While the consensus of the geekerati suggests that Apple will launch the first M2-powered macOS laptop this spring with an entry-level MacBook Pro, I am left wondering why Apple is continuing with a machine that looks out of place in the portfolio.
Antalya, Turkey – November 03, 2020: Computer screen showing Apple event logo 2020 on the screen.
getty
The first Apple Silicon for Mac – the M1 – was launched inside new models of the mac Mini, the MacBook Air, and the MacBook Pro. The two former machines make perfect sense to this day; the MacBook Pro perhaps less so. At the time the visual impact of having a ‘new’ MacBook Pro that was running the new ARM-based platform while still looking like the final tired design of the Intel generation ensured continuity and comfort was on show.
There was a power advantage over the MacBook Air; but once the actual MacBook Pro hardware turned up last year in the newly designed 14-inch and 16-inch models, the 13-inch MacBook Pro was essentially redundant. If you needed “moar power!!!” then it was in the genuine Pro laptops; and if you needed power but with a bit more focus on value for money, then the MacBook Air delivered on both counts.
The fractional gain over the 13-inch Pro has created a run on the portfolio ladder that looks good but does not offer a notable step up.
Now Apple is looking to go down the same road as before by running three ‘Pro’ machines and one ‘Air’, with one of those ‘Pro’ machines feeling like a marketing exercise… albeit with Apple, marketing exercises seem to drive more purchasing decisions by consumers.
There are better ways of organizing the portfolio – you just have to look at Apple’s other key products.
With the iPhone you have two main variants; the vanilla iPhone and the iPhone Pro, both of which have smaller and larger models in the mix. With the main iPad line you have that same vanilla iPad and the larger iPad Pro, which you can take as the two-fold play; or you can argue that this is the upper ‘Pro’ tier and the smaller iPad Mini and iPad Air make up the lower tier. You even see it in the AirPods and AirPods Max range.
Apple likes to have a ‘low’ and a ‘high’ across its major brands, with a ‘low’ and a ‘high’ in each of these.
So isn’t it about time we saw the same in the MacBook range? Apple has a ‘high’ brand and a ‘low’ brand in the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air, yet it has three in the former and one in the later. Previously Apple was forced to timetable its products around Intel’s schedule, which may well have impacted on its ability to plan the MacBook range with the same regularity and breath as other Apple products. That’s no longer the case, with Apple Silicon’s temp determined by Apple.
Will we see the first M2 powered macOS laptop in the spring of 2022? I’m not sure, but many think we will. Will it be the first M2 powered MacBook Pro? Personally, I hope not. I’d much rather see Apple commit to a duo of either MacBook Air and MacBook Pro; or even a simpler MacBook and MacBook Pro.
That would be a much easier sell.
Now read the latest Mac, iPhone, and iPad headlines in Forbes’ weekly Apple Loop news digest…
