Apple’s made the last major redesign for the MacBook Pro in 2016 and introduced a couple of missteps through the redesign such as stripping away of SD card, HDMI, and USB-A ports. It is worth mention that in the redesign, the company added a useless Touch Bar instead of reliable function keys along with a fragile keyboard.
Later models have tried to address some of those issues but they are not beyond allegations. Even today, the user opting to buy the best Mac has to deal with too many dongles, buy new cables, and endlessly hunt for an SD card adapter just to import files.
Last year, Apple announced that it would be transitioning its entire product lineup over to Apple Silicon products. Apple initially aimed at a two year goal to make this switch over a reality. Now, already a year has gone by and so far only the company’s least powerful devices received the change. This means if you are on your way to buy a high end Mac model then it will most probably be powered by Intel.
The most powerful 16 inches MacBook Pro is powered by a 9th generation Intel Core i7 processor released in early 2019. In simple words, Mac users are not just missing out on the new 11th Gen Tiger Lake chips announced earlier this year, they are also missing out on Intel’s 10th gen chip upgrades as well.
If Apple fails to translate the success of its M1 chips to its more powerful machines, Intel will try its best to regain the spot. In an interview with Axios, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said “I never give up on the idea of anything not running on Intel chips. Apple decided that they could do a better chip than we could, and they did a pretty good job. So what I have to do is create a better chip than they can do themselves… I’m gonna fight hard to win Tim [Cook’s] business in this area.”
Technically, there are some theoretical benefits to the delay. For example, developers are getting a full year to transition their apps to Apple’s M1 architecture. Applications like Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, and Lightroom have all been natively ported to Apple’s new chips so when the switch comes it will be a power packed one.
As per rumors, Apple is taking the new chips as an opportunity to roll out a new design for its MacBook Pro line. This time, there will be a bigger and better Mini LED displays along with smaller bezels, more ports, and MagSafe chargers. If Apple succeeds, it won’t just mean better laptops or desktops, but what could be the start of a big change.
