MacBook Pro: The biggest and baddest Mac laptops

A source with a decent track record has suggested that the processor in this year’s MacBook Pro models will be branded the M1X rather than the M2, backing Bloomberg suggestions that it will be the same cores, but just more of them, and with a performance-heavy configuration.

Apple is said to be reserving the M2 name for next year’s chips, and that this will likely debut in a new MacBook Air …

A new report from Digitimes today could be bad news for MacBook Pro users eagerly awaiting new high-end Apple Silicon chips. The report suggests that the rumored mini-LED 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates that have been rumored for 2021 could end up being delayed until 2022.

A class-action lawsuit filed in Quebec, Canada, in 2014 argued that multiple owners of 15-inch and 17-inch models of the 2011 MacBook Pro were forced to pay for the repair of defective AMD GPUs. Almost seven years later, the Canadian court has finally approved a settlement regarding this case, which will result in Apple having to refund the affected consumers.

Taiwanese tech company Micro-Star international (MSI) is best known for its gaming PCs, but its new Creator Z16 laptop is firmly aimed at the MacBook Pro market.

The new high-end laptop bears more than a passing resemblance to the MacBook Pro, with its CNC-milled aluminum body. Both the machine’s specs and MSI’s messaging also see it targeting visual professionals such as designers, artists, photographers, and videographers …

We’re expecting Apple to launch the 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro later this year, with Apple Silicon. It’s currently unclear whether Apple will label the chip an M1X or M2, but either way, we can expect some pretty dramatic performance improvements over the current M1-based 13-inch MacBook Pro (above).

Exceeding the performance of Intel’s high-end CPUs doesn’t look like much of a challenge, but matching or beating the high-end GPUs available in build-to-order versions of the Intel machines could take more work…

We continue to learn more about what Apple has in store for the 2021 MacBook Pro update. As we detailed earlier, a hacker group called REvil is currently in the process of blackmailing Apple supplier Quanta. The group has released detailed documents showcasing the 2021 MacBook Pro logic board, including details and imagery of new ports.

Update: The files also include an image that shows the I/O of a new MacBook Pro with USB-C, HDMI, and an SD card slot on the right-hand side of the machine.

A hacker group called REvil is currently in the process of blackmailing Apple supplier Quanta for about $50 million. The group claims to have thousands of leaked files that include information about upcoming Apple products.

9to5Mac has had a look at some of the files already released. The documents include technical specifications for Apple’s upcoming Apple Silicon MacBook Pro, with the codenames J314 and J316. These specs corroborates previous reports that the new MacBook Pro will feature MagSafe, HDMI and an SD card slot.

The Brydge MacBook Vertical Dock is the latest incarnation of what used to be Henge Docks. Brydge acquired the company back in 2019 and has continued to develop new models since then.

The concept of a laptop dock has been around for decades now. The basic idea is that you use the laptop as a standalone machine when mobile, then snap it into a dock when you return to your desk, to effectively turn it into a desktop computer. There are, though, two different takes on the idea …

A federal judge has ruled that Apple is assumed* to have knowingly sold defective Macs, in response to an application for a class action lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit is over the MacBook Pro “stage light” fault, in which the backlight takes on the appearance of stage lighting at the bottom of the screen before later failing completely.

*Update: Legal commentators have pointed out that the judge has not ruled that Apple did so, but in deciding that there is merit to the case, he in law assumes the allegations to be true.

The judge said the court would also consider allegations that Apple deleted forum posts complaining about the issue …

An Apple patent granted today describes a MacBook with a solid-state keyboard using an all-touch surface which can be reconfigured as the user desires.

A user working with numbers might opt for a large numeric keyboard, for example, while an artist might instead choose a large area for drawing …

Apple has long been on a mission to make MacBooks ever thinner, and a new patent granted today describes how a retractable keyboard could help.

Earlier patents suggest that Apple’s long-term goal is a completely solid-state keyboard, which uses electrostatic charges to allow users to “feel” keys so that touch-typing remains possible, and haptic motors to simulate key presses for the feel of a physical keyboard …

A judge has officially certified a class action lawsuit against Apple over its controversial butterfly keyboard design that plagued the MacBook lineup for years. As reported by the Verge, the lawsuit covers all of the MacBook models that feature a butterfly keyboard.

Intel has been getting quite aggressive in its recent campaigns against M1 Macs, as Apple is replacing the Intel processors in the Mac lineup with its own Apple Silicon chips. However, while trying to mock Apple, Intel showed exactly what we expect from the next generation MacBook Pro: an edge-to-edge display.

Apple impressed the industry with its M1 chip-based MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini last fall. Now we await an even more exciting round of professional hardware with the rumored 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates. Here’s everything we know so far.

Apple has released macOS Big Sur 11.2.2. to the public today with a fix for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air users. Apple says the update “prevents” certain models from “incurring damage” when they are connected to third-party USB-C hubs and docks.

Apple is expected to release a variety of new Apple Silicon-powered Macs this year, including new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. A new supply chain report from Digitimes today backs expectations that the new 14-inch MacBook Pro will use mini-LED backlighting and be released in the second half of the year.

Based on recent supply-chain reports, the 2021 MacBook Pro ports could turn out to be either an IO dream or nightmare.

We today got a more detailed report about what to expect in terms of 2021 MacBook Pro ports, with noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo saying we should expect both an HDMI port and an SD card slot. Coupled to his earlier report of a new MagSafe power port, that’s a pretty dramatic change to the current models, which have just USB-C ports and a headphone socket.

But whether that’s an IO dream or nightmare depends on how Apple plans to implement the change…

An M1 MacBook Pro photo editing test found that the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro running M1-optimized apps was faster than a ‘”beast” of a Windows desktop PC – despite the fact that the latter was specifically specced with photo editing in mind and had a massive 128 GB of RAM.

Professional photographer Andrew Hoyle said that he was “astonished” by the performance, and concludes that an M1 Mac is a safe bet for photographers looking to upgrade…

Alongside the release of macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 yesterday, Apple also launched a new battery replacement program for 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro users. Apple says the new program is valid for users who have MacBook Pro models that “have experienced an issue with the battery not charging past 1%.”

Following the release of macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 with fixes to a bug that prevented MacBook Pro battery from charging, Apple has just announced that the company will replace for free the batteries of 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models that won’t charge past 1%.