Apple is working on a redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro that’s due to launch later this year. There have been a lot of leaks surrounding Apple’s upcoming MacBook Pro refresh, which has given us a fair idea of what to expect from them. Below is a roundup of the confirmed features of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro based on leaks.
Apple tends to give the MacBook Pro lineup a design refresh once every 5-6 years. The last time the company gave the MacBook Pro lineup a design overhaul was in 2016, so a design refresh this year is along expected lines.
What’s more important is that with this refresh, Apple will switch its entire MacBook Pro lineup to its in-house Apple Silicon chips. This should lead to a notable jump in performance and battery life, as evident from other M1-based Macs released by Apple so far. Check out the confirmed features of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro below.
1. Flatter Design
Apple is rumored to debut a slimmer and flatter new design language on the redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. The design changes should be in line with the iPhone 12 and iPad Pro redesign, which feature flatter edges.
Other changes are not known, but Apple tends to use a MacBook design for around 5-6 years, so the existing design language is definitely on its way out.
2. Dedicated HDMI Port and SD Card Slot
Apple switched entirely to USB-C ports on its MacBook Pro lineup with the 2016 refresh much to the dismay of users. Now that the whole world has switched to the dongle life, Apple plans to bring back the HDMI port and dedicated SD card slot to the MacBook Pro with the upcoming refresh.
The addition of an SD card slot will be useful for professional users, who tend to use the MacBook Pro for editing photos and videos as they will no longer need to carry a dongle with them for this.
3. MagSafe Charging Port
Another iconic design aspect of the MacBook Pro that Apple killed with the 2016 refresh was the magnetic MagSafe charging port. Yes, USB-C has now become more commonplace, but MagSafe had its own set of advantages. Five years later, rumors suggest Apple could bring back the MagSafe charging port on the redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple will likely not bring the same port back though. Instead, it could be inspired by the MagSafe port on the new M1 iMac.
4. M1x Chip
One of the key highlights of the upcoming redesigned 16-inch and 14-inch MacBook Pro is going to be Apple’s M1X chip. The chip will be a more powerful beefier version of the M1 chip found inside the existing MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. Going by the performance and efficiency improvements the M1 chip introduced last year, the M1x should be in a league of its own altogether.
Reports suggest the M1x chip will feature a 10-core CPU, and it will be available in 16-core and 32-core GPU configurations.
5. Longer Battery Life
With Apple switching to the M1x chipset on the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, it is almost a given that we are going to see some major battery life improvements. The quoted battery life from Apple might not see a big jump, but in real life, the gains in battery life should be noticeable.
The M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are the perfect examples of this. They last notably longer when used for real-world tasks like photo and video editing compared to their Intel counterparts.
5. Mini-LED Display
After using mini-LED display tech on the Pro Display XDR, Apple debuted it on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro this year. Rumors now indicate Apple could use mini-LED display panels on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro as well.
Compared to traditional LCD panels, mini-LED panels offer higher brightness levels, deeper blacks, better contrast, and more. They also tend to consume more power, but Apple should be able to offset the higher power draw with its own M1x chipset.
As a bonus, the 14-inch MacBook Pro will feature a display with slimmer bezels, like the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
7. No Touch Bar
The Touch Bar has not really done well for Apple. Despite the company heavily pushing for it with its 2016 MacBook Pro design refresh, consumers have not really taken a liking to it. Rumors indicate Apple could ditch the Touch Bar on its refreshed MacBook Pro lineup for good. This would make a lot of sense as the Touch Bar does not really improve usability or offer any real-world improvements.
Are you excited about the upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro redesign refresh? Do you think the M1X chip inside the new MacBooks will offer notably better performance and battery life than existing Intel-based MacBook Pros? What do you think about Apple removing the Touch Bar? Drop a comment and let us know!
