I bet Apple will thin out the MacBook Pros again

[DHagan4755]

Because why not?

Since Apple game plans years in advance, my guess is the new 2021 MacBook Pro enclosure was in the works for 3-4 years. And that was before it was delayed from its planned unveiling at WWDC 2021. Apple likely initially designed the new MacBook Pro to accommodate both customer feedback & Intel processors (i.e. Alder Lake). As Apple's custom Mac silicon ambitions evolved, Apple likely kept the overall design just in case their internal transition timetable slipped. It's always good to have backup plans, as Steve used to say.

It's not like this would be unusual. Apple's adjusted thickness between models recently with the iPad & iPhone, for example, to accommodate a bigger battery or mini LEDs. They thinned out the late 2013 retina 13" MacBook Pro from the early 2013 retina 13" MacBook Pro (0.75" to 0.71" thickness). A great example was the leap from the first generation iPad thickness to the iPad 2.

People would prefer a thinner, more svelte MacBook Pro — so long as it still feels rigid, battery life remains excellent & it doesn't thermally throttle! Thinning it out again makes some sense. Apple would probably shave off a few millimeters in thickness as the M2 Pro/Max will be more energy efficient & can implement a smaller battery. The thinner MacBook Pro would be noticeable but not as dramatic as the rumored new MacBook Air.

Thoughts?

 

[jdb8167]

I don’t care how thin a notebook is but I do care about how heavy it is. These are somewhat related but maybe Apple can figure out how get back to 3 pounds again.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

The 14" MacBook Pro is 0,1mm thinner than the 13" model. The new 16" MacBook Pro is just 0,6mm thicker than the previous model.

 

[ian87w]

The 14" MacBook Pro is 0,1mm thinner than the 13" model. The new 16" MacBook Pro is just 0,6mm thicker than the previous model.

This. The new Macbook Pros are actually not that much thicker than the previous gen, but it's just that the edges design are not tapered that people feels they were so much thicker.

 

[internetrando]

I really pray they do not. The thinner design they championed from 2016-2021 was rife with issues and complaints. The new devices finally correct a lot of them; although they're not really much different in size. The design leads people to feel that way, but numbers don't lie.

The obsession with "thinness" has lost me. I could not care less about the thickness (to a point). In fact, I would generally be happier with a thicker/heavier device if it means that I have better battery life and better I/O. I am thrilled with the battery life and performance of my 13 Pro Max, and I imagine that I will be thrilled with the battery life and performance of my 2021 16" (when it shows up).

When design impacts performance, I think it is an issue. This was never clearer to me than when my 2019 i9 would perform tasks more slowly than an i7 model due to thermal constraints and throttling. Yes, that appears to have been solved with Apple silicone, but cutting down the size even more would likely lead us back into the same issues we had with Intel. God forbid they take away the ports and MagSafe again.

 

[DHagan4755]

The 14" MacBook Pro is 0,1mm thinner than the 13" model. The new 16" MacBook Pro is just 0,6mm thicker than the previous model.

The tapering technique used to give it the illusion of being thinner was very much sleight of hand & the epitome of form over function. Personally, the new design is more preferable because it's not making the sacrifices that sullied the models from 2016-2021. However it's well within reason to expect Apple will refine the design between models because they pretty much do that now with iPhones & iPads. So plan on it.

 

[hovscorpion12]

The basic MacBooks will retain their thinness whereas the Pro MacBooks will keep their existing IO ports/design.

Playing back and forth with designs will result in insane backlash.

 

[metapunk2077fail]

I don't think this design will change for at least 5 years. It's solid and the retro movement is a thing.

 

[JPack]

Because why not?

Since Apple game plans years in advance, my guess is the new 2021 MacBook Pro enclosure was in the works for 3-4 years. And that was before it was delayed from its planned unveiling at WWDC 2021. Apple likely initially designed the new MacBook Pro to accommodate both customer feedback & Intel processors (i.e. Alder Lake). As Apple's custom Mac silicon ambitions evolved, Apple likely kept the overall design just in case their internal transition timetable slipped. It's always good to have backup plans, as Steve used to say.

So you think the design of the new MBP enclosure took longer than designing M1? Silicon simulations and power consumption estimates would tell Apple where the project is at.

If M1 slipped, Apple could have simply continued using the existing 13- and 16-inch chassis for Alder Lake.

Apple's own charts show the M1 Max is an 85W chip and the chassis thickness is consistent with that. It also gives Apple the option to put in an MCM M1 Max.

 

[rappr]

It would have been nice if they used the efficiency gains of the M1 to revisit the 2016 chassis for the larger pro. It was cool, at the time, that they got it down to four pounds. Oh well. I’m hoping they can at least focus on making the MacBook Air thinner and lighter.

 

[Ray2]

I agree. Given the crap software they're releasing these days, may as well put out unusable Macs to go with it.

 

[LinkRS]

I like the current design, with MagSafe Having real thin looks nice, but is not practical IMHO. I remember stories where reviewers reported misplacing and losing the original MacBook Air as it was so thin. If it is too thin, you have to sacrifice ports, as we all lived through. I would concur that weight is more important than thickness.

 

[jdb8167]

The 14" MacBook Pro is 0,1mm thinner than the 13" model.

But a 1/2 pound (0.227 kg) heavier.

 

[mtneer]

They may still have ghosts of their former design guy lurking in their studios insisting on thinness by removing functionality.

 

[KaliYoni]

I don’t care how thin a notebook is but I do care about how heavy it is.

I would generally be happier with a thicker/heavier device

I would concur that weight is more important than thickness.

I propose, as a sporadic Surrealist, that Apple make a MacBook Nadja which is the size of a large pizza box but weighs the same as a MacBook Air.

"And even then this matter did not assume its true proportions, I mean those which it has retained, until after the moment this lady proposed coming back to lay on the table, on the very spot where I had so hoped she would not leave the blue glove, a bronze one she happened to possess and which I have subsequently seen at her home–also a woman's glove, the wrist folded over, the fingers flat–a glove I can never resist picking up, always astonished at its weight and interested, apparently, only in calculating its precise weight against what the other glove would not have weighed at all."
André Breton, 1928

 

[goMac]

It's not actually really thicker, and most the extra space has gone to battery, not cooling.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Personally I hope they don’t.

Leave the other lines of laptops to be the thin and light and let the pros be the workhorse powerhouse machines.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

As Apple's custom Mac silicon ambitions evolved, Apple likely kept the overall design just in case their internal transition timetable slipped. It's always good to have backup plans, as Steve used to say.

I don’t think so. While the leakers would like for folks to believe that Apple waits until the last months before release to make hardware decisions (“I was wrong because, JUST LAST WEEK they decided to go with Apple Silicon!”), the reality is likely is that their hardware plans are several years deep. The MBP is the culmination of several years of work, coordinating between the hardware, software, and application teams. The case was designed specifically for what’s in it.

If, three years ago, there was any doubt over migrating to Apple Silicon in 2021, they would have simply delayed it.

 

[macrem]

I’ve always had MacBook Pros. On one hand, yes the new ones are too thick and heavy for me (16” Intel already crossed that line). On the other hand, with M1 chip the MBA has become powerful enough for my kind of dev work, & I have no use for old ports, so I have happily switched to the M1 MacBook Air.

 

[souko]

Is download speed for others OK?

 

[DHagan4755]

So you think the design of the new MBP enclosure took longer than designing M1?

Maybe. But it's conjecture. Apple probably started working on the new design of the MacBook Pro around the time they scrapped the trash can Mac Pro. Remember that press meeting where Craig said Apple painted itself into a thermal corner? Combine that with the whole butterfly keyboard fiasco & in the spring 2017 timeframe Apple probably started "actively rethinking" the MacBook Pro too.

Apple built a ginormous new Mac Pro tower to house Intel's brawny Xeon processors. Why? If they knew they were switching to their own SoC? Well you gotta roll with what you have sometimes. Hence why we got M1 in the existing designs. The 2021 MacBook Pro had probably already been long in development when they committed to switching to ARM. More importantly what if there was an unforeseen delay & they had to roll another Intel processor? Intel processors weren't getting cooler. The existing 2016 design was long in the tooth & Apple needed to come out swinging for their Pro audience & they hit a home run.

Apple's not going back to the 2016-2020 design. They're just going to thin out the new 2021 design. Not a lot. Hey with rumors of a 17" OLED display for the MacBook Pro in the works (granted it's coming from Digitimes), that may be an opportunity to tweak the design then.

 

[Xand&Roby]

I really hope Apple could kill MBP if want to reduces height and weight again, and made iPad Pro good enough to replace MBP.
I can’t read anymore someone who complains about that like in 2013 or 2015 MB 12”.
Apple users (and everyone who wants 15” cheap laptop Mac in 2023) needs to update them minds, this is no more 2002.

 

[exoticSpice]

I agree. Given the crap software they're releasing these days, may as well put out unusable Macs to go with it.

I disagree. My 16" MBP has been stable with macOS Monterey. These current MacBook Pros are practical and I don't want apple thinning out again on Pro Macs.

 

[Scipster]

Coming from the 13" 2012 MBP, the 14" MBP is as light as a feather. The edges are solid and the keyboard feels great. Certainly worthy of the upgrade!

 

[exoticSpice]

I really hope Apple could kill MBP if want to reduces height and weight again, and made iPad Pro good enough to replace MBP.

The iPad can't even run background apps at all. It can't have M1 Max or 64GB RAM.