Pretty much everything about this rumor is unexpected. That somehow makes it feel like it has to be accurate. It’s not hard to imagine how pandemic issues could cause them to extend production of this model and do a simple refresh.
The most interesting thing about this rumor is the M2 refresh, so soon. If true, then combined with the recent EEC filings, this means the new laptop model number is an M2 Air, and at least one of the desktop model numbers is an M2 Mini.
I really don't see the point of the Air. The 13" Air and 13" MBP are almost the exact same size and weight but the Air has the illusion of thinness. They could probably attain the same size and weight by using a slightly thinner squared design which is more efficient space wise for the battery, which can probably be a hair smaller with the M2's increased efficiency. Proof! No more MBP Air other maybe in name only.
I'm really hoping the M2 (with media accelerator that's in the pro/max) with up to 32GB RAM, Magsafe and 2 TB ports (one on each side of the case) and no Touch Bar. Perfection would be a 14" screen. I don't need a Pro or Max chip or even more ports, just more RAM, since I already have a TB dock.
I’ve said it before but the TouchBar tech should eventually become TouchKeys - so physical keys which can each have changeable icons on them. So in Photshop you have the photoshop shortcut icons on the keys for example. Best of both worlds.
Like this, only on a keyboard, and ability to execute shortcut icons?...lovely idea. Flexible and extremely useful.
It won't be called "just MacBook" because that would be a marketing mess. And that's not what it's called now. For good reason.
When the MacBook existed, it was lesser than the Air. It was the Good, in the Good, Better (Air), Best (Pro). The "iPad" also exists as the Good in the Good, Better (Air), Best (Pro).
You might not like that there is a cheaper MacBook Pro, but it is definitively better than the Air because it has fans for sustained performance and has more connectivity. This machine is a popular choice for those who don't want the limitations of the Air and don't want to spend the money on the high end Pros.
It's perfectly positioned exactly where it is, and confused precisely no one.
A shame Apple couldn’t figure a way to make the Touch Bar more practically impactful. Was a brilliant idea in theory.
MANY would disagree that Touch Bar was "a brilliant idea," but leaving that debate aside--Apple needs third parties to support these innovations in their apps to make them truly useful and that never happened with Touch Bar. The iPhone's 3-D Press tech suffered a similar fate of insufficient support from third parties in their apps.
And MANY have stated it was a great idea. But most recognize that it was not executed well in the long run. Nevertheless, it really was a "brilliant IDEA." Now that's out of the way, it looks like you agree that nothing was really done with the premise of the Touch Bar with Apple or third parties. Apple had a decent enough start but never followed through. third parties mostly ignored it. That was kind of the whole point of mentioning this. Again, it was a brilliant idea that was not developed enough to be more practical execution.
I don't think "not executed well" is correct. Only because it implies that if Apple did a better job with it (like haptic feedback or a retina display) that then it somehow would have succeeded. No. Apple put it out there, and it was ignored, because it wasn't useful. All it did was make the few things we still needed the function row for more difficult, which irritated everyone. That irritation was supposed to be the tradeoff for the promise of app context controls that never materialized. It also had a very flawed premise...We don't spend much time looking at the keyboard. This would change that so that in order to use it at all, or even know the controls had changed, we would have to look at it. Flawed and doomed from the started.
Comments
I'm really hoping the M2 (with media accelerator that's in the pro/max) with up to 32GB RAM, Magsafe and 2 TB ports (one on each side of the case) and no Touch Bar. Perfection would be a 14" screen. I don't need a Pro or Max chip or even more ports, just more RAM, since I already have a TB dock.
It won't be called "just MacBook" because that would be a marketing mess. And that's not what it's called now. For good reason.
When the MacBook existed, it was lesser than the Air. It was the Good, in the Good, Better (Air), Best (Pro).
The "iPad" also exists as the Good in the Good, Better (Air), Best (Pro).
You might not like that there is a cheaper MacBook Pro, but it is definitively better than the Air because it has fans for sustained performance and has more connectivity. This machine is a popular choice for those who don't want the limitations of the Air and don't want to spend the money on the high end Pros.
It's perfectly positioned exactly where it is, and confused precisely no one.