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Apple To Refresh Entire MacBook Lineup Next Month, Air and Pro To Feature Kaby Lake (bloomberg.com)
Apple will unveil new laptops during its annual developer conference, known as WWDC, next month, reports Bloomberg. The company is going to refresh the MacBook Pro (as well as Air and just the 'MacBook' models) with new seventh-gen processors from Intel, the newest available, the report adds. Last year, Apple launched three new MacBook Pro laptops with older sixth-generation chips, which means people who already own the newer model may be a bit dismayed by Apple's refresh. From the article: Apple is planning three new laptops, according to people familiar with the matter. The MacBook Pro will get a faster Kaby Lake processor from Intel, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss internal planning. Apple is also working on a new version of the 12-inch MacBook with a faster Intel chip. The company has also considered updating the aging 13-inch MacBook Air with a new processor as sales of the laptop, Apple's cheapest, remain surprisingly strong, one of the people said.
I hope they will quickly do away with the Touch Bar, which, as much a fan of Macbooks that I am, has been totally useless. Even worse, it interferes and causes errors when I do other tasks that happen to go near the Touch Bar, such as the calculator.
Every time I try to use the calculator (and the top row of number keys) my fingers graze the Touch Bar, which then triggers an incorrect calculation because the Bar adopt some calculator function keys while open.
There is something positive to be said about having keys that have physical boundaries and limited functions, and having that well separated from a touch bar which, if it provided some actually useful function, had the versatility to change roles during use. They should have kept dedicated physical volume, brightness keys -- which now hide behind 2 finger presses on a strip that you have to look at carefully to find where to press.
Aside from that inconvenience, I have to date used the Touch Bar approximately 0 times productively. I am not a video manipulator, so maybe that's what it's designed for, but so far, nothing. I am not really in need of having quick access to emoticons when I chat, thank you Apple...
Right, because buying the newest model of laptop and phone from the same company and neither one comes with a cable that connects the two together, is "the start of the new normal." In what fantasy universe is that even remotely justifiable? That the iPhone doesn't come with a USB-C cable is proof that the claim that USB-C is the future is flawed and that Apple isn't putting its money where its mouth is. If they truly wanted to have people adopt USB-C, they would convert their entire product line over and flood the market with natively operating cables, all for relatively low cost. One could even argue that they should do away with packaging USB-A connectors in their products.
As long as they continue the anti-consumer practices of glued-in batteries, soldered-in RAM, etc, it's just bullshit to force the systems into premature obsolescence.
...as long as Apple expects us to keep using dongles,
They do not, they expect you to use USB-C devices.
That will be more and more true. Already this last month, I went looking for a slim external hard drive case and the best one I found was... USB-C. So I have to use a dongle to use it with older equipment...
Because USB-C is so much more versatile the changeover is going very rapidly. Why do you insist on staying behind the ENTIRE (not just Apple) computer industry? Many high end Android phones are also USB-C now...
My guess that the iPhone switches to USB-C this year or next. There is no reason to keep Lightning since USB-C has all the same advantages (basically the main one, being able to plug in either direction plus it is small).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Steve Jobs dies and everyone in Apple forgets how to think.
Another day closer to redwood heaven
No, that's not "on Intel". Other laptop integrators have had no issue adding 32 gigs of RAM. You just end up with less battery life as a result. Apple's refusal to address the market segment is 100% on Apple.