? This is a similar situation to the introduction of the rMBP years ago (originally "only" 15 inch).

 

[Salty Pirate]

A 15 inch air would be killer!!

16GB RAM

quad core 10nm 15 watt CPU and all the good things 10nm brings to the party.

I fall under I need the 15" screen real estate but 6 or 8 cores? really wasted on my use. I would rather have all day (and then some) battery, really fast SSD, touch ID but no touch bar.

3 to 3 1/2 pounds

 

[danwells]

I'm unsure on the question of whether the 13" grows into a 14". It should get a meaningful CPU upgrade - both Ice Lake and Comet Lake (which is often actually faster) are out in versions that make a lot of sense for the 13".

Becoming a 14" is not automatic by any means - the 13" is much more sensitive to size and weight than the 16" - a 0.3 lb weight gain would be more significant (and Apple might try to shave 0.3 lbs off instead). It should probably get a scissor keyboard...

I would also rank a "big and thin" Mac as relatively likely (there are all those unexplained model numbers). Something around 15" with a low-power processor and no GPU - a big Air or even a big MacBook (maybe not until ARM is ready for a few Macs).

I'm guessing the MacBook returns as an ARM machine (or very low power Intel 10nm, but ARM rumors are persistent) at some point, maybe (likely) with a cellular option...

These last two could wind up with controversial keyboards (maybe butterfly, maybe some form of haptic) in the pursuit of thinness.

 

[kindaichi81]

I am thinking apple is going for the iPad strategies on MacBook for the time being.
MacBook Air being the cheapest macbook one can get. This is similar to the the basic iPad while you dun get all the best tech but allow you to have access to macbook at a cheaper starting price. As a contrast, MacBook Pro 13-inch is positioned like iPad Air, better display and processing power.
MacBook Pro 16-inch is like the iPad Pro, which it has the best of everything, including the best appearance, best features, best iPhone ever processing power and graphic with all the options to make it really pro including upgrading the storage to the ridiculous possible size etc.

 

[KPOM]

Intel's 10th Generation Ice Lake 10nm mobile processors suitable for a 13-inch MBP refresh are available since Q3/19. What are they waiting for?!

Yields to ramp up. Intel has had supply issues for the last 2 years. They are finally starting to improve. Apple sells more MacBook Pros than Dell, HP, etc do of their higher end PCs.