RIP Touch Bar -- Apple sends the 13-inch MacBook Pro to the grave

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware

It's official -- the new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 has slain the 13-inch MacBook Pro, bringing an end to the Touch Bar.

13-inch MacBook Pro is no more
13-inch MacBook Pro is no more



The 13-inch MacBook Pro stuck around in Apple's lineup for years after anyone expected it to. The aging design and Touch Bar served as a reminder to Apple's historically bad butterfly MacBook Pro era.

That changes with Apple's Scary Fast event held on October 30. The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at a lower price with the M3 processor.

Apple chose the most obvious path available. Rumors suggested the 13-inch MacBook Pro would get some kind of redesign and continue to be sold at its entry $1,299 price point. Instead, the company ditched the outdated model entirely and brought its $2,000 14-inch MacBook Pro down to $1,499 with M3.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro is truly removed from Apple's lineup too. It isn't hidden away on the website to hold some kind of awkward price point for education, it's just been buried.

Apple has commented before that the MacBook Air is its most popular MacBook, but the 13-inch MacBook Pro was the most popular pro model because of its price. People who didn't know better bought it for the pro name, not knowing its feature set was limited and any other Mac would be a better option.

Customers interested in the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 can pre-order starting October 30. Initial shipments begin the week of November 6.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,810member
    And not a moment too soon!
    watto_cobrawilliamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 12
    atonaldenimatonaldenim Posts: 57member
    called it! 😊
    watto_cobrawilliamlondon
  • Reply 3 of 12
    thttht Posts: 5,452member
    Hmm... Jason Snell, John Gruber were thinking Apple was coming out with an all new MBP13. Their birdies were telling them something about this, and just didn't quite know what. They knew something regarding the MBP13 was up, and knew it wasn't going to be an MBP13 with M3.

    MBA15 with M2/M3 would be better machine than this MBP14 with M3 imo, for most people. Imo, small niche of folks who want the miniLED, ports, and fan. I'm still mystified that a ~$1500 MBP model is primarily bought because it has the word "Pro" in its name, among enterprise customers they say. In the next 6 months, the M3 models will have advantages its advantages, but for regular web browser workflow and office app consumers, MBA15 is a better machine.

    watto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 4 of 12
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,573member
    An external keyboard with TouchBar wouldn't hurt anyone. I'd buy it, even if it was wired, which it would probably have to be, due to the higher power draw.
    edited October 2023 watto_cobraAlex1N
  • Reply 5 of 12
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member
    The Touch Bar needed to be implemented across the line, and not just on the one model for it to really go anywhere, and given it was apparently driven by spare processing power in the T-series chips, putting it in a standalone keyboard might have been tricky, if not expensive. Then again, they've put TouchID in a standalone keyboard, so...

    The one thing having a Touch Bar taught me was that I didn't use the Function Keys very often, as I never missed them. A physical Escape key, I did miss, and they at least fixed that in later models.

    Of course, the one thing I really miss is the extra TB port they sacrificed for the HDMI and SD-Card slot on the current models. I mean the reason I didn't consider the 13" Apple Silicon MBP was that it only has two ports, which is just not enough.
    FileMakerFellerpscooter63Alex1N
  • Reply 6 of 12
    pscooter63pscooter63 Posts: 1,080member
    The Touch Bar on my ‘19 NBP still gets love from me - though I loved it more when you could still, say, drag the volume tool continuously, as opposed to the incremental taps it was eventually dumbed-down to.  I do like that system dialog responses are still available there.  
    Sooner or later I’ll move on, but it will be a wistfully.
    Alex1Ndewmewilliamlondonanome
  • Reply 7 of 12
    markbritonmarkbriton Posts: 123member
    I’m a member of the Touch Bar Fan Club, but admittedly not many people signed up for our Halloween Social this year. That crazy Touch Bar had so much potential, but she never got the care and attention she deserved. She died so young. Gone but not forgotten, rest in peace.  
    edited October 2023 OferAlex1Ntenthousandthingswilliamlondonroundaboutnowanome
  • Reply 8 of 12
    lumineuxlumineux Posts: 8member
    pscooter63 said:
    The Touch Bar on my ‘19 NBP still gets love from me - though I loved it more when you could still, say, drag the volume tool continuously, as opposed to the incremental taps it was eventually dumbed-down to.
    Press and hold on the volume button, then the slider still works. I love that feature of the Touch Bar. 
    Alex1Nwilliamlondon
  • Reply 9 of 12
    mbenz1962mbenz1962 Posts: 171member
    tht said:
    Hmm... Jason Snell, John Gruber were thinking Apple was coming out with an all new MBP13. Their birdies were telling them something about this, and just didn't quite know what. They knew something regarding the MBP13 was up, and knew it wasn't going to be an MBP13 with M3.

    MBA15 with M2/M3 would be better machine than this MBP14 with M3 imo, for most people. Imo, small niche of folks who want the miniLED, ports, and fan. I'm still mystified that a ~$1500 MBP model is primarily bought because it has the word "Pro" in its name, among enterprise customers they say. In the next 6 months, the M3 models will have advantages its advantages, but for regular web browser workflow and office app consumers, MBA15 is a better machine.

    I think for many the decision might come down to storage.  If you need a 512 drive, then you might as well go with this new 14" Pro.  The M2 MBA 15" starts at $1299 but comes with 256. An upgrade to 512 runs you $1499 ($200 more).  Then, for that $100 difference to the 14" Pro (starting at $1599 with 512), you get a newer gen chip, higher resolution screen with ProMotion, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, 4 more hours expected battery life, better speakers and mics, WiFi 6E, and a 70W charger.

    In short, if you need the 512 Drive you would be foolish to go with a MBA. The prices on the two M2 MBAs need to come down by $100 each to leave enough room for the 15" MBA. Perhaps when they finally drop the aging 13" MBA with M1.
    edited October 2023
  • Reply 10 of 12
    jeffharrisjeffharris Posts: 789member
    Funny, but I rarely used the TouchBar on my ‘19 MBP 15”.
    I rarely even look at it. But, I use a wired keyboard 99% of the time.

    I’ll probably be getting a 16” M3 MBP! So, adios TouchBar! Hello, F-Keys!
  • Reply 11 of 12
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    I bought the 13”Pro for my audio/video system to replace the really aging 15” Macbook Pro I had been using there. I decided that I didn’t really need something that large there. I like the Touchbar. There’s really nothing wrong with the concept. But few developers took advantage of all it could do, including Apple. But yes, it did certainly do things that the fixed buttons couldn’t, and still can’t in the new models. So I’ll miss it.

    a problem is that people have muscle memory from buttons and buttons that have had fixed functions for decades. I used to try to stab a button before realizing it wasn’t there, and that function was an inch or two left or right. So I can imagine people getting frustrated. But if it were programmed properly by developers, people might have gotten over it. Oh well, Apple did have to try after all.

    as for the computer itself,yes, it definitely needed MagSafe and another port. Actually, just MagSafe would have opened up one port and would have been enough most of the time. So I use a small hub which allows me to attach power, Ethernet, my USB to SPID/f converter, SSD for my music and a backup drive for that drive. It works well enough. I’ve been using it for what, three years now?

    the new 14” is 4200 more expensive. You’re getting $200 worth of extra computer, but some people will still want a smaller, lighter model. The Macbook won’t cut it for them.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    NYC362NYC362 Posts: 80member
    I am absolutely thrilled to see this model retired.   First, most customers absolutely hated the Touch Bar... including me and I actually took the time to program it for a couple of applications.  

    When the M2 Air came out, all that was done to the 13" Pro was get the new processor- the M2 Air has a better, brighter screen, better webcam, speakers, MagSafe charging.   The only thing the 13" Pro had was that TouchBar and a fan that never really came on with the M series processors.

    The new 14" M3 Pro will serve those who need the better display (Mini-LED, ProMotion), the HDMI port and better speakers/microphones than the 13" Air.  


    williamlondon
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