Following Apple’s iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro launch last month, the MacBook lineup is next up for major product updates from Apple. What needs upgrading? All MacBooks are approaching or passing the one year mark since last being updated — MacBook Airs in March of last year, the new 12-inch MacBook in April, and the Retina MacBook Pros in March and May. But where might the new machines leave the rest of the lineup?
Will Apple do some spring cleaning to make room for the new models? Perhaps it will lose the 11-inch option in the process as it pushes the new 12-inch MacBook as its best small-screen laptop? And Apple could potentially do some further reconfiguring if it really launches that rumored ultra-thin 15-inch MacBook model.
With Apple’s usual yearly upgrade cycle, all of the models mentioned above as well as the rumored new configurations are prime candidates for product unveilings at Apple’s upcoming WWDC event held each June. To get a glimpse at what Apple has in store, below we explore what we currently know about the upcoming models based on the latest rumors, reports, and intel, and give you a taste of what to expect at WWDC.
Hardware | Design |
The usual internal upgrades with new Intel processors, storage and graphics options, etc. are to be expected, but rumor has it Apple is also planning some larger changes for the design and overall MacBook lineup. References to an early 2016 12-inch MacBook were discovered in OS X Server, while reports point to thinner 13- and 15-inch models, new metal-injection molded hinges, a rose gold color option, and more. There’s also a whole lot of speculation about which models will get the USB-C-only treatment like the 12-inch MacBook (and likely Thunderbolt 3 in the process), and whether or not the Air brand is on its last leg.
What we know for sure: Mark reported in March that “both new 12-inch MacBooks and upgraded MacBook Pros are in the pipeline for this year. Faster MacBooks are in store for debut by WWDC, potentially in April or May, and new MacBook Pros coming by the second half of the year.”
- New ultra-thin MacBooks coming later in 2016, featuring new metal-injection molded hinges
- References to ‘early 2016 12-inch MacBook’ seen in latest OS X Server version
- Apple reportedly set to introduce new, thinner, 13 inch and 15 inch MacBooks by July
- Future MacBook SSDs could get even faster w/ super-fast Optane tech
- New redesigned thinner MacBook Air rumored for mid-2016, perhaps including a 15 inch
- Apple may need to find new Wi-Fi chip supplier as Broadcom reportedly scales back
- Rose Gold coming to iPhone 5se like iPhone 6s, not ‘bright pink’, plus next iPads & MacBooks
Mac OS X |
In addition to likely getting Siri for Mac this fall alongside the new MacBooks, Mark reported in February that Apple is also planning “minor user-interface tweaks across core system application windows” and “performance-focused engineering efforts emphasized in OS X El Capitan last year.”
- Apple plans Siri for Mac as tentpole feature for this fall’s OS X 10.12 launch
- Apple hints at future ‘MacOS’ name change on new environmental webpage
- OS X 10.11.4 resource found with ‘macOS’ naming, fueling more rebranding speculation
- Eddy Cue says iTunes refresh incoming
Concept | Patents
We had a couple interesting MacBook concepts recently, including a look at how Apple could scale up the 12-inch model as rumored, and we also saw some neat possibilities in other products and Apple patents.
- Here’s what the new MacBook Pro could look like if Apple scaled up the 12-inch design
- Neat plug adapter turns Mac and iPad chargers into slimline units that fit behind your sofa
- Apple patents fuel cell system that could power a MacBook for days or weeks
Opinion | Feature Request
Need more MacBook talk? Read Ben’s latest piece on how he’d rationalize Apple’s MacBook lineup, and check out our other recent opinion pieces, polls, and feature requests:
- Here’s what I’d do to rationalize Apple’s MacBook lineup
- What can we expect from the 2016 MacBooks, rumored to be launched by June?
- Everything Apple needs to update, but won’t announce at its event next week
- The 2015 Apple product that most excites me for the company’s future
- Get ready to wave goodbye to the MacBook Air…
- The humble MacBook Air is a secret workhorse
- Feature Request: Messages for Mac needs quick photo sharing access like iOS
- Feature Request: How I hope the upcoming iTunes refresh improves Apple Music and more
Poll |
Check back for more as we update leading up to Apple’s announcements…
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What seems to be completely missing from the new Mac’s is Touch ID, I understand its obviously going to take quite a bit of work and thought to get it suitable for the Mac but its been around now since the 5S, surely its time this year? I can’t wait to do without passwords!
I think that Apple needs the same tech for iPhone. Embedded Touch ID tech in the touch screen is the same tech that is needed to add Touch ID to the trackpad. That would be awesome on both devices. I mean you will barely notice your Macbook asked for your password when your finger is already on the trackpad.
They have it patented already. It’s just the implementation that’s tricky.
Seriously, me too!! I really hope it’s on its way. I would totally upgrade this year if it were. The arrival of password-protected notes on the Mac, and the rumor that Apple Pay will be coming to websites, does make me wonder if Touch ID for Macs is on its way soon!
Oh, I love your wonderfully misleading headlines… “Everything we know about Apple’s upcoming laptop updates”? Well, we *know* absolutely NOTHING. We can guess, we can collect all the rumors we can find, but that’s it. Don’t claim we (or you) *know* when in fact nobody outside of Apple does.
The outsource suppliers probably know, they have to setup the production lines and arrange the component suppliers to schedule the components arriving at their factories. :-)
What about thunderbolt 3?
What I’m thinking is that with Thunderbolt 3, they have future PCI chassis that will allow for PCI GPU cards to be used, I”m wondering how Apple’s going to handle the drivers for GPU cards that aren’t normally used in Macs. I’m wondering if that’s part of the hold up. It would be cool if one could use any GPU card on the market with an external TB 3 chassis. If you look at the Thunderbolt Products pages, there is only one TB 3 based storage box available and not much else. YET. :-)
https://thunderbolttechnology.net/products
You know that’s probably a better idea to be honest than coming out with integrated discreet GPUs inside of the laptop for gaming or pro needs (video editing, design, CAD, etc.)
The Razer Core is pretty interesting and it was shown to work with Intel’s Skull Canyon NUC. It would be pretty cool if that sort of thing worked on a Mac with Thunderbolt 3, or if Apple came out with an external GPU to go along with Metal for MacOS. Something else that could be cool is a Thunderbolt 3 display with a built in (mobile) GPU. Imagine plugging into a monitor and having a suitable GPU for the native resolution, no matter which laptop you have.
Wow thanks for that link; it appears that Thunderbolt 3 is already on the market and supported by many different Windows computers already. There are tons of devices, I even found a 40GbE Thunderbolt 3 networking interface. Neat!! I guess given this information, Apple would have to be supporting it in their next refresh.
You already have pci gpu cards that can wok on thunderbolt 2!!! just google it!!
Sadly, not with macOS…yet
Why in the world does that girl have a MACBOOK PRO on a selfie stick!? What the F!?!?
That’s a MacBook Air. Look closer:)
You’re right, but that really doesn’t change anything, LOL!
Interesting tidbit. I saw the nice $300 off promotion that Best Buy is running for the MacBook and decided that the discount was worth more than the upcoming Skylake upgrade. So, I went into a local store and asked to buy the upgraded option. Sold Out. I asked for the base model, which would probably be enough for my portable computing needs. Sold Out. None within 250 miles. None available for order not by me or the staff at Best Buy. Just a few stragglers scattered around the country. I hope this means Skylake is coming very soon since Best Buy is probably Apple’s most important retail partner for Macs and iPads.
Hi Robert. Lifelong Mac ONLY user since 1986. Worked in one of the original stores for years. I am as Mac-ish as you can get before becoming a Kool Aid drinker — for what’s more important to me than Apple is being a solid critic. When I sold Macs people just knew I was right — because I was honest.
Last year I bought my first PC because I had to for my wife’s needs. Windows 8 was SO bad I sent the unit back to Amazon explicitly explaining the unit was fine but the OS was unacceptable. That I’ve used better Linux distros. So I’m not a user that needs a Mac OS clone — just a reliable/pleasant OS.
Then Windows 10 came out. Night and day. Better than every Linux distro, not as good as OS X. But better than iOS. Let me repeat that: if I had the choice of an iOS Book or a Windows 10 Book — Windows 10. No contest.
If you’re an overly enthusiastic Mac enthusiast — I know you don’t believe me. You think I’m a troll or whatever. But listen to what I’m saying. I plainly prefer OS X. What I don’t prefer are Apple hardware prices across the board.
You’re all upset that said Core M laptop is unavailable. So what? I bet an Asus UX305 Zenbook would meet your needs just fine. There are various models of this unit so be careful on Amazon, but the one you want is Intel Core M, 256 SSD, and 8GBs of RAM. The screen goes full HD and matte (sadface) but the price is between $599-699 depending upon promotions.
But it’s not a Mac you say. True. Neither is an iPad. I surf with Firefox (even on Macs), iTunes for Windows is as BLEH but USEABLE as it is on a Mac, and I keep iWorks and addresses handy via iCloud. If you’re tied to OS X because of other apps, okay, but most people aren’t.
Contrary to Kool Aid Fudd on the web: the build quality of my unit is fine and I’ve yet to suffer one virus attack. And that’s just using Windows Defender which is free.
I share this because I’m weary of Apple markup. I don’t care if they want to make things up a little. But times two?
Shop different
I believe you. I’ve used W10 at work and it’s much better than 7. (A bag of rats with dysentery would be better than 8 so it’s not really a good comparison). I agree that I’d take a laptop with 10 over an iOS “surface” machine. It’s why I keep harping on the need for a padOS, that is optimized for the environment. As long as the iPad uses a phone OS it will be crippled.
Oh, shut up. This BS is why I rarely ever post on tech sites. I don’t have to believe you. I don’t know you and wouldn’t anyway. Here is my current home and business tech portfolio: Lenovo X1 Carbon (W10), Broadwell NUC (W7/RHEL) and MacMini (2014) on dual 2K, MacMini (2014), 2015 MBP, 2013 MBA, iPad Air 2, 2x iPhone 6S, LG G4, Chromecast, Apple TV. I use Windows, Linux, and OS X. I prefer OS X. I also prefer the build quality of Apple products. It’s my job to know the repair/support hours of different brands of devices used and there is no comparison between Apple and other manufacturers. Apple requires half the support time within my business that the others do. While my upfront cost is admittedly much higher my time is much more valuable so I make back the additional cost in around 1.5 years. I will continue to purchase other brands as needed but when I have the choice, there isn’t much of one for my needs, it’s Apple. I understand that it may not be the same for you. Fine, buy your Asus and be happy. Evangelizers are annoying whether they are push a religious dogma or technological dogma. One size doesn’t fit all and that is why there are so many choices. We can all coexist but not when we think everyone needs the same thing or when we assume others are too stupid to make a purchase without some techGod descending from on high to post on a tech blog.
The Skylake Core M is much better then the one inside the MacBook. The MacBook is still very over priced though.Intel is just now shipping the new Slake core m and a few of the Slake chips approbate for MacBook Pro. I think the Pro’s won’t be released until the new GPUs are released in the 2nd half of the year.
Just to warn people.
I set my Macbook Pro to NEVER put hard disks to sleep (because I hate it when my external drive goes to sleep and need 6seconds to wake from sleep). And the day after, I open my Macbook and all of a sudden it freezes. I force restart and I start getting red lines on the display. I have re-installed the OS (clean install) and the installation keeps failing. I now get the prohibitory symbol every time I boot the machine.
I have had this Macbook for 5 years and never had the slightest issue with it. That setting has wrecked my machine!
No it didn’t, all my macs have the drives never sleep. But think of it this way, you now have a perfect opportunity to put in a SSD and not have to worry about sleep or no sleep. 500GB for $99 and 1TB for $188.
Dude I have an SSD. It’s an early 2011 Macbook Pro 2.3ghz i7 with 16GB ram and 512GB SSD.
But thanks for the help anyway. Appreciated.
Google 2011 video card program for 2011 MacBook.
Take it to an Apple Store
Sounds like it’s your video card
Good luck
did you move some internal cables? if not, your discrete card is failing, bring it to the apple store and get it replaced for free
I didn’t move anything. I swear I changed that setting in system preferences, worked for about 30mins after on Word, closed the Macbook Pro (not having turned off) and the day after I open my Macbook and all those issues start…
But my warranty is over, how will they replace my discrete card then? :(
Thanks btw! For the info
https://www.apple.com/ca/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
You have until December 30th. It’s free of charge and independent from your standard warranty.
Cheers
Need more memory. Need more than 16GB of storage. Please Apple!
Any news on new iMacs?
I bet they will change the charging port again!;)
The MacBook is good except it should be more affordable, the MBA has to go, the MBP needs to be refreshed.
And with “refresh” I don’t mean thinner just to make it thinner. It has to happen when the I/O is ready: we need the one port to rule them all. A port that includes both USB-c and thunderbolt 3 functionality, merged in the smaller and reversible USB-c form factor. THEN we can go thin and light because we do away with ports we all agree on are not the future.
That port already exists. The new HP Spectre 13 for example has 3 USB-C ports(2 support ThunderBolt)
From a technical point of view the Spectre has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports that can also be used as USB-C and one USB-C port.
Thunderbolt 3 ALWAYS supports USB-C. USB-C NEVER supports Thunderbolt.
It just so happens that TB3 uses the same connector as USB-C.
You might be right Lars, but even Intel calls Thunderbolt 3 USB-C.
http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2015/06/thunderbolt3/
I would just like to use the damn thing outside in the daylight. The screens are just mirrors when its bright.
no please, don’t slim the macbook pro line…
the name ends with “Pro”…not “Fashionist”…
+removable ram (what a robbery to force to pay 300$ for 16gb on a 13” mbp retina)
+ecc ram
+standard m.2 pcie ssd (instead of the current propietary one)
+better heat resistance engineered (currently every macbook pro version has had heat issues, including mine, mbp2011)
+better accessories…ac charger cables should last forever…not 2 or 3 years
+get back the old Disk Utility please
-Working in service, I’ve never seen ram failures on 2012+ rMBP models. Removable ram causes failures due to socket and cheap ram. Seen ram failures corrupt much client data
-eec ram, not going to happen in a laptop. Only in servers.
-rMBP’s have the fastest SSDs available and have for years, before this standard. OWC has 3rd party options. 1TB 11″ MacBook Air, anyone?
-Nearly MacBook Pro failures have been GPU failures, including your 2011 old style MBP. Heat otherwise on rMBP is way better then old style models.
-charger cables do last unless they are bent in the same spot daily. Don’t wrap cables tightly. Cables are less strong these days due to removal of harmful chemicals and toxic compounds Apple removed from all products. Eg BFRs
-again, charging 300$ for 16gb of ram is a theft.
the customer can buy the same henix or hyperx by himself.
why solder ram? so the the customer pays greed more than the product (more at the purchase and pays more for the repairing)
you as customer, should blame that too
– ecc ram, as intel has introduced xeon mobile processors, the pro line could use it, not all the “pros” are bloggers, journalist, musicians or paintshoppers, many need more error control and capabilities ( many customer would need professional video card…is a joke to use ati radeon cards for professionals instead of quadro and its cuda environment )
you as customer, should agree that any attention to those customer is important for apple, a company that claim to produce the best computer in the world.
-apple use samsung nand for its mbpr, same speed, r2300/w1500, but with different connectors.
why proprietary connectors? so the the customer pays greed more than the product (more at the purchase and pays more for the repairing)
you as customer should agree that a customer should be allowed to buy a 120gb version and upgrade by himself to 512gb, instead to feed apple greed apple charges 300$ for the 512gb model, over the 256gb model (worth 180$ about)
950pro standard m.2 name 512gb costs 300$
-charger cables do NOT last because apple is involved in many lawsuits on the duration of iphone and macbook chargers and cables: this is why their cables have 1 or 2 stars as rating on the store, they are exoensive and hasn’t a justifed price.
my magsafe lasted only 2.5 years. my iphone cable 1 year. both at the same points, where the heat accumulates.
it is costly and hasn’t a justifed price.
you as customer should take care that your accessories last more than 3 years.
why do you defend apple anti-customer choices? nonsense
apple’s mbps are nowadays created to last for 3-4 years, and later inconvenient to be repaired. this is a shame.
If the skylake MBPs are not released at the WWDC or earlier, it would a SCANDAL !! :(
What about OLED screen ?