What the new M4 iPad Pro tells us about future MacBook Pros

[DHagan4755]

We're going to see M4 MacBook Pros in about 6 months from now, that seems like a given. Apple often telegraphs features coming to its other products.

Will we see the nano texture matte screen option come to the MacBook Pro?

Also, Apple seems to be back to its obsession with thinness. Not to say this will happen in the next iteration of the MacBook Pro this fall, but is something to keep in mind for the next major redesign!

OLED on MacBooks seems like a couple years out still, but given the thinner iPad Pro, does this mean Apple's made headway on thinning out the FaceID sensor? Can that fit in a MacBook display yet? I'd say this might require OLED since the tandem panels might be thinner the Mini LEDs.

Thoughts?

 

[mikethebigo]

The nano texture may come to MBPs considering it's already available on the Mini-LED XDR display. Like you said, I think OLED is unfortunately still 1-2 years out, but I'm sure they will be bringing it to the Mac as soon as they can mass produce displays of that size.

The current MBP display housing is still much thinner than the new iPad Pro (remember the display doesn't need to house the computer guts or battery). I wouldn't take Face ID fitting in the iPads to mean it's definitely coming to the Mac. It seems more likely to me that they will let the display housing get thinner with the OLED panel instead of making it thicker to accommodate the face sensor.

 

[DHagan4755]

And I wouldn't be surprised with OLED if they find a way to significantly reduce or eliminate the notch. But again that may be a ways away.

 

[JPack]

Not sure this translates to MBP. The focus on iPad Pro weight is because many consumers realize iPad Pro 13 + Smart Keyboard weighs (and costs more) than iPad Air 13. Plus, many people hold iPad with one hand, unlike MacBook Pro.

OLED won’t eliminate or reduce the notch because it’s two separate things. It’s easier during manufacturing to cut the film compared to rigid LCD for a notch, but OLED costs more.

 

[mikethebigo]

Not sure this translates to MBP. The focus on iPad Pro weight is because many consumers realize iPad Pro 13 + Smart Keyboard weighs (and costs more) than iPad Air 13. Plus, many people hold iPad with one hand, unlike MacBook Pro.

OLED won’t eliminate or reduce the notch because it’s two separate things. It’s easier during manufacturing to cut the film compared to rigid LCD for a notch, but OLED costs more.

OLED will only eliminate the notch once we get under display Face ID/cameras, which are still a ways away.

 

[DHagan4755]

Forgot about one more thing: new iPad Pro thermal design. Even though the MacBook Pros have a fan, this new technique could help Apple thin out the MacBook Pro a tad.

 

[unobtainium]

I agree, due to the efficiency of the M4 I think they will either thin out the MBP or battery life will be significantly improved. Personally I’d prefer a thinner/lighter design.

 

[terminator-jq]

We should be getting to the point of a mid generation refresh. Perhaps the M4 may allow them to slim down the chassis a little without sacrificing battery life.

I also wonder if the M4 will even come to the full lineup. It seems like such a small improvement over the M3 (other than the neutral engine). Even smaller than the jump from M1 to M2… Maybe Apple does a longer cycle and takes us straight to M5 for the next MBP upgrade?

 

[mikethebigo]

We should be getting to the point of a mid generation refresh. Perhaps the M4 may allow them to slim down the chassis a little without sacrificing battery life.

I also wonder if the M4 will even come to the full lineup. It seems like such a small improvement over the M3 (other than the neutral engine). Even smaller than the jump from M1 to M2… Maybe Apple does a longer cycle and takes us straight to M5 for the next MBP upgrade?

M4 will undoubtedly come to the MBP this year as Apple wants to get chip production off of the dead-end N3B as soon as possible.

 

[DHagan4755]

We should be getting to the point of a mid generation refresh. Perhaps the M4 may allow them to slim down the chassis a little without sacrificing battery life.

That's a good point. Apple doesn't really do this as often as they should. The last time they did this was a late generation refresh in 2019 to replace the butterfly keyboard. That was when they replaced the 15" MacBook Pro with a slightly larger 16" MacBook Pro.

 

[DHagan4755]

Aside from M4 Pro/Max chips, what else is Apple going to offer in the next MacBook Pro? Last year it was space black. Ross Young recently mentioned that 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro panels are shipping. He really only tells you about panels when Apple will be using a new panel vs. an existing panel. So as to what Apple will give us this go around? I think it’s likely next MacBook Pro might have an option for a nano texture display just like the one used on the new iPad Pros. Would you buy a MacBook Pro with a nanotexture option?

 

[VineRider]

I prefer the standard glass on my displays. From what I've read here on MR and 9to5Mac, seems like the Pro update is likely to be a spec bump on the processor to M4 from M3 with the chassis staying the same.

We'll probably find out in October.

 

[hovscorpion12]

The biggest selling points this year [possibly going forward] will the NPU for Apple Intelligence. The M4 brought 38 TOPS of insane Ai power on the iPad Pro. The A17 Pro already has 35 TOPs. [A18 pro could push that to 45 TOPs]

The M3 Max has 18 TOPS which is incredibly disappointing. Apple could very well boost the M4 Pro/Max to a full 16-core NPU with 45 TOPs of Power.

Based on the 2-months of opening my M4 iPad Pro, this year could also be the year of Apple gaming. We're now in the 2nd generation of Hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing, improved GPU performance and dynamic cache. With the Game porting toolkit Ver 2, we could see some surprise announcements.

This year's Macs look to be leaning more towards spec gains over physical appearance. There is also the potential [80% chance] that base models will launch with 16GB of RAM with the peak being 192GB on MacBooks [256GB on Mac Studio/Mac Pro]