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Apple Said To Plan First Pro Laptop Overhaul in Four Years (bloomberg.com) 304

Posted by msmash from the finally dept.
It's been a while since Apple upgraded most of its computer lineups. It has come to a point, where it's being advised that the Cupertino-based company should stop selling the dated inventories. But the wait will be over later this year, says Mark Gurman, the reporter with the best track record in Apple's ecosystem. Reporting for Bloomberg, Gurman says that the company will be overhauling its MacBook Pro laptop line for the first time in over four years, packing it with a range of interesting features. From the report: The updated notebooks will be thinner, include a touch screen strip for function keys, and will be offered with more powerful and efficient graphics processors for expert users such as video gamers, said the people, who asked not to be named. The most significant addition to the new MacBook Pro is a secondary display above the keyboard that replaces the standard function key row. Instead of physical keys, a strip-like screen will present functions on an as-needed basis that fit the current task or application. The smaller display will use Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, a thinner, lighter and sharper screen technology, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this year. Apple's goal with the dedicated function display is to simplify keyboard shortcuts traditionally used by experienced users. The panel will theoretically display media playback controls when iTunes is open, while it could display editing commands like cut and paste during word processing tasks, the people said. The display also allows Apple to add new buttons via software updates rather than through more expensive, slower hardware refreshes. [...] Apple is using one of AMD's "Polaris" graphics chips because the design offers the power efficiency and thinness necessary to fit inside the slimmer Apple notebook, the person said.
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Apple Said To Plan First Pro Laptop Overhaul in Four Years More

Apple Said To Plan First Pro Laptop Overhaul in Four Years

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  • What about the batteries?? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:28PM (#52678525)

    If you open a Macbook Air, the entire thing is filled with tamper-proof epoxy and glue and any type of serviceability is practically impossible.

    • What about the circuit traces? (Score:4, Funny)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:33PM (#52678551)

      You can't even replace the traces between components without separating the board layers? Madness, everyone knows traces should be on the surface of the board where you can make a nice solder bridge if you so desire or fortune dictates!

    • Re:What about the batteries?? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by saloomy ( 2817221 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @01:13PM (#52678873)
      Apple can service the batteries for you. This isn't the same as having swappable batteries, since you can't extend the battery runtime by swapping batteries in the middle of your day, but you do get longer run times with the built-in batteries (given a certain laptop body size) since they use more of the internal space for housing them vs. a battery case, latch and release mechanism, circuit contacts, unit protection, etc... And, the units themselves can be sturdier since the case can take a simpler shape, with no seams for the batteries.

      The cost of switching them are pretty reasonable at an apple store too. I was surprised, as I would have assumed it would be an egregious price (because... apple). The only painful part of the process was losing the laptop for a few days.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by SeaFox ( 739806 )

      Apple laptops are not designed to be user-serviceable (or even necessarily third-party serviceable).
      You're not the the consumer Apple is interested in. Just buy something else and put Linux on it.

      • Apple laptops are not designed to be user-serviceable (or even necessarily third-party serviceable).

        Laptops in general are not designed to be user-serviceable, nor even necessarily third-party serviceable. Apple laptops are really no worse or better than any other recent laptop manufacturer's design.

        But, with the exception of the keyboard on the Unibody models, the stuff that people need to change (Hard Drive/SSD, battery and trackpad, and RAM on socketed models) are generally pretty easy to get to and replace.

    • If you open a Macbook Air, the entire thing is filled with tamper-proof epoxy and glue and any type of serviceability is practically impossible.

      Bullshit [ifixit.com].

  • sharp edge (Score:5, Insightful)

    by greenfruitsalad ( 2008354 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:31PM (#52678539)

    i vote for getting rid of the sharp edge that's grating the skin off my wrists. i'd similarly welcome a computer that can keep itself cool without sounding like an asthmatic jet engine. it would also be nice to be able to fall asleep with a running computer on my chest/abdomen without being woken up by a burning skin sensation.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • the ridiculous noise was the first thing i noticed when my employer bought these computers. there was no dust in them back then. there simply isn't a large enough air exhaust to be quiet.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rsborg ( 111459 )

          the ridiculous noise was the first thing i noticed when my employer bought these computers. there was no dust in them back then. there simply isn't a large enough air exhaust to be quiet.

          Macs are the quietest laptops (about 1/3 of the population) in our company of 5000+. Are you sure you or your employer aren't mining bitcoin in the background or something?

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by Megol ( 3135005 )

            So you have only Macs and bargain-basement Acers?
            Really, Apple choose style over function when it comes to cooling. Smaller inlet and outlet vents means higher sound levels compared to a machine with large (clearly visible) vents even if the fan and heatsink/heatpipe is kept the same. However Apple machines tend to have small heatsinks, small fans.

            And then physics get in the way -> louder. Yes one can innovate by improving the fan efficiency, the sound profile of the fan (by spacing the fan blades right)

    • Re:sharp edge (Score:5, Informative)

      by Sir Holo ( 531007 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @01:22PM (#52678943)

      i vote for getting rid of the sharp edge that's grating the skin off my wrists.

      I bought a nail file, one with two different grits.

      I filed down the case-edges where it hits the wrists. Also the two sharp edges of the "case-opener" indent. Problem solved.

    • Re:sharp edge (Score:4, Interesting)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @01:32PM (#52679035) Homepage Journal

      Doesn't Mac OS have cooling profiles like Windows does? On Windows 7 and later you can configure the cooling profile in the advanced power management settings to be either "active" or "passive". Active ramps the fan up, passive throttles the CPU to keep the temperature down. I used to use it when I was downloading stuff overnight to keep the fan on silent.

    • I can understand the sharp edge comment, but not the heat/noise. My MacBook Pro runs cool as a cucumber and damned near silent. It's like church mouse compared to the leaf blower that is my HP work machine. I'm not doubting you. I just wonder if there is a difference between years/models.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Quirkz ( 1206400 )

        May depend on what's being used. My old MacBook had issues displaying certain pages in the browser (flash video, I think?) and would go from quiet and cool to full-processor and hot in a matter of a minute. The new MacBook Pro is also generally good, but turn on Skype, for instance, and it's transformed into a heating unit almost instantaneously.

        • May depend on what's being used. My old MacBook had issues displaying certain pages in the browser (flash video, I think?) and would go from quiet and cool to full-processor and hot in a matter of a minute.

          That's because Adobe won't do hardware video acceleration on Macs. It's a well-known problem, and yet another reason to ditch Adobe, like I have. My 2013 MacBook Pro came without Flash installed, and I decided to see how long I could live without it.

          I still haven't installed ANY Adobe product, including Acrobat Reader nor Flash. Don't miss it one little bit.

      • It can also be a difference in software.

        My company uses a particular video conference software that is developed by people that apparently won some kind of bet to NOT use any of the hardware accelerated codecs for video and audio. Join a meeting, watch the CPU spike, the fans spin up. Leave the meeting, fans turn off after about 15 seconds.

  • Touch screen function keys (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:32PM (#52678545)

    Fantastic. Nothing suits a keyboard better than having to look down at it to use it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ksevio ( 865461 )
      I imagine 90% of the users don't use them without looking as it is so they're just expanding the user feedback.

      • Re:Touch screen function keys (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @01:31PM (#52679027)
        The only reason 90% of users have to look at the function keys to use them is because on 90% of laptops, some idiot accountant or designer decided that spacing the function keys equally was cheaper or looked cleaner than breaking them into groups of 4 like on a real keyboard. The few laptops which split the function keys into groups of 4 (the Thinkpads for one), I can use all day without looking at the keyboard.
    • The problem is that Apple is now aiming all it's products at kids who think the iPad is a computer and never learned to touch type.

    • Re:Touch screen function keys (Score:4, Informative)

      by GerbilSoft ( 761537 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @01:23PM (#52678961)
      Lenovo tried this already with the [url='http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-2014']2014 ThinkPad X1 Carbon[/url]. Granted, the touch strip had fixed indicators instead of a full OLED screen, but it was garbage. (Never mind the other keyboard brain damage like replacing Caps Lock with Home/End and tacking on a Delete key to the right of Backspace.)

      Thankfully, they reverted this with the 2015 model.

    • Nothing suits a keyboard better than having to look down at it to use it.

      In reality, because I don't use them much, I have to look down when I want to use the current function keys to make sure of what I'm hitting. Why would this new feature be any different?

      I do know it would substantially increase my use of the function keys. I wish that all key-caps were customizable so that I could see what actions would be performed from each key when a modifier key (like Alt) was held down...

    • Can we get a touch screen with a stylus for the entire display, please? It's kind of sad when $500 notebooks include this feature but $2000 MacBook Pros do not.

    • Well, this is not new, my stinkpad carbon has the feature and there were so many complaints that the following version went back to keys instead of the touch strip.

      Stupid idea already proven in the market to be stupid.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by phayes ( 202222 )

        Yeah! Just like removing the physical keys doomed the iPhone because we all know that Blackberry proved looong ago that physical keys are better!

    • How long until it becomes muscle memory?

      Setup a mapping for photoshop and use it every day. Some people can swype type on their 'feedbackless' touch screens.

  • Great (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Yvan256 ( 722131 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:33PM (#52678553) Homepage Journal

    Now how about a Mac mini overhaul? The last change was two years ago and it was actually a downgrade from the 2012 models.

    There's something really wrong at Apple for still selling computers in 2016 with 5400RPM hard drives and only 4GB of RAM.

    • Re:Great (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Foofoobar ( 318279 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:50PM (#52678697)
      Lets hope they get a clue and allow upgradable RAM again. VM'ing on laptops is sucky without upgradable RAM.

    • +1 amen.

      I guess the Mac Mini was cutting into the Laptop side too much. Uh, how you you stop gimping a good product turning it into something people don't want.

      Expandable RAM, an upgraded CPU, an upgraded GPU, lots of ports and you're good to go.

      • Are you kidding me? I can't explain the rational to fix the memory onto the board, but one thing apple is not afraid of is cannibalizing their product line. I mean, their iMac was their best seller, until laptops. Their iPod was their best portable product, until iPhone. Their Macbook Air was until iPad. iPad, iPhone Plus. No. Cutting into other product lines is not the reason here.

        • The iMac is still Apple's best deal if you don't need full computer capability on the road. In my corporate days I carried the big MacBoh Pro everywhere. Today I get more power for less with the 27" iMac plus an iPad Mini. No more airport and hotel hassle that goes with carrying an expensive laptop around, and in any case the 17" MBP is no longer made.

    • Especially when the Intel Nuc has finally caught up.

    • The mini computer size has really taken off recently with stuff like this [newegg.com]. Apple was once ahead of the game with the Mac Mini, but now there's no reason to get it anymore unless you really need OSX for some reason.

      Other laptop manufacturers are catching up on the laptops too......for a long time, Apple construction was clearly superior, but it's not so clear anymore.

  • Great. Now what about their iMacs and Mac Minis?

  • Piss on Apple (Score:5, Insightful)

    by geek ( 5680 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:34PM (#52678563)

    The updated notebooks will be thinner

    Fuck off

  • Thinner / Lighter ... who cares (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rvnash ( 4196465 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:35PM (#52678575)
    Who cares about thinner lighter for a _PRO_ notebook PRO means expandable. They should make it thicker and heavier, if it means I can install updated drives and memory a few years from now.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by krkhan ( 1071096 )
      As soon as I read "Apple" and "overhaul" in the same sentence, I was waiting for the word "thin" to appear in the list of innovations. Being literally the first item on the list, didn't take that long either.

    • Same thing with the iPhone. I would like an iPhone that is thicker because it has a bigger battery that lasts twice as long.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Lumpy ( 12016 )

        All phone makers are guilt of this retardation of thinner.

        I want an iphone 6 plus that is 2X thick and gives me 4 days between charges. Sadly all the freaking add on cases that can do this are 4X thicker with a lot of wasted space for plastic and you cant buy a nice aluminum one that is well designed.

        Even the apple battery case is a fat ugly monster.

        • I want an iphone 6 plus that is 2X thick and gives me 4 days between charges

          Don't most people just throw their phones on their charger at night when they go to sleep???

    • Re:Thinner / Lighter ... who cares (Score:5, Insightful)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @01:35PM (#52679063) Homepage Journal

      You're doing it wrong. You are supposed to have a stack of Thunderbold HDDs and GPUs on your desk. And a USB hub or two, plus USB to HDMI and USB to ethernet dongles. Come on, why wouldn't you want all those cool accessories?!

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

      Keeping the pro the same thickness would be fine and for the love of all that is holy support M.2 and expandable memory. This anorexic design language needs to stop now. Why can I not have a good old HDMI or display port connection? I also need more than one USB connection because I really do not want to have to haul around a hub with me. Ethernet. Yes please.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:36PM (#52678589)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • How about proper delete AND backspace keys? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @12:54PM (#52678719)

      then just keep the function keys where they are

      Personally I couldn't give a rip about the function keys. They generally aren't very useful to me anyway. What I'd like Apple to do is put a proper goddam backspace AND delete keys on their laptops. It's annoying as hell to have to hit Fn+delete on a Macbook.

    • I understand your personal pain, but face it: no one is using function keys.

      They are completely useless for people like me who can not memorize what Fx is supposed to mean in App 1 and why does it mean something else in App 2?

      I only use F-keys in games, where their position on the keyboard is visually connected to actions on the screen, e.g. F1 is the left most action and F12 is the right most. E.g. in Eve Online.

      Actually I ditch programs that have stupid shortcuts. I mean: EMACS e.g. instead of C-F (for FI

  • On their thinkpad. It was an unmitigated disaster. They immediately went back to regular function keys on the next generation.

  • What gamer wants their thin and high cost hardware?

    Let's see what is bad low ram count with high priced upgrades + soldered in so you can't DIY.

    Some systems even have soldered storage starting small 128GB is not that much for gaming.

    For laptops starting price of $2000 for a lower end gpu with a high res display.

  • "expert users such as video gamers" (Score:3)

    by Holi ( 250190 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @01:10PM (#52678847)
    I get that gamers like to mess with hardware, but who in their right mind would consider them expert users?

  • Give us a real pro macbook.

    17" 4K screen and a 8 core XEON processor with 3 SSD 0.2 slots to raid with. and a killer dual video card setup make this a $5000 STFU Windows Fanboi powerhouse.

    Sadly they dont care about us professionals that need screen and processor power coupled with raw speed. They cater to the "i surf the internet" crowds with this low power long battery life that care about thinner and lighter more than actually having a computer that can run anything.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Holi ( 250190 )
      Sounds like you need a desktop and not a laptop. Dual video cards? 8-core CPU, 3 x m.2 ssd, and a battery life measured in seconds.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ThorGod ( 456163 )

      They could do both..keep the Air line for the super thin/long battery time users and beef up the Pro line...like those lines ought to be already.

    • I too would love to see a return of the 17" form factor, I had the last model they made and loved that very much. It's still used to this day by my wife though mostly for remote VPN into her work...

      That said I have found that a pretty good replacement is the 15" Macbook Pro and using the iPad Pro as a second screen via the Duet app. Then it's practical to carry a second screen with you, and I'd have the iPad with my anyway for development...

    • They're already at ~3K native if you turn off the high-DPI scaling.

  • I seriously wonder sometimes why Apple, who makes 30% on all media and app purchases, all of which is profit at this point, feels the need to lock customers into non-upgradable hardware. Yes, it's nice to be able to charge $350 for a $10 SSD upgrade, but there comes a point where you have to decide whether you want all these devices to end up as landfill after 2 years. I know it's not 1992 anymore, and computers are "cheap," but it's still expected IMO to be able to add storage capacity or RAM to the "pro"

  • What an OLED touch strip could be good for... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jeffb (2.718) ( 1189693 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2016 @01:26PM (#52678991)

    Wow. Are there really that many folks out there who touch-type with their function keys? I mean, I honestly don't know -- maybe there are, but I certainly haven't seen them.

    Think about how awful Apple's current scheme is, where fkeys are overloaded for brightness control, volume control, keyboard backlight control (really?), and whatever else.

    Now picture mapping those controls onto a touch-strip with a display. A small cluster of controls to the left (right, whatever), one for screen brightness, one for volume, one for keyboard backlight (again, whatever).

    Touch one, and a slider control expands out from it. Slide left to decrease, slide right to increase. Maybe, if extensive user testing supports it, "drag off the bottom" to commit your new setting or "drag off the top" to cancel it. Or maybe just lifting your finger commits it, and cancel isn't needed; we certainly don't get "cancel" with the current up/down key controls. Maybe touch detection only gives an x-axis value, but if I were sitting on Apple's patents, I'd certainly add at least a rudimentary y-axis measurement, and multi-touch detection.

    Double-tap (or "mash") the volume control to mute or unmute.

    Double-tap or mash screen brightness to blank or restore the screen.

    Don't want controls? Map a simple out-of-band gesture (again, drag-up or drag-down seems ideal) to move between fkeys, system functions, and application functions.

    I don't have any idea what Apple will actually do with this strip, but I hope it's less of a disappointment than their touch keyboard and multitouch stuff so far. I used the FingerWorks Touchstream keyboard for years, and I'm still bitter that Apple hasn't used more than 30% of the gestural technology they got when they bought out and shut down that company.

    • Wow. Are there really that many folks out there who touch-type with their function keys? I mean, I honestly don't know -- maybe there are, but I certainly haven't seen them.

      What's "many"? I have no idea what the numbers might be, but among power users, like programmers, graphic artists and others who make heavy use of keyboard shortcuts to make their work efficient, it's indeed very common. In other words, among the sort of people who are likely to buy a Pro laptop.

  • >> a strip-like screen will present functions on an as-needed basis that fit the current task or application.

    Oh, you mean like "function keys" do?

    >> to simplify keyboard shortcuts traditionally used by experienced users... it could display editing commands like cut and paste during word processing tasks

    Yes, because a "key" that only exists some of the time, and has no tactile feedback is easier to use without looking at it than ctrl-C.

    Look - programmable OLED keys are neat, I get it. But two

  • Item 1: Most Apple laptops with discrete graphics chips have problems. If they give up on the Iris Pro models, I don't want to know what happens.
    Item 2: Pretty OLED touch bands are for content consumers (remember that part of the world who is calling Apple users "sheep"? Maybe they were right.). Content producers (programmers, designers, whatever) need physical keys with tactile feedback because they don't look at the fucking keyboard when working.

    I switched to Macs from WinTel boxes with Linux on them like

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