Whereas this week’s Scary Quick occasion was full of largely predictable bulletins of latest Macs, it got here with not less than one fascinating shock: The tip of the final legacy MacBook design — and the controversial Contact Bar together with it.
It was three years in the past that Apple unveiled its first lineup of Apple silicon Macs, that includes its then brand-new M1 chips. These first Macs up on deck for the Apple silicon remedy — the M1 MacBook Air, 13-inch M1 MacBook Professional, and M1 Mac mini — remained in any other case largely unchanged externally from the Intel variations that had come earlier than.
Whether or not that was an intentional selection by Apple or not, it ended up being an excellent one, because it demonstrated the prevalence of the M1 chip over its Intel predecessor on an equal footing. Since nothing had modified however the chip inside, the truth that an M1 MacBook Air or MacBook Professional ran circles round an in any other case visually similar Mac was rather more placing.
Nonetheless, because the M1 was a baseline chip that had fairly a number of limitations, Apple stored its 13-inch and 16-inch Intel MacBook Professional fashions in the marketplace. On the time, you might choose up an entry-level 13-inch MacBook Professional with an M1 chip or pay extra for a higher-end 13-inch MacBook Professional with an Intel CPU. The cheaper M1 mannequin ran quicker however was restricted to 2 USB ports, 16GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. The Intel variants provided extra USB ports and better reminiscence and SSD storage configurations.
To be honest, even within the Intel days, Apple’s entry-level 13-inch MacBook Professional was at all times the red-headed stepchild within the household. It’s considerably ironic that it turned the final MacBook to function Apple’s Contact Bar, contemplating that it was the MacBook Professional mannequin that initially lacked it.
When Apple launched the Contact Bar to its MacBook Professional lineup in 2016, probably the most reasonably priced MacBook Professional was neglected of the occasion, retaining the row of operate keys as an alternative. It gained the Contact Bar in 2019 however continued to function solely primary specs in comparison with the higher-end fashions and infrequently discovered itself on a distinct refresh cycle from these. It’s solely ever barely certified as a MacBook “Professional,” and there’s been hypothesis for years that Apple would sometime drop that designation and resurrect the standalone “MacBook” model.
So, when Apple launched its extra highly effective M1 variants, the M1 Professional and M1 Max, packed right into a redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Professional lineup in late 2021, it made excellent sense for these to interchange the 13-inch and 16-inch Intel MacBook Professional fashions. Apple additionally made an enormous deal about lastly killing off the Contact Bar in favor of the true operate keys that professional customers wanted.
Nonetheless, Apple not solely stored the little oddball legacy 13-inch M1 MacBook Professional round, however it even refreshed it a number of months later with its newest M2 chip, even because it launched a brand new MacBook Air that clearly borrowed its design cues from the higher-end MacBook Professional.
Because the 14-inch MacBook Professional solely got here with an M1 Professional chip (and later an M2 Professional), the 13-inch MacBook Professional arguably nonetheless had its place because the bearer of the baseline M1/M2 chips. Nonetheless, it wasn’t solely clear what that place was; the MacBook Air had the identical chip and provided the identical baseline efficiency.
Whereas the M1 MacBook Professional touted a fan that would theoretically maintain that efficiency for extra severe workflows, its different small benefits over the M1 MacBook Air — a barely brighter display and speaker and mic system — had been eradicated when the brand new M2 MacBook Air arrived with a quad-speaker sound system, 1080p FaceTime digicam, and barely bigger 500-nit show.
At that time, the one motive to purchase the 13-inch MacBook Professional was in case you had been a severe fan of the Contact Bar. Apple’s Advertising SVP Greg Jozwiak admitted as a lot in an interview at Apple’s Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC) when John Gruber requested him and {hardware} SVP John Ternus precisely the place the 13-inch MacBook Professional match into the lineup and who it’s for.
Ternus whimsically bounced the query to Joz, who, amidst a lot laughter from the viewers, responded that it’s “nonetheless an incredible product” and an “entry level to the MacBook Professional lineup,” and “in case you nonetheless need Contact Bar, there you go.”
Nonetheless, though Joz confirmed that lots of people nonetheless come into Apple Shops and purchase the 13-inch MacBook Professional, it was in all probability at all times clear that the Contact Bar wasn’t the largest promoting level for that mannequin, however reasonably its lower cost tag.
Now, Apple has successfully confirmed this by eliminating that mannequin from the lineup solely — and the Contact Bar together with it. That’s to not say the Contact Bar didn’t have its followers, however as with those that most popular the iPhone mini, it’s clearly not a big sufficient group to maintain the product round.
As a substitute, the entry-level banner is now extra appropriately carried by a 14-inch MacBook Professional with the M3 chip. As a substitute of beginning at $1,999 in an M3 Professional configuration, clients can go for a $1,599 configuration with the M3 chip.
It has the identical reminiscence, storage, and port limitations because the 13-inch M2 MacBook Professional — most 24GB RAM, 2TB SSD, and solely two ports — however consists of the good Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED show, 1080p FaceTime HD digicam, and hi-fi sound system because the costlier MacBook Professional fashions.
This implies of us who don’t want the efficiency of the M3 Professional — which, let’s face it, is most individuals who aren’t doing video or graphics manufacturing — now not must step as much as that chip to get one of the best options of Apple’s MacBook Professional.