MacBook Pro with mini LED backlighting set for fall launch

AppleInsider · July 18, 2021 2:25PM

Apple's rumored fall launch of new MacBook Pro models is becoming more credible, with a report reiterating a potential release before the end of 2021, complete with mini LED displays.

Various predictions have put forward the narrative that Apple will be bringing out a 14-inch MacBook Pro and a 16-inch MacBook Pro around the end of the year. While production of the new models is thought to be underway according to some analysts, a new report has doubled down on the assertion.

In the Bloomberg "Power On" newsletter, Mark Gurman claims the announcement for the new models will take place sometime between September and November. Gurman asserts that the models were supposed to launch at an earlier time, "but complications around the new mini LED display have held up production."

A supply chain report from June highlighted shortages in mini LED production impacting the MacBook Pro, but that production itself will occur between July and September.

Gurman's claim again puts forward the idea of a mini LED backlit MacBook Pro, which could provide various display benefits as seen in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. By using thousands of mini LED backlights, the contrast ratio of the display can reach 1 million to 1, with improved color representation and better HDR support.

Previous rumors has the new models gaining an improved 1080p webcam, new chips such as the M1X, and possibly the return of port options such as a HDMI port, SD card slot, and MagSafe charging.

On July 16, it was reported Apple Germany's online description had mistakenly described the 16-inch MacBook Pro as having an Apple Silicon M1 processor, under specific circumstances.

Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.

Read on AppleInsider

h4y3s · July 18, 2021 2:29PM

The sooner the better!

Have any “M1X” benchmark reports surfaced?

jas99 · July 18, 2021 2:32PM

While I don’t need the added port types - I’m perfectly happy with the one dongle I might use once every 8 months - I suspect the M1X chip and board size is so small Apple had room left over.

If you can add those extra ports without increasing the form factor, why not?

retrogusto · July 18, 2021 3:00PM

jas99 said:

While I don’t need the added port types - I’m perfectly happy with the one dongle I might use once every 8 months - I suspect the M1X chip and board size is so small Apple had room left over.
If you can add those extra ports without increasing the form factor, why not?

I know they won’t, but throwing in a USB-A would be a nice perk for their actual customers. I have a late-2016 MBP with only USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, and almost five years later I still need USB-A on a regular basis (along with other ports they stopped including). I understand that they sacrifice user convenience in the effort to push other companies to adopt the latest technologies, but at a certain point I do still want convenience and for $2400 I should be able to have it, especially now that anyone likely to respond to that kind of pressure has probably responded by now. I wish they had another way of incentivizing their industry partners that didn’t require them to intentionally make a less useful product. And yes, I know many of you early-adopters don’t need USB-A, or headphone jacks or whatever, but there are also plenty of us who don’t want to change our peripherals/accessories every few years unless it will directly benefit our purposes as we see them.

aderutter · July 18, 2021 3:21PM

Get yourself a new cable if you need usb-a.
or at least an adaptor for a couple of dollars.

darkvader · July 18, 2021 5:13PM

aderutter said:

Get yourself a new cable if you need usb-a.
or at least an adaptor for a couple of dollars.

Oh, sure, because the dongle pocket in my computer bag doesn't already weigh almost as much as the computer itself. I'll just throw in a few more dozen.

And it's not like I can take any out at this point, I actually had to use the mini-DVI to DVI adapter a few weeks ago. At least I don't have to regularly carry any SCSI adapters any more, it's been a few years since I needed one, so that's all in a separate SCSI data recovery bag.

Xed · July 18, 2021 5:54PM

darkvader said:

aderutter said:

Get yourself a new cable if you need usb-a.
or at least an adaptor for a couple of dollars.

Oh, sure, because the dongle pocket in my computer bag doesn't already weigh almost as much as the computer itself. I'll just throw in a few more dozen.

And it's not like I can take any out at this point, I actually had to use the mini-DVI to DVI adapter a few weeks ago. At least I don't have to regularly carry any SCSI adapters any more, it's been a few years since I needed one, so that's all in a separate SCSI data recovery bag.

I've never seen a computer cable or adapter that weighs 4.3lb, and I'm even going back to printer cables from the 1980s.

rcfa · July 18, 2021 5:55PM

The ridiculousness of USB-C is measured in three ways:

1) the fragility of the contact. I have a high quality OWC TB3 cable running from my laptop to an OWC TB3 dock. But if I only as much as look at my MBP the wrong way, all disks disconnect. There’s no meaningful locking the connectors in place, which is with what amounts to a PCIe connection NOT a desirable situation. So, holes for a screw-down USB-C connector would be a must for a device that has “Pro” in its name.

2) There’s no reasonable USB-C connector hubs. You want a USB hub with 5-13 USB ports? No problem, but they are still all USB-A connectors. So you either need to buy a dozen or so USB-A-to-USB-C adapter dongles (not exactly improving the reliability of a connection) or you still need to mix and match USB-C and USB-A type cables, unable to finally scale down the cable collection to just one type.

3) No clear way of knowing what cable you actually have: USB-only? USB/TB3? USB4? How much power can it carry?

As nice as the promise of a single, compact connector for everything is, its execution is fubar.

Maybe by the time only USB4 cables are sold, they figured out a way for cables to actually stay in place.

Until then: USB-C connects are IT hell.

cistern_on_a_chip · July 18, 2021 11:35PM

6 years on lack of USB-A is still annoyance. USB-C is great, I love it, but having to look for adapter at a worst possible time is stupid. That's literally the most useful port on any computer.

dewme · July 19, 2021 12:34AM

Xed said:

darkvader said:

aderutter said:

Get yourself a new cable if you need usb-a.
or at least an adaptor for a couple of dollars.

Oh, sure, because the dongle pocket in my computer bag doesn't already weigh almost as much as the computer itself. I'll just throw in a few more dozen.

And it's not like I can take any out at this point, I actually had to use the mini-DVI to DVI adapter a few weeks ago. At least I don't have to regularly carry any SCSI adapters any more, it's been a few years since I needed one, so that's all in a separate SCSI data recovery bag.

I've never seen a computer cable or adapter that weighs 4.3lb, and I'm even going back to printer cables from the 1980s.

Do hubs count? StarTech makes a USB to serial adapter hub that has 16 serial ports. One USB port to 16 RS-232 ports. It weighs in at 3.4 lbs not counting the power supply, which probably brings it up several more ounces. Definitely a non-typical use case since it's intended for industrial or lab use. But if you really ... really wanted to attach 16 serial devices to your laptop for whatever strange and bizarre reason and are still ruing the day that nearly all computer makers "stupidly" dropped RS-232 ports from their laptops, this would be your magic carpet ride to serial port nirvana.

fastasleep · July 19, 2021 12:45AM

retrogusto said:

jas99 said:

While I don’t need the added port types - I’m perfectly happy with the one dongle I might use once every 8 months - I suspect the M1X chip and board size is so small Apple had room left over.
If you can add those extra ports without increasing the form factor, why not?

I know they won’t, but throwing in a USB-A would be a nice perk for their actual customers. I have a late-2016 MBP with only USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, and almost five years later I still need USB-A on a regular basis (along with other ports they stopped including). I understand that they sacrifice user convenience in the effort to push other companies to adopt the latest technologies, but at a certain point I do still want convenience and for $2400 I should be able to have it, especially now that anyone likely to respond to that kind of pressure has probably responded by now. I wish they had another way of incentivizing their industry partners that didn’t require them to intentionally make a less useful product. And yes, I know many of you early-adopters don’t need USB-A, or headphone jacks or whatever, but there are also plenty of us who don’t want to change our peripherals/accessories every few years unless it will directly benefit our purposes as we see them.

Real question — why don't you just get updated USB-A/B to C cables for your peripherals? Or a desktop hub/dock (which is what I use) to plug them all into, if they're stuff that lives at your desk etc?

fastasleep · July 19, 2021 12:48AM

darkvader said:

aderutter said:

Get yourself a new cable if you need usb-a.
or at least an adaptor for a couple of dollars.

Oh, sure, because the dongle pocket in my computer bag doesn't already weigh almost as much as the computer itself. I'll just throw in a few more dozen.

And it's not like I can take any out at this point, I actually had to use the mini-DVI to DVI adapter a few weeks ago. At least I don't have to regularly carry any SCSI adapters any more, it's been a few years since I needed one, so that's all in a separate SCSI data recovery bag.

I call bullshit. You can get a single dongle/hub thingy with like half a dozen or more ports on them (including DVI) and they don't weigh more than a few ounces. If you were actually good at your job you'd have already solved your imaginary problem of "dozens of dongles" that doesn't actually weigh half the weight of your computer by any stretch of the imagination. What a joke.

fastasleep · July 19, 2021 12:51AM

rcfa said:

1) the fragility of the contact. I have a high quality OWC TB3 cable running from my laptop to an OWC TB3 dock. But if I only as much as look at my MBP the wrong way, all disks disconnect. There’s no meaningful locking the connectors in place, which is with what amounts to a PCIe connection NOT a desirable situation. So, holes for a screw-down USB-C connector would be a must for a device that has “Pro” in its name.

You're in luck:

https://www.owcdigital.com/products/thunderbolt-dock

Image: https://forums.appleinsider.com/uploads/editor/p2/mby8dnr7aj5h.png

fastasleep · July 19, 2021 12:56AM

cistern_on_a_chip said:

6 years on lack of USB-A is still annoyance. USB-C is great, I love it, but having to look for adapter at a worst possible time is stupid. That's literally the most useful port on any computer.

Put one on your keychain. Boom, never have to "look for adapter at a worst possible time" ever again. I don't know why people have so much trouble with this stuff.

Image: https://forums.appleinsider.com/uploads/editor/kh/kqs4qpa7x0z3.jpg

9secondkox2 · July 19, 2021 2:38AM

I wish Apple would have just went full throttle on usb c across the board. It would have really driven adoption. And the port world would look much more uniform and capable today.

And they could easily do what they used to do in the PowerBook era : provide an adapter with each unit. Would have erased any issues that legacy port users would have needed.

Now we just have a mess.

entropys · July 19, 2021 2:48AM

Thing with a spring release (yeah not “fall” as I live in better climes) is the iPhone will come out around the same time as the MBP.

Does this mean the MBP comes with an M2 SOC to complement the new A15 in the iPhone, or will it be seen as using a warmed over M1 called an M1X (last year’s chip)?

mattinoz · July 19, 2021 11:58AM

entropys said:

Thing with a spring release (yeah not “fall” as I live in better climes) is the iPhone will come out around the same time as the MBP.

Does this mean the MBP comes with an M2 SOC to complement the new A15 in the iPhone, or will it be seen as using a warmed over M1 called an M1X (last year’s chip)?

Exactly the reason I can’t see it being MxX chip but another name.

Assuming A15 is six core if they could package 2 of them they”d have the rumoured 10 to 12 cores and leverage the volume of the A instead of a short run chip.

mikethemartian · July 19, 2021 1:23PM

retrogusto said:

jas99 said:

While I don’t need the added port types - I’m perfectly happy with the one dongle I might use once every 8 months - I suspect the M1X chip and board size is so small Apple had room left over.
If you can add those extra ports without increasing the form factor, why not?

I know they won’t, but throwing in a USB-A would be a nice perk for their actual customers. I have a late-2016 MBP with only USB-C/Thunderbolt 3, and almost five years later I still need USB-A on a regular basis (along with other ports they stopped including). I understand that they sacrifice user convenience in the effort to push other companies to adopt the latest technologies, but at a certain point I do still want convenience and for $2400 I should be able to have it, especially now that anyone likely to respond to that kind of pressure has probably responded by now. I wish they had another way of incentivizing their industry partners that didn’t require them to intentionally make a less useful product. And yes, I know many of you early-adopters don’t need USB-A, or headphone jacks or whatever, but there are also plenty of us who don’t want to change our peripherals/accessories every few years unless it will directly benefit our purposes as we see them.

USB-A has a long life ahead for itself.

StrangeDays · July 19, 2021 2:16PM

darkvader said:

aderutter said:

Get yourself a new cable if you need usb-a.
or at least an adaptor for a couple of dollars.

Oh, sure, because the dongle pocket in my computer bag doesn't already weigh almost as much as the computer itself. I'll just throw in a few more dozen.

And it's not like I can take any out at this point, I actually had to use the mini-DVI to DVI adapter a few weeks ago. At least I don't have to regularly carry any SCSI adapters any more, it's been a few years since I needed one, so that's all in a separate SCSI data recovery bag.

You don’t need adapters when you have the proper native cables. USB-C is not new. Buy the cable.

Funny I don’t have any adapters that I travel with. I like it this way - you use adapters if you need them.

AppleZulu · July 19, 2021 2:25PM

It's hilarious they keep bringing up the additional retro ports rumor as if it's a real thing. If anyone can remember as far back as last year, that rumor started with "leaked" MBP drawings that appeared and then disappeared from the naughty part of the internets. My hypothesis has been and still is that those drawings were intentionally created by Apple for the purpose of finding and plugging leaks. As evidenced by the instantaneous gnashing-of-teeth in this very thread at the mere mention of dongles and such, Apple knew that the drawings would get wide attention, and yet, by virtue of featuring old tech masquerading as something new, the leaks would be found and amplified without Apple having to give up any actual new information. It's genius, really.

robaba · July 19, 2021 5:28PM

mattinoz said:

entropys said:

Thing with a spring release (yeah not “fall” as I live in better climes) is the iPhone will come out around the same time as the MBP.

Does this mean the MBP comes with an M2 SOC to complement the new A15 in the iPhone, or will it be seen as using a warmed over M1 called an M1X (last year’s chip)?

Exactly the reason I can’t see it being MxX chip but another name.
Assuming A15 is six core if they could package 2 of them they”d have the rumoured 10 to 12 cores and leverage the volume of the A instead of a short run chip.

M1X will not be a short run chip. It will have such a performance edge over the M1 it will likely stick around for 2 or more core generations. The same thing for the M1X derived super-SiP intended for the MacPro high end work station. It makes no sense volume-wise to replace these every year—you’d never break even with production/development costs. Besides, true professionals who depend on high-end workflows for their income tend to max out their machines at purchase and hang on a little longer than iPhone flippers. Two- years is probably the sweet spot in terms of product refreshes for the Pro market, IMHO.

MacBook Pro with mini LED backlighting set for fall launch

Comments