CoffeeLake will pretty much force an update as it offers radically different options such as quad core 13" and hex core 15" machines.
In the meantime - they will be forced to update if sales are bad. So folks don't buy these crappy machines please
I think things are starting to line up for a Spring 2018 update. Apple insider points out that High Sierra update notes for eGPU include a
Spring 2018 launch out of Beta.
High Sierra ought to be relatively stable by then (by that I mean not a .0 release but a .2 or .3 by the Spring 2018), with Coffee Lake CPUs generally available and it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that a Modular Mac Pro could use eGPU.
The Coffee Lake CPUs for mobile will be the biggest step change for Apple in years. Rather than a 100-200MHz speed bump it's extra cores. Realistically, Apple will want to get these in as soon as possible, and with another 9 months to a possible Rev C Macbook Pro with quad core 13" and hex core 15" options, potentially adding a mobile VEGA GPU to the mix too, they really should be the ideal model to buy.
It should be easy to see 2 versions of the 13" and 15", base models of which would have the usual dual and quad core CPUs respectively, with high end versions adding more cores. Or Apple could go and do BTO versions of both for more money.
At the same stage in the old generation Retina Macbook Pro's development the Late 2013 models had a modest price cut but the real price cuts came with Rev D machines in mid 2014 before a period of stagnation hit delaying the 15" Revision E models of 2015 which were recently superseded by the 2016 Touchbar generation.
For people in the know, then, waiting for Coffee Lake options arriving between Spring and WWDC next year ought to be for the following reasons:
1. Chance to get more cores for same/more money (thanks to AMD Ryzen spooking Intel)
2. Chance for Apple to perfect any lingering engineering issues from Rev A and B.
3. Possibility of slight price cut (a real one, not a dodgy 128Gb base model) to eliminate the Macbook Air.
4. I would say that price cuts to come in October of 2018 with the iPhone/iPad updates as a throwaway remark. Would be a bit too much to offer more cores for cheaper immediately.
Most average punters won't know that Coffee Lake is coming and will happily buy 2017 Macbook Pros. People who need a laptop now will still get a laptop now.
I think we realise that Cannon Lake, which will offer 32Gb LPDDR, is probably too far off to mention at the moment. If Apple do a 32Gb DDR4 laptop it would probably have to be a 17" model because they would require a bigger battery for sure. They have already set out the precedent with the iMac Pro, so would a returning 17" came with 32Gb DDR4 and perhaps a mobile Xeon? There is a 2.2Ghz quad model with hyper threading that uses just 25w TDP but that's a massive sacrifice to go for longer battery life - and it would be slower than the regular models which would be weird.
