Still can’t believe MagSafe is gone. When I got my first (and only) MacBook in 2012, I thought was this is an amazingly practical feature. But that’s Apple these days, kill prefect fine features in the name of thickness (lack thereof).
It's not gone... yet. This article is reporting on conjecture. But it is highly likely that Magsafe will disappear from the lineup with the next revision. It would be nice if Digitimes and I were wrong on this. Magsafe is the one of the best hardware features that Apple has come up with.
Still can’t believe MagSafe is gone. When I got my first (and only) MacBook in 2012, I thought was this is an amazingly practical feature. But that’s Apple these days, kill prefect fine features in the name of thickness (lack thereof).
It's not gone... yet. This article is reporting on conjecture. But it is highly likely that Magsafe will disappear from the lineup with the next revision. It would be nice if Digitimes and I were wrong on this. Magsafe is the one of the best hardware features that Apple has come up with.
I also believe MagSafe was a great innovation. But with new battery tech and all-day batteries, the need for MagSafe is greatly reduced. At home, my MBA and my wife's Macbook get charged overnight and are used without plugging in. At work, my 15-inch MBP is always plugged-in (except when going to meetings), pretty much like a desktop. I see no difference in practlicality for the three laptops even though the MBA has MagSafe and the other two don't.
This rumor is very similar to the 13.3” rMB rumor in 2016. That year, the display supply chain was indicating there with was going to be a new not a rMBP13 model with 13.3” Retina display. KGI put forth this rumor. Others were saying it could be a rMBA. Turns out, Apple sold it as a MBP13 without Touchbar, in which Apple stated it was the spiritual successor to the MBA. So, I wouldn’t put much credence to this rumor.
This rumor is also going the opposite direction as the prior MacBook Air rumor. That rumor speculated that Apple was going to drop the price of the MBA to $800 to $900. They aren’t going to do that while also adding a high DPI display to it.
Imo, the best thing for them to is to refresh the rMB12 with another port, either TB3 or Lightning, drop it to $1000, drop the rMBP13 wo TB to $1200, so on and so forth for the Touch Bar models, and call it a day. Maybe a MBA13 model can be at $900, but every day that model continues to be sold, the longer the transition to USB-C takes.
Why would Apple go backwards? The current MacBook and MacBook Pro with USBC and the butterfly keyboard sell really well. They're not going backwards. Yes, maybe it would sell the way you have it, but thats not going forward with technology.
Phil Schiller said it himself - in 5 years, USB C will be the standard. Right now, USB A is still the standard, so eliminating the USB A port means you have computers incompatible with the current standard. (edit: incompatible without an adapter)
I just bought a MacBook Pro - and I thought long and hard before doing it. I needed a new laptop with a larger screen and better resolution to replace my 2011 Air, but everything I have that plugs into the USB port is USB A, so I had to get a dongle. USB C is clearly a superior technology, but the majority of users aren't running 4k displays off of their MacBooks or transferring 10GB files, so a USB 3 port works just fine. Even adding a single USB A port to the MacBook Pros would have been a huge convenience without sacrificing any connectivity. It's a bit embarrassing to explain to my friends how superior the USB C port on my $2400 computer is when I need an adaptor for everything.
Still can’t believe MagSafe is gone. When I got my first (and only) MacBook in 2012, I thought was this is an amazingly practical feature. But that’s Apple these days, kill prefect fine features in the name of thickness (lack thereof).
It's not gone... yet. This article is reporting on conjecture. But it is highly likely that Magsafe will disappear from the lineup with the next revision. It would be nice if Digitimes and I were wrong on this. Magsafe is the one of the best hardware features that Apple has come up with.
I also believe MagSafe was a great innovation. But with new battery tech and all-day batteries, the need for MagSafe is greatly reduced. At home, my MBA and my wife's Macbook get charged overnight and are used without plugging in. At work, my 15-inch MBP is always plugged-in (except when going to meetings), pretty much like a desktop. I see no difference in practlicality for the three laptops even though the MBA has MagSafe and the other two don't.
For charging, I guess it's nice to have ports on both sides of the computer, but after charging with USB C for 6 weeks I can absolutely say that the mag safe is a far superior connection. Easier to connect (I could connect it without even looking at the computer), lower profile, and more secure. Not having a green/amber LED to show charging status is annoying, too. The MagSafe connection is something I miss on a daily basis. USB C may be the future, but the future is evidently much less convenient.
Don’t forget that Apple still needs some kind of Executive Laptop - the thinnest, lightest, smallest machine that executives can pay absolute top dollar for by expensing or with their big salaries. This is a super high margin product (that could help fund R&D on future consumer machines).
What features do executives need? Not 60 fps gaming or running Monte Carlo modelling (there’s a specialist with a beast desktop back at the office for that). They work or catch up with personal communication on the plane and want a leading edge product to look good next to the other CEO sitting nearby. Work is communication with exec team (i.e. email) or reviewing vast amounts of info on business status or competitive position/strategy formation (i.e. reading). And a good enough camera for family Facetime or meetings back at the hotel.
Core M does the job, but this isn’t the use case that you or I might have if we need to do more, especially for top dollar. So there still might be a profitable niche for rMB12.
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This rumor is also going the opposite direction as the prior MacBook Air rumor. That rumor speculated that Apple was going to drop the price of the MBA to $800 to $900. They aren’t going to do that while also adding a high DPI display to it.
Imo, the best thing for them to is to refresh the rMB12 with another port, either TB3 or Lightning, drop it to $1000, drop the rMBP13 wo TB to $1200, so on and so forth for the Touch Bar models, and call it a day. Maybe a MBA13 model can be at $900, but every day that model continues to be sold, the longer the transition to USB-C takes.
I just bought a MacBook Pro - and I thought long and hard before doing it. I needed a new laptop with a larger screen and better resolution to replace my 2011 Air, but everything I have that plugs into the USB port is USB A, so I had to get a dongle. USB C is clearly a superior technology, but the majority of users aren't running 4k displays off of their MacBooks or transferring 10GB files, so a USB 3 port works just fine. Even adding a single USB A port to the MacBook Pros would have been a huge convenience without sacrificing any connectivity. It's a bit embarrassing to explain to my friends how superior the USB C port on my $2400 computer is when I need an adaptor for everything.
For charging, I guess it's nice to have ports on both sides of the computer, but after charging with USB C for 6 weeks I can absolutely say that the mag safe is a far superior connection. Easier to connect (I could connect it without even looking at the computer), lower profile, and more secure. Not having a green/amber LED to show charging status is annoying, too. The MagSafe connection is something I miss on a daily basis. USB C may be the future, but the future is evidently much less convenient.
What features do executives need? Not 60 fps gaming or running Monte Carlo modelling (there’s a specialist with a beast desktop back at the office for that). They work or catch up with personal communication on the plane and want a leading edge product to look good next to the other CEO sitting nearby. Work is communication with exec team (i.e. email) or reviewing vast amounts of info on business status or competitive position/strategy formation (i.e. reading). And a good enough camera for family Facetime or meetings back at the hotel.
Core M does the job, but this isn’t the use case that you or I might have if we need to do more, especially for top dollar. So there still might be a profitable niche for rMB12.
People who want more power will pay for the Pro. And they can also afford to drop the Pro to $1199.