Waiting for the 2020 MBP

[Useless Touchbar]

I don't believe I've ever seen a 16:10 14" display before but I'd think that might just hit the magical sweetspot between portability and usability. 16:9 14" on X1 Carbon does feel slightly too cramped for my taste, as does the 16:10 13.3" display on current 13" Macs. To be honest, if it was up to me I'd put a Surface-esque 3:2 14" in this upcoming Mac

 

[alohamade]

Alright, so I am finally upgrading from my 2016 13-inch base model MacBook Pro. Should I go to the 16 or wait for a new 13/14?

 

[SSD-GUY]

Alright, so I am finally upgrading from my 2016 13-inch base model MacBook Pro. Should I go to the 16 or wait for a new 13/14?

I'd probably wait out at this stage to see what Apple delivers in the next few weeks/months in terms of either a 13" or a 14". I've got a feeling it's going to be a 13" as we haven't heard anything from supply chain in terms of panels, but it's worth waiting just in case if you've waited this long.

 

[awesomedeluxe]

The difference would be minimal no?

We have no idea! There are some scattered benchmarks online saying the Tiger Lake CPU offers minimal improvement over Ice Lake, IPC boost of 2-4%, Intel doomed, etc. There's also a lot of reason to speculate those benchmarks aren't reliable, especially because Intel has been screwing around with configurable TDPs for their chips, it's hard to get a comparison between any two of their chips in like-kind thermal settings. But let's pretend they are all true--I'd still wait.

The iGPU in Tiger Lake still has 96 EUs (Intel's name for groups of shader cores) compared to 64 in Ice Lake. On the face of things, this is a lot more graphics performance. Shader cores and graphics performance are like the closest thing in the world to linear scaling; Intel is basically promising a 50% boost here. Now it could be smoke and mirrors. Maybe Intel reconfigured the EUs to have less shader cores per group or something. But personally, if I'm buying a machine where the iGPU is the main GPU, I'd be willing to settle for a fraction of Intel's promised performance boost.

Tiger Lake could also support LPDDR5 and PCIe 4.0. These are both a "maybe." We could get one or both or neither, but either one would be a nice plus.

So there are a huge range of possible outcomes here.

 

[danf1]

I'm praying that Apple release a 14" MacBook Pro. IMO that would be a perfect blend between usability and portability, and by the number of comments I see online it looks like I'm not the only one. Let's hope Apple are listening! I'd probably still buy it if it turns out to be 13", but a 14" would be perfection.

 

[ctyrider]

I'm praying that Apple release a 14" MacBook Pro. IMO that would be a perfect blend between usability and portability

Fairly sure it’s not going to be 14”.

I’d personally be happy with any outcome, as long as they don’t increase the existing 13.3” footprint. Saw the new 16” in the store the other day - it’s such an unwieldy beast.

 

[ascender]

Alright, so I am finally upgrading from my 2016 13-inch base model MacBook Pro. Should I go to the 16 or wait for a new 13/14?

Depends if you want the power (and discrete gpu) and larger screen size of the 16" or if you need something more portable I guess.

I don't think anybody is expecting the revised 13" to be anything more than that - its not like they're going to suddenly make it a powerhouse to rival the 16.

 

[awesomedeluxe]

It's also possible Apple increases the screen size by reducing the bezels while decreasing the thickness. I think this is what Apple would like to do. Frosty Tiger Lake and their future successors would be fine in a slightly thinner chassis.

Not sure they can though. The "magic keyboard" from... 2012... has more travel and takes more space. That leaves trimming the bezels as the easiest way to reduce weight, and you can't shear off the bezels and increase screen size.

 

[DHagan4755]

That leaves trimming the bezels as the easiest way to reduce weight, and you can't shear off the bezels and increase screen size.

Apple will use the power savings from Intel's switch to 10nm as an offset to keeping things as trim. I suspect they'll reduce the overall footprint as a result of trimming the bezels around the existing 13.3-inch display.

 

[fokmik]

Just make the same treatment as the 15”-16” for the 13-14”
Slimmer bezel, a little bit larger to have bigger fans and bigger battery

 

[zedsdead]

Just make the same treatment as the 15”-16” for the 13-14”
Slimmer bezel, a little bit larger to have bigger fans and bigger battery

I agree and a dedicated GPU.

 

[PeterJP]

I agree and a dedicated GPU.

And a CDROM drive!

 

[fokmik]

And a floppy disk

 

[uecker87]

And a floppy disk

Nah a floppy drive is so 80's. Give me that sweet, sweet Zip 100 drive.

 

[tothemoonsands]

Nah a floppy drive is so 80's. Give me that sweet, sweet Zip 100 drive.

How about FireWire?
[automerge]1582162389[/automerge]
Apple, can you tell we are getting anxious for your release? Stealth update engage We don’t need any fancy press event, just go for it!

 

[Appledoesnotlisten]

They might delay the release because of the coronavirus

 

[AKS3003]

New 13"/14" macbook pros are slated for a H1 2020 launch. I suspect they will be launched in June, during the WWDC, like every year. I hope it's a 14" machine. I would immediately buy one.

They might refresh the macbook air in the march event.

 

[awesomedeluxe]

I just want to clarify for people who are waiting that Apple's use of "Ice Lake" for the 13/14" Macbook Pro means we do know the general direction Apple is going with this machine. This will not be a "bigger" machine with a GPU part.

The upside to getting on the Ice Lake path is 1) it's integrated GPU is pretty good and 2) its successor (Tiger Lake) will have substantial GPU improvements. Apple wouldn't pick Ice Lake if it had a low-power discrete graphics part on hand for the 13". They'd pick Comet Lake, which 1) has better overall CPU performance, and 2) whose successor (Rocket Lake) will have substantial CPU improvements.

Machines relying solely on just Ice Lake or Tiger Lake can be very small. Conversely, there's no upside to a bigger chassis. Apple may be forced to make the 13" thicker due to a reversion to the retina keyboards. In that case, they will probably try to impress by sheering off the bezels and making the screen as close to the edge as possible.

 

[danf1]

I personally hope Apple increases the screen size slightly rather than making the device any smaller. If they do that, it could actually be a disadvantage (less room to rest your hands, etc). The MacBook Pro 13" is already compact enough... I'd much rather have a slightly larger screen!

 

[DHagan4755]

I personally hope Apple increases the screen size slightly rather than making the device any smaller. If they do that, it could actually be a disadvantage (less room to rest your hands, etc). The MacBook Pro 13" is already compact enough... I'd much rather have a slightly larger screen!

You know maybe they will increase the size of the screen rather than reduce the footprint. I'm of two minds and could go either way here. I don't think they will but time will tell! The one area I think Apple's completely missing the boat is offering a 15-inch laptop for those who don't need a 6-core i7 or 8-core i9 with dedicated graphics.

 

[tesseracts]

I would buy that leaked specced model with 32/2T if under 2000$ like in a heartbeat

I would, too, but this seems so unlike Apple.

My guess: $2699-2799

 

[PeterJP]

If I can get 32GB/1T for around €2500, I'd be a happy chappy.

 

[Useless Touchbar]

i7/32GB RAM/512 SSD/4 ports for 2000 euros would be a dream

Are there even many (any?) Windows laptops at this size that support 32GB RAM. X1 carbon, Surface Laptop 3 13 and XPS13 at least do not

 

[dgdosen]

i7/32GB RAM/512 SSD/4 ports for 2000 euros would be a dream

Are there even many (any?) Windows laptops at this size that support 32GB RAM. X1 carbon, Surface Laptop 3 13 and XPS13 at least do not

XPS 13 will soon - they've stated so. Just not yet (same with developer edition). Those are running on the 15W IceLake 10nm - and Apples is getting some new 28W Ice Lake 10nm. The platform (ice lake) supports lpddr4 memory, so they can both support 32GB. The should start to become more popular everywhere.

And not for a $400 bump in price

I think both:
- 512GB - 1TB ssd upgrade
- 16GB - 32GB memory upgrade
should be $200 each and still give Apple ginormous margins.

 

[simonmet]

I feel like there’s room for both a 13 and 14” model. 13” MacBook with a slightly slimmer design, single fan, 15W CPU. And a 14” Pro, dual-fan, 28 W, Touch Bar etc. but I doubt Apple will add another form factor so similar when there’s also still the Air and those other super thin MacBooks (that I keep forgetting about).