What exactly is different between air 2 and pro? Use of pencil? This is laughable.
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Why is redesign so strongly suggested?
- Thread starter Voley
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What exactly is different between air 2 and pro? Use of pencil? This is laughable.
Go read the tech specs. I'm not going to spoon feed you just to prove you wrong.
They are aimed at two different kinds of buyers. Pricing reflects that.
I would suggest it feels like eight years since the 2008 and 2012 are pretty similar looking except for a slight slimming down.
There are solid reasons for believing a redesign is imminent.
Many of these have been noted elsewhere in this thread, but to be complete:
- The current design is 4 years old, which itself was a minor change on a design which was also 4 years old.
- Other manufacturers have caught up and surpassed Apple in design, in weight, and in overall volume.
- The above is made possible by a series of small technological improvements that have reached critical mass where they can make a meaningful difference in laptop design.
- The internals are at a point where we've also seen a bunch of incremental improvements that add up to something worth re-designing for. USB-C with power delivery and Thunderbolt are the big ones. These can fundamentally change how we interface with a laptop, and how the laptop is designed.
- The 12" Macbook was released a year ago and showcases the kinds of things that are possible (miniaturization of components, allowing for a minimal footprint, terraced batteries, new keyboard, etc.)
- The chips to merely do a spec update have been available for some time. If that was all that was coming, they would not be likely to drag it out like this.
Many of these have been noted elsewhere in this thread, but to be complete:
- The current design is 4 years old, which itself was a minor change on a design which was also 4 years old.
- Other manufacturers have caught up and surpassed Apple in design, in weight, and in overall volume.
- The above is made possible by a series of small technological improvements that have reached critical mass where they can make a meaningful difference in laptop design.
- The internals are at a point where we've also seen a bunch of incremental improvements that add up to something worth re-designing for. USB-C with power delivery and Thunderbolt are the big ones. These can fundamentally change how we interface with a laptop, and how the laptop is designed.
- The 12" Macbook was released a year ago and showcases the kinds of things that are possible (miniaturization of components, allowing for a minimal footprint, terraced batteries, new keyboard, etc.)
- The chips to merely do a spec update have been available for some time. If that was all that was coming, they would not be likely to drag it out like this.
Mac shipments are dropping recently because people are waiting for Skylake, not because they expect Apple to come up with some wild new form factor for a laptop. I'm not sure what people are expecting here.
If Apple DOES do a MBP redesign soon, it will most surely be in the vein of something thinner and lighter, as that's about all you can really do to a laptop design anymore.
I honestly don't understand people anymore. If there is a redesign, people will complain that it's "just" thinner and lighter. If there's not a redesign, people will complain that there isn't a thinner, lighter MBP. What people are forgetting is that there's really not much else you can do to that kind of machine. Add Touch ID somehow? Yeah, ok. Make the screen into a detachable iPad? That's not going to happen.
If Apple DOES do a MBP redesign soon, it will most surely be in the vein of something thinner and lighter, as that's about all you can really do to a laptop design anymore.
I honestly don't understand people anymore. If there is a redesign, people will complain that it's "just" thinner and lighter. If there's not a redesign, people will complain that there isn't a thinner, lighter MBP. What people are forgetting is that there's really not much else you can do to that kind of machine. Add Touch ID somehow? Yeah, ok. Make the screen into a detachable iPad? That's not going to happen.
I don't want a redesign because I know the only redesign is going to be "thinnovation" and that's not what I want. I don't care about thinness. The current design is thin enough (and still completely overheats when watching YouTube or viewing StreetView). If the re-design improved in some other area, then fine, but I don't need it to be thinner.
Where in this thread are people clamoring for some radical redesign or convertible tablet in the MBP update?
USB-C/Thunderbolt can mean these laptops can (finally) have single-port docking.
The collection of small improvements that have become available should mean that they can either reduce the footprint of the 13" fairly dramatically, and get it under 3lbs, OR fit a 14" screen in the same space.
That's all stuff worth waiting for. It's not like the price of the existing machines is going to go up if you don't like the changes.
I hope Apple has more imaginative people on staff. There are a lot of things they could do besides make the device thinner. They could add an LTE radio, Touch ID, pencil and/or touch support to the display. The display could be detachable like the Surface Book. The trackpad could extend all the way across the area below the keyboard. They could add true tone, iPad Pro style speakers. Wireless charging. Maybe they offer an ARM model with two day battery life. How about always-on Siri?
As I mentioned. The following would be a good improvement to wait for. But not much longer...
1. Less Bezel
2. SIRI
3. TouchID
4. CPU/GPU upgrade
5. Longer Battery Life
6. Screen color improvement
7. 5 Mhz camera f2.0 or better
That is what I'm hoping for. Thinner & just a GPU/CPU upgrade ? Than a no go
1. Less Bezel
2. SIRI
3. TouchID
4. CPU/GPU upgrade
5. Longer Battery Life
6. Screen color improvement
7. 5 Mhz camera f2.0 or better
That is what I'm hoping for. Thinner & just a GPU/CPU upgrade ? Than a no go
I think the use of a pencil is a big differentiator. I never really liked the iPad before and didn't really want one, but I can think of more ways to use it with a pencil. With the pencil, I think it could replace my MacBook when the apps are there and the hardware is powerful enough.
Yes, they could do all these things. Some are software changes and some are hardware changes. There are a lot of possibilities. And no matter what Apple decides to do next, it won't be good enough. People will always find things to bitch and moan about it. Everything is amazing and we're all miserable.
We're miserable because everything in the Mac world is the same as it was 4 years ago, while other platforms are improving.
I'd prefer it if Apple slowed the F down, actually. The retina MBP chassis is great. Internal spec bumps down the road; fine. But the pursuit of fast-tracking a new OS every single year is taking its toll on Mac. There are so many crippling bugs now all over the Apple ecosystem. Slow down and release finished products, damn it. Snow Leopard was the last truly great OS. Now it's all iOS-ification and dumbed down for the masses of computer illiterate and riddled with bugs left and right. Thankfully, the hardware on the Mac side is still top notch.
The fanboy is still strong in this post...... The hardware is far from top notch. Middling dedicated gpu's is far from top notch
Computers are not something you should allow to make you miserable.
The MacBooks Pro are a so-so design. Definitely stale but don't need much to update them. Some more white, not so fat.
The iMacs and Cinema Displays are the ugliest designs ever for those lines... can't become obsolete soon enough. A shame to see a product line get old and ugly instead of more and more beautiful.
The iMacs and Cinema Displays are the ugliest designs ever for those lines... can't become obsolete soon enough. A shame to see a product line get old and ugly instead of more and more beautiful.
Then I would prepare yourself for being disappointed.
Oh I am. Thoroughly
But since I don't even know if I want a laptop (may get an iMac), it's not devastating to me.
Thinner, faster and with color. Like a runway model!
This would look awesome, but scratches and marks would look horrible!
There is so much more Apple could do with the Mac, equally they won't, as Apple is so deeply invested in iToys, that are easier to design, manufacture and extract high margin, hence as long as the Mac remains to play second fiddle to IOS devices it will remain to be mundane, if not mediocre, nor does Apples poor QC of OS X help in any shape or form.
I do agree that the 2016 range is very unlikely to offer anything substantial over the current line up barring the MPB being thinner & lighter with TB3 if we are lucky, combined with another iteration of OS X that will take a year to workout the bugs if Apple can even do that...
At least they will come in pink, maybe some more watch straps
Q-6
The macbook was redesigned, so the pro will follow. Most likely similar keyboard, USB C with more ports, and spec bumps, and probably colors.
