Apple has been at the receiving end of a lot of flack, for their old and outdated Macbooks, which haven’t been upgraded for the past two years. But, Bloomberg is now conforming that the Macbook Pro’s you once knew are getting a fresh reboot with Retina displays very soon.
We had previously intimated you that Apple was gearing up to launch a new line-up of 13-inch and 15-inch Macbook Pro laptops at WWDC’16, but we were all let down as it was a no show. However, fresh reports from multiple sources, including Bloomberg(and also 9to5mac) are now confirming the feature additions predicted by coveted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. And they’re all of the common opinion that this is gonna be a bigger than expected release!
Let’s take a look at all the design and feature changes that are expected to be seen in this iteration of the Macbook Pro.
This new line-up of Macbook Pro will be lighter and thinner than the previous generation, but better in build than the Macbook Air though. It will also include the aforementioned Retina display, and will be powered by a more powerful and efficient graphics processors for video gamers, and designers. The overall build(or frame) of the laptop is expected to be leaner with minimal bezels around the display.
Under the hood, the Macbook Pro’s are expected to pack in the latest Intel Skylake processors to give it a performance boost and improved memory consumption. And unlike the one USB Type-C port found on the Macbook Air, this new line-up will pack in a multitude of ports, including the thunderbolt ports, a magsafe port and the new USB Type-C ports as well.
But, the much-awaited and surprising upgrades to the hardware are coming in the form of a secondary OLED touch screen added above the keyboard of the laptop. This touch strip will replace the physical function buttons and help you control basic functions such as the volume, media and browsing functions. But as mock-ups have already displayed Apple could easily make use of this long horizontal touch strip to display shortcuts, notifications and minimal information about running programs.
And Cupertino is also planning to phase out password typing on the Macbook Pro by integrating a Touch ID sensor into the power button. The touch ID sensor that will allow you to login faster will probably ship with a secure enclave. It will allow app developers to integrate additional security features using the touch ID into their apps. This will eventually replace passwords and help complete Apple Pay transactions on the web.
An anonymous source familiar with the matter says that the new Macbook Pro line-up has been in advanced testing since earlier this year, but it will probably not make an appearance at the scheduled Sept 7 iPhone launch event.
This major overhaul of the Pro line-up is objectively aimed at improving laptop sales at a time when people are replacing products way past their due timeline. And coupled with the release of Apple’s new MacOS Sierra, with a feature line-up including Siri integration, universal clipboard, new messaging and photo management features sound more than tempting to pass.
Stay tuned for more updates on leaks and rumors regarding upcoming Apple products.
