It’s not a great time to be buying a MacBook Pro. The normally reliable and relatable Apple has forced the professional macOS laptops into a state of flux, disrupting its own market. What has happened to Tim Cook’s flagship line-up?
Apple Macbook Pro 16 inch with touchbar. Focus on the MacBook Pro logo
Where are the next-generation MacBook Pro laptops? The community was eagerly expecting the M2 Pro- and M2 Max-powered laptops to arrive during the last quarter of 2022. Apple failed to launch any new Mac in the last quarter of the year, the first time it has not reached this milestone in over two decades
The 13-inch MacBook Pro, as discussed previously, is little more than a MacBook Air with an entry-level processor supported by an active cooling fan to inch out a bit more performance. For many, myself included, this is not what you would expect from a professional-level MacBook Pro.
The non-arrival in 2022 is compounded by reports of even more delays in 2023 with the laptops not expected to be announced before the summer, no doubt with a further delay before they go on sale.
It’s unlikely there will be a significant increase in performance? The move away from Intel to Apple Silicon brought an immediate jump in power and potential, but the jump from Apple Silicon’s M1 to M2 chipsets has proved less spectacular on the MacBook Air refresh. The performance gains for the M2 Pro over the M1 Pro are reported as being “marginal”. There are suggestions that Apple will remain on the 5nm process for its silicon rather than moving to 3nm and capturing all the gains that the latter would offer.
Finally, Apple is looking to equip future MacBooks with a touchscreen, some fourteen years after Microsoft first supported this in mainstream Windows devices. This would be a sea-change in Apple’s approach to portable computing, but it is one that feels inevitable as Tim Cook and his team try to pull the Mac and iPad platforms closer together both in software and hardware. Those MacBooks would become the go-to laptops in the range, and while not fully Osbourne’ing the rest of the range, would reduce the impact of the vanilla-screened laptops.
FILE – In this Sept. 5, 2014 file photo, a man walks into an Apple store in Beijing. Apple on … [+]
Those who were expecting the new MacBook Pro laptops to arrive on a schedule that Apple allows the community to accept have been disappointed. Those looking to upgrade – be it to new hardware or to finally join the Apple Silicon platform will have to wait for the professionally focused laptops. And anyone who wants the utility and ease of use provided by a touchscreen will be wary of investing in any new Apple laptop before the long-established technology finally appears on the platform.
Apple’s launch of the M2 family during 2022’s Worldwide Developer Conference saw Tim Cook and his team build on the successful Apple Silicon launch. Since then, there have been delays, poor communication, and leaked features which could damage short-term sales.
The MacBook Pro platform is neither stable nor certain going into 2023.
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