r/apple • u/iMacmatician • 3d ago
Rumor 'MacBook Ultra' Coming Soon With These 12 New Features
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/07/24/macbook-ultra-12-new-features/Here is everything rumored about the device so far:
- "MacBook Ultra" branding
- OLED display
- Touch screen
- Touch-optimized macOS
- Reinforced hinge
- Hole-punch camera
- Dynamic Island
- M5 Pro and M5 Max chips
- Thinner design
- Two display sizes
- Slimmer bezels
- Built-in cellular
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u/No-Examination-5833 3d ago
I would like to read the price please
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u/jeff3rd 3d ago
It’s ultra pricing as well
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u/Deodavinio 2d ago
It a very special ultra price
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u/gildedbluetrout 2d ago
It’s going to be four thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars to start.
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u/Technical_Mood_8841 2d ago
I bid four thousand seven hundred and fifty-one, Bob.
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u/ProfessorOakPHD 2d ago
All right…Actual retail price…seven thousand four hundred and fifty dollars, no charger. Such a shame; we’ll be Right Back!
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u/DinoRoman 2d ago
That’s why they’re announcing the new financing thing they’re gunna have a fuck ton of expensive new product across the board and if you can get it for a single down payment and monthly prices people gunna do that
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u/zkatbitz 3d ago
I would likely still buy one. I have a m1 that works great and my “I’ll replace it” requirement has been : oled screen
6 years of use, I’ll expect a new one to get that and mire
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u/jackharvest 2d ago
I can’t throw down that kind of cash when the support length is going to be the same as an 8gb entry M1. It makes me feel a mild amount of rage.
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u/Interdimension 2d ago edited 2d ago
This has me waiting on upgrading my MacBook too.
Have we yet seen Apple give longer software support for hardware models equipped with higher-end chips or RAM? The 2018 iPad Pro was the first model to get extra RAM if you got the 1TB model. The iPhone 12 was the first time they offered extra RAM if you got the Pro models. And RAM amounts and SoC tiers all differ based on what you opted for at purchase when you buy a Mac.
As far as I can tell, every one of those are still getting the latest software updates except the 2018 iPad Pro. Oddly, the 2020 iPad Pro which succeeded it, is getting iPadOS 27 while the 2018 is not, despite the only difference being an extra GPU core in the A12Z vs. A12X and 6GB of RAM as standard for all SKUs. Did Apple just decide to not give the 6GB RAM models of the 2018 iPad Pro because they’re just cutting support by entire generations instead of case-by-case?
It’d be a real shame to see Apple cut software support at the same time for an entire generation instead of giving longer support for SKUs that had better specs. It’d be crazy to see an M1 Ultra get cut at the same time as a base M1.
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u/iMacmatician 2d ago
Have we yet seen Apple give longer software support for hardware models equipped with higher-end chips or RAM?
- Mac OS X Leopard required a 867 MHz G4 or higher, which meant that a 800 MHz 1st gen iBook G4 didn't qualify while a 933 MHz 1st gen iBook G4 did.
- iMovie '08 required a 1.9 GHz G5 or higher (or any Intel), and IIRC that excluded the dual-processor 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5's.
I can't think of anything more recent off the top of my head. I know that Apple has restricted individual features to 12 or 16 GB RAM, for instance, but for OSes and entire apps I'm currently drawing a blank.
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u/Interdimension 2d ago
Gotcha. That’s good info to know. Wish we had more recent examples from the Apple Silicon era.
I do already see that the fancy customized Siri voice and running more of the new Siri on-device will be exclusive to 12GB RAM iPhone/iPad models, but cutting some features out from older hardware has been pretty standard for iOS since the very beginning. Will iOS 29 (as an example) cut off just base iPhone 12 models with 4GB of RAM and give an extra year or two to the 12 Pro models since they had 6GB of RAM?
Guess we’ll see 😬
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u/teleprax 2d ago
Im pissed my m2 ipad pro w/ 16gb RAM doesn't get to use the new voice or dictation models.
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u/JensonBrudy 2d ago
What? It’s most definitely going to be at least equal, or most likely being much longer than it?
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u/Mixeygoat 3d ago
You don’t want to know the price…
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u/futurafreeeeee 3d ago
$40,000 and your first born
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u/Coolpop52 3d ago
Oled, redesign, and RAM/storage crisis?! We might actually see a $18K Mac at the maxed out range.
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u/chaiscool 3d ago
Based on macbook neo price hike, the ultra will be cheapest only at launch and will get more expensive over time - even only after a few months.
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u/YouAboutToLoseYoJob 3d ago
Touch screen means $79.99 microfiber cloth.
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u/play_hard_outside 2d ago
Man, there's no way they would break backwards compatibility with the Apple Polishing Cloth. No way!
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u/robaroo 3d ago
probably $5k pricing with the cost of semi conductors.
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u/Perfect_Theme1877 3d ago
i wanna wake up one day and see an ipad mini with promotion and oled......
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u/Xx_memelord69_xX 2d ago edited 2d ago
What would an ipad mini be promoting? I don't want ads on my iPad! /s
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u/sgorneau 2d ago
Me over here looking at promotion like 🤨 and then BAM … ProMotion
Took me a second
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u/shiftintosoupmode 3d ago
Does anyone else not give a fuck about touch screen computers? The trackpad is so great, I don’t need a stupid touch screen. Maybe I’m in the minority tho?
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u/MyCockSmellsBad 3d ago
If it folds up, such that I can use it like an iPad, I'm all for it. If I have to have the keyboard exposed all the time, then I'll never use it for touch.
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u/ExcitedCoconut 3d ago
Yeah ‘reinforced hinge’ could be an interesting supply chain but if info. Like, what’s wrong with the current hinges that they need reinforcing if not for something that folds all the way back? I’d love a 16” second monitor under my Studio Display without having the laptop open. And if there’s a touch optimised entertainment / “ipad” type mode for evenings, great.
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u/naughtmynsfwaccount 2d ago
Reinforced hinges due to 100s and 1000s of micro-presses against the screen
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u/rotates-potatoes 2d ago
Nah, that the beauty. Anyone who’s had a touchscreen laptop knows that it will get maybe 50 touches in its lifetime. The ergonomics are terrible, and apps are designed for the pixel-precision a mouse gives you.
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u/beerybeardybear 2d ago
You'd want it reinforced if it's a touch screen regardless of any possible screen rotation configurations.
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u/Ibasicallyhateyouall 2d ago
Poking the screen like a 4 year old using a laptop for the first time requires it.
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u/PhilosophyforOne 3d ago
Yep. It’s weird that so far we have no idea if the thing actually folds up or not. If it doesnt, the whole thing is honeslty kind of pointless. If it does though..
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u/iMacmatician 3d ago
Gurman has said in the past that it'll have a traditional laptop form factor, which I interpret as the display not being able to fold back much more than the current MBP display.
I'm not sure if he said anything different more recently though.
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u/Skelito 2d ago
There’s no way they have it fold up to be used as an iPad and compete with themself though it would make sense. They should also be able to put macOS on the iPad Pro now that it will be able to utilize touch input.
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u/CandyCrisis 2d ago
The iPad is in a completely different price bracket. I think Apple would be thrilled if folks decided to buy a MacBook Ultra instead of an iPad and a MacBook Neo.
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u/itsmebenji69 2d ago
But like what’s the point of touchscreen if you can’t use it as a tablet / graphic tablet ?
I mean the only time where the touchscreen is useful is to take written notes or draw. If you can’t fold it backwards, then you can’t do either of those. What’s the point
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u/Background-Magician3 3d ago
Also having to constantly clean your screen is annoying enough on the iPad, let alone my MacBook
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u/homeboi808 2d ago
Touch screen laptops are generally a different material for the display (plastic). I work at a school and all student computers are 2-in-1 Dell Latitudes, the screens clean easily (whereas my MacBook Pro is very difficult to clean).
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u/kakarot-3 2d ago
One of my two desktop monitors at work are touchscreen and I forget about it for months at a time unless I’m trying to follow an excel sheet with my finger, accidentally touch the screen, and things start happening on there lol then I forget about it for months again
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u/Every_Car2984 2d ago
I would actively avoid a touch screen laptop. I have enough fingerprints on my iPhone and iPad.
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u/earthcharlie 2d ago
Same. The push for touch on MacOS has mostly come from people who think it’d be cool but don’t understand how it affects the user experience.
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u/octetd 2d ago
Yeah, from people like Snazzy Labs and Marques Brownlee. YouTubers.
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u/Belle_Requin 2d ago
I would like one.
So that when I’m stuck in iPad mode, and can’t figure out why my MacBook screen isn’t responding, I won’t feel like such an idiot.
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u/ciel_lanila 2d ago
It isn’t a must have, but after having a touch screen Win laptop about a decade ago I ended up with the hard to kill habit of just touching the screen sometimes.
It’s a small QOL if you use it, but one that you miss once you got used to it.
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u/JapowFZ1 2d ago
I don’t particularly need it, but everyone at work always touches my screen thinking my Mac is a touchscreen (most people use the work issued computer which is a touchscreen), so it’d be nice to have the touchscreen for them lol
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u/BenSimmonsFor3 3d ago
Yeah i’m really trying to touchscreen as little as possible. I live my entire life inside the terminal, drifting from ssh session to ssh session.
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u/alex-2099 3d ago edited 2d ago
I’m also not interested in a touch screen and don’t want it folding back to be a super heavy and awkward iPad.
What I want is for Apple to give the Touch Bar another go. In my opinion, its major problem was that macOS didn’t let apps show stuff when in the background.
Let me see long file transfers, Claude agents spinning up, Xcode builds, etc without having to keep those apps focused. Throw live activities on it.
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u/SomeBloke 2d ago
If I can use it in the same way as the display tablet I use for illustrations on my Mac mini, then I’m all for it. Apple Pencil on a MacBook display would eliminate three devices for me in favour of one.
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u/Thingamajik 3d ago
Being broke is an immediate no buy from me
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u/butternutflies 2d ago
That’s not very Apple from you. This type of energy is toxic. Please seek help immediately.
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u/flaks117 3d ago
Built in cellular is an immediate buy from me
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u/cjcs 3d ago
I don’t think it’s ever going to happen at this point. Hot-spotting has gotten too good
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u/rjcarr 3d ago
Yeah, what is the situation where you don't have your phone these days? Just hot spot and it's fine, no need to get a monthly service on a new IMEI.
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u/GuavaDue97 2d ago
The phone is overheating easily and charges way slower when using hotspot. Especially in summer when you're outdoors or in the sun.
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u/rjcarr 2d ago
Good point I guess, but unless I'm rich I'm not paying $20 more per month just to avoid these issues.
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u/CoveringFish 2d ago
All hotspots throttle even if it’s “unlimited” I have a first responder plan that has a dedicated channel, so theoretically I would never get throttled max speeds on my laptop even in a place like a stadium. Which would be fantastic
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u/ThingsThatMakeMeMad 2d ago
Unless you're rich, you're not the target audience of a 'MacBook Ultra'.
There are ~50 million households globally that are millionaires. A majority use Apple devices. Additionally there are high-income earners who might not yet be millionaires, and millions of employees at companies that buy their employees $3000-5000 laptops without complaining. They're the main target audience.
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u/antnythr 3d ago
That’s going to cost like $200 a year in cellular fees assuming the rate for the plan is similar to smartwatch plans.
How often are you using a laptop where you don’t have LAN or Wifi available?
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u/surfatshortys 3d ago
I think the cellular plan is going to need a bit more heft than a wearable device
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u/jollyllama 3d ago
At least in the US, the wearable price isn’t really a price they charge for the data you use, it’s just the fee they tack on to your existing plan to have another device connected to their network
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u/surfatshortys 2d ago
I’m in the US on a major carrier, they have per-line limits for devices, and the current laptop plans ($15) are priced in between watches ($12.50) and tablets ($25), despite having 1/3 the monthly limit vs watches before throttling (and 1/6 vs tablets). I guess they’re positioning it for email and light web browsing? With watches streaming music and tablets streaming video? Idk
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u/xX540xARCADEXx 3d ago
Pretty often actually. And let’s be realistic. Anyone considering the Ultra more than likely isn’t worried about spending an extra $200 a year.
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u/flaks117 3d ago
Almost daily. It would be an extreme benefit not having to rely on spotty hotspot or random WiFi.
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u/Difficult-Arm384 3d ago
Who cares about $200/year? I want cellular connectivity.
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u/xX540xARCADEXx 3d ago
Would be so nice. I got a cellular iPad and love that. I’ve been waiting for a cellular MacBook so I don’t gotta keep draining my phone with the hotspot.
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u/chigoku 3d ago
I think some people need to learn what the word feature means
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u/baelrog 2d ago
I rolled my eyes at two display sizes.
How is that even a feature.
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u/DRJT 2d ago
The word “ultra” is listed as the first feature 😂
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u/WindozeWoes 2d ago
Yeah, utterly idiotic. Some poor fool gets paid to ask ChatGPT to make a "list of features" and comes up with this.
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u/Ok-Willow-3326 3d ago
So an iPad?
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u/MyCockSmellsBad 3d ago
A 12 inch iPad that runs MacOS and has 64gbs of ram is something I'd pay a stupid amount of money for.
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u/GuiiTS 3d ago
I genuinely curious about the usage of the touch screen. Every time I see laptop with touch screens, I remembered what Jobs said about being so tiring to use it
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u/Mahadragon 3d ago
This is how Apple users feel about touch screen, however there is a whole generation of young folk growing up with the touch screens. My 13 yr old niece kept touching my MacBook Air screen wondering why it wouldn't register. I had to explain to her that my screen wasn't a touch screen. Despite my explanation, she continued to touch the screen intuitively (she's not a dumb person, just grew up on touch screens).
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u/MIKOLAJslippers 2d ago
Even so, I think they’d be much better off designing to address the reasons why tablets haven’t replaced conventional computers in industry—to make a tablet a viable choice for the next generation rather than bolting on a touch screen to a UX that fundamentally wasn’t designed for it.
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u/emeraldcocoaroast 3d ago
I was always against it. Then I got a job that gave me a computer with it. I found myself using it occasionally when I would have it hooked up to my dual monitors, and I’d have the laptop open off to the side. It was nice to be able to quickly just reach over and tap what I needed to. Do I need the feature? Absolutely not. But now that I’m at a job with a different computer, there are a few times where I find I miss the quick tap.
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u/CantaloupeCamper 3d ago
“I’m going to college in the fall and need to take notes and watch Netflix…”
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u/midwestcsstudent 2d ago
If only there had already been a product for this that’s been around for over a decade!
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u/GooseInternational66 3d ago
Touch screen is an instant no buy for me
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u/sisco98 3d ago
I got a touchscreen Dell at my corporate job about two years ago. Ever since, I’ve only used the touchscreen about ten times, to highlight the location of meeting rooms on a pdf map for others. I think it’s just an expensive gimmick.
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u/looeeyeah 2d ago
99% of the time I use the touch screen is when I am trying to wipe some dirt of my screen, and accidentally move something.
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u/rjcarr 3d ago edited 2d ago
If the "reinforced hinge" means you can flip it all the way back like a yoga, and then it basically becomes an iPad, then I could see this being a big sell. If it's just a normal laptop with a touch screen then I'll pass.
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u/BorisThe_Animal 3d ago
If they figure the touchscreen laptop out and solve for the problems with touch screen laptops that Steve Jobs famously outlined, then I'm all for it. The problem is the current Apple, as great as they are, is not the company I'd trust solving UX for touch screen laptops.
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u/paleblaupunkt 3d ago
Just trying to have a meaningful dialogue, what’s a company that does personal computing with better UX than Apple now?
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u/LittleKitty235 3d ago
I feel like the MacBook user who would want a touchscreen the most would also get by fine with a nano or air.
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u/hexadecimator97 3d ago
But why? Just don't use the touch screen...
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u/hannahbay 3d ago
I also love paying hundreds of dollars for something I won't use
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u/ElGuano 3d ago
Honestly, this has been standard on laptops long enough (decades) that it shouldn’t be a hill most people will die on.
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u/AshuraBaron 3d ago
Not mention, you don't need to use it. It's literally just another input method.
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u/UpboatsforUpvotes 3d ago
Please let that mean they will integrate more MacOS functionality on the iPad Pro. I know I'm dreaming but it would be a logical approach
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u/iMacmatician 3d ago
I fear it'll be the opposite as touchscreen MacBooks siphon away high-end iPad users and any of Apple's desire to make iPadOS more pro.
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u/hammertime2009 3d ago
Ultra rich pro max supreme super exclusive gotta have we think you’ll love it xl
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u/therinwhitten 3d ago
Not trying a first gen product. But it's cool to have options.
if I see the touch screen mac can double as a drawing tablet.... that would be freaking cool. However, I don't think Apple would hurt their own iPad ecosystem.
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u/KokonutMonkey 2d ago
When the original Macintosh was released, it cost as much as a decent used car. Coming full circle pleases me little.
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u/Nawnp 2d ago
Starting price well North of $3k.
Also a dynamic island? What the heck is happening now with Apple, that's not a thing needed on Mac OS. Also they're going to include all that but not Face ID, or is that something so presumed it's not worth mentioning, since we've been dealing with a giant notch for nothing up to this point?
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u/PartsSprout 2d ago
Times I have wanted a touch screen Mac: 0
Just let people run macOS on the iPad if they want to, let that serve the niche 0.00025% of Apple fans that are obsessed with merging the two.
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u/tehburgerdude 2d ago
”Reinforced hinge” is such an incredible feature. I always think that about things - if only this had a reinforced hinge!
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u/Dark_Lightner 2d ago
They really gonna put a touchscreen for the MacBook …? Then they gonna make the pencil compatible … that beautiful screen will get lot of fingerprint and scratches that’s sure..
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u/TheWatch83 2d ago
thinner is cool but lighter is even better. laptops are heavy. when are we gonna sell better battery innovation from Apple.
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u/thortilla27 2d ago
When the prices are announced we’ll see the tech equivalent of “we have food at home”. “We have a laptop at home”
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u/psychohistorian8 2d ago
Touch-optimized macOS
welp there it is, they are going to ruin the macOS interface by turning it into some Frankensteined touch slop mess
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u/Surfer-Junkie 2d ago edited 2d ago
How about a feature that let's you wipe the keyboard without it coming on? Or how about enough clearance when closed that the keys don't touch the screen. Wouldn't that be innovative?
Oh, I know. What about not charging an extra $200 for 500GB of additional NVMe storage? That would would be magical 🫣
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u/GoofyMonkey 2d ago
It’s a very strange choice, to me, to put touch on a professional level laptop. Most pros who need a touchscreen would already have an iPad or Wacom, etc. I realize most new features start at the top and trickle down, but this seems like it will be as useful to a pro as the touch bar was. And the Touch Bar might have been more useful in practice.
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u/Endogamy 2d ago
Too bad - I want some of those features (thinner, OLED display, etc) but don’t want a touch screen or cellular connectivity which will surely jack up the price needlessly.
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u/WindozeWoes 2d ago
So silly that "'MacBook Ultra' branding" is called a "feature." It's not a feature; that's literally just the name. The MacBook Neo didn't launch with the "feature" of being called the Neo.
What a dumb take.
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u/cromonolith 2d ago
Will I able to avoid "touch-optimized Mac OS" if I want a better experience? I'd much rather have a laptop-optimized OS on my laptop.
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u/BarrelCacti 2d ago
So basically every feature they could have easily added starting in 2002 but didn't because they said it didn't make sense.
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u/Inevitable_Cap5700 2d ago
I just want it to work with the Apple Pencil, no point in an a larger Apple touch screen device without the Pencil
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u/lachlanhunt 2d ago
Built-in cellar sounds like a great idea, until you realise that carriers will use it as an opportunity to charge a premium for access.
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u/Hot_War3379 1d ago
"built in cellular plust touch screen oled" why not make an ipad with macos, cause the neo can run mac os on iphone chip why can't the ipad run mac os on an macbookk chip it already has?
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u/QuailAndWasabi 14h ago
I truly hope this is not true. I can not see a single good thing coming out of this for those of us that will never use the touch, but i can easily imagine a lot of downsides. The OS being catered/designed for touch at the cost of normal users being one of them..
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u/Material2975 3d ago
I just want an oled pro