It will go away before then. If Apple wants to drastically change, or discontinue a product people like, they're not afraid to do it. That said, they're also not going to not put something equally alluring in its place.
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Why hasn't Apple updated the 13" MacBook Pro?
- Thread starter CalebEdenburn
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Sure, they may kill it while it's still selling. My point though was that if nobody's buying it (the implication of "I'd rather have the M2 Air") that they'll stop making it. No reason to worry about why it exists.
Enterprise customers are likely still buying it. Tried and true is always more appealing than new in the enterprise.
The current designs look like a rehashed PowerBook so I can relate. I need them to modernise the 13” and I’d be all over it, but they won’t.
I've also said they should update the design, I don't see why it needs to be a 14" chassis though, and in fact it is likely that the 14" chassis would further confusion rather than bring clarity. With the 13" Pro at its own size it is easier to communicate that the difference and it is clearer to people that the real pro features start at the 14" size.
Or when Apple runs through their backlog of 13" chassis and Touchbars...
I have to agree with you, but apparently it sells well enough for them to keep going.
I have a Touch Bar in my 15" pro - here are some main isuse
- It is not accessible when the backlight is off - have to wake it before use
- Unreliable
- Mine is currently failing with the flashing Flicker and nothing has solved this - I suspect a hardware repair is required
- Sometimes doesn't turn on when needed
- Sometimes glitches with what it displays
- Poorly used by most apps
- Unsupported into the future since not on most of Apple's products
- Unable to find buttons without looking
- On non-touch bar Macs I can learn where some of the control buttons are by memory feel and touch - not possible with Touch Bar
- Requires visual inspection to actually use
I think just MacBook is best, the MacBook SE name would imply to me that it should be a bit of an entry level model below the Air.
Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's bad. I loved all the butterfly keyboards I had, I loved the Touch Bar and would gladly rebuy a Mac if it came back just to have it as it was super useful for me.
You seem to be falling prey to marketing buzz where there has to be something new every single year.
I do want an entry level model below the Air. The M1 Air would fit that bill perfectly. An $700-800 Macbook would do numbers and be the final nail in the coffin for the cheap laptop market, like how the iPad killed netbooks.
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The butterfly keyboard has flaws, 'feel' is subjective, that's not what I'm talking about. Both of my 15" MacBook Pros with butterfly keyboards (2016 and my current 2019) have needed keyboard replacements because of stuck keys. I had a 2008 MBP that lasted 8 years with no failing keys or flaws. My new M1 Pro hasn't had keys fail in its first year and a half. The wireless keyboard I have from Apple is 4 years old without any failing keys. Small sample size to be sure but even Apple had to institute a free replacement program for the keyboards. Sure they might feel nice but they aren't as reliable.
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There is no reason Apple, at its size, can't keep their products in sync. It galls me that they just ignore products for years and years (Mac Pro is now 4 years old, there have been CPU updates they could use but haven't). It bugs me that they sometimes can't be bothered to keep their machines updated to ensure that the hardware capabilities are roughly similar (not performance but features such as the type of encoding engine). The iMac should have an M2 by now, that it doesn't either means they are in a thermal corner, really the iMac design is compromised for thinness. I have my doubts that they could fit an M2 Pro in an iMac (while they had no problem fitting one in the Mac mini).
It isn't wholly about yearly updates but continuous updates at a regular pace. The reason I support yearly is because that is the schedule apple chose for their CPU architecture updates. If Apple slows down on the A series update rate then it would make sense to slow down Mac update rates. The M1 Pro and Max came out after the A15, that means that the newest Mac chips had an architecture older than the iPhone. The rumours of the A16's failed RT GPU cores gives Apple a year to catch up so that they can get the A series and M series back in sync.
This is also my experience. I work for a large enterprise in its Technology department and I have seen 13” MBPs being dished out to various office staff in other departments.
While the 13” MBP is an “old” design for Mac users, for those employees coming from generic-looking Windows laptops in corporate environments it looks futuristic and desirable.
I think the point about enterprise customer is really important.
An M1 13" MBP looks likes and shares components of an 13" Intel MBP so Apple can sell them a larger discount than the newer system to corporations and still preserve their profit margin. Finance loves this. IT departments also love this so they can roll upgrades to 25% of the office workers each year, and no one can immediately identify and complain that they deserve an upgrade more than so and so down the hall who got a new system. And of course, only the execs (and IT teams) get the cool Air M2s and the devs usually get the 14" and 16" M2 MBPs
An M1 13" MBP looks likes and shares components of an 13" Intel MBP so Apple can sell them a larger discount than the newer system to corporations and still preserve their profit margin. Finance loves this. IT departments also love this so they can roll upgrades to 25% of the office workers each year, and no one can immediately identify and complain that they deserve an upgrade more than so and so down the hall who got a new system. And of course, only the execs (and IT teams) get the cool Air M2s and the devs usually get the 14" and 16" M2 MBPs
Yes, I think it’s for the small segment of customers who have a use case that either i) needs sustained performance for longer periods and so the fan makes a real difference, ii) needs really extended battery life and values those extra few hours, all while being budget conscious and not wanting to pay significantly more for the 14” Pro.
Yes, I think this is likely a factor. They have a lot of these built-up inventory from 2016-2019 MBP models, and so costs are quite low.
Of course! A buddy of mine started working at a spot where they deployed him a brand new 13-inch MacBook Pro. I'm still unsure why those same companies aren't deploying M1 Airs instead. But, the existing design definitely has more maturity and IT loves that.