Apple Plans To Launch an 'All-New' 16-inch MacBook Pro and 32-inch 6K Monitor This Year, Says Report (theverge.com)
Apple is planning an "all-new" MacBook Pro design for this year, well-connected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said. From a report: The lineup is reportedly led by a model with a screen of between 16 and 16.5 inches, which would make it the biggest screen in a Mac notebook since the 17-inch models stopped being sold in 2012. Kuo says the lineup may also include a 13-inch model with support for 32GB of RAM; right now only the 15-inch MacBook Pro can be configured with that amount of memory.
[...] More interestingly, Kuo has the first credible details of the external monitor that will mark Apple's return to the pro display market. It's said to be a 31.6-inch 6K display with a "Mini LED-like backlight design." Apple discontinued its last monitor, the Thunderbolt Display, back in 2016; right now the best option for owners of more modern Macs is the Apple-sanctioned but imperfect 27-inch LG UltraFine 5K.
[...] More interestingly, Kuo has the first credible details of the external monitor that will mark Apple's return to the pro display market. It's said to be a 31.6-inch 6K display with a "Mini LED-like backlight design." Apple discontinued its last monitor, the Thunderbolt Display, back in 2016; right now the best option for owners of more modern Macs is the Apple-sanctioned but imperfect 27-inch LG UltraFine 5K.
The MacBook Pro Pro. Starting at $3999.
I miss the days when minor new features and upgraded components were part of a normal product refresh and didn't justify a new name and pricing tier.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Does "Support for 32GB of RAM" mean you can plug in two 16GB modules, or does it just mean that you can pay 3x the street price of the RAM extra to buy a laptop with it soldered to the motherboard?
It will be the glued-shut, no-port, soldered-everything version of the old 17" MacBook Pro ... this thing will be to power laptops like the Jeep Compass is to off-road vehicles.
It will be the glued-shut, no-port, soldered-everything version of the old 17" MacBook Pro
That seems very unlikely given what they did with the iMac Pro, and even the MacBook Pro updates - more ports and some flexibility in expansion.
I am even fine with all USB-C ports, as long as there's four or so. In a larger form factor they will probably include more ports.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No wired network is a killer in some settings.
>planned obsolescence
Really? My 2014 macbook pro still runs like a champ.
With Apple's reduction in bezel sizes the new 16" should have about the same screen size as the old 17" in a slightly smaller form factor.
I hate to break it to you but that's not how screen sizes are measured. A 16 inch screen will be 1 inch smaller screen size than a 17 inch, regardless of bezel size.
A 15" Macbook Pro actually has a 15.4" diagonal screen (16:10 aspect ratio, vs 15.6" 16:9 aspect ratio for most PC laptops). So you're going to be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a 16" and the existing 15" model. A 16.0" screen would have 16^2 / 15.4^2 = 1.07944 or just 8% more screen area than the 15". Most people won't be able to tell them apart unless they're side-by-side. A 16.5" screen would have 16.5^2 / 15.4^2 = 1.148 or 15% more screen area than the 15", which might be noticeable.
By contrast, the 17" model (17.0" 16:10 aspect ratio, vs 17.3" 16:9 aspect ratio for most PC laptops) was 17^2 / 15.4^2 = 1.2186 or 22% more screen area than the 15", which is definitely noticeable.
4K for the 4K video.
The extra 2K is for the software to place its GU to work on the 4K video.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Quick Survey. did anyone ask for?
Here is what was on my list:
Better keyboard
Option for Touch Screen
Better Repairability (See Louis Rossman, easy to replace keyboard and battery)
Better Upgradability (Not Soldered in HDD and RAM)
Better Water Resistance
Return of the MagSafe
More Ports on the Pro Model including a classic USB3.0 port
eGPU Options for High End Cards with Plug N Play
No wired network is a killer in some settings.
I agree. What bothers me is the increasing lack of Ethernet ports and no support for an inexpensive alternative. All it would take is the small step of support for USB to USB networking with a passive cable. This was written in the USB spec 10 years ago, but it seems few people bothered to implement it. It's in section 5.5.2 of the USB 3.0 whitepaper.
https://www.usb3.com/whitepape...
Apple doesn't have this problem because they have USB-C ports on all new computers and support networking over a passive cable by use of the Thunderbolt protocol. An inexpensive passive cable will connect two Apple computers at 10 Gbps. A wired network does not necessarily mean Ethernet.
I guess if Apple supported this kind of connection with USB 3.0 it might go just as fast, and be able to connect to any computer with a USB-A port with a widely available an inexpensive USB-A to USB-C cable, but then the other computer would have to support this as well. There's little incentive by Apple to support this if Windows and Linux can't be bothered to support a direct PC to PC connection by USB.
Oh, and if you really needed to have Ethernet to connect by a wire to another computer then there's all kinds of adapters out there for this. Given the increasing scarcity of Ethernet ports on new Windows computers, especially laptops and tablets, the need for such an adapter is shared with Apples. But, again, I can connect two new Apple computers together at 10 Gbps with a $10 cable I can get at most any Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or whatever. I can't do this with Windows or Linux, or at least I haven't seen it yet.
I'd like to be able to do the same with Windows and Linux. Why after 10 years has no one bothered to read the USB spec and implement a very useful wired connection between PCs? Seems to me that there would be no hardware limitation for this, all we need is the software. Has no third party read this either and seen the possibilities?
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.