Wake up in the morning of the Star Wars Force Day, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro has been quietly released, and it is still a holiday in China. As always, the regular update of the MacBook series is a direct official website update. It is not known if the 2020 27-inch iMac will be released online at WWDC next month.
Because of the epidemic, the new versions of iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and iPhone SE released in the first half of this year are also directly and officially announced, which are economical and environmentally friendly. These four products are all conventional hardware upgrades, all of which are light squeeze toothpaste or original shell replacement core, which can be made clear in just a few words, and it is indeed not worth holding an online conference.
Unlike the previously expected 14-inch MBP, the new version of the 13-inch MBP is still a small upgrade, and it is the black-edge Display that has been used for many years at the forefront. Although there is not much to be picky about the screen quality of this display except for the black borders; but the 16-inch MBP that made a stunning appearance in the second half of last year sated the appetite, and the 13-inch MBP did not upgrade to the 14-inch narrow bezel screen version as expected Somewhat disappointing.
So, what is the difference between this new 13-inch MBP and the previous version? The choice of the 10th generation Intel CPU has been added, but the minimum price is $1799, and the starting version of $1299 is still the 8th generation Core i5 processor; the Dolby panoramic sound effect has been added, and watching movies and listening to music is more enjoyable, but I More accustomed to wearing headphones; storage is no longer 128GB, starting directly with 256GB SSD, you can choose 2TB or 4TB version; high-end version (10th generation CPU and 16GB) supports 6K external display. These are the technologies that have been adopted by the 16-inch MBP last year and the new version of MBA released in March, and the toothpaste is squeezed as expected by the outside world.
The shortcomings of the new 13-inch MBP, in addition to not upgrading the new 14-inch design, may be that it does not support Wi-Fi 6, which is indeed a bit disappointing. Although the iPhone and iPad already support Wi-Fi 6, there is currently no product in the Mac series that supports Wi-Fi 6. Also, the new version of the 13-inch MBP front camera is still 720p. Maybe Apple doesn’t pay attention to this at all. Why do video conversations need to be so clear.
Perhaps the most important update and selling point of the 2020 version of the MBP is the return to the scissor-pedal keyboard. At this point, the entire MacBook series has completely bid farewell to the butterfly keyboard, hoping to say goodbye forever.
The butterfly keyboard appeared on the 12-inch MacBook in 2015 and entered the Macbook Pro product line in 2016. In the past five years, the butterfly keyboard has become the biggest slot of Apple’s MacBook. This may be Apple’s most disgusting and failed “innovation”. The user experience is sacrificed for thinness and lightness, and the final feedback is not worth the loss. Although Apple has also continued to improve, it still has not resolved the various dislikes of consumers.
When it was first released, Apple claimed that the butterfly keyboard was 40% thinner than the scissor-pedal keyboard and four times more durable; but after getting started, the actual experience was the same. The supposedly pleasant typing experience is as hard as tapping on a desk and has a higher failure rate. AppleInsider conducted an investigation and found that the 2016 MBP butterfly keyboard had twice the failure rate of the original keyboard version. Last year, Apple was forced to admit to defects and offer free repairs for malfunctioning butterfly keyboards on certain models of laptops from 2015 to 2019.
After hitting a peak shipment of 5.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, Mac product sales have never recovered in the past few years, and the past few quarters have continued to decline year-on-year. Of course, this is definitely not because of the butterfly keyboard, but when market sales are stagnant, it is obviously a correct decision to decisively abandon the design that consumers are generally disgusted with and return to the original product experience. Going back to the physical Esc key is also a classic example of Apple’s efforts to set things right on Macbooks.
When Apple designs products, it may seldom conduct user research, and is accustomed to the product concept of “users don’t know what they need”. The butterfly keyboard is such an anti-human design that pays attention to thinness and sacrificing experience. In order to be thin and simple, MacBook not only abandoned the scissor keyboard in 2016, but also abandoned the acclaimed magnetic interface MagSafe. But compared to the keyboard, the possibility of the MagSafe interface returning may not be great.
If you’re not in a hurry to use the computer, you might as well be a wait-and-see party. The upgrade range of the 2020 version of the 13-inch MBP is not too attractive. Last year, Apple upgraded the 15-inch MBP in May, and then released the 16-inch MBP in November. Maybe Apple will release a 14-inch MBP in the second half of this year?
Lights, wait for lights, wait for lights.
The Links: LTM170ET01 FF150R12KS4